This video released by the Dutch Navy highlights its role and the way ahead.
Earlier this year, the Dutch Ministry of Defence released a new defense white paper which provides a major role for Dutch naval modernization.
Credit Video: Dutch Ministry of Defence.
The Norwegians are hosting Trident Juncture 2018 which is a major NATO exercise and at the same time training for the Norwegians to support the total defense concept which they are reinvigorating in the “new normal” European security situation.
A recent article on the Norwegian Ministry of Defence website highlighted one aspect of the preparation:
NATO’s Trident Juncture exercise is getting ready for Norway this autumn. This has led to a record demand for military winter knowledge.
“This is my first time cross-country skiing. It’s very different, and I’ve been using muscles that I normally don’t use”, says First Lieutenant Norbert from the German Armoured Engineer Battalion 130.
Norbert is standing in a snowy forest outside the town of Elverum in eastern Norway. Along with 60 other officers from Germany and the US he is here for the Allied Winter Course hosted by the Norwegian School of Winter Warfare.
The foreign soldiers have had a brutal first encounter with the seemingly neverending Norwegian winter. Yesterday, the temperature was –27 °C (–17 ℉). Today, however, it is almost spring, the temperature has reached a whooping –11 °C (+12 ℉).
“It doesn’t matter if it’s 20 or 10 degrees below. It’s just freezing anyway”, laughs Norbert, adding:
“Yesterday, I had icicles hanging from my beard. I had to take a picture and send it to my wife. And tomorrow we’re going ice bathing. I may be smiling now, but I won’t laugh tomorrow.”
Norbert is one of many thousand foreign soldiers who are coming to Norway this autumn, to participate in NATO’s exercise Trident Juncture.
To deal with the cold Norwegian autumn weather, the participants need “cold knowledge”.
Until recently, cold knowledge was a niche thing – but not anymore.
The Norwegian School of Winter Warfare usually holds one annual winter course with 30–40 participants. This winter, however, the school has held four courses, each with 60 participants.
“We could probably have held ten courses, the interest is very high. We are positively surprised by the interest, especially from countries like the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the US”, says Major Knut Hummelvoll, chief for the school’s Winter Section.
He thinks the renewed interest is partly due to NATO’s shift from large operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East, to activity in its core areas in Europe and North America.
“I think this shift has brought more focus on winter training and cold knowledge. NATO has standing forces in Poland and the Baltics, and these are also very cold areas. The Alliance needs winter knowledge”, he adds.
Each winter course lasts four hectic weeks. During this time, the participants learn how to ski, how to dress for the cold, and how to establish a camp out in the field.
“They also learn terrain assessment and tactics for military operations in the winter”, says Hummelvoll.
The course is concluded with twelve field days where the participants get to practice their new knowledge.
“We practice so-called hard routines, like waking up in the tent in the morning and putting on your cold, wet clothes from yesterday. It’s brutal, but that’s what works”
Norbert, the German First Lieutenant, has had several surprises during the weeks.
“I never knew that white spots in the skin is a sign of frostbite. That was new to me”, says Norbert. He looks forward to pass on the winter knowledge to his fellow soldiers in Germany.
“We look forward to coming to Norway for Trident Juncture. As an engineering battalion in Europe, we are used to operating on large, wide plains. Norway has many steep, narrow valleys and fjords, which will give us another type of training.
We also get to meet soldiers from other countries and see how they operate.
Some metres away from Norbert, two other German officers are building a wall of snow around their tent. Like their fellow countryman, neither Master Sergeant Alexander nor First Lieutenant Arne has any massive experience with snow or skiing.
“We have just tried cross-country skiing for the first time. It was quite challenging, especially with the sleigh and a 30 kilo (66 lbs) backpack”, says Alexander, platoon leader in the Rotenburg Jaeger Battalion 91.
He too believes that a lot of winter knowledge has disappeared from the Alliance after many years of focus outside NATO’s core areas.
