Robbin Laird, Author at Second Line of Defense

Cold Response 2016 Concludes: Norway Hosts Allies in High Intensity Force-on-Force Cold Weather Exercise

Posted on April 2, 2016 | by Robbin Laird

04/02/2016

2016-04-02

Nato has successfully concluded a cold-weather training exercise, Exercise Cold Response 2016 (CDR 16), which involved 12 member nations and partner countries.

The exercise involved the land, maritime and aerial assets of 12 Nato and partner countries, more than 3,000 US service members and 6,500 members of the Norwegian armed forces.

The Norwegian-led CDR 16 aimed at training a multi-national force by engaging them into a joint and combined setting under challenging conditions and subsequently enhancing their interoperability and joint action.

During the exercise, the US crew joined forces with their Dutch and Norwegian counterparts and became a member of the Order of the Royal Blue Noses by crossing the Arctic Circle and witnessing the Northern Lights.

US Navy Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Fort McHenry commanding officer commander Michael Johnson said: “It’s always beneficial to know and understand how another country operates, especially in its own backyard.

“The coming together of nations to support a higher strategic alliance is always beneficial during an exercise that covers so many different operations.”

The 186m-long vessel, Fort McHenry, with a displacement of approximately 16,000t, was deployed to the Cold Response Amphibious Task Group (ATG), led by the Dutch amphibious staff Royal Netherlands Marine Forces.

The vessel was carrying US Marines and equipment, including 16 amphibious assault vehicles, a landing craft utility, and various other support vehicles.

The ATG had also included two Dutch landing dock ships, the HNLMS (L801) Johan de Witt and HNLMS (L800) Rotterdam.

According to a piece published February 23, 2016 by Sgt. Kirstin Merrimarahajara, II Marine Expeditionary Force:

RENA, Norway –

Seven months ago, planning began for Exercise Cold Response 16, a cold-weather training exercise involving 12 NATO and partner countries and approximately 16,000 troops.

Norway extended an invitation to the U.S. Marines, which was graciously accepted, and the two countries put their heads together to make this year’s exercise one of the largest, in terms of Marine participation, in recent years.

One key element of the exercise’s success has been close coordination between Norway and U.S. planners, who have tackled the monumental task of trying to envision the future of this large-scale exercise, anticipate problems ahead of the game and brainstorm potential solutions.

A Norwegian recovery vehicle hooks up to a U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Assault Vehicle prior to the start of a live-fire range in Rena, Norway, as part of their pre-exercise training Feb. 17, 2016. The Marines and Norwegian Army are working together as part of Exercise Cold Response, a joint NATO and allied country exercise comprised of 12 countries and approximately 16,000 troops. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Master Sgt. Chad McMeen/Released)

Norwegian Lt. Col Erik Bjørnstadbråten and U.S. Marine Maj. Marcus Mainz have been communicating throughout the planning process and have been attached at the hip and focused on that task since 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade personnel began arriving in Norway nearly a month ago.

“What we said to each other from the very beginning is ‘Let’s make this as real as possible. What if we really had to do this as a team? Let’s find all those little things that you would have to do, things you would never think of until you’re there,’” said Mainz, 2nd MEB future operations planner for the exercise.

“We said every system we pull from the caves, we will go test. We will drive it, we will shoot it, we will move it along roads; we don’t want to just get there and pretend. I think that was the big difference – that we were willing to do it the hard way to get all the lessons learned.”

Cold Response will incorporate air, land, maritime and cyber domains.This year’s addition of a Combined Joint Task Force, which will integrate international military personnel into a single headquarters element coordinating the actions of an aggregated force.

Under this structure, Norway’s Brigade North will participate as a tactical brigade rather than on its more customary role as a Land Component Command according to Bjørnstadbråten, 2nd MEB future operations officer for the exercise.

“The interoperability part of it – all nations and all their sub-units have to link up and establish common procedures, both during the integration phase and improving upon this during the exercise. I think it’s good for the MEB as well for all other participant nations,” said Bjørnstadbråten.

Though the exercise will commence later this month, Marines have been in Norway since January testing equipment and really getting a feel for how to operate in this environment to get the absolute most out of the training.

According to Mainz, U.S. personnel are presented with a unique opportunity by training in Norway: nothing is off-limits. Participants will not be confined to military bases and will train over a large swath of the country with very little restriction on tactical movements.

Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment (3 RCR), conduct a simulated attack near Namsos, Norway during Exercise COLD RESPONSE on March 4, 2016. Photo: MCpl Maggie Gosse, Garrison Imaging Petawawa

“This is a tough experience to replicate, not just with the cold weather, but with the way the Norwegians are allowing us to operate; I think we’re going to get one of the most unique experiences that a brigade has had in a really long time,” said Mainz. “It’s what a war in this region could really be like.”

Norwegians and Americans have spent several months, side-by-side, planning an exercise projected to last only 10 days, but knowing that the two nations will have grown immensely as a powerful force by the end of it.

“We talk a lot about trust and I think our countries – on a military level – trust each other more now than they have in decades. I think that’s probably the most important thing that we’ve built, along with all the interoperability,” said Mainz.

“I absolutely believe that we have to keep doing this kind of collaboration, and we have to keep doing these kinds of exercises that put strains on the systems, that find errors and that just make us better and stronger.”

http://www.marines.mil/News/NewsDisplay/tabid/3258/Article/671134/norwegian-marine-planning-effort-epitomizes-cold-response-spirit.aspx

The Canadians provided Approximately 300 Canadian Army soldiers from 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2 CMBG) and 3rd Battalion.

The Royal Canadian Regiment (3 RCR) from Garrison Petawawa have completed a high intensity force-on-force cold weather war fighting exercise.

The Dutch engagement is highlighted in the following Dutch video:

For a Finnish take on their involvement in Cold Response 2016:

And for a look at Norwegian forces in Cold Response 2016, see the following:

Cold Response 2016: Norwegian Troops in the Exercise from SldInfo.com on Vimeo.

For our piece on the Johan de Witt and the Osprey landing during Trident Juncture 2015, see the following:

http://sldinfo.wpstage.net/osprey-lands-on-hnlms-johan-de-witt-in-trident-juncture-2015/

For our interview with the Commander of the HDMS Niels Juel on the Osprey landing on his ship, see the following:

http://sldinfo.wpstage.net/visiting-the-hdms-niels-juel-an-interview-with-commander-lars-holbaek/

Editor’s Note: For anyone who does not think the Finns take the Russians seriously, it is good to remember that they have the largest mobilizable ground forces in Europe, other than Russia.

In a Newsweek article published 5/1/15, the Finnish approach was highlighted.

The Finnish Defence Forces are to send letters to all 900,000 of the country’s reservists at the beginning of this month, informing them what their role would be in a “crisis situation”, causing a row over whether such a move is necessary.

Finland, with its population of 5.2 million, has a small professional army of 16,000. Yet in the event of mobilisation, Finland could call on its former conscripts to fight. Finland’s wartime military strength is 230,000.

According to local media reports, the decision was announced via a television advert, telling the nation’s reservists “We want to have a word with you”, and warning former conscripts that “Conscription is the cornerstone of Finland’s defence capability.”

The letter will reportedly inform reservists between the ages of 20-60 what their role would be in a “crisis situation”. The letter also asks them to send up-to-date details of their whereabouts.

The director of communications of the Finnish Defence Forces, Mika Kalliomaa, denied any link to a threat from Russia, with whom Finland shares a 1,300km (800 mile) border. “The sending out of these letters to our reservists has no connection to the security situation around Finland,” he said. “We are simply keeping ties with our reservists and asking them what their role would be in an instance of war, and asking them if there is new knowledge we should know about. There is no link to any threat from Russia.”

