The US Navy (USN) flew two Boeing EA-18G Growlers as autonomous unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), using a third Growler as a flight controller.

In total, four flights were conducted at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, with tests starting in September 2019, says manufacturer Boeing on 4 February. The aircraft demonstrated 21 missions during flights that took place toward the end of 2019, says Boeing. The type of missions were not disclosed.

Source: US Air Force

Two US Navy EA-18G Growlers fly over Afghanistan in January 2020

The flights are a forerunner to using the EA-18G as a mission-controlling platform for autonomous Loyal Wingman UAVs. Unmmaned-manned teaming is a new US Department of Defense concept in aerial combat where some work would be offloaded to UAVs, especially dangerous missions.

“This demonstration allows Boeing and the Navy the opportunity to analyse the data collected and decide where to make investments in future technologies,” says Tom Brandt, Boeing manned-unmanned teaming demonstration lead. “It could provide synergy with other US Navy unmanned systems in development across the spectrum and in other services.”

Boeing says the flights were conducted during the USN Warfare Development Command’s annual fleet experiment exercises.

[…]

The USN has said previously that it is planning on upgrading some, if not all, of its 160-example Growler fleet to a Block II configuration, which includes an advanced cockpit system, conformal fuel tanks, improved sensors and an upgraded electronic attack package. The upgrades would also include the ability to control Loyal Wingman aircraft, Boeing said.

Source: Boeing

Rendering of Boeing Airpower Teaming System flying with EA-18G Growler

Boeing has not said previously that the Block II upgrade package would include the ability to fly the EA-18G autonomously.

“This technology allows the Navy to extend the reach of sensors while keeping manned aircraft out of harm’s way,” Brandt of Boeing says. “It’s a force multiplier that enables a single aircrew to control multiple aircraft without greatly increasing workload. It has the potential to increase survivability as well as situational awareness.”

The EA-18Gs were modified over summer 2019, says Boeing.

”Three Growlers were modified to support an open architecture processor and advanced networking, which allowed for two of the Growlers to be transformed into unmanned air system surrogate aircraft,” the company says. Those two pieces of technology were prototypes that are also planned as part of Boeing’s Block III upgrades for the Super Hornet, the Distributed Targeting Processor-Networked and the Rockwell Collins Tactical Targeting Network Technology radio.

Source: US Navy flies two EA-18G Growlers autonomously; third Growler used as controller | News | Flight Global

a tiny swarm 🙂

The retaliation for the killing last week of 33 Turkish soldiers by Syrian forces involved an unprecedented number of drones in coordinated action, said the senior official in Turkey with direct knowledge of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Syria policy. It was the first time a country had commanded the air space over such a large area using drone swarms, according to the official.

The series of strikes since Thursday by dozens of the remotely-controlled aircraft targeted Syrian bases and chemical warfare depots, the Turkish military said. But Turkey also located and destroyed some Syrian missile-defense systems, raising questions about the effectiveness of the Russian-made equipment intended to deter such air attacks.

“That’s something only Israel had been recorded publicly to have done until now,” Charles Lister, director of the Extremism and Counterterrorism Program at the Middle East Institute, said on Twitter, in reference to video footage taken by a Turkish drone allegedly showing the destruction of a Syrian army air-defense system. Turkey was waging an “air campaign run entirely by armed drones backed up” by heavy rocket artillery, he said.

The tactic threatens to bring NATO member Turkey into direct confrontation with Russia, adding to strains in relations between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin as they prepare to meet this week in an effort to ease tensions over Syria. The two leaders have worked together to try to end the Syrian civil war, despite backing opposing sides, but have repeatedly stumbled over who should control the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib that borders Turkey.

[…]

Turkey deployed an array of electronic jammers in Syria before it launched the drone strikes as part of its “Spring Shield” campaign.

Ankara appeared eager to show off its aerial firepower. The Defense Ministry posted a series of videos on Twitter showing Syrian tanks and artillery being destroyed in apparent drone attacks.

Source: Turkey’s Killer Drone Swarm Poses Syria Air Challenge to Putin

The US Department of Defense’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOTE) warned that the multinational F-35B fighter jet fleet is lagging behind a key flight-hours metric needed to show maintenance maturity.

On top of that, the supersonic stealth jet project’s move towards Agile methodology for “minimum viable product” (MVP)-phased development of critical flight and weapons software every six months is a “high risk” strategy, according to DOTE.

The F-35B fleet worldwide needs to rack up 75,000 flight hours before DOTE thinks it has gathered enough data to meet the contract spec. Currently the B model has just 45,000 hours across the board – and with HMS Queen Elizabeth due to deploy to the Pacific next year with two squadrons of F-35Bs aboard, this could mean the aircraft carrier will set sail with jets that haven’t met their required reliability standard. So far the B fleet is unable to meet its target of flying for 12 hours or more between critical failures.

Software development processes used to build F-35 software also fall under DOTE’s remit, and the auditor is not impressed by what it saw.

