U.S. Navy Sailors simulate a ship-to-shore patient transfer using a MARTAC T-38 Devil Ray unmanned surface vessel (USV) in Aqaba, Jordan, March 9, 2023, during International Maritime Exercise 2023.
The USV transferred a mannequin from the Gulf of Aqaba to land, marking the first time the unmanned platform has been used to execute a medical evacuation training scenario.
AQABA, JORDAN
03.12.2023
Video by Spc. Aaron Troutman
U.S. Naval Forces Central Command / U.S. 5th Fleet
By Pierre Tran
Paris – The closed communications system of the F-35 posed problems for flying cooperative combat missions with the planned European Future Combat Air System (FCAS), Eric Trappier, executive chairman of Dassault Aviation, told French senators May 24.
“Collaborative combat” consisted of close links between fighter jets, effectively allowing the computer of one fighter to fire weapons of another fighter flying in a “raid,” he told the Senate defense and foreign affairs committee. That cooperative link extended to other capabilities on the fighters.
“Today, this can only be done between Rafales, in a Rafale patrol,” he said. “If you have an F-16 or F-35, that cannot be done. And I do not think it will be done.”
There is “interoperability” with the F-16 and F-35 fighters, he said, with exchange of data through the U.S.-designed Link 16, available to Nato forces. French fighters carry Link 16, giving them data link with an F-16.
“It is more difficult with the F-35 as the Americans, in an amazing feat, built an American, non-Nato standard,” he said. “It is closed.”
If allied nations wanted interoperability with an F-35, he said, it was simple – just buy an F-35, adding that remark might be something of a caricature, but it was just barely so.
Dassault sees the F-35 as a direct rival in export sales of the Rafale, a major source of revenue for the family-controlled company, which is prime contractor on the fighter and also lead industrial partner on the New Generation Fighter (NGF) at the heart of FCAS.
The plan is for the planned new fighter to replace eventually the Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon some time after 2040. France, Germany, and Spain are the backers of FCAS.
It remained to be seen how the F-35 will fly with the F-22, and how the British will fly the Eurofighter Typhoon with the F-35, Trappier said, pointing up the need for other aircraft and satellites to act as communication nodes for the fighters.
A powerful data exchange in “microseconds” of collaborative combat has begun with development work on the Rafale F-4 version, he said, adding that network capability will be extended on the planned F-5 model of the fighter jet.
“For FCAS, the ambition is for European aircraft to work together,” he said, but the problem arose when most fighters flown by European forces were U.S.-built.
“It’s a real subject,” he said.
“A solution has to be found,” said Jean-Pierre Maulny, deputy director of Institut des Relations Internationales et Stratégiques, a think tank.
The F-35 poses a problem, but the story is not over, he said.
Dassault is working with Dassault Systèmes on a “sovereign cloud,” Trappier said as an aside, and called on European nations to work on a common cloud computing to boost security, rather than rely on Google or Microsoft.
A high level of Anglo-French air combat cooperation was evoked by a French air force officer, major general Jean-Luc Moritz, at the future combat air and space conference held by the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, website Breaking Defense reported May 23.
“My dream is tomorrow Tempest could take control of an NGWS asset,” the report said. Moritz was referring to the British-designed future fighter and the Next Generation Weapon System at the heart of the FCAS. The officer heads the French air force team working on the European FCAS project.
NGWS comprises a Next Generation Fighter (NGF), remote carrier drones, and combat cloud, an advanced communications network linking up allied aircraft.
That wish for allied air cooperation included the planned U.S. Next Generation Air Dominance fighter being capable of taking control of “the fighter the U.K. will buy,” and the capability for Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, and Tempest to fly together, the report said.
Moritz said, “To reach this dream we need everything on the table from industry,” the report said.
A large digital communications network is needed on FCAS as the Link 16 system is already saturated, a French air force officer has said.
That networked approach posed security problems, which needed to be addressed, Trappier said, as the more the fighters were connected, the more vulnerable they became.
Onboard mission computers needed to be “totally independent” from other computers on the fighter, to avoid cyber attack, he said. The sooner standards were specified, the better it would be.
The Dassault chief executive also made clear his resistance to reports of Belgium looking to join the three European partner nations on FCAS.
“It is complicated bringing people on board FCAS,” he said. “I have heard talk of the Belgians.”
That reluctance stemmed from Belgium ordering the F-35, along with Germany, which saw a need to order a batch of the Lightning II fighter, to carry the U.S.-built nuclear bombs for Nato forces.
Adding partner nations risked slowing the FCAS project with more negotiations, Trappier said, and the present phase 1B was already hard to manage.
There will be a new contract for phase 2, with the same share of work, he said. Bringing Belgium in would mean a new work share plan, to which he objected.
“I hear that we could give work to Belgian companies right now,” he said. “No. If that is imposed on me, I will fight back.”
It was clear the F-35 was the uninvited guest to the FCAS industrial partnership, with Trappier pointing up the prospective loss of jobs in French factories and design offices, with work going “to people who have chosen the F-35.
“I do not see why I should give work to the Belgians today,” he said.
That view appears to clash with those of the French armed forces minister, Sébastien Lecornu, who has told parliamentarians that bringing in partners would be a “good way to manage taxpayers’ money,” and would be of industrial and military interest, the Public Senat website reported.
There are estimates the FCAS program could hit some €100 billion ($107 billion), shared by the three partner nations. The budget for phase 1B and phase 2 is a total of some €8 billion.