Last year, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in an interview with theWashington Post: “We have a long history with Russia — not that peaceful all the time. So everything the Russians are doing, surely the Finns notice and think very carefully about what that might mean.”

In the case of the recent air incursions, he said, the message was clear: “They were testing how we’d react.” Finland boosted the readiness of its airforce following an increase in Russian incursions into its airspace.

According to Peter Iiskola, a former Finnish district court judge and journalist, it is the first time such a letter has been sent out. “It is extraordinary and is clearly intended to make people feel there is a Russian threat and that ‘pre-mobilization’ steps must be taken,” he says. Yet Iiskola believes that rather than responding to a genuine threat from Russia, the Finnish military is hoping to instigate panic and encourage the soon-to-be-formed government to spend more on defence.

Mastering the Reshaping of the Joint Force Capability Puzzle: A Discussion with Air Marshal Davies of the Royal Australian Air Force

Posted on April 1, 2016 | by Robbin Laird

04/01/2016

2016-04-01 By Robbin Laird

During my March 2016 visit to Australia to attend the Airpower Conference on Multi-Domain Integration and the Williams Foundation Seminar on New Approaches to Air-Land Integration, I had a chance to meet with Air Marshal Davies throughout those sessions and then to meet at his office on March 21, 2016 to do a proper interview.

One of those sessions involved an interaction with the Australian media, where the Air Marshal drove home a core point about the South China Sea and the Australian position with regard to Chinese activities in the area.

Interestingly, the Air Marshal highlighted that the presence of the regional air bosses at the Airpower conference provided an opportunity to discuss mutual concerns and responses.

Clearly, there was an interest on Australia’s part to understand the perceptions of the various regional players and how they might respond.

But the Australian response was clear both at the government level and from the Air Marshal.

The Australian government underscores the importance of rule based behavior in the area, obviously having in mind the Chinese trying to make up their own rules.

And the Air Marshal said that the focus was ensuring that we could do for the next fifty years what we have done for the last in terms of transit and “gateway continuity.”

During my visit in August 2015, I first had the opportunity to interview the COS of the RAAF shortly after he became head of the RAAF.

During that interview, his focus was upon the Middle East operations and ensuring that the Plan Jericho transformation approach launched by his predecessor, Air Marshal Geoff Brown, was gaining traction and momentum.

Question: What has been the impact of the operations in the Middle East on the RAAF?

Air Marshal Davies; We certainly have deployed fighters and air lifters in exercises and operations.

Air Marshal Leo Davies with Robbin Laird after the Second Line of Defense interview at the Air Marshal’s office in Canberra, Australia, August 3, 2015.

But this is the first time we have taken an integrated air package to an operation. It is the first operational experience for both the KC-30A and the Wedgetail and the first time the Super Hornets operated (outside of Red Flag) with F-22s……

Question: There is a general lack of focus on the impact of software upgradeability on force structure modernization to come,

Your Plan Jericho approach fits very well a software upgradeability approach to modernization. Which platforms should be upgraded? And with what software code rewrites to do which tasks?

Air Marshal Davies: This point is generally missed, I was in London at RUSI a few weeks ago and made a similar point. And I got more up and down head movements than I did side to side. And I think there are folk who are beginning to understand this.

But sometimes folk like me are part of the problem. What the leadership I believe needs to do now is just open up the aperture a little bit. And let folk from industry and from defense and I think there’s a really important piece here about what does army, what does navy, and in the United States case, what do the marines, and the coast guard do. What are these folk thinking are options to try and explore, including leveraging the data stream from the F-35.

If we do not open the aperture and change the thought processes, we will be flying the F-35 as if it is a classic four-ship formation fighter and totally miss the point.

It is about culture change.

And the evolution we are discussing will clearly affect coalitions and who we work with.

What I would contend has been unacceptable in the future is coalition partners who don’t know what the coalition partners are flying with and what their ability to contribute is.

Air Marshal Davies opened the two day RAAF Airpower Conference where more than 1,000 attendees from Australia, and the region, the US and Europe participated.

The first day was highlighted by the Minister of Defence and the Service Chiefs providing their perspectives on the challenges and ways ahead for the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

In his opening remarks, Davies highlighted that the RAAF Plan Jericho was dovetailing with similar plans of the other two services.

But because the RAAF was in the throes of a significant modernization and with the coming of the F-35, Plan Jericho was a lead element.

According to the RAAF chief, “Plan Jericho is designed to transform the RAAF into a fifth generation enabled force. This is not a singular airpower effort.” It is multi-domain and cross-cutting with the other services.

Chief of Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Leo Davis AO, CSC Addresses the Conference. *** Local Caption *** The biennial Air Power Conference on 15 and 16 March 2016, explores the idea of seamless joint effects. The theme of Multi-Domain Integration - Enabling Future Joint Success explores the integration of air, sea, land, space and cyber operations to evolve to a truly joint force. Day one focuses on strategic multi-domain integration, While day two focuses on the implementation of operations through Plan Jericho. The conference will also announce the 2016 RAAF Heritage Awards. — Chief of Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Leo Davis AO, CSC Addresses the Conference.

During the second day of the Airpower Conference, the focus was upon providing an update on Plan Jericho and progress in the RAAF with regard to the approach and to shaping thinking about multi-domain integration.

The Chief of Staff focused on the increasing demands being placed on RAAF personnel to deal with the challenges of change, and the pace of operations, as well as the coming into the fleet of new capabilities along with newly combat tested assets, such as Wedgetail and the KC-30A.

“The technology maybe cutting edge, but the people in the front lines, and those that create and sustain the effort are those who shape the combat capability.”

Air Marshal Davies Presentation to Airpower Conference, March 16, 2016.

He followed this presentation the next day with the keynote address to the Williams Foundation seminar on new approaches to air-land integration.

He argued throughout his presentation that RAAF transformation was a key driver for the opportunity for shaping a more effective integrated and joint force but it would not happen by itself and required work across the ADF to ensure that transformation would occur.

When we met at his office on March 21, the theme of the intersection between the RAAF and joint innovation was a key focus of the discussion. But what Davies argued was that this is a very dynamic and interactive and open-ended process.

“It is like a jig saw puzzle.

You have these really nice pieces to the puzzle sitting in the container, but until you begin to look at the picture your trying to create through the overall puzzle, you do not know which bit goes where.”

With regard to F-35 as an example, Davies argued the following:

“I think Joint Strike Fighter on its own, a fifth generation air combat aircraft, could be regarded as just an air combat aircraft.

If you want to shoot the bad guy down, if you want to defend the battle space for a land maneuver or for a maritime strike, that’s fine.

But what we’re beginning to appreciate now is that it’s not just an air combat asset it is also an ISR node.

If you were to then put two more pieces of your puzzle down and go, “Well that’s starting to form a bit of a picture here,” in the center of your puzzle. ”

What else could I do if it was truly an ISR node?

How do I manage that asset differently than if it was just going to shoot down another fighter?”

Although the puzzle analogy suggested an overall approach what he really was focusing on the interaction between the evolving bigger picture, and relooking at what each piece of the puzzle might be able to do in fitting into a new puzzle big picture so to speak.

“How would you operate the air warfare destroyer differently as you add a Wedgetail, a P-8, a Triton or an F-35 to its operational environment?

Air Marshal Davies during media roundtable held at the airpower conference on March 15, 2016. Credit Photo: Second Line of Defense

And conversely, how could the changes in how the destroyer would operate as you evolve systems on it, affect how you operate or modernize the other pieces of the evolving puzzle?”

