The NATO-Russia Council Meeting, July 2019

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07/17/2019

The NATO-Russia Council, which brings together all 29 NATO Allies and Russia, met in Brussels on Friday (5 July 2019) to discuss Ukraine, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and transparency and risk reduction.

This was the second meeting of the NATO-Russia Council this year. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who chaired the meeting, said: “Our discussion was frank but necessary. Allies and Russia hold fundamentally different views but we are committed to continuing our dialogue.”

This video highlights press points by the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg following the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.

Credit: NATO

July 5, 2019

The Australian Defence Minister Visits the UK: July 2019

Posted on | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment on The Australian Defence Minister Visits the UK: July 2019
07/16/2019

Recently, the new Australian Defence Minister visited the UK to discuss common ground as the two regional powers discussed ways to enhance their collaboration in the period ahead.

In an article by Stephen Kuper published on July 10, 2019, the focus of the Minister’s visit to the UK was the focus of attention.

The Australia-UK relationship is such an important one for cultural, government and defence reasons … There is no question that we are currently seeing the biggest realignment of the strategic landscape since World War II,” Minister Reynolds said. 

This focus on the rapidly shifting geo-political, strategic and economic paradigm – particularly the increasingly unstable nature of the US – has prompted a major realignment for both nations, with the UK beginning to embrace its traditional role of ‘great power’ and Australia beginning to embark on a recapitalisation and modernisation program that will see a quantum leap in the nation’s defence capabilities. 

For the UK, this realignment towards ‘great power’ status has seen the former global power commit to a range of capability acquisitions and force structure developments, including: 

  • Recapitalisation and modernisation of the Royal Navy – including the acquisition of the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers, the Type 26 Global Combat Ships and the planned development and acquisition of the Type 31e frigates to supplement the capability delivered by the Type 45 Daring Class guided missile destroyers and the Astute Class fast attack submarines.
  • The restructuring of the British Army to focus power projection and rapid expeditionary capability as part of the Army 2020 plan – this plan is designed support concurrent deployments in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Indo-Pacific. 
  • Modernisation of the Royal Air Force to include fifth-generation air combat capabilities in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the E-7A Wedgetail and upgrades for the Eurofighter Typhoon – while supporting increased airlift capabilities and a focus on the future, including the beginning of development on the sixth-generation Tempest air superiority fighter. 
  • A modernisation of the British nuclear deterrence force – with the planned construction of the Dreadnought Class ballistic missile submarines. 

For Australia, a nation increasingly dependent upon the enduring stability, prosperity and security of the Indo-Pacific, the resurgence of the UK and its renewed focus on the Indo-Pacific empowers the nation to more broadly and directly support the long-term rules based order of the region, something Minister Reynolds was vocal about. 

“We are also seeing an explosion in new technologies that means that our world is increasingly unshackled from geography. All of that means that the international order in which we operate, and has delivered great benefits to Australia, is more important than ever. And the rules-based global order that came into being at the end of World War Two and has been built upon since, is now under pressure,” Minister Reynolds articulated.

“We are seeing grey zone tactics being used to undermine the foundation of the current international rules-based system and, I would argue, of democracy itself. It is incumbent on all nations to work together to strengthen and adapt the global order and an international system that allows all nations to thrive, and to do so in peace. We need one that is fit for purpose in the 21st century. So that leads to the first question for us both – where do we start? As we look to that task of defining an international order in an evolving context, Australia is committed to working closely with traditional partners like the United Kingdom.”

The rapidly deteriorating state of the contemporary geo-political and strategic environment, driven by a resurgent Russia and increasingly assertive China, combined with the rising threat of asymmetric threats, serve to challenge the capacity of both nations to support the continuation of the ‘rules based order’ without a commitment to deepening the bonds between the two nations and, more broadly, the Five Eyes network. 

“Together, working with other trusted partners, particularly Canada, New Zealand and the United States, we can do much more to provide security for ourselves and stability for the world. And few countries can claim ties as close as those that Australia shares with the United Kingdom. When I visit the United Kingdom I am reminded in a very personal way of the values we share; and our shared commitment to meeting challenges,” Minister Reynolds said.