In its report (PDF, 14 pages), DOTE said it “assesses the MVP and ‘agile’ process as high risk due to limited time to evaluate representative IDT/OT data before fielding the software,” adding:

Testing will not be able to fully assess fielding configuration of the integrated aircraft, software, weapons, mission data, and ALIS capabilities prior to fielding. The aggressive 6-month development and fielding cycle limits time for adequate regression testing and has resulted in significant problems being discovered in the field.

ALIS is the F-35’s notorious maintenance software. Last seen on El Reg having been given Internet Explorer 11 compatibility two years ago, we now learn from DOTE that version 3.6, which was intended to be the Windows 10-compatible version with “cybersecurity improvements” will now no longer be developed. Instead the F-35 Joint Project Office, the US military unit in charge of F-35 development, “announced it plans to release capabilities via smaller, more frequent service pack updates.”

This, wailed DOTE, “increases timeline uncertainty and schedule risk for corrections to ALIS deficiencies, particularly those associated with cybersecurity and deploying Windows 10.”

Comically, the F-35 JPO has also drunk the DevOps Kool-Aid for these ALIS service packs – giving it the genuine codename “Mad Hatter”. DOTE appeared unsure whether Mad Hatter was DevOps-based or agile, however, commenting: “It is unclear that new approaches, such as ALIS NEXT and ‘Mad Hatter’ will sufficiently improve ALIS, or if more resources are needed.”

Source: Uncle Sam tells F-35B allies they’ll have to fly the things a lot more if they want to help out around South China Sea • The Register

More sadness in the article

Here’s something the public didn’t know until today: If one of the U.S. military’s new F-35 stealth fighters has to climb at a steep angle in order to dodge an enemy attack, design flaws mean the plane might suddenly tumble out of control and crash.

Also, some versions of the F-35 can’t accelerate to supersonic speed without melting their own tails or shedding the expensive coating that helps to give the planes their radar-evading qualities.

The Pentagon’s $400-billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, one of the biggest and most expensive weapons programs in history, has come under fire, so to speak, over more than a decade for delays, rising costs, design problems and technical glitches.

But startling reports by trade publication Defense News on Wednesday revealed flaws that previously only builder Lockheed Martin, the military, and the plane’s foreign buyers knew about.

[…]

The test reports Defense News obtained also reveal a second, previously little-known category 1 deficiency in the F-35B and F-35C aircraft. If during a steep climb the fighters exceed a 20-degree “angle of attack”—the angle created by the wing and the oncoming air—they could become unstable and potentially uncontrollable.

To prevent a possible crash, pilots must avoid steeply climbing and other hard maneuvers. “Fleet pilots agreed it is very difficult to max perform the aircraft” in those circumstances, Defense News quoted the documents as saying.

Source: America Is Stuck With a $400 Billion Stealth Fighter That Can’t Fight

Add a gun that can’t shoot straight to the problems that dog Lockheed Martin Corp.’s $428 billion F-35 program, including more than 800 software flaws.

The 25mm gun on Air Force models of the Joint Strike Fighter has “unacceptable” accuracy in hitting ground targets and is mounted in housing that’s cracking, the Pentagon’s test office said in its latest assessment of the costliest U.S. weapons system.

The annual assessment by Robert Behler, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation, doesn’t disclose any major new failings in the plane’s flying capabilities. But it flags a long list of issues that his office said should be resolved — including 13 described as Category 1 “must-fix” items that affect safety or combat capability — before the F-35’s upcoming $22 billion Block 4 phase.

The number of software deficiencies totaled 873 as of November, according to the report obtained by Bloomberg News in advance of its release as soon as Friday. That’s down from 917 in September 2018, when the jet entered the intense combat testing required before full production, including 15 Category 1 items. What was to be a year of testing has now been extended another year until at least October.

“Although the program office is working to fix deficiencies, new discoveries are still being made, resulting in only a minor decrease in the overall number” and leaving “many significant‘’ ones to address, the assessment said.

Cybersecurity ‘Vulnerabilities’

In addition, the test office said cybersecurity “vulnerabilities” that it identified in previous reports haven’t been resolved. The report also cites issues with reliability, aircraft availability and maintenance systems.

The assessment doesn’t deal with findings that are emerging in the current round of combat testing, which will include 64 exercises in a high-fidelity simulator designed to replicate the most challenging Russian, Chinese, North Korean and Iranian air defenses.

Despite the incomplete testing and unresolved flaws, Congress continues to accelerate F-35 purchases, adding 11 to the Pentagon’s request in 2016 and in 2017, 20 in fiscal 2018, 15 last year and 20 this year. The F-35 continues to attract new international customers such as Poland and Singapore. Japan is the biggest foreign customer, followed by Australia and the U.K.

[…]

Brett Ashworth, a spokesman for Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed, said that “although we have not seen the report, the F-35 continues to mature and is the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter in the world.” He said “reliability continues to improve, with the global fleet averaging greater than 65% mission capable rates and operational units consistently performing near 75%.”

Still, the testing office said “no significant portion” of the U.S.’s F-35 fleet “was able to achieve and sustain” a September 2019 goal mandated by then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis: that the aircraft be capable 80% of the time needed to perform at least one type of combat mission. That target is known as the “Mission Capable” rate.