Plan Jericho is about opening the aperture on thinking both about the pieces and the various puzzle pictures, which can be created.

Davis saw two key drivers for change as well in terms of the younger members of the RAAF would rethink how the RAAF could integrate more effectively and industry partners helping inform the RAAF about the art of the possible.

This clearly affects thinking about platforms.

The shift from a platform centric world is not about platforms not mattering; they do; but what is crucial is now evaluating how a new platform contributes in a multi-mission, or multi-tasking and specialized effect for the evolving force.

The government as well as the services working more effectively to shape how their particular new platform contributes to both the service’s core missions as well as the effects desired for the extended battlespace.

Air Marshal Davies argued that when buying platforms going forward, a key consideration beyond their basic functional contribution or task to determining how “integratable” those platforms might be going forward.

“I know it’s a little unfair, but we would probably rethink the combat system on Tiger if we were to buy an armed reconnaissance helicopter tomorrow. Having flown the airplane, I don’t have any issue with the airplane that is Tiger. But how do you integrate it? At the moment it is less than ideal in terms of integration.”

He argued that it was crucial to have a realistic and broad view with regard to force design in mind as one thinks about adding platforms, and a large portion of that force design needs to revolve around “integratability.”

“For example, we are having a long conversation inside Air Force around how would you use a KC-30 better than we currently do?

Well you would integrate it.

So what does that mean for tanker?

It means that we spend a long time in the airspace providing fuel to aircraft. What’s it doing in between the refuels?

It’s flying racetracks or patterns or getting to the next place that gas is needed airborne. What’s it doing while it’s doing that? Why can’t it collect some form of ISR data to be turned to knowledge?

Deputy Chief Of Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Gavin Davies, AO, CSC, farewells deploying troops to the Middle East from RAAF Base Williamtown. *** Local Caption *** The main contingent of Royal Australian Air Force personnel and aircraft departed for the Middle East from RAAF Bases Amberley and Williamtown. The aircraft included F/A-18F Super Hornets, a KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport and an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft. Following the Governments decision to prepare to contribute to international led efforts to disrupt and degrade ISIL, the Australian Defence Force is deploying approximately 600 ADF personnel to the Middle East where they will prepare to respond to future Government decisions regarding Iraq — Deputy Chief Of Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Gavin Davies, AO, CSC, farewells deploying troops to the Middle East from RAAF Base Williamtown. Credit Photo: Australian Ministry of Defence

The legacy perspective would be to say: “No it’s an in mid-air refueler and a transport aircraft.”

The new perspective is to think about how the KC-30 can become a communications node for platforms and systems other than fighters. Perhaps you’re able to relay information to soldiers on the ground, or with regard to the new amphibious task force, perhaps you might, from a couple hundred miles off the coast, be able to relay information during the time the tanker is on station.

That makes a lot of sense to me, and a lot of it can happen without the crew having to do one extra bit of work other than provide the node.”

Clearly, as the RAAF brings the F-35 into service it views its value as an asset which it wants to wring as much “integrability” as they can from the “flying combat system.”

“I view the F-35 as a key catalyst of change not just for the Air Force but the entire ADF.

But to get there, we need to focus on our ability to work with the ADF and remain connected.

We can explore; we can provide options.

We can provide core functions for the evolution of the ADF, but we have to make sure that we are able to stay connected, and paced properly.”

And the regional side of the ADF operations was increasingly critical as well for the RAAF.

“This is not just about an Australia/US or just about an Australia/UK connected effort.

This is about being able to work with partners in the region such as we are doing with Fiji on HADR. We need to be able to still do all of those pieces.”

In short, one needed to focus upon “integrability” as the platforms interactively evolved and the missions adapted to threats and technologies.

Air Vice-Marshal McDonald Views the Way Ahead for the RAAF in the Joint Operations Space

Posted on March 30, 2016 | by Robbin Laird

03/30/2016

2016-03-30 By Robbin Laird

During the first day of the RAAF Conference on Airpower, I had a chance to sit down and to talk with the Deputy Chief of Staff of the RAAF, Air Vice-Marshal McDonald.

This is the third time I have had the opportunity to interview him, initially in his previous post as Commander of Air Mobility Group and twice during his current role as Deputy Chief.

The focus of the first interview in January 2015 was upon the Middle East deployment of the RAAF during what the Aussies call Operation Okra, and upon the deployment of a completely integrated air package of fighters, C-17s, the KC-30A and the E-7 or the Wedgetail.

Question: The movement of the RAAF from Australia to Iraq was a major statement about the self-deployment capability of the RAAF enabled by the AMG. Could you describe this effort?

Air Commodore McDonald: This was a defining moment for the RAAF and really the first time we self deployed an air combat package, equipment and personnel over such a long distance and in such a short period of time.

KC-30A MRTT and E-7A Wedgetail conduct Air to Air refuelling testing in the airspace near RAAF Williamtown.

The maturing of the KC-30A was the game changer, in conjunction with our heavy lift fleet.

As you know from visiting the KC-30A squadron earlier this year, we have been very focused on assembling a combat focused capability piece by piece. This has not been without its challenges, as the KC-30A still has a foot in both the operational space and project space.

However, both the project and operational teams are working the issues collegiately. Operation Okra has accelerated the maturing process of the KC-30A.

The focus of the second interview held in August 2015 at his office in Canberra, Air Vice-Marshal McDonald highlighted the Plan Jericho thought process and how to shape ways to enhance the ability of the air platforms to work more effectively with one another and to become an effective part of the transformation of the joint force.

He discussed the C-130Js and C-17s as an example of how the RAAF was looking at transformation.

Question: An example of your transformation approach has been what you are doing with your C-130Js. Could you describe the process and how you are addressing the future of this platform as a joint asset?

Air Vice Marshal McDonald: With the KC-30A and the C-17, we really do not need to use the C-130J as a transport aircraft.

And we are adding the C-27J to do that mission with a wider variety of austere locations in the region where we might need to operate.

What then with regard to the C-130J?

A clear path is to make it a combat asset integrated with the ground forces to inert them into areas of interest.

But to do this effectively we need to add SATCOM and ISR capabilities, which we have done, are doing.

A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) refuels a United States Air Force C-17A Globemaster III transport.

By doing so this triggers a change in Army whereby they can look to link digitally with RAAF assets to create a more effective joint combat package.

By enabling them to have all that decision authority, and full understanding of situational awareness aboard the C-130J, you then have a very good joint blade to spearhead an operation.

And we are doing similar things with the C-17 whereby we have added broadband communication to the aircraft along with Air View 360 to the back of the aircraft to provide situational awareness and communications tools for our troops onboard.

This is Plan Jericho in action, which is a con-ops driven approach.

One looks for the appropriate technology for the appropriate platform to shape the effect which you need to create in the battlespace, rather than having simply a technological driven approach.

In the most recent interview conducted on March 15, 2016 in Canberra, the Deputy Chief of Staff discussed how the RAAF was working with Army and Navy to shape cross-cutting transformation.

This clearly is a work in progress, and whatever success the RAAF has had in launching their new platforms and enhancing their ability to work with one another was important in and of itself, but also as a foundation for shaping more effective joint solutions.

And by joint solutions, he was not talking about how airpower has supported the ground forces for the past decade in the land wars, but shaping new ways to enhance the ability of airpower to intersect with and to reshape the capabilities of the ground maneuver and naval forces in the extended battlespace.

This meant the next round of modernization needed to focus on ways to configure air platforms to provide for greater interactivity with the ground and naval forces as well as those forces providing enhanced contributions to airpower in terms of achieving the desired combat effects.