“But the question we need to ask ourselves now is whether our close and longstanding partnership is up to the challenges that lie ahead – challenges that pose new risks for the integrity of the global order. It is worth reminding ourselves of just how profoundly some of these challenges are impacting the strategic environment and, in very direct ways, contesting our values.

“Our response to these challenges will test our ingenuity as well as our resolve in charting new directions for our partnership. Directions that better prepare us for the future – a future that has already arrived. Let me share some thoughts on five ways we might go about doing this together.

“Through closer engagement; capability co-operation; industry and innovation; defence co-operation; and a whole-of-government approach.”

Other stories highlighted different aspects of her visit.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald,  “Linda Reynolds has used her first visit to the UK as Defence Minister to urge Britain to copy Australia’s ban on involving Huawei in the 5G rollout.

“Issuing a blueprint for how the two countries can cooperate better to combat hybrid warfare, Senator Reynolds told the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London that the two countries needed to do more together across the whole of government.”

According to The Telegraph, the Minister argued that Britain needed to be more militarily engaged in the Asia-Pacific region.

This is something which the French are clearly doing in part due to their submarine deal with France.

Ms Reynolds said the “unique and very precious” Five-Powers Defence Arrangements between Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and Britain should be used to counter the growing threats from China’s military rise.

“The longer they are unchecked, the bolder they become”

Paying tribute to the historically close relationship between Australia and the UK, she welcomed the deployment last year of Royal Navy ships to the Indo-Pacific and called for a greater presence in the region from the British military. Australia stood ready to facilitate such an engagement, she said.

“Few countries can claim ties as close as those between Australia and the UK. We operate and fight together, whether in Afghanistan and Iraq,” she said. 

“In short, we trust each other”.

And BAE Systems reported that the Australian Minister came to Glasgow to witness progress on building the first Type 26 frigates.

During her visit, she announced the latest Type 26 supplier contract with Airspeed, an Adelaide-based company specialising in ‘design and build’ applications of composite materials for aerospace, maritime and energy-related projects.

Airspeed has been awarded the contract to provide the replenishment at sea stump mast (RASSM) for the first batch of three Type 26 ships which will run until 2023. The RASSM allows for the resupply of ammunition and small of amounts of stores whilst the ship is at sea.

This is the second supplier from South Australia to supply into the Type 26 programme as part of our Global Access Program, joining: Electro Optic Systems, Liferaft Systems Australia, Thales Australia, Mackay Consolidated Rubber, Rowlands Metalworks and CBG Systems (Moonraker).

Steve Barlow, Airspeed Managing Director, said; “In recent years, we have evolved our aerospace background to roll out lightweight structural composites for the Collins class submarines and local warship programmes. This latest contract with BAE Systems to design and build a lightweight replenishment at sea stump mast (RASSM) for the Type 26 is a great opportunity to showcase the talent and technology innovation we have in our company.”

BAE Systems Australia’s new subsidiary ASC Shipbuilding has been awarded a contract by the Australian Government that provides the framework for the design and build of nine Hunter Class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy.

Work has already begun to mobilise the Hunter Class Frigate Program, and the Head Contract signed earlier this year incorporates detailed scope for the design and engineering work necessary to allow prototyping to commence in 2020, and to ensure steel is cut on the first ship at South Australia’s Osborne Naval Shipyard in 2022.

Nadia Savage, Type 26 Programme Director, said; “This latest contract announcement demonstrates that the Type 26 Global Combat Ship is a truly global programme, pulling on the best technology and companies from around the world to ensure the Global Combat Ship remains relevant to future maritime demands and delivers an adaptable design meeting the needs of our customers.”

Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC, said: “It was fantastic to be hosted by BAE Systems today at Govan shipyard where I witnessed the progress of GLASGOW, first in class Type 26.

“Airspeed is the latest Australian company to win an export opportunity to supply the UK’s Type 26 frigate programme, and will design and build the replenishment at sea stump mast for the UK’s newest warships. I’m delighted that another home-grown company is able to benefit from the Type 26 programme.

“I look forward to continuing to work closely with the UK Government and industry in both countries on further deepening our defence relationship.”

We recently published a special report which directly addresses the question of UK and Australian defense cooperation as they each pursue overlapping but different military transformation strategies.

Fifth-Generation Enabled Military Transformation: Australia, the UK and Shaping a Way Ahead

USMC and US Army Work HIMARS Live Fire Demonstration in Australia

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The Marines are working to shape a more effective and integrated force.