“However, individual units were able to achieve the 80% target for short periods during deployed operations,” the report said. All the aircraft models lagged “by a large margin” behind the more demanding goal of “Full Mission Capability.”

The Air Force’s F-35 model had the best rate at being fully mission capable, while the Navy’s fleet “suffered from a particularly poor” rate, the test office said. The Marine Corps version was “roughly midway” between the other two.

[…]

the Air Force model’s gun is mounted inside the plane, and the test office “considers the accuracy, as installed, unacceptable” due to “misalignments” in the gun’s mount that didn’t meet specifications.

The mounts are also cracking, forcing the Air Force to restrict the gun’s use.

Source: F-35’s Gun That Can’t Shoot Straight Adds to Its Roster of Flaws – Bloomberg

The F-35’s problematic Autonomic Information Logistics System, or ALIS, will be replaced by a new system starting later this year, which it is hoped will be more user-friendly, more secure, and less prone to error. It’s also to be re-branded as ODIN, for Operational Data Integrated Network.

ODIN “incorporates a new integrated data environment,” according to the F-35 Joint Program Office, which put out a release about the change Jan. 21, just a few days after Pentagon acquisition and sustainment czar Ellen Lord told reporters about it outside a Capitol Hill hearing. The system will be “a significant step forward to improve the F-35 fleet’s sustainment and readiness performance,” the JPO said. ODIN is intended to reduce operator and administrator workload, increase F-35 mission readiness rates, and “allow software designers to rapidly develop and deploy updates in response” to operator needs.

The first “ODIN-enabled” hardware will be delivered to the various F-35 fleets late in 2020, with full operational capability planned by December, 2022, the JPO said, “pending coordination with user deployment schedules.” Some ALIS systems being used on aircraft carriers or with deployed units at that time may not get ODIN until they return.

ALIS is the vast information-gathering system that tracks F-35 data in-flight, relaying to maintainers on the ground the performance of various systems in near-real time. It’s meant to predict part failures and otherwise keep maintainers abreast of the health of each individual F-35. By amassing these data centrally for the worldwide F-35 fleet, prime contractor Lockheed Martin expected to better manage spare parts production, detect trends in performance glitches and the longevity of parts, and determine optimum schedules for servicing various elements of the F-35 engine and airframe. However, the system was afflicted by false alarms—leading to unnecessary maintenance actions—laborious data entry requirements and clumsy interfaces. The system also took long to boot up and be updated, and tablets used by maintainers were perpetually behind the commercial state of the art.

[…]

The Government Accountability Office published a number of reports faulting ALIS for adding unnecessary man-hours and complexity to the F-35 enterprise, saying in a November, 2019 report that USAF maintainers in just one unit reported “more than 45,000 hours per year performing additional tasks and manual workarounds because ALIS was not functioning” the way it was supposed to.

In early versions, ALIS also proved vulnerable to hacking and data theft, another reason for the overhaul of the system, to meet new cyber security needs.

Source: F-35 Program Dumps ALIS for ODIN – Air Force Mag

In its third field experiment, DARPA’s OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program deployed swarms of autonomous air and ground vehicles to demonstrate a raid in an urban area. The OFFSET program envisions swarms of up to 250 collaborative autonomous systems providing critical insights to small ground units in urban areas where limited sight lines and tight spaces can obscure hazards, as well as constrain mobility and communications.

In an interactive urban raid scenario, Swarm Systems Integrator teams deployed their assets in the air and on the ground to conduct the DARPA-designed mission, seeking multiple simulated items of interest located in the buildings at the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility (CACTF) at the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Mississippi.

The initial phase of the OFFSET swarm’s mission is to gather intelligence about the urban area of operations. In the field experiment scenario, AprilTags – a type of 2D bar code often used in robotics – were placed on and in buildings and throughout the urban environment to represent items of interest requiring further investigation and/or hazards to avoid or render safe. As the swarm relayed information acquired from the tags, human swarm tacticians adaptively employed various swarm tactics their teams had developed to isolate and secure the building(s) containing the identified items. Concurrently, separate subswarms also were often tasked to maintain situational awareness and continue observation of the surrounding environment. The complex scenario is designed to inspire and incentivize such dynamic employment of large-scale heterogeneous robotic teams to carry out these diverse tasks.

OFFSET includes two main performer types: Swarm Systems Integrators and Swarm Sprinters. The integrators, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon BBN, create OFFSET architectures, interfaces, and their respective Swarm Tactics Exchanges, which house tools to help performers design tactics by composing collective behaviors, algorithms, and existing swarm tactics. The sprinters perform focused tasks and deliver additional technologies to merge with system integrators.

In the Camp Shelby experiment, Swarm Sprinters Charles River Analytics, Inc., Case Western University, and Northwestern University demonstrated the ability to integrate novel interactions and interface modalities for enhanced human-swarm teaming, which allows the human operator to use interactions such as gestures or haptic touch to direct the swarm. Carnegie Mellon University and Soar Technology incorporated their developments in operational swarm tactics, such as providing the swarm the capability to search and map a building or automate resource allocation.