Getting to this point has been hard or challenging for the RAAF, as two of the key air platforms, the Wedgetail and the KC-30A, were not esy to bring on line and to become full members of the RAAF.

“Some may disagree, but working through complex problems, such as those encountered with the KC-30A and Wedgetail is crucial learning the skills necessary to find an effective way ahead to deal with next round of complex of problems and challenges.”

And he underscored that the way the RAAF has succeeded is how they will continue to work in the future.

“We needed to get the platforms in the hands of the warfighters as early as possible so that we were addressing real needs as opposed to lists of requirements.

And by getting real combat experience, we could determine where our resources for modernization should be applied to get the maximum effect.”

In the case of the Wedgetail, the ability to work with fighters and to operate in the battlespace is now combat proven; the next round of modification of the software onboard the aircraft really needed to focus on the engagement with the naval forces, or to find ways for naval systems to work with Wedgetail modifications and vice-versa to deliver the kind of joint effect the ADF needed to achieve.

In the case of the KC-30A, with its situational awareness already onboard the aircraft, and with the con-ops being practiced by crews today in combat situations, the way ahead in support of the ground maneuver forces and naval forces was a key consideration for what to put on the aircraft, in terms of ISR, or C2 support.

And working with industry is seen as a key part of shaping the interactive modernizations, which the RAAF and the ADF have in mind.

Air Vice Marshal after the Second Line of Defense Interview at his office in Canberra, August 3, 2015. Credit: RAAF

And in succeeding with now combat proven KC-30As and Wedgetails, has happened as a result of opening the aperature in the working relationship between government and industry.

This is also a key foundational element in the next phase of shaping combat capability.

McDonald went out of his way to praise what he saw as forward leaning thinking from the Army leadership.

Army work on networks in support of the ground forces, and ways to master them operationally in difficult situations, was a key element of how the RAAF needed to think about the intersection of their own networks with the joint force.

He told the story of the now head of the Australian Army when he was then Major-General Campbell and working in the Middle East, McDonald came into his office, while he was writing up his post-operations report and said “I don’t believe I have enough balance in the piece with regard to the air role. Could you please contribute to it?

“He is truly a joint officer, and we in the RAAF can learn from him as we proceed with Plan Jericho.”

With regard to the way ahead, McDonald emphasized “the need for army and navy to understand our RAAF systems and ways we might modernize them so we can provide the best input to them.

We need to understand how best to provide support to one another to get the kind of maritime or land strike outcome is required by the joint force.”

The F-35 is viewed as potentially disruptive technology, which can be a key part of transforming the evolving joint approach.

“The F-35 for me is a platform on which one can increase the desired capability through software upgrades to enable you to mitigate or get around threats posed to the joint force.

In the past, air platforms simply did not enable you to shape such an approach. It is now an essential element of shaping the spiral development of the joint force itself.”

Russian Special Forces in Syria: Playing a Key Role

Posted on March 28, 2016 | by Robbin Laird

03/28/2016

2016-03-28 By Richard Weitz

The Russian media has recently given prominence to the role of Russian Special Operations Forces (SOF) in the military operation in Syria.

The Russia media confirmed the death of a Russian Special forces officer conducting forward air control had called an artillery strike on his own position after he was discovered and attacked by “terrorists.”

Even more revealing was the interview given by Colonel General Aleksandr Dvornikov, commander of the Russian contingent in Syria, to the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

Dvornikov provided the first official confirmation that Russian SOF “conduct ground reconnaissance of pre-selected targets for Russian warplanes, assist in targeting warplanes in remote areas and perform other tasks.”

Colonel General Alexander Dvornikov, deputy commander, Central Military District, holding the Hero of Russia rank, seen in the Kremlin's St.George Hall, at the ceremony of presenting state awards to officers and experts who distinguished themselves in the counter-terrorism operation in Syria, March 17, 2016. Source: Aleksey Nikolskyi/RIA Novosti — Colonel General Alexander Dvornikov, deputy commander, Central Military District, holding the Hero of Russia rank, seen in the Kremlin’s St.George Hall, at the ceremony of presenting state awards to officers and experts who distinguished themselves in the counter-terrorism operation in Syria, March 17, 2016. Source: Aleksey Nikolskyi/RIA Novosti

The General also said that Russian military advisors, which might also be SOF, provided critical air support, help train the Syrian military and other local forces such as the Kurdish military to Russian weapons, and assist them with operational planning.

“To boost the capabilities of the Syrian Army we provided advanced arms and hardware, including artillery systems, communications and reconnaissance equipment.”

The General also correctly boasted that Russian military intervention in Syria in late September 2015 saved the Syrian government from likely defeat.

A good starting point for considering the forces in Crimea is Mark Galeotti’s book ‘Spetsnaz’, which considers the history of the Russian SOF and how they had a central role in the hybrid war in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.

The Spetsnaz is a designed for low-intensity conflict and fits somewhere in between an intelligence service and a conventional army.

Galeotti argues that the Spetsnaz have had different “identity crises” over the years. The role of the Spetsnaz has been widely debated within Russia since it was formed. Initially in the Russian Civil War, the precursors to the Spetsnaz was a guerilla war force run by the Political Police (NKVD – later KGB ) and a paratrooper force under direction of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).

The Spetsnaz was formally established in 1950 under the direction of the GRU’s Naval Intelligence Directorate. While the Spetsnaz have remained under GRU control, they have been under the command of each branch of the military in their history: the Ground Forces, the Navy, and the Aerospace Forces.

In 2010, after the Georgia war, there were calls for the Spetsnaz to fall under a command other than the GRU. The airborne units argued that their VDR paratroop forces are very similar to the GRU, but the General Staff under the ground forces won this argument and the Spetsnaz briefly fell under General Staff Command.

However, the Spetsnaz was returned to GRU direction in 2013.

Phillip Karber of the Potomac Foundation offers five categories of Russian New Generation Warfare, ranging from a low level of conventional warfare intensity and a low degree of state responsibility to a high intensity and a high degree of state responsibility. The categories, from low to high, are: political subversion, proxy sanctum, intervention, negotiation, and coercive deterrence.

The categories of political subversion and proxy sanctum are the domain of irregular forces. Political subversion requires the “[seizure] of government buildings and checkpoints, sabotage, assassination, terrorism, propaganda and media campaign [and the] insertion of agents.”

Credit: UK Express http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/641550/Syria-war-Russian-spetsnaz-Aleppo-ISIS-70000-refugees-flee — Credit: UK Express

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/641550/Syria-war-Russian-spetsnaz-Aleppo-ISIS-70000-refugees-flee

The category of proxy sanctum also utilizes irregular forces, as the Russian state “consolidate[s] controlled areas, and core cadre, ‘volunteers,’ and militia destroy government infrastructure.”

In Crimea and eastern Ukraine, the Russian Federation has employed irregular forces in rapid localized actions that present others with fait accompli and, through staged incidents of supposed attacks against Russian interests or humanitarian crises, justify more direct Russian military intervention in addition to rendering diplomatic, logistical, and other non-military support for Russian operations.

Russia’s SOF have rendered technical and tactical training to the Ukrainian separatists as well as helped them organize a command-and-control system.

Furthermore, Russia’s SOF have exploited their deep penetration of the Ukrainian government’s armed forces and other security forces to help the Russian authorities and their local allies monitor, assess, and disrupt the Ukrainian government’s response.

At first, the Ukrainian authorities lacked confidence in their established military and internal security forces and created less effective paramilitary units that sometimes had extreme anti-Russian ideologies that exacerbated tensions.