An example is their work on the integration of HIMARS with the F-35.

Currently in Australia, the Marines and US Army have brought HIMARS to Australia as part of this years TS-19 exercise.

According to a story by 1st Lt. Brett Vannier published on July 8, 2019.

QUEENSLAND, Australia –Marines with the 3rd Marine Division, and soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Division, conducted a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System live fire exercise at Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Australia, during Exercise Talisman Sabre 19, July 8, 2019. 

The HIMARS is a highly lethal and capable rocket system with the ability to precisely deliver rockets from a great distance. The HIMARS is also unique in that it can easily maneuver on the ground or be transported by C-130 aircraft. During Exercise Talisman Sabre 19, the Marines from 3rd Marine Division and soldiers from 2nd Infantry Division, demonstrated this capability, which can be provided to support a combined multinational effort, to their Australian counterparts. 

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Waikin Tee, a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System operator with the 3d Marine Division, said “We are in control of one of the most accurate weapons systems to ensure that all of our high value targets or positions of interest are destroyed effectively. Once we destroy our targets, we quickly move on to the next ones.”

Marines with the 3d Marine Division conduct training year-round utilizing the HIMARS in order to maintain their ability and proficiency with the system. Opportunities like Talisman Sabre 19 not only allow the Marines to sharpen their skills, but also to work closely with our Australian allies.

“The Australia–U.S. relationship is absolutely vital to both of our defense forces,” said Major General Christopher Field, AM, CSC, Commander of Australian Army Forces Command. “It means that we can bring both of our strengths and combine them to make ourselves a more capable organization.”

The purpose of Talisman Sabre is to improve Australian-U.S. combat readiness and interoperability, maximize combined training opportunities and conduct maritime prepositioning and logistics operations. Exercises like this better prepare Australia and the U.S. for future conflict by fully integrating all domains of warfare (air, land, maritime, space and information).

 

 

US Services at the Paris Air Show 2019

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In these photos, the participation of the US services in the Paris Air Show 2019 are highlighted.

In a prologue to the event, Breaking Defense published a look ahead at the air show:

Paris Air Show: It’s Hard To Demo What Makes Fighters Like F-35 Deadly 

By   ROBBIN LAIRD on June 14, 2019 at 2:01 AM

As a boy growing up in the 1950s, I looked forward every year to the new cars and how different they would be from last year’s models. Obviously, I am not doing that in 2019, because the combination of what the frame of the car can deliver aerodynamically interacts with software and advanced materials to deliver the performance I want to buy. So I don’t see great external changes from one year to the next any more.

On the military side, I wrote a piece for Breaking Defense in 2012 about how the coming of the V-22 Ospreywas about to totally change amphibious operations. But because it was all about an amphibious exercise, folks were looking at the beach and waiting to see the assault forces come across the horizon.

The problem was that the assault, led by Ospreys, had leapfrogged the beach, headed over our heads and had reached deep inland. I wrote: “Instead of assaulting the beach, the forces aboard the sea base are maneuvering within and over the battlespace inserting, moving and withdrawing forces. This is a far cry from just looking at photos of the landing ships and assault vehicles.”

“The Navy-Marine Corps team just completed the largest amphibious exercise in more than a decade. But what did people see? What did they recognize in the Bold Alligator exercise and focus upon? Because it is called an amphibious exercise, outsiders who attended the exercise tended to focus upon the amphibious ships themselves, the landing ships….

A similar challenge is now being posed by the coming to airshows of the first fifth generation airplanes such as the F-35. The F-35 is a harbinger of fundamental change in terms of the concepts of operations for airpower, in which a multi-domain aircraft pilot is able to make decisions with the help of his onboard computers and with shared data far out at the tactical edge. A great deal of what makes the plane effective is radio waves, radar and software, not hardware. While the F-35 is hardly the end of history with regard to air combat, it is a page turner.

When I visited Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in April, my host was Lt. Col. Adam Levine, the Warlords commanding officer. Levine has been flying the F-35 for more than seven years and has witnessed first-hand how software from block 1A through 3F has transformed the plane. Levine underscored that the evolution onboard the Hornets flown by the Marines can’t really be compared to flying the early variants of the F-35 because the planes did not change as much through unseen changes such as the generational differences now evident with the 3F software. According to Levine: “There is simply no comparison between a 3F F-35 and a legacy aircraft. They are in different worlds.”

