Team Players Sensors, Data Links Will Tie Latest Apache into Net, Data Links Will Tie Latest Apache into Net

The U.S. Army is set to field the fastest, most maneuverable AH-64D Apache Longbows in its history, but it might be the sensors inside the attack helicopter's black boxes that end up defining it.
Pilots will have a window into each perspective on the battlefield - from the soldiers on the ground, the unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flying nearby, or a Kiowa scout helicopter already on station. It is part of the larger Manned Unmanned Teaming Level 2 project the Army is pursuing to integrate the influx of sensors populating Army aircraft underbellies.
Block III Apaches feature performance upgrades to help the aircraft fly and hover in mountainous terrains found in Afghanistan, and improve maneuverability bled off the aircraft by adding weight to the D-model Longbows.
Engineers added a 701D engine, composite rotor blades and an Improved Drive System of the 21st Century Face Gear Transmission, which provides the aircraft more power. These upgrades will give pilots 6K/95 hover performance: the helicopter can hover at 6,000 feet even when the temperature hits 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
What some in the aviation community find more exciting are the upgraded antennas and computing power added to the Block III. Feeds from UAS and nearby helicopters will be fed into the Apache's digital cockpit. Apache pilots can also record feeds and send them to other Apache, Kiowa and UAS pilots as well as troops with the One System Remote Video Terminal.
The first Block III Apache will roll off Boeing's production line in October, said Col. Shane Openshaw, the Apache program's project manager. Five combat aviation brigades - the 1st, 10th, 101st, 3rd and 229th - will fly Block IIIs by 2013.
The first Block III Apaches will be sent to the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. The addition of the Block III will allow the service to retire the A model by 2013.
The 101st will become the first full-spectrum combat aviation brigade in the Army, adding a Grey Eagle UAS company and two Shadow platoons. Incorporating the Block III Apaches will help fast-track that process, Openshaw said.
"The 101st will effectively be writing all the tactics, techniques and procedures to be utilized through the system. We've learned a lot through VUIT-2, but this has even more capability," said Lt. Col. John Vannoy, product manager for Apache Sensor Systems.
VUIT stands for video from unmanned aircraft systems for interoperability teaming.
Aviation leaders want soldiers on the ground to walk Apache pilots onto targets, as both look at the same video that is broadcast from an RQ-7B Shadow UAV. And if the Apache is called to a different target, the pilots can send that same video to another Apache or Kiowa, replacing them in the fight.
Security of that data has been an additional concern the past couple years. Block III Apaches will have Tx/Rx encryption that will allow them to protect the signals being sent via the Ku-band digital antennas. Encrypting the data has added to the challenge of making sure everyone is on the same page, said Col. Gregory Gonzalez, head of the Army's UAS Project Office.
"Encryption of all these data links just changes things to an enormous degree, because then you have to make sure all the data links work but make sure you have the right crypto for it," Gonzalez said.
The Apache's new Ku-band antennas have a longer range - 15 versus 12 kilometers - than the VUIT that preceded the newer Apaches. The system also takes half the time to boot up. It took up to five minutes; now pilots can start it in less than three.
Block III Apache's additional computing also comes with a bonus: Its total system weight is 49 pounds lighter than VUIT.
The Army will test the Block III Apaches and how effectively the service has advanced in integrating UAS with manned aircraft this September at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. Shadows, Grey Eagles, Kiowas and Apaches will fly in the Manned/Unmanned Systems Integration Capability exercise running through different battlefield scenarios with troops on the ground.
"This gives us a chance to show the maturation of the TTPs [tactics, training and procedures] we've developed over the past few years and test out a few new ones to make this work even better," said Tim Owings, Army UAS deputy program manager.
Getting helicopter pilots on board for the manned-unmanned teaming concept and an exercise like this has allowed the Army to turn the corner towards integrating each aviation asset more seamlessly on the battlefield, Gonzalez said.
"The manned aviation community started off not caring about unmanned systems, then they were pretty agnostic about it, now they are not only hopeful but they want what we can provide them," Gonzalez said.