In addition, Russian irregular forces have delivered weapons to pro-Russian separatists under the guise of rendering help to distressed populations.

This tactic involves delivering relief aid to territories in which Russia has created the conditions for a humanitarian crisis in the first place, thereby allowing Moscow to provide both “bullets and bandages.”

Moreover, when Moscow’s adversaries object to the Russian deliveries on foreign territory without the national government’s permission, Moscow can exploit this seeming indifference to humanitarian suffering as well as then show that it can ignore the foreign government’s wishes.

Under Putin, the special forces have also been used as political instruments.

They have conducted assassinations and sabotage operations against adversaries and provided a pretext for more overt and intrusive Russian intervention.

For example, they helped organize the South Ossetia militias, whose attacks helped provoke the Georgian government into launching its disastrous offensive in August 2008.

The Baltic authorities are now worried that the Russian special forces will work with local collaborators to create similar provocations and pretexts for Russian intervention in their countries.

In the future, the special forces aim to improve their ability to operate in small units supported by drones and other novel technologies for specialized missions, such as assassinating terrorists and warlords (including out-of-control proxies).

Eurofighter Continues Progress in Expanding Its Weapons Portfolio

Posted on March 25, 2016 | by Robbin Laird

03/25/2016

2016-03-26 Eurofighter is expanding its weapons portfolio, in part to subsume key strike functions of the Tornado as it gets retired.

A key missile in this effort is the addition of the Brimstone missile to the Eurofighter missile repertoire.

Progress is being made in adding Brimstone to the strike package, and given Brimstone’s performance in the Middle East, that is a good thing. Brimstone has demonstrated its capability as a premier close proximity strike weapon against multiple targets.

According to a Eurofighter press release earlier this week:

A series of successful ground rig trials with the air-to-surface MBDA Brimstone missile have been completed at BAE Systems Military Air & Information site in Warton, Lancashire. The trials are part of the integration of the weapon on to the Eurofighter Typhoon combat jet.

A Brimstone weapon, consisting of a launcher loaded with three missiles, was connected to an avionics systems integration ground rig to test the communication between the launcher and software.

The test was designed to ensure there was successful communication between the real weapon and the Typhoon aircraft. The activity follows successful completion of avionics design activity and the start of informal testing on the initial software in the rig.

Minister for Defence Procurement Philip Dunne said:

“I am delighted that the ground rig trials have been successfully completed as we progress towards integrating these precision strike weapons onto our Typhoon aircraft. Brimstone offers laser-guided precision technology which will boost Typhoon’s capability and it is currently proving its worth in the fight against Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

“These trials are another example of how the Ministry of Defence is investing its £178 billion over the next ten years in providing state of the art equipment for the Armed Forces.”

The trials, supported by MBDA, Eurofighter and the Eurofighter partner companies, are part of the test campaign for the Phase 3 Enhancements’ (P3E) package, which will introduce a low collateral precision strike air-to-surface capability to Typhoon through Brimstone.

The trials program is vital to collect feedback on performance and ensure a mature product enters flight test activities before entry into service.

Paul Ascroft, Technical Manager for Phase 3 Enhancement (P3E) package on Typhoon at BAE Systems, said:

“The ground rig trials are a key milestone in the integration of the Brimstone weapon on to Typhoon and we are delighted they have been successful. While testing of the software will largely be performed using a Brimstone simulator, it is vital to ensure that there is successful communication between the weapon and the aircraft.”

The ongoing trials are running alongside a flight test campaign for the Phase 2 Enhancement (P2E) package, which brings a range of new and improved long range attack capabilities to the aircraft through MBDA’s Storm Shadow deep strike missile and MBDA Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air missile.

These trials also form important maturity points for the UK Ministry of Defence’s Project CENTURION which will ensure that Typhoon is able to provide the continuous delivery of key combat air capabilities as Tornado moves towards its out of service date in 2019.

Weapons integration activity for Typhoon as part of the Phase 2 Enhancement (P2E) package and initial testing of the Phase 3 Enhancement (P3E) package is scheduled to continue in 2016. Flight tests on the Brimstone missile are due to take place later this year.

And last month, in a Eurofighter press release dated February 11, 2016, progress on integration of the storm shadow strike missile and the meteor air-to-air missile was highlighted as well.

Further trials of the Storm Shadow deep strike missile and Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air missile have been successfully completed as part of a program of improvements which will further enhance the powerful swing-role capability of the Eurofighter Typhoon combat jet.

It has been confirmed that a new operational release of the Storm Shadow missile was carried out in the UK Ministry of Defence’s Hebrides range in Scotland. The release – from the Italian Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) 2 – is part of work conducted to expand the safe weapon trajectory data envelope of the missile. The test, which was led by Finmeccanica – Aircraft Division, with the support of Eurofighter, BAE Systems, Airbus Defence and Space, and MBDA, follows the completion of ground trials on the weapon and a successful release of Storm Shadow in November 2015.

F-2000 Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) of 4° Stormo (4th Wing), Grosseto, Italy with a pair of GBU-16 Paveway IIs and LITENING pod on ingress to the NTTR during Red Flag 16-2. Credit: Todd Miller

It was followed by another firing of a Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air missile using UK Typhoon aircraft IPA6, also at the Hebrides range. Led by BAE Systems with support from MBDA, Selex, QinetiQ and UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Eurofighter teams. The firing follows trials held in late 2015 which saw the Typhoon aircraft conduct guided Meteor firings against real air targets in pre-planned scenarios.

The Storm Shadow and Meteor firings are part of the flight test campaign for the Phase 2 Enhancement (P2E) program which will introduce a range of new and improved long range attack capabilities to Typhoon.

Commenting on the Storm Shadow tests, Enrico Scarabotto, the Italian Chief Test pilot who flew the IPA2, said: “The integration of the weapon further enhances Typhoon’s potent multi-role and swing-role capabilities, adding new capability to strike in day or night, in all-weather conditions. Storm Shadow adds attack stand-off capability to Typhoon which now really accomplishes every possible role in the combat scenario. The aircraft retains excellent performance in an incredible low pilot workload cockpit environment, essential for a single seat multirole aircraft.”

Steve Greenbank, Director of Aircraft Programmes for Military Air & Information, BAE Systems, said: “These latest Meteor firing trials are another step forward in the integration of the missile onto the Typhoon aircraft, demonstrating they can operate safely, accurately and effectively.

“2015 was a hugely exciting 12 months for Typhoon, with contracts placed for new capabilities and enhancements.

The integration of Meteor further enhance the aircraft’s abilities to ensure Typhoon maintains its position as the most capable, agile and enduring swing role fighter in the international market. These trials also form important maturity points for the UKs Project CENTURION plan, which will see Typhoon provide the continuous delivery of key combat air capabilities as Tornado moves towards its out-of-service date.”

In addition to Meteor and Storm Shadow, the integration of MBDA’s Brimstone, part of the Phase 3 Enhancements (P3E) program, is on contract for Eurofighter Typhoon. Brimstone is a precision attack missile with proven capabilities against both static and moving/manoeuvring targets.

In an interview last year, Lars Joergensen from Eurofighter explained the Eurofighter approach to combining upgrades in the expanded weapons portfolio with the Tranche 3 package.

Question: With regard to weapons, obviously the coming of your AESA radar will facilitate change in interaction with weapons as well?

How would describe this change?

Lars Joergensen: Our current mechanically scanned radar has proven very good for the air to air mission.

With the AESA you have much more flexibility, and part of that flexibility will be to work with weapons differently in particular as a data facilitator.

The first new weapon were this will become very clear is Meteor where the airplane will interact with the data link on the missile to identify and destroy targets in a fluid air combat space. Other weapons will follow.