“It has been fascinating to watch the Swarm Sprinters, who may not have been previously exposed to realistic operational settings, begin to understand why it’s so difficult to operate in dense, urban environments,” says Timothy Chung, the OFFSET program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO). “The Swarm Sprinters brought a number of novel technologies they have developed over the last 6-9 months and successfully integrated and tested their developments on physical platforms in real-world environments, which was exciting to see.”

Previous field experiments took place at the U.S. Army’s Camp Roberts in Paso Robles, California, and the Selby Combined Arms Collective Training Facility in Fort Benning, Georgia. Additional field experiments are targeted at six-month intervals.

More information about OFFSET and swarm sprint thrust areas is available on DARPA’s YouTube channel and website: https://youtu.be/c7KPBHPEMM0 and http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/offensive-swarm-enabled-tactics.

Source: OFFSET Swarm Systems Integrators Demonstrate Tactics to Conduct Urban Raid

The Air Force Research Laboratory demonstrated a new and ultra-responsive approach to turbine engine development with the initial testing of the Responsive Open Source Engine (ROSE) on Nov. 6, 2019, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The Aerospace Systems Directorate’s ROSE is the first turbine engine designed, assembled, and tested exclusively in-house. The entire effort, from concept initiation to testing, was executed within 13 months. This program responds to Air Force’s desire for rapid demonstration of new technologies and faster, less expensive prototypes.

“We decided the best way to make a low-cost, expendable engine was to separate the development costs from procurement costs,” said Frank Lieghley, Aerospace Systems Directorate Turbine Engine Division senior aerospace engineer and project manager. He explained that because the design and development were conducted in-house, the Air Force owns the intellectual property behind it. Therefore, once the engine is tested and qualified, the Air Force can forego the typical and often slow development process, instead opening the production opportunity to lower-cost manufacturers better able to economically produce the smaller production runs needed for new Air Force platforms.

The applications for this class of engine are many and varied, but the development and advancement of platforms that could make use of it has typically been stymied because the engines have been too expensive. Through this effort, AFRL hopes to lower the engine cost to roughly one fourth of the cheapest current alternative, an almost unheard-of price for such technology, thus enabling a new class of air vehicles that can capitalize on the less expensive engine.

[…]

by working closely with other AFRL organizations, including the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and the Air Force Institute of Technology, the team leveraged internal expertise that helped advance the project. Additionally, by starting from scratch and performing all the work themselves, the AFRL team developed new tools and models that will be available for use in future iterations and new engine design projects.

[…]

“There’s not an Air Force engine fielded today whose technology can’t be traced back to Turbine Engine Division in-house work,” he said. “We’ll eventually hand this off to a manufacturer, but this one is all AFRL on the inside.”

source

As part of the Combat Air Forces Contracted Air Support programme, the companies will fly their own fleets of fighter aircraft against USAF types during Red Flag-series exercises, the USAF says in an online award notice posted on 18 October. Such activities are meant to help the service improve its performance fighting against a growing number of high-performance aircraft in China and Russia’s inventories.

The seven companies awarded contracts are: Air USA, Airborne Tactical Advantage, Blue Air Training, Coastal Defense, Draken International, Tactical Air Support and Top Aces. The service says it received a total of eight offers, but has not disclosed which bidder failed to secure a contract.

Draken International Mirage F1Ms bought from Spanish air force

Draken International

The USAF wants its third-party contractors to fly 30,000 adversary air sorties annually in the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii, according to a request for proposals issued in August 2018. The service also wants aircraft for 10,000 close air support sorties annually in the continental United States to facilitate joint terminal attack controller training.

The USAF wants contractors with a mix of aircraft types for its fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft pilots to train against. All platforms must be able to carry government-supplied electronic countermeasures pods and infrared captive air training missiles, and be compatible with arresting systems on an airfield, among other common requirements.

Multiple companies have bought and overhauled ageing fighters from foreign countries to participate in the Combat Air Forces Contracted Air Support programme. For instance, Draken International bought a fleet of 22 Dassault Mirage F1Ms and F1Bs from the Spanish air force.

The Combat Air Forces Contracted Air Support programme is expected to run from this month until October 2024, according to the USAF.

Separately, the Pentagon is looking for ways to train its fighter pilots to combat stealth aircraft, such as China’s Chengdu J-20 or Russia’s Sukhoi Su-57. In 2017, the US Department of Defense funded the development and testing of a fifth-generation aerial target. Such an unmanned air vehicle would be a high-performance, fighter-sized aircraft that is intended to represent stealthy threats in training exercises.

Source: USAF awards $6.4bn for mock dogfighting services

Yesterday afternoon, the Pentagon notified Congress of its purchase of a microwave weapon system designed to knock down swarms of enemy drones with pulses of energy. The purchase comes with an intent to deploy the PHASER system overseas for a year-long assessment, making it the first directed energy defense weapon to ever be fielded.