The aim was to fly an FCAS technology demonstrator, which will require negotiating a phase 2 contract, Trappier said, adding that it looked “optimistic” to say the fighter would enter service in 2040.
The plan is for a fighter demonstrator to fly around 2028/29 – already a couple of years late – along with a loyal wingman remote carrier drone and a simpler, lower cost drone, with FCAS entry into service in 2040.
The U.K. expects to fly the Tempest fighter in 2035, backed by partner nations Japan and Italy in the global combat air program.
The government has slashed orders for the Rafale to 137 units from 185 by 2030, “which is no small matter,” the chairman of the senate defense committee, Christian Cambon, said in his opening remarks.
He was referring to the draft 2024-2030 military budget law, which is going through debate in the lower house National Assembly. The Senate will debate the bill next month, with the government hoping for adoption in July, in time for the Bastille day national holiday.
The defense ministry has said the Rafale will be flying at least 30 years with the FCAS new generation fighter, the Dassault CEO said, pointing up the need to update the former.
The government has added an amendment to the seven year military budget bill, with the Rafale F5 flying with a combat drone based on the Neuron demonstrator for an unmanned aerial combat vehicle (UCAV), said senator Yannick Vaugrenard, Public Senat reported.
That future Rafale F5 version might fly with remote carrier drones or a Neuron type UCAV, Trappier said, and it was up to the government to give more details. The government has pushed back the F5 version to 2035, slightly later than the 2032 previously expected, he said.
Deliveries of the Rafale are due to resume for the French air force, with 13 units to be shipped this year, 13 in 2024, 12 in 2025, and one in 2026, he said, adding that the government has long delayed these deliveries.
Dassault expected a fresh order for 42 Rafales this year, of which 30 were a long-awaited domestic order, boosted by 12 to replace those flown by the French air force and sold second-hand to Croatia. Export prospects for the fighter lay in India – which required patience – Trappier said, and South America. Indonesia was expected to place further orders in the next few months, as part of a deal for 42 units. Jakarta has already ordered a first batch of six Rafales.
Dassault led the Neuron demonstrator project, with France working in partnership with Italy, Greece, Spain, Switzerland.
Photo Credit: https://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/
By Robbin Laird
As the U.S. Navy works its ability for distributed operations with integrated effects, how will the fleet be supported and sustained?
One answer to that question is the major challenge of rebuilding the fleet’s maintenance infrastructure.
Years of just-in-time maintenance, supporting wars of choice not wars of necessity, have highlighted the need to invest in the ability to turn U.S, Navy ships out from maintenance in a timely manner and to have the requisite trained workforce to support enduring operations in a high tempo conflict.
Although increasingly recognized as a key priority, rebuilding the U.S. Navy’s maintenance infrastructure takes not only time and money, but the human capital to maintain a fleet built for enduring operations.
Unlike China, U.S. maintenance yards need to be redesigned and upgraded to support comprehensive and efficient operations of a modern combat fleet.
What is the U.S. Navy doing to right the ship, with regard to maintainability?
During my late April 2023 visit to Honolulu, I sat down with Captain Richard Jones, Commander of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF), to discuss how they are shaping a way ahead that both enhances near-term capabilities and looks ahead to meet the Pacific’s challenging strategic environment .
Simply put, the key metric of a shipyard is the speed at which ships under maintenance are returned to combat commanders. Shipyards must continually look for opportunities and methods to ramp up the maintenance period rate, particularly when considering the possibility of sustained conflict against a peer competitor.
With the recognition that shipyards must become more efficient, the Navy established the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) program office in May 2018. As the Navy has described this effort:
The Navy’s four public shipyards — Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY), Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY), Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS&IMF), and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY&IMF) — perform a vital role in national defense by executing maintenance on submarines and aircraft carriers in order to provide combat-ready ships to the fleet.
Originally designed and built in the 19th and 20th centuries to build sail- and conventionally-powered ships, the Navy’s public shipyards are not efficiently configured to maintain and modernize nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines.
With the Navy’s needed focus on operations, the aging shipyards have been unable to adequately sustain and optimize their facilities, utilities, dry docks, equipment and information technology infrastructure. These inefficiencies and obsolete facilities result in higher maintenance costs, schedule risks and reliability issues.
To create the shipyards that our nation needs requires making significant investments to modernize dry docks, optimize industrial processes and modernize standard equipment to bring these critical industrial sites to modern standards.
To meet that mission, the Navy established the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) program office in May 2018. The SIOP Program Office (PMO 555) is under the Program Executive Office (PEO) Industrial Infrastructure (II), which was established in Fiscal Year 2022 as a Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) affiliated PEO and is responsible for the cost, schedule, and performance of SIOP. PEO II reports to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition (ASN RD&A).
The Navy will ensure that the optimization process fully integrates environmental considerations including natural and cultural resources, water and air quality, and more. During the development of individual shipyard plans, the Navy will develop alternatives for assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The Navy will work with stakeholders as part of the decision-making process and will conduct all appropriate NEPA, natural resource and NHPA analyses; agency and government-to-government consultations and public engagement and obtain all required permits to ensure a proactive approach to environmental protection.
With the breadth and depth of needs, the SIOP program has a significant workload to deliver the critical warfighting infrastructure enabling a distributed fleet to operate effectively in crisis and combat situations.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on SIOP indicated the steps SIOP has taken to recapitalize its shipyards:
The Navy has taken several actions to improve its public shipyards in recent years. In 2018, the Navy began an effort to modernize and optimize its shipyards, known as the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan (SIOP). The Navy has also implemented some GAO recommendations in its efforts to improve shipyards, such as creating a program office to manage the SIOP. In addition, the Navy invested in shipyard infrastructure above the minimum level set by Congress. Finally, the average condition of facilities at Navy shipyards has improved at three of the four shipyards from 2016 to 2020.