He encouraged me to stay and see the F-35B flying with 3-F software which has unleashed new agility for the aircraft, the effects of which were clearly visible at the Beaufort Air Show. While the new maneuvers were compelling theater, he drove home the point that much of what makes the plane effective would be invisible to someone at an airshow: “But of course you cannot see or demonstrate at an air show what the real difference the F-35 delivers to the combat force.”

Levine highlighted the problem now in attending air shows and looking to understand more effectively the evolving nature of air combat systems. What is becoming ever more salient to the air combat force is their ability to operate together in an integrated manner and limit the effects of disrupters like electronic warfare or cyber threats. (Of course, the F-35 uses its own highly advanced EW and cyber capabilities, which are invisible to the naked eye.)

At the Fighter Conference held in Berlin last November the former head of the Royal Australian Air Force provided a good sense of what the challenge is in understanding the future of air combat and what to look at when watching a fighter jet fly.

“Our Navy has just started deploying our air warfare destroyers, but we have already demonstrated CEC interoperability with the US Navy. We will put CEC on our Wedgetails to be able to provide weapons quality tracks to our ships, hence enhancing significantly the range for the strike capability of our fleet. And as we go forward we will find ways to directly link our F-35s with the fleet as well. Our Navy and Army are now focused on fifth generation communications with their platforms as well, which is why having the F-35 in the force can drive change in the strategic direction in which you want to go. If you fly a legacy asset you cannot drive the kind of change the Australian Defence Force needs in the near- to mid-term.”

But how do you see this at an air show?

What is required now is that when visiting the chalets, pavilions or corrals of manufacturers building  missiles, UAVs, or C2 systems you need to look not just at the cool capabilities the piece of equipment provides, but focus on how that capability can be used in combat as part of a larger force. This is a much more significant challenge for the visitor, but it is crucial to understanding the way ahead of the world’s air combat forces. In the meantime, enjoy the roar of the jets and whomp whomp whomp of the helicopters next week.

 

 

 

 

Mission Data System Files for Core Allies: The Norwegian-Italian Reprogramming F-35 Lab

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07/15/2019

The NIRL provides Norway and Italy F-35 mission data files used to assess what threats to search for and when, enabling the 5th generation fighter to decipher and control the battlespace.

A ceremony was held at the end of June 2019, opening the new facility.

In an article by Marian Iriarte published in December 2016, the selection of the EW simulator for the facility which is part of the new facility was highlighted:

HUNT VALLEY, Md. Lockheed Martin selected Textron Systems’ Advanced Architecture Phase Amplitude and Time Simulator (A2PATS) for simulation testing of the F-35 Lightning II electronic warfare (EW) systems. Under contract, Textron Systems engineers will provide threat simulation capability in the F-35 Norwegian, Italian Reprogramming Lab (NIRL) located at Eglin Air Force base, in support of international partners.

The F-35 NIRL will utilize the A2PATS’ unique capabilities to develop and validate aircraft software requirements. The A2PATS is an electromagnetic environment simulator incorporating electronic warfare, communications, and electronic intelligence capabilities. Its environment facilitates the testing of precision location, identification, and defensive systems against ground-based and airborne threats. It is open architecture simulator that distributes multiple RF synthesizers in a modular and expandable system.

 

 

Exercise Semper Thunder

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MV-22 Ospreys with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 263 conduct deck landing qualifications aboard PHA Tonnerre in support of Exercise Semper Thunder off the coast of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, June 27, 2019.

Exercise Semper Thunder is a bilateral training exercise conducted between the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Task Force Jeanne D’ Arc, which reflects the desire to maintain a high level of interoperability in order to conduct operations in a coalition environment.

Ships in Formation: Sea Breeze 2019

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07/14/2019

ODESA, Ukraine (July 11, 2019) Ships from exercise Sea Breeze 2019 (SB19) participating nations sail in formation during SB19 in the Black Sea, July 11, 2019.

Sea Breeze is a U.S. and Ukraine co-hosted multinational maritime exercise held in the Black Sea, designed to enhance interoperability of participating nations and strengthen maritime security and peace within the region.

(U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Bounome Chanphouang)