“I think the shift from Afghanistan back to NATO’S core areas has brought more focus on winter training and cold knowledge.”
“A lot of practical know-how is lost and we need to learn this again. Therefore, we look forward to the exercise in Norway, and we are very motivated”, he says.
His colleague Arne agrees. He works at the German Armed Forces’ Medical Supply Centre in Kiel.
“For us to function and operate all over NATO, we need to know each other and the different landscapes. Attending this course is an opportunity few soldiers get, so we are quite proud to be here”, says Arne.
For our recent special report on the Nordics and the Strategic Shift, see the following:
https://sldinfo.com/2018/05/the-nordics-and-the-strategic-shift/
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has named Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell, the new Chief of the Defence Force from July.
Prime Minister Turnbull said General Campbell’s new appointment would allow for “a seamless leadership transition” for the armed forces, which are currently undergoing the greatest modernisation yet seen.
I want to congratulate Lieutenant-General Campbell,” Prime Minister Turnbull said.
“We’re … undertaking the largest modernisation of the capabilities of the Australian Defence Force in our peacetime history.
“It is a massive national enterprise that we are undertaking and that is why we need the finest minds, the finest leaders at the helm of the ADF.”
Major-General Rick Burr is becoming Chief of Army.
Admiral Johnston becomes the new number two as Vice-Chief of Defence Force, responsible for the effective administration of the three services, the army, the navy, and the air force.
Air Vice-Marshal Mel Hupfeld steps into Vice-Admiral David Johnston’s current post as Chief of Joint Operations.
The current Chief of Navy, Tim Barrett is also stepping down to be replaced by Rear Admiral Michael Noonan.
The featured photos shows the the Chief of Joint Operations flag is handed from the outgoing Chief of Joint Operations Vice Admiral David Johnston AM, to the incoming Chief of Joint Operations Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld AO, DSC at Headquarters Joint Operations Command.
For past interviews with the newly promoted senior officers, see the following:
https://sldinfo.com/2017/05/designing-an-integrated-force-alignments-and-challenges/
According to a story published April 12, 2108 on the UK Royal Navy website, the training of the Voyager tankers with UK F-35s was highlighted.
Thousands of feet above the Eastern Seaboard of the USA four British jets of tomorrow take on fuel from an RAF tanker – preparation for their impending arrival in the UK.
Fleet Air Arm and RAF crews are preparing around the clock to deliver the first F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters – the striking power of the nation’s two new aircraft carriers – to their new home at RAF Marham in East Anglia.
Having learned the art of flying fast jets in the UK – earning their wings on Hawk trainers at RAF Valley – all pilots selected for the F-35 programme cross the Atlantic and learn to master the new fifth-generation fighter at the US Marine Corps’ base at Beaufort in South Carolina.
Training on the multi-million pound jets will remain Stateside, but the UK’s front-line F-35 squadrons – firstly 617 Sqn RAF, later 809 NAS – will operate from Marham, each with mixed RN/RAF air and ground crew.
There’s just the small matter of 4,134 miles separating Beaufort and Marham – most of it Atlantic Ocean and the F-35B has a range of about 1,000 miles.
Hence the need for air-to-air refuelling (aka ‘tanking’)…several times.
So the RAF dispatched one of its Voyager tankers from 10 Squadron at Brize Norton to Cecil Airport in Jacksonville, Florida, to practise refuelling manoeuvres by day and night with the jets over the USA’s east coast.
It’s not the first air-to-air refuelling with the F-35Bs… but it is the first crewed entirely by the RAF.
Two RN and two RAF Lightning IIs manouevred into position to take on fuel – inserting the nozzle of their fuel intake (the probe), into the funnel-shaped drogue which delivers that fuel.
The tanker – a modified Airbus 330 airliner – can pump as much as 132,000lb of fuel over a five hour mission, or enough fuel to fill an F-35B’s tank nine times.
The coming few months mark a key period in the rebirth of Britain’s carrier strike force. As well as 617 Sqn debuting at Marham, in the late summer HMS Queen Elizabeth will conduct her first trials with the new aircraft off the east coast of the USA.