In addition to the progress enumerated by GAO, SIOP has commenced the second phase of industrial modeling for all four shipyards to provide data for optimized workflows and has begun the project planning studies for Waterfront Production Facility (WPF) at Pearl Harbor. A task order has been awarded for construction of the new Dry Dock 5 at Pearl Harbor, and multiple Facilities, Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization (FSRM) projects to maintain the shipyards’ mission readiness have been executed.
SIOP will continue to “recapitalize the four public shipyards to optimize maintenance production by correcting infrastructure and equipment condition, configuration, capacity, and resiliency shortfalls,” according to Mr. Mark Edelson, the head of the program executive office, Industrial Infrastructure (PEO II). . “The happiest Fleet Commanders have the ships required to fulfill forward presence commitments.” PEO II has oversight of the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, which is a holistic plan that integrates all infrastructure and industrial plant equipment investments at the Navy’s four public shipyards to meet nuclear fleet maintenance requirements.
In my discussion with Captain Jones, he identified a number of attributes needed for mission success and how PHNSY & IMF is working to build these areas.
A key attribute – and one he emphasized – was having a skilled, capable and motivated workforce. He noted that for nearly a decade, the shipyard did not hire new staff, prior to the refocus on the great power competition. This led to a major hiring gap which meant they had an experienced but aging workforce. With the returned focus and renewed appreciation of the yards not to mention an increased workload, the shipyard began bringing many new hires onboard.
With this new workforce, the question became, “how to close the gap and ensure proper transfer of skills to the new hires while simultaneously taking in new types of learning and skills?” The new personnel brought new perspectives, approaches and techniques. Captain Jones indicated that they have been able to blend the old with the new to create a highly effective workforce.
He noted: “If you look at the people coming in, they see the work differently. We don’t accept every idea they propose, but we do we listen and take those ideas into account because they may have a great idea that nobody’s ever thought of before.”
New teaching approaches have helped as well. Captain Jones highlighted the use of virtual reality training. He gave two examples, welding and crane operations. With regard to welding skills, students wear a virtual welding hood that is a simulator.
“It actually feels like you’re holding welding rod. The computer system can tell how hard you’re pressing on it and if you’re pressing on it at the right angle,” Jones said. “When you’re looking through the hood, you see what you would see during an actual welding operation.”
He also described the crane operation training: “We have a rigging trainer for crane operators. When they have their virtual reality hood on, they are in the cab of the crane and have the same controls. When you’re wearing the virtual reality hood, sitting in the chair, it’s very life-like, similar to being in the crane. It really speeds up the training because it doesn’t take a physical crane off operations and it’s much safer because the trainees can make mistakes virtually and not damage anything.”
While the training the workforce receives is a cornerstone of the shipyard, it is also the workforce themselves both as individuals and as a team which is crucial to the success of the shipyard. Captain Jones underscored the workforce is motivated to join PHNSY & IMF. Not only do they have many more Apprentice Program applicants than available openings each year, but they are part of the local community through sports teams, teaching in colleges and universities, mentoring young scientists in STEM programs, and volunteerism.
The workforce also knows PHNSY & IMF has been and continues to be a vital asset to the Nation’s defense both in the past and today. One example is the significant role the shipyard played in World War II and in the following years, ensuring the Navy had the ships they needed to respond to any situation.
It is indeed gratifying to see a local community committed to the nation and its defense.
A second key attribute is to have the proper tooling and material for the repair process. Here the yard could use more investment in new tools and machinery, but the workers use a mix of the old and the new to good effect. As part of the SIOP program, assessments are underway to evaluate the various equipment throughout the shipyard so that upgrades can be made where needed.
Captain Jones noted, “Our machine shop actually uses some pre-World War II equipment. Some of these machines are extremely reliable and they almost never break down and are very good at doing certain things. For example, if we are only going to do single-type milling, it’s much faster to do it on the older machine. We have balance between the new and the old that seems to be working very well.”
A third key attribute also linked to the SIOP program is the process for redesign of the shipyard to support modern workflows to optimize the work process to speed up the ability to more rapidly do ship repairs. The need for these upgrades is linked to how the yard was established in 1908 and developed over time to meet the needs of that time.
SIOP has completed one phase of industrial modeling that shipyards can leverage to improve efficiency. Another phase of industrial modeling for Pearl Harbor and each of the other three shipyards has begun that will provide data for optimized workflows at the yards. This work will provide modeling data for workflows inside the facilities and will inform more detailed project level planning and design (P&D) for future SIOP construction projects.
Another element of this challenge is to enhance the digital backbone at the yard. When asked what Captain Jones would like to see in future investments, the digital backbone is clearly one capability which he felt needed to be enhanced.
Retired Adm. James Foggo emphasized the need for such investment in a 6 January 2023 article on the way ahead with regard to the SIOP. Foggo argued: “While improving the physical infrastructure of these facilities will be critical to success, it’s equally essential that we take this opportunity to build the digital infrastructure required to accelerate our readiness advantage.”
Captain Jones noted that they have established an innovation division within the shipyard which will facilitate the digital transition, such as using 3D printing and other technologies. “I think it’s a step in the right direction but we are still in the infancy stage.”