Thanks to the Eurofighter’s large nose aperture, combined with the ability to move the AESA antenna, we will be able to fire, guide and communicate with weapons “over the shoulder” so to speak while flying away from the threat, thus significantly enlarging our attack envelope with missiles.

Question: There is a clear interaction among changes in the aircraft, the weapons onboard the aircraft, and with upgrades in the sensor pods.

In a sense you are have a triangular approach to modernization?

Lars Joergensen: It is clear that a variety of Air Forces are using their sensor pods, including targeting pods, to provide a variety of information and quickly increase capabilities.

By combing those innovations with weapons innovation and tying them back to the aircraft you can get enhanced combat effect.

And given that the process of tranche upgrades inevitably will be slower than pod upgrades, this expands the ability to modernize at a more rapid pace than we could do simply through tranche upgrades on the aircraft itself.

The photos and graphics in the slideshow are credited to Eurofighter and show the integration of storm shadow and meteor with the Eurofighter and then the projected placing of the Brimstone onto the aircraft as well.

Shaping Amphibious Capability for the Australian Defence Force: The New and the Old

Posted on March 25, 2016 | by Robbin Laird

2016-03-25 The Aussies have added two new amphibious ships to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and sorting out the way ahead is at the vortex of land, sea and airpower, and the ADF is addressing it in this manner.

It is a work in progress but the first new Canberra class ship is already in support of the operation in Fiji in disaster relief.

As one senior ADF officer noted in an interview last week, “We are trying new capabilities off of the ship as we do the relief effort. In many ways, this initial operation is really an operational testing activity.”

HMAS Canberra Deploys to Fiji from SldInfo.com on Vimeo.

The second Canberra-class ship, the HMAS Adelaide is home ported in Garden Island, in Sydney Harbor.

And below is a picture of the new amphibious ship as seen on March 25, 2016 in Sydney Harbor.

The HMAS Adelaide in Sydney Harbor. Credit Second Line of Defense

Fleet Divisions were held on the flight deck of HMAS Adelaide, alongside Garden Island, Sydney on 24 March 2016.

According to the Australian Ministry of Defence:

The Royal Australian Navy band and a guard marched onto the flightdeck, while over 1,000 personnel from HMA Ships Kuttabul, Adelaide, Success, Melbourne, Warramunga and Newcastle formed into platoons which were inspected by the Governor-General, His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove, AK, MC (Retd), and Commander Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Stuart Mayer, CSC and Bar, RAN.

HMAS Adelaide (L01) is the second of two Canberra-class landing helicopter dock (LHD) ships under construction for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Construction of the ship started at Navantia’s Spanish shipyard with steel-cutting in February 2010.

The ship was laid down in February 2011, and launched on 4 July 2012.

Delivery to Australia for fitting out at BAE Systems Australia’s facilities in Victoria was scheduled for 2013, but did not occur until early 2014. Despite construction delays and predictions that the ship would not be in service until 2016, fitting out progressed faster than expected, and the ship was commissioned in December 2015.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Adelaide_(L01)

Garden Island is an inner-city locality of Sydney, Australia and the location of a major Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base.

It is located to the north-east of the Sydney central business district and juts out into Port Jackson, immediately to the north of the suburb of Potts Point. Used for government and naval purposes since the earliest days of the colony of Sydney it was originally a completely detached island. It was joined to the Potts Point shoreline by major land reclamation work during World War II.

Garden Island today forms a major part of the RAN’s Fleet Base East.

It includes active dockyards (including the Captain Cook Graving Dock), naval wharves and a naval heritage and museum precinct. Approximately half of the major fleet units of the RAN use the wharves as their home port.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Island,_New_South_Wales

Along with the new, the older capability can be seen in Sydney Harbor.

For example, L-50, the HMAS Tobruk, which has been decommissioned can be seen in the harbor.

HMAS Tobruk (L 50) seen in Sydney Harbor on March 25, 2016. Credit: Second Line of Defense

HMAS Tobruk (L 50) was a Landing Ship Heavy (LSH) of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), based on the design of the Round Table-class of the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Planning for the ship began in the 1970s to provide the Australian Army with a permanent sealift capability.

She was laid down byCarrington Slipways in 1979, launched in 1980, and commissioned in 1981. She was a multi-purpose,roll-on/roll-off heavy lift ship capable of transporting soldiers, APCs, and tanks, and delivering them to shore via landing craft or directly by beaching.

The ship experienced problems during her early career with her engines (which differed from the British base design) and sewerage system (leading to the death of a cadet in 1981). During the 1980s, the ship delivered supplies to the Multinational Force and Observers on the Sinai Peninsula, assisted in the withdrawal from RAAF Base Butterworth, provided support and accommodation for delegates to the South Pacific Forum, and was part of the Australian response to the 1987 Fijian coups d’état.

In the early 1990s, Tobruk was part of ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the landing at Anzac Cove, then after a refit, participated in peacekeeping efforts in Somalia.

Plans to replace Tobruk with one of the Kanimbla-class ships began in 1993. She was offered for sale to the Royal New Zealand Navy, who refused because of the ship’s manpower requirements. Delays in converting the Kanimbla‘s for service meant Tobruk continued with normal operations during the 1990s.

Attempts to sell the ship to the British and the Portuguese did not succeed, and in 1997 the decision was made to keep Tobruk, as the Kanimbla‘s could not completely replace the heavy lift capability provided.

During this period, Tobruk was deployed to Bougainville on several occasions as peacekeeping operations during the Bougainville Civil War. At the end of the decade, Tobruk operated as part of the INTERFET peacekeeping operation in East Timor.

In 2000 and 2001, Tobruk was sent to the Solomon Islands on several deployments in response to thecivil war: first to evacuate Australian citizens, then as a neutral venue for peace talks. From late 2001 to early 2002, the ship was in northern Australian waters on border-protection duties as part of Operation Relex.

During 2005 and early 2006, Tobruk sailed to the Middle East on several occasions to deliver vehicles and cargo to Australian forces in the region. Tobruk and the two Kanimbla‘s were set to East Timor in mid-2006 in response to the 2006 East Timorese crisis, forming the first RAN amphibious readiness group since World War II.

The rest of the decade included further border protection deployments under Operation Resolute, a visit to Hawaii for the RIMPAC multinational naval exercise, support for the Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program, relief operations following the 2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami, and use as the venue for a Fall Out Boy concert.

The HMAS Adelaide in Sydney Harbor at Sunrise on March 26, 2016. Credit Second Line of Defense

After spending several months in 2010 undergoing extended maintenance, Tobruk participated in the United States Navy’s Pacific Partnership humanitarian assistance deployment. Because of the need for propeller shaft repairs, Tobruk could not be part of the military response to Cyclone Yasi.

Heavy use and lack of maintenance in previous years began to take its toll, with Tobruk unavailable for service on several occasions during the early 2010s. As the two Kanimbla‘s had been forced out of service by ongoing issues, the Australian government had to charter a succession of civilian ships to provide standby heavy transport capability.

In 2013, Tobruk again participated in Pacific Partnership, followed by a visit to the Philippines with disaster relief supplies after Typhoon Haiyan. In early 2015, the ship was part of the response to Cyclone Pam’s impact on Vanuatu. Tobruk was decommissioned in July 2015, with calls for the ship to be scuttled as a dive wreck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Tobruk_(L_50)

But the shift from the old to the new is more than building new hulls.

It is about very different concepts of operations, whereby amphibious ships are moving beyond simply being transport assets bringing support or forces ashore for various humanitarian or defense capabilities.

It is now about becoming a key part of evolving 21st century integrated combat capabilities.