The Russian seizure of Crimea and other aspects of its global activism have had a significant effect on the Nordics.
The Nordics are working mores closely together to deal with the strategic shift. And they are adding new capabilities to shape a more effective approach to crisis management and deterrence in depth.
And the Norwegians, Swedes and Finns are clearly committed to a total defense concept whereby society is being mobilized to support defense in depth as well.
This special report based on recent interviews in Denmark, Norway and Finland provide some insights into how the Nordics are addressing the strategic shift and provides a baseline for further work.
These two videos show the F-35A taking off and landing at Nellis AFB with Los Vegas in the background.
The videos were shot by the 99th Air Base Wing.
02.16.2017
Video by Senior Airman Timothy Kirchner
F-35 at Nellis AFB from SldInfo.com on Vimeo.
By Robbin Laird
During my May 2018 visit to MCAS Yuma, I had a chance to sit down with the Commanding Officer of the Air Station who has significant electronic warfare experience and was part of the standup of the SPMAGTF-CR-AF.
The naming convention was changed multiple times.
The original name was SPMAGTF-AF operating out of NAS Sigonella, Italy.
This force was not a CR force and was designed to support Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) utilizing logistics combat element (LCE), no Air Combat Element (ACE), or Ground Combat Element (GCE).
The (CE) was limited in scope and tailored to meet mission requirements.
After 2013 the ACE, and GCE were added with a robust CE to support the Crisis Response (CR) mission requirements and hence became the SPMAGTF-CR.
We are focusing on the role of insertion forces in 21stcrisis management and the birthing of the SPMAGTF-CR-AF &CENT is clearly part of that transition.
Our conversation focused around the standup of SPMAGTF-CR-AF and the way ahead with crisis management.
During the visit of Murielle Delaporte to Morón Air Base, Spain, Dec. 6, 2013, the initial standup of the SPMAGTF-CR-AF was described:
SPMAGTF–CR-AF is a self-command and -controlled, self-deploying and highly mobile maritime crisis response force allocated to U.S. Africa Command to respond to a broad range of military operations to provide limited-defense crisis response in the AFRICOM/EUCOM region.
The Marine task force can serve as the lead element, or the coordination node, for a larger fly-in element. It also can conduct military-to-military training exercises throughout the AFRICOM and EUCOM areas of responsibility.
Like other MAGTFs, the SPMAGTF–CR includes a command element, a ground combat element (GCE), an aviation combat element (ACE) and a logistics combat element (LCE). It is composed largely from II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C., coordinating a balanced team of ground, air and logistics assets under a central command.
https://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/2014/04/filling-gap
Col. Suggs provided an overview on how the standup and operation of the force provided a defensive insertion force, which empowered crisis response options but also triggered broader working relationships with allies in shaping convergent crisis response capabilities.
Crisis management requires both the forces and the convergent C2 and decision making to use those forces. And the standup and operation of the SPMAGTF-CR-AF facilitated both processes.
In effect, the formation of the SPMAGTF-CR-AF provided a bridging function for AFRICOM and EUCOM to be able to provide insertion forces able to deploy rapidly, a key means for triggering enhanced training with key allies in the Western Mediterranean.
This was especially important as the focus had shifted dramatically to CENTCOM and provided an important stimulus to American forces being able to work through with interoperability among crisis response forces.
SIPRNET is where Americans work with each other, and can become a limiting capability which inhibits broader and more effective collaboration with allies, the kind of collaboration central to allied crisis management.
And the Western Med collaboration in turn provided leverage back into broader NATO collaboration.
And all of this was driven by the stand up of the SPMAGTF-CR-AF as a forcing function force, so to speak.
“In fact, SPMAGTF-CR-AF itself was born from the Benghazi crisis.
“We did not have a reactive/sustainable force to operate in Africa and the AFRICOM and EUCOM relationship did not have in place the procedures for how to transfer forces from one component commander to the other in African operations in a timely manner.