[…]

The U.S. Air Force spent $16.28 million for one prototype PHASER high power microwave system for a “field assessment for purposes of experimentation” in an unspecified location outside the U.S. The test is “expected to be completed by Dec. 20, 2020,” making the overseas deployment “against real-world or simulated hostile vignettes” imminent.

A Growing Threat

There are several directed energy weapons that the Air Force is buying to test their effectiveness in the field, and officials say some will be on the frontlines in tense areas of the globe where enemy drones are becoming a threat, includes North Korea, Africa, the Ukraine and—most recently—the Middle East.

“At the moment we have awarded multiple DE systems for use in our field assessment overseas and are working to support multiple bases and areas of responsibility,” says Michael Jirjis, who is lead on the PHASER experiment, told Popular Mechanics. “We can’t say which specific locations at this time.”

[…]

The recent swarm attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities has highlighted the risk and drawn a stern response from the Pentagon.

“This is not the reaction of just a few events but the realization of a growing need over the past few years,” says Jirjis.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Friday that the U.S. would be moving enhanced air defenses into the region. He didn’t offer any specifics, saying the Pentagon is working with the Saudis to come up with a support plan. The PHASER system, by virtue of timing, could now land at the forefront of an international crisis.

“It is a remarkable coincidence because this has been in the works between the Air Force and Raytheon essentially since an experiment at White Sands [Missile Range] late last year,” says Don Sullivan, Raytheon missile systems’ chief technologist for directed energy.

Those who sell drone-killing weapons keep a sharp eye on the warning signs, and there were many that preceded the attack in Saudi Arabia.

“There are fairly recent incidents, for example in Yemen where a very large drone with a high explosive payload killed about 40 people, at a prayer ground of all places. And that was on YouTube,” Sullivan says. “It was a real eye-opener. What happened in Saudi over the weekend was kind of that raised to the nth degree.”

[…]

The system uses microwaves to disable Class One and Class Two drones, ones that are less than 55 pounds and fly at altitudes of 1,200 to 3,500 feet at speeds between 100 and 200 knots. Think RQ-11 Raven at the low end and a ScanEagle as the maximum-sized target.

There were an estimated 20 drones and cruise missiles used to attack Saudi Arabia, and some of the drones may have been small enough for PHASER to have disabled them. The HPM system is not known to work against cruise missiles, according the Air Force and Raytheon.

[…]

PHASER is high-powered microwaves cannon that emits radio frequencies in a conical beam. It doesn’t cook a drone with heat. Instead, the weapon disrupts or destroys their circuits with a burst of overwhelming energy.

“It’s not a thermal effect, it’s an electric field effect that is basically imposed on the electronics to either upset or permanently damage them,” says Sullivan. “And the effect is essentially instantaneous.”

[…]

PHASER frying a rotary drone mid-flight.

Microwave weapons have traditionally been hampered by the fact that they don’t discriminate targets—bathing an area with them could damage friendly hardware along with a foe’s. But with attacks involving swarms of small UAVs becoming popular, that vice has become a virtue since PHASER can attack multiple targets simultaneously and doesn’t run out of ammunition.

Source: PHASER Microwave Weapon – The Air Force Is Deploying PHASER

The UK Armed Forces’ privatised pilot training system is taking nearly seven years to turn new recruits into frontline-ready aviators, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).

The NAO investigation into the UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) contract, which is let to a consortium backed in part by US arms multinational Lockheed Martin, thundered that the RAF was short of 330 pilots, while almost half of students entering the UKMFTS system last year failed to complete their intermediate training.

“In its worst year (2018-19), 49 students completed Phase 2, an 86 per cent shortfall against the [Ministry of Defence’s] current aircrew requirements. In its best year (2015-16), 182 students completed Phase 2, a 21 per cent shortfall,” said the NAO in its latest report.

Damningly, RAF fast jet pilots, the two-winged master race* who fly the service’s Typhoon and F-35 fighters, were taking more than seven years to get from joining the Air Force to being declared ready for frontline duties.

Part of the underlying cause of the problems identified by the NAO is the contractor’s failure to provide enough aeroplanes and instructors. Originally the post-Cold War era RAF had more than 100 Hawk advanced training jets, 130 Short Tucano intermediate trainers and 89 Grob Tutor basic training aeroplanes. Ascent, the Lockheed Martin-backed consortium, is replacing these with 23 Grob Prefect training aeroplanes, 10 Texan II fast jet trainers and five Embraer Phenom 100s. The MoD itself continues providing modernised Hawks.

Source: Auditors bemoan time it takes for privatised RAF pilot training to produce combat-ready aviators • The Register

In the margins of today’s EDA Steering Board, 22 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden) and EDA signed a new programme that will facilitate the granting of cross-border surface and air movement permissions. The programme is developed in the framework of EDA’s work on military mobility. It implements an important part of the ‘Action Plan on Military Mobility’ which was presented by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR) and the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council in March 2018. Military mobility is also highlighted in the EU-NATO Joint Declaration signed in Warsaw in 2016.