A fourth key attribute is simply adding more infrastructure capacity. The main effort of the yard is repair of submarines, but the yard does not have the dry docks it needs. The first SIOP related project is the construction of a new graving dry dock to accommodate for a now obsolete Dry Dock #3, which will be replaced by the new Dry Dock #5.
“Our first major project is a new Dry Dock #3 replacement, also known as Dry Dock #5, which will be deep enough, wide enough, long enough for our current SSNs and any future one that’s in the books for planning. There is also a Waterfront Production Facility we are going to put next to it and a pier that we need. We have very little pier space here that meets the requirements,” said Jones.
“Then there is this optimization piece. If you look at the shipyard, our first dry dock built in 1919 has all the work shops were right along next to it. Then we built dry docks 2, 3 and 4. But most of the workshops are still located around the first dry dock. This is not optimal for our workflow, and we need to bring workers closer to where the work instead of spreading the work all over the yard. A lot of time is consumed in transit throughout the yard. We have 1,000 engineers out of 6,000 civilians roughly, the majority of whom are on the fourth floor of this building which is quite far from the waterfront. Moving them down right above the production shops is key element for optimization.”
We also discussed battle-damage repair as illustrated by the yard’s participation in the last RIMPAC exercise. PHNSY Navy divers participated in simulated battle-damage repair on USS Denver.
As Edward Lundquist noted in an article on this event:
“Before going down on July 22, Denver made one more valuable contribution to the Fleet. Navy salvage and repair experts set explosive charges aboard the ship that enabled battle damage assessment (BDA) teams to respond to actual damage.
“According to Jamie Koehler a Naval Sea Systems Command spokesperson, the event exercised the capabilities and limitations of an expeditionary group of Reservist and Regional Maintenance Center (RMC) Sailors for emergent repair when paired with an emergent repair container capability.
“The event provided the opportunity to survey realistic blast damage and conduct planning to utilize the Emergent Repair Capability afforded by the Emergent Maintenance and Repair Container (EMARC) along with Surge Maintenance (SURGEMAIN) Navy Reservist Sailors to plan and execute emergent repair,” Koehler said. “Divers were offered a realistic training environment to learn how to assess battle damage and how to effectively repair the ship.”
“The training simulated exactly how a ship would look after an attack or casualty and offered Mobile Diving Salvage Unit One and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard divers a chance to work as a team to assess, repair and return the vessel back to sea,” Koehler said. “Opportunities like this also identify future manning requirements, equipment shortfalls, and medical response preparations that can be measured appropriately.”
“Battle Damage Assessment Training aboard ex-USS Denver
Let me conclude with a few final thoughts.
The challenge of ramping up the speed to deliver ships back to the operational fleet is a key part effective deterrence. It is also a challenge which requires strategic attention.
PHSNY & IMF is keenly aware of their strategic importance and the importance of meeting the key metric of the speed at which ships under maintenance are returned to combat commanders.. They are actively working to address the key areas of people, process and environment to successfully meet the nation’s needs today and into the future.
Captain Richard Jones enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1985. After completing Electrician’s Mate and Naval Nuclear Power Training, he was assigned to USS Truxtun (CGN 35).
He left active service in 1991 to complete a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Engineering at Purdue University. While at Purdue, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve and deployed in support of peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia.
After graduating in 1997, Capt. Jones worked for the Schlumberger Corporation aboard a seismic surveying vessel. During this time, he received a direct commission into the U.S. Navy Reserve as an Engineering Duty Officer (EDO) in 1999. He then joined the federal workforce as a civilian nuclear engineer at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from 2000 to 2002 before his voluntary recall to active duty in 2002.
He received a Naval Engineer’s degree and Master of Science in Systems Engineering and Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008.
His nuclear engineering duty officer tours include qualification while serving as Shipyard Docking Officer and Assistant Project Superintendent (Nuclear) at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; Course Director of the Navy’s Engineering Duty Officer School where he also deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Enduring Freedom; Virginia-class Submarine Maintenance Coordinator at Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair (SUPSHIP) in Groton, Conn.; Submarine Repair Officer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard; and Chief Engineer aboard USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76).
In 2017, Capt. Jones joined Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility first as the Production Resources Officer and then as Operations Officer. He joined Commander Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet as the Maintenance, Readiness, and Improvements Officer (N43) in 2020.
In June 2021, Capt. Jones assumed command of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility, the Navy’s comprehensive fleet repair and maintenance facility between the U.S. West Coast and the Far East, strategically located in the heart of the Pacific and the largest industrial employer in the State of Hawaii with more than 7,000 civilians, military members and contractors.
Featured Photo: PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (December 14, 2022) Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti discusses plans for infrastructure improvements under the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) with Shipyard Commander Captain Richard Jones, and Production Facilities and Plant Equipment Manager Chad Nakamoto at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF) during a visit for an operations update and SIOP tour onboard Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. PHNSY & IMF is a field activity of NAVSEA and a one-stop regional maintenance center for the Navy’s surface ships and submarines. (U.S. Navy photo by Justice Vannatta/Released).
U.S. Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron 371, Marine Aircraft Control Group 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW), set up and operate a forward arming and refueling point at the Laguna Node to refuel a F-35B Lightning II with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 225, Marine Aircraft Group 13, 3rd MAW, on Laguna Army Airfield, Arizona, Dec. 6, 2022.
Exercise Steel Knight 23 provides 3rd MAW an opportunity to refine Wing-level warfighting in support of I Marine Expeditionary Force and fleet maneuver.