“Having a complete understanding and the authority to launch a CR force from a sovereign nation can create additional bureaucratic delays if all participates are not on the same sheet.
“SPMAGTF-CR-AF created a catalyst and through collaboration with the Spanish and Italian MODs we were able to establish a clear common understanding allowing for quick response to a crisis.
“To me a crisis is my house on fire and I need to call the first responders right away and know the number to call. It’s about building connective tissue, or access to the right people at the right time.”
“We needed to set up the first responders and the 911 number.
“And it is not just a question of the physical force, but the working relationships among allies to allow that force to engage rapidly.
“We have logistics support units postured in Africa but we are not set up to operate in Africa for a sustained period of time unless we are operating out of Djibouti.
“And it was cost prohibitive to set up Djibouti West, if one might call it that.
Question: In effect, you were sizing a force that could be effective, but clearly defensive in nature, and one that could work with allies to get not just pre-positioning but de facto pre authorization for use?
Col. Suggs: The challenge was precisely that.
“SPMAGTF-CR-AF was set up to operate out of Morón Air Base, Spain, and worked closely with Naval Air Station (NAS), Sigonella, Italy.
“The Spanish have great forces operating from Morón Air Base and we had close proximity with the French.
“We have had a lot of coordination with French Forces and conducted routine training exercises to ensure proper techniques and procedures where established.
“We have introduced the Osprey to the Spanish, French, Italians, and UK, integrating forces conducting amphibious training on their ships. This increased readiness in not only our forces, but also to NATO forces.
“In effect, we were going back to the time when we used to have a MEU in the Mediterranean working with allies, but that has atrophied given the focus on CENTCOM.”
Col. Suggs highlighted that the SPMAGTF-CR-AF was a triggering for more allied cooperation as well.
“We created a number of second and third order effects as well as our small force contingents were able to work with other NATO allies, such as in theEUCOM Black Sea Rotational Force.
“There a small force of Marines led by a Marine Corps LtCol led the effort and we learned how to work more effectively together.
“The problem on the US side is that we rely primarily on SIPRNET for our communications and even though a significant amount of the content is actually unclassified, we are operating within our SIPRNET culture.
“Allies are not on SIPRNET so we need to train ourselves to become more interoperable and work with other communication and intelligence channels to deliver the kind of crisis management effect we are going to need.”
“This small little group is operating as a trigger for significant reworking by ourselves and our allies, way beyond the combat weight of what that force brings to the table.”
Question: It is important to focus on crisis management, not simply forces the US can deploy to an event.
How does your SPMAGTF experience trigger that kind of learning?
Col. Suggs: If we have a crisis to respond too, a key part of the response is ensuring that the relevant allies are all on the same page operationally and politically.
“Because we are training regularly with those allies but not bringing overwhelming force to the training, we shape common approaches and procedures, which are crucial to crisis management situations.
“It is about convergent forces, and convergent intervention approaches and shaping a capability to do so in the short time span which effective crisis intervention requires.
“It is not about bringing multiple Army battalions or Air Force Air Wings. It is about arriving at the right time; the right place and to get the right effect our outcome.
“When one’s house is on fire you want to call the first responders and expect them to show up.
“You are not calling the insurance adjuster’s first.”
The featured photo and slideshow show U.S. Marine Corps Col. David A. Suggs, the commanding officer of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., when he was invited to fly in one of two EA-6B Prowler aircraft attached to Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron (VMAQ) 2, Oct. 16, 2017.
This is the first time Col. Suggs has flown the Prowler after Many Years. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Ernest D. Grant)
by Robbin Laird
Recently, I had the chance to visit RAF Marham and to interview Air Commodore Bradshaw who was appointed as Lighting Force Commander, Royal Air Force Marham in April 2017.
In looking through his background, I found that we had something in common. We both had been onboard the HMS Illustrious.