The purpose of the programme signed today is to harmonise different national regulations of the participating Member States. It should allow Member States to reduce the administrative burden associated with different permission procedures and thus significantly shorten the timelines for granting surface and air cross border movement permissions. The programme provides the basis for important activities at technical and procedural level to develop the necessary arrangements for cross border movement per transport mode during crises, preparations for crises, training and day-to-day business. The arrangements cover surface (road, rail and inland waterways) and air movements (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, fighter aircraft or helicopters). They are expected to be finalised in 2020.

Source: 22 Member States sign new military mobility programme

The CIA and the U.S. military have been using a new type of missile during some drone strikes in recent years, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. What makes this new missile unique? It doesn’t explode and instead deploys sharp blades, hitting targets “like a speeding anvil” from the sky.

The new missile, which has never been acknowledged publicly before today, is called the R9X and is a variant of the Hellfire missile. But unlike a traditional Hellfire, the R9X is designed with six long blades that only emerge from the missile seconds before impact. The R9X, nicknamed the “flying Ginsu” by insiders, doesn’t contain a warhead. The goal, according to anonymous U.S. officials speaking with the Journal, is to reduce unnecessary casualties and hopefully only kill the person who was targeted in the first place.

War reporters have been speculating that the U.S. military had a new kind of weapon since at least February 2017, when photos emerged following the death of Al Qaeda’s Abu Khayr al Masri in Syria. The terrorist, an Egyptian national, had been traveling in a Kia sedan that was surprisingly intact after the CIA drone strike, given the fact that it had just been hit with a missile.

The roof of the Kia was destroyed, and as journalist Tyler Rogoway reported at the time, the car “literally has a hole punched through its roof with no real sign of a large explosion.”

Another terrorist, Jamal al-Badawi, may have been targeted in Yemen using the new missile when he was killed in January of 2019. Al-Badawi helped orchestrate the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors and wounded at least 40.

According to the Journal, the R9X was developed under President Barack Obama in an effort to reduce civilian deaths and has been in development since at least 2011. President Donald Trump has dialed back efforts to limit civilian casualties, even rescinding an Obama-era mandate to report civilian deaths by drones outside of war zones.

The R9X has been used maybe half a dozen times around the world, according to this new report, including in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Somalia. But those numbers could not be independently verified and public affairs officials at the U.S. Department of Defense did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment this morning.

Source: CIA’s Solution to Killing Too Many Civilians: Knife Bomb

The new-build F-15 was not part of the service’s original budget plans, but was added because the type has lower lifetime operating costs, the USAF acknowledges. The service is committed to buying 72 fighters per year, but cannot afford to purchase only F-35As because of that aircraft’s high operating costs – which average about $35,000 per hour.

“Our challenge was when you look at the force structure that we have there were four fourth-[generation] airplanes – F-16, F-15E, A-10 and F-15C – that we need to fly in [the] 2030s. The F-15C is not going to make it. It is old and it is not going to fly past the mid-20s,” USAF chief of staff General David Goldfein said in testimony to the US Senate Appropriations Committee on 13 March.

“We used the best cost estimate that we had at the time and looked at the various options. The most affordable options – as long as we keep the F-35 absolutely on track with our programme of record – was to look at an F-15 variant to replace the F-15C.”

As part of the Department of Defense’s fiscal year 2020 funding request, the USAF is initially requesting $1.1 billion for eight F-15EXs. The service plans to request 80 of the aircraft in total over the next five years, costing roughly $80 million each. The first F-15EXs are expected to be delivered in FY2022.

Source: US Air Force sees F-15EX as cheap and quick fix

American plane-maker Boeing has revealed a stealthy, robotic fighter jet that could fly into battle alongside old-school manned planes.

But the “loyal wingman” drone, as officials call it, isn’t for the U.S. military. The Australian government funded the ‘bot’s development in the hope of equipping Royal Australian Air Force squadrons with drone wingmen.

Which is not to say American forces won’t eventually get their own drone wingmen. The idea of deploying robotic warplanes alongside manned ones dates back to World War II. Australia just took a big step toward updating the concept for the 21st century.

The United States likely won’t be far behind.

Boeing’s Australian subsidiary unveiled the so-called “Airpower Teaming System” at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon on Feb. 27. The most striking part of the new system is a 38-foot-long, jet-powered drone that Boeing said could carry weapons and sensors and fly as far as 2,000 miles—all while being more affordable than a $100-million manned jet.

Source: Boeing Just Revealed the ‘Loyal Wingman’ Fighter Drone—For Australia

The Oryu is the eleventh submarine based on the Soryu’s design. Soryu-class vessels, which started being built in 2005, are among the largest diesel-electric submarines in the world.

But the Oryu is a vastly updated version of the Soryu, the biggest change being the replacement of lead-acid batteries with lithium-ion ones. Mitsubishi Heavy tapped GS Yuasa to supply the high-performance batteries, which store about double the power.

Submarine batteries are recharged by the energy generated by Oryu’s diesel engines. The vessel switches to batteries during operations and actual combat in order to silence the engines and become harder to detect. The lithium-ion batteries radically extend the sub’s range and time it can spend underwater.