12.06.2022
Video by Lance Cpl. Jacob Hutchinson
3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
As Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., becomes the ‘Installation of the Future’, following the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Michael in late 2018, several advanced technologies are being used.
Of those technologies, the ability to use ‘additive manufacturing’–also known as ‘3D printing’–to construct concrete buildings as part of the rebuild. 3D printing of concrete buildings consists of a computer, software, and a large printer resulting in the construction of a three-dimensional object.
In the rebuild for Tyndall, the object will be a building— but from a computer aided design (CAD) or digital 3D model.
Engineers at AFIMSC’s Air Force Civil Engineer Center are leading the way with the research and development on the possibility of implementing this futuristic concrete building construction technique in future military construction projects.
01.19.2023
Video by John Goddin
Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center Public Affairs
By Robbin Laird
The Sir Richard Williams Foundation Seminar on 30 March 2023 focused on the way ahead with regard to deterrence of adversaries in the region, notably with both the behavior and the capabilities of the PRC in mind.
The question of refocusing the role of the ADF in the defense of Australia and its role in the region was a key element for consideration. Clearly, the joint force focus is significant but is the role of service components in the joint force as it adapts its role in the new strategic context.
At the seminar, LTGEN Simon Stuart, COS of the Australian Army, provided a general look at the deterrence challenge, the role of the ADF and of the Australian Army. He concluded: “From an Army perspective, from the contribution of land power to that integrated force, we offer presence, persistence, asymmetry through first-mover advantage, utility, and incredibly good value for money.”
I had a chance to continue the discussion with him on his perspective when we met at his office on April 10th. Here he further elaborated on how he saw the role of the Army within the evolving joint force whose mission was being refocused on the region.
LTGEN Stuart started by focusing on what he viewed as key elements of Army’s value proposition for the joint and increasingly integrated force. He underscored in this context Army’s key role in C2, logistics, domestic security and providing national infrastructure within Australian territory for regional power projection.
He then argued that Air Force and Army are developing and will do so even more in the future their working relationship at the strike and shield aspect of defence of Australian defence infrastructure and territory. He put it this way: “How will integrated air defense be worked in terms of the overall approach to leveraging our strategic geography and our force projection forces?”
LTGEN Stuart highlighted a key element for shaping the way ahead, namely working force integration, including force design and with allies as well. “We must have an architecture that we are building to in terms of our platforms and systems which allow us to leverage the benefits of an integrated force. This also enables us to better plug into allied and partner forces through exercising rotational forces and where appropriate operating for joint basing.”
The geography of Australia is a key consideration in shaping a way ahead for both the direct defense of Australia and the projection of power from Australia. Earlier, I had discussed the geography aspect at length with Professor Andrew Carr, who emphasized the following: “We have an archipelagic country that has very distinct cultures that are also connected and for a defence perspective, that leads to a different way of operating or thinking about your ability to move across and between settlements.
“Rather than being tied to the direct defence of every specific inch of territory. How do we extract benefit from such an approach? How you can we move force between sea and lands seamlessly and recognizing that it’s not simply the defence of your territory but having the ability to move move out into the region in cooperation with partners and allies, where Indonesia is the largest traditional archipelago in the world? There’s many significant archipelagic nations in the South Pacific, and we are going to need an ADF that is able to operate seamlessly across those environments as well.”
Carr’s characterization provided a way to think about two key Australian Army contributions. The first is clearly the presence of Army structure throughout the country thought of an archipelago. And second, the role of the Army in working in the region with partners, and exercising on their territory as well, or, in other words, working the neighborhood.
LTGEN Stuart spoke at some length to the territorial presence role of the Australian Army as underwriting the ability for direct defense and shaping an effective foundation for joint force power projection from Australia.
“At the foundation and during my presentation, we emphasized the importance of being able to leverage Australian geographically for strategic purposes. The Army is located in 157 locations around the country, from the most northern tip of Cape York to Tasmania and from the West to the East coast. And our connection into local towns, cities and communities is through these 157 locations where our people are located.
“One of the key design principles for our Army Objective Force is what we call the total workforce system. We have a flexible set of arrangements for people to work full or part time or a combination of both throughout their career in the Army. That helps us have a workforce in 157 locations, as some of these are sparsely populated.
“Our capacity to leverage our total workforce system means we can leverage our part time brigades to project force from the bases South of the Tropic of Capricorn into the northern geography to reinforce and protect our sustainment capabilities in that part of the country.
“We have restructured our 2nd Division to be a division which leverages our total workforce system. Its six formations leverage our part time people in great part.”
With recent natural disasters in Australia, such as the bush fires, the Army has been mobilized to help the nation in non-defense crises. This has meant that C2 has been used for national mobilization as well as transport equipment to move force to the point of need.
There is the challenge of overtaxing the Army for such tasks, but it does suggest that mobilization is a whole of nation effort, not simply a tip of the spear warfighting support effort.
Because of concern for overstretching the Army in dealing with national disasters, Australian analysts such as Professor John Blaxland have suggested need for a national mobilization system which engages the citizenry to deal with national disasters and could operate as a reserve for national crises, up to those of war itself.
We did NOT discuss this, but clearly if the government is to consider whole of nation solutions for national security and defense, such ideas need to be considered.
We then discussed one aspect of mobilization which has become clearly evident, namely a relationship between government and industry to provide for war materiel at levels of effectiveness and not just in time efficiencies. Alan Dupont and others spoke at the seminar of the impact of the Ukraine war which has demonstrated the absence of the kind of arsenal of democracy which Australia and the liberal democracies need.