To get there will be a challenge for the Aussies, but clearly they are working the problem.

Jericho Dawn: The Aussies Shape 21st Century Ground Maneuver Forces

Posted on March 21, 2016 | by Robbin Laird

03/21/2016

2016-03-22 By Robbin Laird

During the previous week, at the Air Power Conference and then at the Williams Seminar on new approaches to air-land integration, a key focus has been upon how to shape a more integrated and effective force structure for 21^st century missions and operations.

From the perspective of the ground forces, this means how to shape more effective ground maneuver forces in general, and in higher intensity conflicts, in particular.

Working more effective ways for air and ground elements to shape what we have earlier called, three-dimensional warriors, namely ground maneuver elements which can reach out into the air, space, and sea domains for operational support, and empowerment, is a key element of what Plan Jericho is all about and the intersection of Plan Jericho with Army modernization.

Air Commander Australia, Air Vice Marshal Gavin Turnbull (centre), AM, chats with other exercise participants including Lieutenant General Jon Davis (right), Deputy Commandant for Aviation, United States Marine Corps, at Exercise Jericho Dawn 2016 firepower demonstration at Puckapunyal training area, Victoria, on 18 March 2016. *** Local Caption *** The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Australian Army, with support from Northrop Grumman, have successfully conducted a firepower demonstration and a combat team quick attack demonstration at Puckapunyal Military Area as part of Exercise Jericho Dawn to display the powerful effects of integrated air and land operations. The live fire exercise allowed RAAF and Army operators, together with Defence and Industry representatives, to observe the combined air and land capabilities in two scenarios. The operators demonstrated the current capabilities, before trialling new ways to improve air-land integration, including the way that aircraft and vehicles connect and translate information through different communication networks. — Air Commander Australia, Air Vice Marshal Gavin Turnbull (centre), AM, chats with other exercise participants including Lieutenant General Jon Davis (right), Deputy Commandant for Aviation, United States Marine Corps, at Exercise Jericho Dawn 2016 firepower demonstration at Puckapunyal training area, Victoria, on 18 March 2016.

It is in part about shaping ways to take advantage of the information age, or as the Air Commander of Australia, Air Vice-Marshal Gavin Turnbull put it – “Getting the right information, to the right person, at the right time.”

It is not about data collection; it is about shaping effective decision-making at the point of attack.

As a senior Army officer involved with Army modernization, Brigadier General Mills, put it at the Williams Seminar the core focus of shaping a more effective integrated and connected force was as follows: “To generate more force, more rapidly, and more effectively when called to do so.”

Last Friday, the ADF tested out evolving concepts in what they called Jericho Dawn.

According to an Australian Ministry of Defence press release on March 21, 2016, the exercise was described as follows:

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the Australian Army, with support from Northrop Grumman, have successfully conducted a firepower demonstration and a combat team quick attack demonstration at Puckapunyal Military Area in Victoria as part of Exercise Jericho Dawn to display the powerful effects of integrated air and land operations.

The live fire exercise allowed RAAF and Army operators, together with Defence and industry representatives, to observe the combined air and land capabilities in two scenarios.

The operators demonstrated the current capabilities, before trialling new ways to improve air-land integration, including the way that aircraft and vehicles connect and translate information through different communication networks.

Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Leo Davies AO, CSC, said that the demonstration showcased existing air-land operations technologies and processes, and the operational gains that have already been achieved through better integration of systems and information.

“Through today’s demonstration we were able to provide a visualisation of the effects of some of the Australian Defence Force’s capabilities,” Air Marshal Davies said.

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“The lessons identified from the activity will help shape Defence’s future capability decisions and improve existing training activities.

“Demonstrations such as today are an important means of testing and displaying joint effects.

“We are building on the Air Force’s international reputation for being good at what we currently do, and asking important questions about taking Air Force’s contribution to joint operations even further.

“If this kind of training exercise shows us something we can do that would help Air Force, Army and Navy fight better as a team, then that’s what we will pursue.”

The Australian Army’s Head Modernisation and Strategic Planning, Major General Gus McLachlan, AM, said that greater air-land integration is an important step towards the Army and the ADF working in a joint, combined and interoperable environment.

“Our Army is focussed on two key areas to ensure improved air-land integration. The first is to deliver better communication systems to ensure an agile, efficient and timely response to an intelligent, well-armed and motivated adversary,” said Major General McLachlan.

“The second is to advance how we plan and conduct air-land operations to deliver the right effect, at the right place, at the right time.

“The demonstration highlights how we can better harness the strengths of our team by digitally connecting air and land platforms.

“This increased connectivity enhances awareness and communication. It gives a common operating picture, so we are better able to plan and execute joint operations into the future.”

Chief Executive Australia, Ian Irving said Northrop Grumman has unparalleled expertise developing and deploying airborne gateways that ensure resilient communications of disparate networks and enable a fully networked battlespace.

“We’ve applied this key capability for more than a decade in numerous operational programs, exercises and demonstrations and have seen how effective and transformational networking a diverse force of assets can be,” said Mr Irving.

“Northrop Grumman congratulates Air Force and Army on their initiative in undertaking this technology demonstration and we look forward to continuing to support the ADF as it builds interoperability in its current and fifth-generation force.

“As demonstrated during the Jericho Dawn exercise, the ability to share information and situational awareness from various sources across diverse platforms and domains is critically important in facilitating joint and coalition operations.”

Australian Army soldiers Lieutenant Colonels Berni White and Stuart Mallett talk with US Marine Corps officer Lieutenant General Jon Davis at the range during Exercise Jericho Dawn at Puckapunyal, Victoria, on 18 March 2016. *** Local Caption *** The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the Australian Army, with support from Northrop Grumman, have successfully conducted a firepower demonstration and a combat team quick attack demonstration at Puckapunyal Military Area in Victoria as part of Exercise Jericho Dawn to display the powerful effects of integrated air and land operations. The live fire exercise allowed RAAF and Army operators, together with Defence and Industry representatives, to observe the combined air and land capabilities in two scenarios. The operators demonstrated the current capabilities, before trialling new ways to improve air-land integration, including the way that aircraft and vehicles connect and translate information through different communication networks. — Australian Army soldiers Lieutenant Colonels Berni White and Stuart Mallett talk with US Marine Corps officer Lieutenant General Jon Davis at the range during Exercise Jericho Dawn at Puckapunyal, Victoria, on 18 March 2016.

Capabilities involved include RAAF’s C-17A, AP-3C, KC-30A, E-7A Wedgetail and FA-18 Hornet aircraft, as well as the Army’s air-land enablers from the 16th Air Land Regiment, Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters from 1st Aviation Regiment, and vehicles and equipment from the Combined Arms Training Centre.

We will be reporting more on the exercise and the evolving approach in upcoming interviews with key members of the RAAF and the Australian Army in the weeks to come.

And as Lt. General Davis, the Deputy Commandant of Aviation highlighted at the beginning of his presentation to the Williams Foundation seminar that when he attended the Avalon Air Show and then head of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) introduced Plan Jericho, it was clear that the Marines and the RAAF were on the same page.

“I went back to the Commandant and said that we need to work more closely with the RAAF because with Plan Jericho they are onto something big with regard to innovation.”

https://sldinfo.com/the-deputy-commandant-of-aviation-down-under-plan-jericho-marine-corps-style/

Russia, Australia and the Changing Strategic Environment

Posted on March 21, 2016 | by Robbin Laird

2016-03-21 By Robbin Laird

I had a chance to meet with students and to give a presentation at the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies which is part of the Australian Defence College.