Source: Japan’s silent submarines extend range with new batteries – Nikkei Asian Review

The aircraft flew for two weeks on kerosine with 5% biofuel. Unfortunately there is not enough fuel available to allow for more than one aircraft to fly for two weeks. A chicken and egg dilemma.

Een F-16 van Vliegbasis Leeuwarden stootte de afgelopen 2 weken minder CO2 uit tijdens het vliegen. Het toestel koos het luchtruim op kerosine met 5% BioFuel. De proef stopt nu, omdat er op dit moment onvoldoende biobrandstof beschikbaar is om met meer dan 1 toestel of langer dan 2 weken te vliegen.

Source: F-16 vliegt prima op frituurvet | Nieuwsbericht | Defensie.nl

On June 22, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), China’s foremost military electronics company, announced that its groundbreaking quantum radar has achieved new gains, which could allow it to detect stealth planes.

The CETC claims its system is now capable of tracking high altitude objects, likely by increasing the coherence time entangled photons. CETC envisions that its quantum radar will be used in the stratosphere to track objects in “the upper atmosphere and beyond” (including space).

While conventional radars just measure the reflection of radio waves, a quantum radar uses entangled photons, which result when a microwave signal beam is entangled with an optical idler beam. The microwave beam’s entangled photons bounce off of the target object and back to the quantum radar. The system compares them with the entangled photons of the optical idler beam. As a result, it can identify the position, radar cross section, speed, direction and other properties of detected objects. Importantly, attempts to spoof the quantum radar would be easily noticed since any attempt to alter or duplicate the entangled photons would be detected by the radar.

Quantum Radar

The quantum radar could ‘observe’ on the composition of the target, since in the state of entanglement, the entangled photons remaining in the radar would show the same changes that transmitted photons would have when interacting with the target (known as quantum correlation).

Li Huifang, Wang Kai, Wang Kaibing, Wu Jun

This shift is important to the back and forth of detection that has long been the story of radars vs stealth planes (which are a crucial feature of US air power). Because stealth aircraft are optimized to elude radio waves used by conventional radars, they would be much more susceptible to detection by their interaction with entangled photons. Additionally, the quantum radar could ‘observe’ on the composition of the target. Such a capability is important not just for detecting aircraft, but would also be very valuable in missile defense, where one could differentiate between an actual nuclear warhead against inflatable decoys.

Yuanmeng

This concept art shows China’s 18,000 cubic meter Yuanmeng airship 20km above the ground (and for some reason, off the coast of the Mid Atlantic U.S.). One of the highest flying airships, the Yuanmeng can provide wide area surveillance and communications capability.

cannews.com

For its near-space platform, the quantum radar will be installed on either a high altitude blimp or a very high altitude UAV. In this role, quantum radar would be a strategic warning system against enemy ballistic missiles and detection system against high-speed aircraft like the SR-72. For space surveillance missions, it could provide high-fidelity details on classified systems such as spy satellites and space planes like the X-37B—possibly including payload details.

Source: China’s latest quantum radar could help detect stealth planes, missiles | Popular Science

China has developed a new portable laser weapon that can zap a target from nearly a kilometre away, according to researchers involved in the project.

The ZKZM-500 laser assault rifle is classified as being “non-lethal” but produces an energy beam that cannot be seen by the naked eye but can pass through windows and cause the “instant carbonisation” of human skin and tissues.

Ten years ago its capabilities would have been the preserve of sci-fi films, but one laser weapons scientist said the new device is able to “burn through clothes in a split second … If the fabric is flammable, the whole person will be set on fire”.

“The pain will be beyond endurance,” according to the researcher who had took part in the development and field testing of a prototype at the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shaanxi province.

The 15mm calibre weapon weighs three kilos (6.6lb), about the same as an AK-47, and has a range of 800 metres, or half a mile, and could be mounted on cars, boats and planes.

It is now ready for mass production and the first units are likely to be given to anti-terrorism squads in the Chinese Armed Police.

In the event of a hostage situation it could be used to fire through windows at targets and temporarily disable the kidnappers while other units move in to rescue their captives.

It could also be used in covert military operations. The beam is powerful enough to burn through a gas tank and ignite the fuel storage facility in a military airport. If you like researching and owning guns but haven’t get in to it, this might be a bit to heavy to get, you can start with a only bb guns to feel how it is and then get one of this awesome instruments.

Because the laser has been tuned to an invisible frequency, and it produces absolutely no sound, “nobody will know where the attack came from. It will look like an accident,” another researcher said. The scientists requested not to be named due to the sensitivity of the project.

The rifles will be powered by a rechargeable lithium battery pack similar to those found in smartphones. It can fire more than 1,000 “shots”, each lasting no more than two seconds.

The prototype was built by ZKZM Laser, a technology company owned by the institute in Xian. A company representative confirmed that the firm is now seeking a partner that has a weapons production licence or a partner in the security or defence industry to start large-scale production at a cost of 100,000 yuan (US$15,000) a unit.