We did discuss the munitions challenge which requires significant investment in development and the buying of weapons stockpiles. With regard to Australia, LTGEN Stuart noted: “We need to the capacity to store, maintain, and perform upgrades on guided weapons in Australia using an Australian workforce. And that is a prerequisite to the capacity to then be able to either provide component manufacture or assembly or actually to manufacture guided weapons and explosive ordnance in the country.”
We did not discuss the role of the Australian Army in the neighborhood although we did discuss that in an earlier visit. This is how he put during the 2022 discussion:
He argued that “we are a convening power. What is our strategy?
“Fundamentally it comes down to working with the alliance we have with the United States and other like-minded states, to promote shared interests. And in those contexts, we are focused on being a net contributor to alliance security as well as our own.
“And we are addressing how we work together to build the interior lines of defense in the region – to use land – parlance in the Indo-Pacific.”
How do you further enhance and develop such an approach?
According to Lt. General Stuart: “You take the architecture that already exists through the multilateral activities we do with Indonesia on activities like Garuda Shield, Balikatan with the Philippines, Cobra Gold in Thailand, Talisman Saber in Australia. You build those out as multilateral activities, and connect them in a way that strengthens international partnerships while enabling a persistent multilateral presence.
“And that persistent presence and multilateral interaction has a range of key strategic aspects. First, we get to know the environment and how to operate within it. We get placement and access where our multilateral forces need it. We can leverage the relationships, and importantly we provide an alternative to what the authoritarian states are offering as a future for our partners in the region.
“If we need to respond militarily in the region, we already have a grid and network established. We will have communications networks in place and have exercised mission command. And we have already worked through multilateral formations, so that you have a working C2 model, with all the authorities, in place and an understanding of how you plan, how national authorities affect your planning, how you force project, how you do logistics, and who’s going to contribute what to which part of any potential fight.”
But he argued that “we are not fit to purpose today to be able to do what we need to do in this strategic space.”
For LTGEN Stuart, the Australian Army has a key role to play in the way ahead for the direct defense of Australia and the role of the ADF and the Australian nation in the region. Doing so will take imagination, resources and commitment – qualities which are always in short supply, at least in my view.
Featured photo: No. 35 Squadron loadmaster, Corporal Jakeb Thorogood loads soldiers from the Army’s 3rd Brigade on a C-27J Spartan at Cormorant airfield, west of Townsville during Exercise Ready Spartan Prove.
Credit: Australian Department of Defence, 8 May 2023
See also, the following:
Capt. Daniel Clarke, 46th Test Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, explains the U.S. Navy Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) system, which flies over beach zones to detect minefields and obstacles.
The 96th Test Wing and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, Florida, are working together to test this airborne mine detection system.
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE
12.09.2022
Video by Jaime Bishopp
96th Test Wing Public Affairs
By Robbin Laird
In my discussion with Commodore Darron Kavanagh, Director General Warfare Innovation, Royal Australian Navy Headquarters, he emphasized that one way to look at the contribution of maritime autonomous systems was in terms of the mission threads to which they contribute.
As CDRE Kavanagh underscored: “One of the issues about how we’ve been looking at these systems is that we think in terms of using traditional approaches of capability realization with them. We are not creating a defense capability from scratch. These things exist, already, to a degree out in the commercial world, regardless of what defense does. AI built into robotic and autonomous systems are in the real world regardless of what the defence entities think or do.
“And we have shown through various autonomous warrior exercises, that we can already make important contributions to mission threads which combat commanders need to build out now and even more so going forward.”
And that is clearly a good way to understand the contribution already being made by the Bluebottle USV designed, developed, and built by Ocius. During my trip to Australia last September, I had my first discussion with Robert Dane, the founder and CEO of Ocius who introduced me to the product and in my recent trip I received an update from him April 6 and then visited the Ocius facility in Sydney on April 21.
During the April 6 discussion, I received an update on the product and will discuss that update in the terms suggested by Commodore Kavanagh in this article. I will discuss the visit to the Ocius facility in a future article.
The Bluebottle USV is a USV which provides persistence surveillance. As one source describes it: “The Bluebottle USV harvests solar, wind and wave energy to remain at sea for months at a time, making a forward speed of up to 5kt. It remains in touch with a shore station using on-board communications systems and deploys a range of above water and underwater sensors to detect and track targets, including underwater objects, sea mines, surface vessels and other USVs.”
On their webpage, the company identifies four basic attributes of the USV in its description of the platform. It has a folding solar sail, a unique rudder flipper, various payloads of sensors with an integrated and networked communication system, and a patented keel winch cassette.
Each attribute is described as follows:
“Solar Sail: When deployed, the patented hard solar sail harnesses both solar and wind energy. When not desired it automatically folds snuggly into the deck of the Bluebottle like the wing of a bird, so it’s 100% retracted but also not taking up precious payload space within the vessel. Intelligent programming means the solar sail reacts autonomously to the sea, sun & wind conditions to ensure efficient and safe operation for all mission requirements.
“Rudder Flipper: The patented rudder-flipper steers, guides and powers the unmanned vessel generating forward thrust from the pitching of the vessel in the waves of the ocean. The bigger the sea state the stronger the forces. In Seastates over Seastate 6 the solarsail automatically lowers and the rudder passively propels the vessel in the desired direction. If left in the mid position it passively turns the bow of the Bluebottle into the oncoming seas giving Bluebottles unprecedented seakeeping and survival capabilities requiring zero energy.