Air Commodore David Bradshaw is a fast jet pilot with almost 3000 hours flying experience of which 2000 hours were in Harrier GR7 / 9 as a front line pilot, Qualified Weapons Instructor and Display Pilot.
He has seen operational service over the Balkans and Iraq, the latter from both land and HMS Illustrious.
As a group captain, he commanded 904 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW), Kandahar, followed by RAF Leeming and 135 EAW. Staff roles have included: Group Captain Lightning; Assistant Director (Integration) within the Directorate of Equipment Capability, Deep Target Attack; Chief-of-Staff Strategy within the Air Staff; and as the MoD member of the Prime Minister’s Strategic Communications Team during the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya.
Air Commodore Bradshaw assumed command of the UK Lightning Force in spring 2017 and is responsible for generating an Initial Operational Capability in 2018 with an embarked operational capability from HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2020.
His role was obviously both different and more significant than mine, but my visit in 2007 was at the end of the line of the ship and was being populated with USMC Ospreys and Harriers in a training exercise off of the Virginia coast.
It has only been a decade since then but with the coming of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, again off of the Virginia coast this year, we are marking a significant way forward for both the Royal Navy and for the F-35 program.
Here is my most recent look at the 2007 visit to HMS Illustrious.
03/25/2015
By Robbin Laird
In 2007, the HMS Illustrious was the first non-US ship on which an Osprey was to land.
I had the opportunity to be aboard one of those Ospreys and land on the ship and observe Marines working with the Royal Navy and operating their Harriers off of the jump-jet carrier as part of their training effort.
At the time British Harriers were operating in Iraq and not aboard the ship itself.
These photos show the Osprey and USMC Harriers operating aboard HMS Illustrious in the 2007 training exercise and are credited to Second Line of Defense.
The final photo is credited to the Royal Navy and was shot when in September 2013, the Osprey landed again on the ship.
According to a Royal Navy story published in 2013:
Six years ago HMS Illustrious became the first non-US ship to fly an Osprey and was pleased to welcome one back on board with it completing a total of four deck landings.
Piloting the US Marine Corp aircraft as it landed at dusk was a Royal Navy Lieutenant – Alan Wootton – a former Army Air Corps pilot who transferred to the Royal Navy as a Lynx pilot.
Al is on a three year exchange with the US Marine Corps and flew with co-pilot Captain Goudy of the United States Marine Corps.
Lieutenant Commander Nigel Terry, deputy head of HMS Illustrious’ Flight Department was also on board when the Osprey visited in 2007.
He said: “Opportunities like this present an invaluable opportunity to continue to grow our ability to work together with other nations.
This is absolutely essential in modern naval operations.
“It allows us to grow our understanding of our different procedures as well as providing valuable training for our deck crews…..”
Until recently, USS Kearsarge had three Royal Navy aircraft handlers embarked as part of the Long Lead Specialist Skills Programme.
This programme seeks to retain and develop the specialist skills required to operate the Royal Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers which are under construction at Rosyth dockyard.
Three US Marines and six US Navy personnel also visited HMS Illustrious during the rendezvous.
HMS Illustrious is currently part of the Response Force Task Group deployed on Cougar 13 operating in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Horn of Africa.
It involves exercising with partner nations, and will show the UK Armed Forces’ capacity to project an effective maritime component anywhere in the world as part of the Royal Navy’s Response Force Task Group as commanded by Commodore Paddy McAlpine.
Recently, in an interview at Camp Lejeune, Major General Simcock, the CG of 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, spoke of the importance of evolving a global amphibious fleet, where Marines need to train and be able to work with allies and partners off of their ships as well US Navy ships.
Clearly, the kind of relationship the UK and the US has evolved is an example of this.
With the coming of the USS America, and the revitalization of the large deck amphibious ships with the twin operations of Ospreys and F-35Bs, there is a clear opportunity to expand those relationships with foreign warships, which can either operate the Osprey or the F-35B.
And with the British building the largest warship they have ever built coming on line in the period ahead, opportunities for shaping USN-USMC and British collaborative con-ops will go up as well.