Source: China brings Star Wars to life with ‘laser AK-47’ that can set fire to targets a kilometre away

With the UK at the forefront as the framework nation, the JEF can now deploy over 10,000 personnel from across the nine nations.

Speaking at the event at Lancaster House today Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

Our commitment today sends a clear message to our allies and adversaries alike – our nations will stand together to meet new and conventional challenges and keep our countries and our citizens safe and secure in an uncertain world.

We are judged by the company we keep, and while the Kremlin seeks to drive a wedge between allies old and new alike, we stand with the international community united in support of international rules.

Launched in 2015, the joint force has continued to develop so that it’s able to respond rapidly, anywhere in the world, to meet global challenges and threats ranging from humanitarian assistance to conducting high intensity combat operations.

The JEF, made up of nine northern European allies Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, is more than a simple grouping of military capabilities. It represents the unbreakable partnership between UK and our like-minded northern European allies, born from shared operational experiences and an understanding of the threats and challenges we face today.

In May this year, the JEF demonstrated it readiness with a live capability demonstration on Salisbury Plain. It featured troops from the nine JEF nations, including troops from the UK Parachute Regiment, the Danish Jutland Dragoon Regiment, the Lithuanian “Iron Wolf” Brigade and the Latvian Mechanised Infantry Brigade, which conducted urban combat operations with air support provided by Apaches, Chinooks, Wildcats and Tornados.

Source: Over 10,000 troops from nine nations ready to meet global challenges – GOV.UK

This is not a standing force, but one where each time it is deployed is created by the countries deciding whether to (or not) add earmarked forces to the structure.

DARPA’s OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program envisions future small-unit infantry forces using small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and/or small unmanned ground systems (UGSs) in swarms of 250 robots or more to accomplish diverse missions in complex urban environments. By leveraging and combining emerging technologies in swarm autonomy and human-swarm teaming, the program seeks to enable rapid development and deployment of breakthrough capabilities to the field. DARPA is continuing its pursuit of these goals through awarding Phase 1 contracts to teams led by Raytheon BBN Technologies (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and the Northrop Grumman Corporation (Linthicum, Maryland).
[…]
The focus of this effort is the generation of swarm tactics for a mixed swarm of 50 air and ground robots to isolate an urban objective within an area of two square city blocks over a mission duration of 15 to 30 minutes. Operationally relevant tactics to achieve that mission include performing reconnaissance, identifying ingress and egress points, and establishing a perimeter around an area of operation.

Source: OFFSET “Sprinters” Encouraged to Share Innovative Ideas for Swarm Systems

What happens when a North Korean ballistic missile test fails in flight and explodes in a populated area? On April 28, 2017, North Korea launched a single Hwasong-12/KN17 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) from Pukchang Airfield in South Pyongan Province (the Korean People’s Army’s Air and Anti-Air Force Unit 447 in Ryongak-dong, Sunchon City, to be more precise). That missile failed shortly after launch and crashed in the Chongsin-dong, in North Korean city of Tokchon, causing considerable damage to a complex of industrial or agricultural buildings.
[…]
As seen in image 1, had the launch succeeded, Rodong Sinmun would likely have printed an image of Kim Jong-un standing in front of the transporter-erector-mounted IRBM in a hardened tunnel.

That would have (and now does) send a dire message to U.S. and allied military planners: North Korea’s missiles won’t be sitting ducks at known “launch pads,” contrary to much mainstream analysis. What’s more, the proliferation of newly constructed hangers, tunnels, and storage sites cannot be assumed to stop at the Pukchang Airfield. Similar facilities likely exist across the country. In 2017, not only has North Korea tested a massive variety of strategic weaponry, but it has done so from a more diverse list of launch sites — what the U.S. intelligence community calls “ballistic missile operating areas” — than ever before. Gone are the days of Kim Jong-un supervising and observing launches at a limited list of sites that’d include Sinpo, Sohae, Wonsan, and Kittaeryong.
[…]
As North Korea’s production of now-proven IRBMs and ICBMs continues, it will have a large and diversified nuclear force spread across multiple hardened sites, leaving the preventive warfighter’s task close to impossible if the objective is a comprehensive, disarming first strike leaving Pyongyang without retaliatory options. The time is long gone to turn the clock back on North Korea’s ballistic missile program and its pre-launch basing options.

Source: When a North Korean Missile Accidentally Hit a North Korean City | The Diplomat

The European Council has adopted the decision to establish a European Union defense pact, known as PESCO. The 25 participating EU states are set to begin working on a series of joint-defense projects next year.

The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), which was first set out in the Lisbon Treaty, will allow member states to jointly develop military capabilities, invest in shared projects and enhance their respective armed forces.

On December 7, Portugal and Ireland announced their decision to join, taking the total number of contributing members up to 25. The countries that have chosen not to take part are Malta, Denmark – which has special opt-out status – and the UK (which is set to withdraw from the bloc in March 2019).

Officials have earmarked 17 joint projects that will fall under the scope of the PESCO agreement. These include establishing a pan-European military training center, improving capability development and even introducing common standards for military radio communication.

Source: Twenty-five EU states sign PESCO defense pact | News | DW | 11.12.2017