“Sensors and Communication: Multiple sensors are available as options underwater, inside the hull and on the aft comms mast. An Integrated and networked communication system allows live tracking. All vessels can be monitored while operating autonomously or controlled remotely, constantly sending data back to the control room.
“Keel Winch Cassette: The patented ‘reel in the keel’ winch is a cassette that displaces water ballast in the keel – so adding or changing a cassette does not interfere with the displacement or trim of the Bluebottle. The cassette can be flat packed and shipped to anywhere in the world for customers to install, commission and test their sensor or array on the winch before inserting it into the payload bay of a Bluebottle – being ready to go.”
In my April 2023 update, Dane provided an overview of ways the Bluebottle had been used by the Australian government in the past few months. We discussed three mission threads which Bluebottles have been used for in the past few months: support for the Army in amphibious operations; support for the government in fisheries protection; and in support of the Navy in shaping autonomous systems con-ops in the underwater warfare area.
The first was done in October 2022. The event and the role of the Bluebottle was described in a 22 November 2022 press release by the Australian Ministry of Defence as follows:
The seventh rotation of Army’s Regional Force Surveillance Group (RFSG) used Bluebottle USVs, developed by Ocius Technologies, which can provide a 24/7 on-water surveillance capability, with the flexibility to be readily maneuvered to respond to emerging surveillance requirements or tasks.
During the two-week deployment in October, the contingent conducted surveillance and reconnaissance on and around remote islands off north Western Australia for foreign fishing vessels and evidence of illegal activities. The contingent of 18 personnel was drawn primarily from Northwest Mobile Force (NORFORCE) and 10th Force Support Battalion, with attachments from the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment and 1st Combat Signal Regiment.
Major Alexander Brent, the Maritime Border Command (MBC) Liaison Officer to Rotation 7, said the use of the Bluebottles, and the embedding of an Ocius employee within the task unit headquarters, added significant capability to the operation.
The trial by NORFORCE will likely inform future teaming with unmanned maritime assets to support amphibious and littoral combat manoeuvres. As one of three Regional Force Surveillance Units which form the 2nd Division’s RFSG, NORFORCE provides a persistent screen in northern Australia, living by the motto ‘Ever Vigilant’.
Several times a year the RFSG screen is supported by enabling assets, including medical teams, remote command-and-control nodes and Australian Border Force (ABF) assets to enhance the effectiveness of the screen as part of Operation Resolute.
NORFORCE Patrol Master, Captain Stephen Sewell, said the efforts increased situational awareness of illegal activities in the region. “The soldiers conducted surveillance from observation posts, dismounted patrols across the islands and patrols in the littoral environment by watercraft,” CAPT Sewell said.
The contingent conducted surveillance and reconnaissance of about 5500 square kilometres.
Major Brent said inter-agency cooperation was vital for the continued success of operations like Resolute.
“There is a very close relationship between the ADF and ABF, facilitated through MBC, which enables shared effort and the sharing of information to achieve better operational outcomes and security for Australia,” Major Brent said.
“At the local level, the Regional Force Surveillance Units have an intimate relationship with the Indigenous communities and leaders in their respective areas of operation, which is vital to the enhanced understanding of country, patterns of life and access across the north of Australia, all of which directly contributes to the land component outcomes for Op Resolute.
“When you add contractors, local councils, local land councils and private industry, who all have vested interests in northern Australia, the level of inter-agency cooperation required to ensure successful Op Resolute outcomes is immense.”
As Dane commented about working with the Army in this effort: “We provided over the horizon ISR and what I call the ‘google street view’ of the areas where they would operate. They could see a beach on a satellite but the satellites cannot provide the views which we can provide an amphibious force.
“We deployed from Broome 350 NM away about a week before the operation, arrived before the operation started, operated for 10 days in the exercise in an archipelago with strong currents, under control from Darwin and then sailed home, with each of the two boats covering around 1900 nautical miles.”
The second was done in January and February 2023. Here the Bluebottles were tasked with providing surveillance of fishing areas to assist the government in monitoring activity to help prohibit illegal fishing activities.
A 31 January 2023 Australian government press release described this effort as follows:
Uncrewed marine vessels known as “Bluebottles” have taken to the waters of Two Rocks and Jurien Marine Parks to stop illegal fishing in Australian Marine Parks.
Minister Plibersek has announced that Parks Australia is testing the efficacy of two uncrewed surface vessels during a 30-day trial through January and February to capture 24/7 real-time imagery of activity in the two marine parks off the Western Australian coast.
The trial will test technology to see if can be used into the future to monitor and prevent illegal fishing.
The 22ft solar, wind and wave-powered Bluebottles were developed by Australian company Ocius and launched from the Ocean Reef Boat Harbour in Western Australia. The vessels, which look similar to a small yacht, are equipped with 360-degree day/night infrared cameras, radar and satellite communications. They can autonomously monitor designated areas for months at a time.
The innovative Bluebottle technology will allow Parks Australia to monitor marine vessel activity across these two important marine parks that have previously been difficult and costly to patrol.
These new surveillance measures help to protect the plants and animal species in the marine parks including Western Rock Lobsters.
The annual migration of the Western rock lobster from the coast to deeper waters is known as the ‘whites run’ and attracts thousands of licensed cray fishers who target this prized species. To make sure the species survives, some areas in Marine Parks are designated “no take zones”.
Stopping illegal fishing protects the species and protects legal fishers who do the right thing, and who rely on lobsters for their livelihood.
The Bluebottle boats aren’t the first use of new technology to monitor Western Australia’s marine parks.