I made a presentation last year to the Williams Foundation, and this discussion was a follow on to that.

Putin and the Russian Imapct on 21st defense. from Second Line of Defense

Russia seems a long way away when you are in Australia although Russia has gotten Australian attention in many ways, such as showing up in Syria with the Australian Air Force participating in coalition operations in the area or bringing warships off of the coast of Australia.

In a press roundtable with the Australian media, the head of the Royal Australian Air Force noted that although the RAAF has flown from time to time into Syrian air space, they had no real problems with Russian aircraft.

But he seemed happy to have done these flights with the support of their E-7 air battle management and surveillance aircraft to sort out various players in the airspace.

And in November 2014, the Russians showed up with warships off of the coast of Australia.

Pride of Russian fleet bound for Brisbane ... The Russia Navy’s guided-missile cruiser, The Varyag.Source:AFP — Pride of Russian fleet bound for Brisbane … The Russia Navy’s guided-missile cruiser, The Varyag.Source:AFP

The Australians sent out some warships to sort out what was going on, but I am sure they were reassured by the Russian answer concerning why the Russian navy had shown up near Australia.

RUSSIA has for the first time explained the presence of a fleet of warships off north-eastern Australia, saying that the ships are testing their range capability, in case they have to do climate change research in the Antarctic.

The Russian embassy also said the fleet could, if necessary, provide security for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who arrives in Brisbane for the G20 tonight.

The four Russian warships are conducting exercises in international waters around the Coral Sea in a move that has been interpreted as a show of force by M. Putin.

Moscow’s explanation comes as Defence said a third Australian naval ship has been deployed to monitor the fleet, with a fourth nearby.

Our discussion focused largely on the interaction between Russia and the evolving strategic context, in which Putin can be seen as a reshaping force.

Russian Navy Off of Australia, Nov 2014

Putin clearly is using force in ways to support Russian national objectives and in dividing when he can democratic states over key objectives.

He has brought Russia back into the game, and has done so in a way that has combined several elements of power.

He shapes convergence among information warfare, force packages and an ability to set specific objectives, rather than having vague long term military engagements set prior to sending the military on overseas operations with end date in sight.

What he has demonstrated is that the military trend to shape more effective intervention forces needs to be combined with a civilian capability to set limited objectives which allow the state to succeed up to the level of those objectives.

The experience of using Russia’s combat aircraft in Syria inspires optimism, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said at a meeting on the development of the country’s combat aviation on Wednesday.

“I want to say at once that the experience of the combat use of our aviation in Syria testifies to the high mastership of the design potential and our designers and technologists,” Rogozin said, adding that the skills and courage of Russian combat aviation pilots should be added to this.

This is in stark contrast with the democratic state’s ability to send force, but not to set limited objectives and seemingly unable to withdraw without the specter of failing to have mission success.

We have written about shaping 21^st century intervention forces and the setting of limited objectives to be met with such force and then to withdraw.

Ironically, the only political leader who seems to get this is Vladimir Putin.

And pushing up to the edge and using various tools to achieve objectives was recently focused upon as well by James Durso.

The Russians are masters of hybrid warfare.

As Chairman of NATO’s military committee Petr Pavel noted, they “…create an influence that is strong enough, but below the threshold of Article 5, so they achieve the goals without provoking the enemy or opponent to initiate a defense response.”

A question was raised by one of the students at the College with regard to migration issue and Russian involvement.

The issue was the statement by SACEUR with respect to Russian actions in the Middle East.

The exchange between what SACEUR said and how the Russians responded is instructive of how the Russians use Information War very effectively.

US Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, Commander of the US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe for NATO, said that the migrant crisis facing Europe is allowing terror elements into the continent undetected, with actions by the Islamic State (IS), Moscow, and Damascus pushing people out of Syria and Iraq and into the European system.

“Europe faces the dawning challenge of mass migration spurred by state instability and state collapse, a migration that masks the movement of criminals, terrorists, and foreign fighters,” Breedlove said at a Pentagon press briefing.

“Within this mix, [IS] is spreading like a cancer, taking advantage of paths of least resistance, threatening European nations and our own with terrorist attacks.”

Breedlove also said that his information suggests that radical foreign fighters have left from Europe to join groups like IS and subsequently reentered unchecked.

“As many as 9,000 fighters have gone, and as much as 1,500 fighters have returned back to Europe,” he said, adding that they bring with them the potential for future terror attacks.

Breedlove also had strong words for Russia, saying that its recent actions have placed it in opposition to US and NATO goals in the region, and that the Syrian government and its ally are “deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve.”

http://www.dailynewsx.com/news/business-news/nato-commander-russia-and-syria-are-using-migration-as-a-weapon-52740.html

And the Russian response?

Moscow was amused by the top NATO General’s claims that it is using the refugee crisis as a “weapon” against the West, with the Defense Ministry’s spokesman saying such rhetoric reaffirms concerns of Breedlove’s apparent dislocation of memory.

“Taking into account that such recurrence of the ‘sunshine of the spotless mind’ appeared right before the scheduled meeting of the Armed Services Committee, there is no wonder that a decision has been made by the US congressmen to replace him on his post of the Commander-in-Chief of the NATO Joint Force in Europe,” Konashenkov said.

Su-35 Over Syria.

Konashenkov once again pointed out that Moscow could not have possibly been the reason for the refugee crisis, which began long before Russia launched its anti-terror operations in Syria. And unlike the anti-ISIS coalition, Russia’s operations in Syria have alleviated the refugee crisis in the country and led to the first step of the establishment of a peace-making process, Konashenkov added.

“Essential is the fact that as a results of the Russian operation, the UN is registering the reduction of refugee flows from Syria and a process of reconciliation has been initiated, which is something the Western so-called “anti-ISIS coalition” has been unable to achieve over the previous three years of their “fight” against terrorism,” Konashenkov stated.

Responding to the “indiscriminate” and “non-precision” bombing claims, Konashenkov reminded the NATO general that precision of airstrike depends not only on smart weapons, but also on proper intelligence, pilot’s skills and aiming systems of the aircraft.

“Sole reliance on ‘supersmart’ or ‘superprecision’ weapons leads American hawks to tragic mistakes with fatal consequences, as it was repeatedly observed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and since recently – in Syria,” Konashenkov said.

https://www.rt.com/news/334363-breedlove-spotless-mind-sunshine/

Given this exchange – advantage Russia.

The reality is that the Russians have not taken any real responsibility for sorting or solving the migrant crisis.

But they certainly have not caused the crisis, nor or they especially supportive of terrorists moving throughout the region and coming among other places into Russia itself.

The blunt fact is that Russia has taken some degree of responsibility for Syria and should be brought into the effort to deal with the migrant crisis as part of their Syrian engagement.

European institutions and resolve are under stress and threat due to internal reasons, notably the Euro crisis, the pressures on security structures in the European Union and many other factors, and one could certainly argue that Russia is doing precious little to help this process and could be viewed as exacerbating it.

But they are not CAUSING it.

Turning the migration issue into a Russia versus the West issue is not going to do much to sort out the crisis.

One way to deflect Putin’s efforts is to hold him partly accountable for the future of Syria.

That would then take his limited objectives in Syria to a level where he would find a level of discomfort.

And if he responds well, that is good thing; if he does not then he has been exposed to be doing something perhaps short of Breedlove is saying, but moving in that direction.

Secretary Kerry once accused Putin of being 19^th not 21^st century in character.

Unfortunately, Putin is very 21^st century but remembers some of the lessons of the powers of the late 19^th century in terms of how to achieve limited objectives.

And in some ways, he is using 21st century means to pursue 19th century objectives as well.