During last year’s Western Rock Lobster migration event, two underwater recorders called sound traps were installed at Two Rocks Marine Park to provide information on vessel activity in the park.
Drones with high resolution cameras are also being tested in no fishing zones of Australian Marine Parks to monitor marine vessel activity from the air.
Australian Marine Parks are special places and monitoring compliance breaches is essential to protect and conserve our rich marine life and biodiversity in these areas.
At Two Rocks Marine Park in the last financial year there have been 15 illegal recreational fishing incidents detected. The Government issued penalty infringement notices of $687 per incident as well as issuing official warnings.
Minister for the Environment and Water, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP said:
“Marine National Parks are such special places. We need to protect the animals and plants that live there so future generations can see them in the wild.
“No-take zones are vital to protect threatened species, and also mean that surrounding areas see increases in fish stocks.
“Whilst most fishers do the right thing and stay in legal fishing zones, we aren’t afraid to crack down on those doing the wrong thing by fishing in the ‘no take’ areas. Fishing is not allowed in the National Park Zones of Australian Marine Parks.
“The new Bluebottle vessel technology will enable large marine areas to be monitored over longer periods of time.
“We’re testing the Bluebottles as a cost-effective addition to the current monitoring and surveillance tools we’re using. They join drones and sound traps as the latest technology we’re testing.”
Dane indicated that the effort has had the desired effect. “We sent two boats on a 30-day mission whereby we split time between two maritime sanctuaries. We obtained 19 identifications of the number and name of boats violating the sanctuary and each of these people received notice from the government. The result was immediate. After the notification, the word was out and the next weekend there were no violations.”
The third was completed recently at Autonomous Warrior 2023. In my meeting with Kavanagh, the Commodore indicated that this AW was different from the last. At the last AW, contractors were showing their wares and Kavanagh’s team was getting a chance to see what the various platforms and systems could do. This one was a dedicated underwater effort whereby only invited Australian contractors attended and were given various tasks to perform and evaluated in terms of their ability to perform.
Julian Kerr in a 1 December 2022 article by Australian Defence Magazine highlighted the Bluebottle coming to AW 2023 as follows:
“The first two of the five future Bluebottles will participate in the RAN’s Exercise Autonomous Warrior 2023, now disclosed to be taking place at Jervis Bay in March. Subsequent deliveries will take place in April, May and June.
“This latest iteration of Autonomous Warrior will also involve two Bluebottles – Barra and Bombora – fitted respectively with Thales Australia thin line fibre optic passive and active towed sonar arrays for anti-submarine warfare and surveillance missions. Both boats were named at an event at Ocius headquarters in Randwick on 25 November, happily coinciding with signature of the RAN contract the previous day.”
Dane indicated that the Navy had their own Blue Bottle USVs (they are buying five but had two at the exercise) involved in the exercise, and Ocius brought two of their own. This meant that four boats were involved in the exercise.
In short, the Bluebottle USVs are precisely doing what Commodore Darron Kavanagh said maritime autonomous systems will be asked to do by the Australian government – provide for enhanced mission capability for the ADF and the Australian government. As Australia and its allies begin to use these capabilities more, the creativity in working the integration of crewed and uncrewed platforms will no doubt deliver new capabilities and new concepts of operations.
Robert Dane and his team are on the ground floor of these developments and I will discuss this more fully when reporting on my visit to their facility in Sydney.
Featured Photo: Iwo Jima is about 100NM from this volcano being mapped by a Bluebottle USV. Credit: Ocius
7 March 2023
By Robert Dane
On Friday 3 March 2023, RADM Chris Smith, Commander of Australian Fleet, officially accepted the first two RAN Bluebottle USVs delivered under the Ausdefcon contract signed on 24 November 2022.
The dignitaries also toured Ocius’ new clean workspace, office space and watch floor in Building R14 on the UNSW Randwick Campus.
The two new Bluebottles will join Bluebottles BETH and BOB for naval exercises and for further evaluation in the persistent border patrol role
https://ocius.com.au/blog/20230307_navyhandover/
And here is the Australian Department of Defence’s press release on 6 March 2023:
The Minister for Defence Industry, The Hon Pat Conroy MP and Assistant Minister for Defence, The Hon Matt Thistlethwaite MP, have welcomed the arrival of the first Ocius BlueBottle Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs) for the Australian Defence Force.
The Royal Australian Navy and Defence industry have worked together through a Defence Innovation Hub initiative to develop the Ocius BlueBottle USV, with two of the five vessels received.
“As a trading nation, surrounded by oceans, a sustained maritime security presence is essential for assuring our national economy,” Minister Conroy said.
“Autonomous capabilities and innovative technologies, such as the Ocius BlueBottle Uncrewed Surface Vessels, will assist our Navy in supporting Australian interests.”
“Powered by the wind, waves and the sun, the Ocius BlueBottle can autonomously monitor designated areas for extended lengths of time.”
Assistant Minister Thistlethwaite said the Ocius BlueBottle capability would strengthen our Navy’s ability to protect Australia’s trade routes, shipping, and marine resources to help secure Australia’s ongoing economic prosperity and national security.
“Uncrewed Surface Vessels will also provide the Navy with a platform for continuous experimentation, including support to other autonomous surface and sub-surface systems,” Assistant Minister Thistlethwaite said.
“The remaining three Ocius BlueBottle USVs are expected to be delivered by July 2023.”
Ocius Technology Ltd is an Australian Sydney-based engineering company developing and delivering autonomous solutions for maritime surveillance.