New Wrinkle for Gates' Successor

The job facing the next U.S. defense secretary just became a little more daunting.
In addition to overseeing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya, the successor to Defense Secretary Robert Gates will likely walk into the job at the end of the summer just as the Pentagon wraps up a "fundamental" review of its missions and capabilities to help identify $400 billion in savings in security spending over the next 10 years.
If the Defense Department wants the review to influence its 2013 budget submission, it will have to complete it this summer, defense analysts say. This means the next secretary will have to implement a plan in which he or she had little input.
The Pentagon maintains that a schedule for the review has not yet been established.
"It is going to take some time for it to be done thoughtfully and properly," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters after President Obama's April 13 speech on his deficit reduction plan.
In an April 18 email, Morrell said, "We haven't yet determined who is going to head up this effort and what its mandate will be, let alone how long it will take."
And Gates said during an April 21 press briefing that he has had only one meeting to discuss how to structure the review.
The administration has said that while the review will have no effect on the 2012 budget, it should be completed in time for the 2013 budget submission.
Defense experts said that if the White House truly wants to shape spending choices for 2013, the review needs to be completed before August, when the budget is already largely built by the services.
"If this is really going to influence the FY 13 budget, then they're going to need to finish the review by June or July," said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
Under this schedule, the review's conclusion would coincide with Gates' departure, which many believe is only a few months away.
"It's a little hard to understand why an outgoing defense secretary would be doing a strategic review for the next several years at this point in his tenure," the Lexington Institute's Loren Thompson said.
It looks as if the new defense secretary will not only pick up the strategic review right away, but will also take over the job just as DoD analyzes the services' multiyear spending plans and crafts its guidance.
"The new defense secretary is going to have a steep learning curve," and that probably means Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn will end up doing a lot of the heavy lifting, Harrison said. "He would ideally provide a lot of the continuity between Gates and whoever follows him."
To meet Obama's call to cut $400 billion in security spending over 10 years, Gates has said the country will have to accept risk in certain mission areas and capabilities.
Yet the White House and analysts note that the reduction in planned spending means only keeping the defense budget roughly flat in real terms.
Still, there are large parts of the defense budget that are growing much faster than inflation.
During his April 21 press briefing, Gates named two: military health care and fuel costs.
With or without the $400 billion in cuts, these costs will begin to crowd out the Pentagon's investment accounts, which in turn will force the Pentagon to make tougher choices, Harrison said.
QDR As Guide To help make these choices, DoD will turn to the last Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), released inFebruary 2010, as the jumping-off point for the new review, Gates said April 21.
"It will start, probably, with the QDR and in the terms of the scenarios, and then try to translate that into what are the programmatic implications as you begin to reduce the mission sets," Gates said.
When the QDR was published, it was criticized for not prioritizing future missions and capabilities and making none of the difficult trades the Pentagon is now being asked to consider.
But the Pentagon will have to rely on this previously established baseline, especially if it wants to turn the review around quickly, Thompson said.
Even so, it's not an encouraging sign that the QDR might be used as the framework for the new review, Harrison said. "They may be better off just starting with a clean sheet of paper because what they fundamentally need to get out of this is different than what the QDR produced," Harrison said.
This time around, the Pentagon needs to lay out all of the roles and missions it currently is responsible for or has some role in; prioritize that list; and then start trimming from the bottom, he said.
Gates is overseeing the early stages of the review, but he is also signaling that his departure is near.
Asked if he was worried that the Libyan war would be a stalemate when he left office and if NATO should be doing more, Gates said, "Well, the worry will be my successor's."

'Military Compound' Downed in Tripoli: NATO

BRUSSELS - The building in Tripoli destroyed April 25 by NATO was a "military compound" where "there were various houses and residences, as well as administrative and technical command and control nodes," said Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of the NATO military mission in Libya, in a video link to NATO Headquarters on April 26.
The Canadian Air Force general said all targets NATO engages "are legal, authorized targets" and assured reporters that "the intent is to engage command-and-control nodes."

Asked if NATO was hunting Col. Moammar Gadhafi, Bouchard said the mission was "to bring an end to violence against the [Libyan] population. It's about command-and-control nodes, not individuals."
After another question, he said "it was not about regime change."
Of the three core areas of the alliance's mission - the maritime embargo, enforcing a no-fly zone, and protecting civilians and civilian-populated areas - Bouchard indicated the latter was "probably the toughest." The mission's commander expressed concern that pro-Gadhafi forces were shielding themselves with men, women and children. He also reiterated that NATO's mission was to create an environment where dialogue can take place and where Libyans can decide on their own future. He insisted that efforts to bring about peace were not just military but political and diplomatic.
Asked for an update on progress because NATO said about 30 percent of the pro-Gadhafi regime's firepower had been destroyed, Bouchard said, "This is not a number game" and "is not about the number of tanks destroyed" but is "about bringing effects, reducing the capacity and will of pro-Gadhafi forces to engage civilians."
Bouchard hailed pro-Gadhafi troops who had switched to the anti-Gadhafi side, had sought refuge in neighboring countries or had not reported for duty.
He also said NATO was working on stopping the movement of weapons.
Asked about the introduction of U.S. Predator drones, Bouchard said he welcomed any assistance.
"These weapon systems can engage at close quarters and more will follow," he said.

USAF To Hold Separate Contests for 2 Helos

The U.S. Air Force said April 25 that it will hold separate competitions for its Common Vertical Lift Support Platform (CVLSP) and HH-60 recapitalization programs.
The CVLSP program is designed to replace the service's geriatric fleet of Bell UH-1N Huey helicopters, which provide transportation to security forces at nuclear missile bases and help to evacuate lawmakers during emergencies. The HH-60 recapitalization program is the Air Force's effort to replace 112 increasingly decrepit HH-60G Pave Hawk combat search-and-rescue helicopters.

Service officials anticipate that both programs will draw industry bids based on aircraft derived from helicopters in production.
Maj. Gen. Randal D. Fullhart, the Air Force's global reach programs capability director, said that the service anticipates releasing a draft Request for Proposal in the summer, with the final RfP in the fall. The CVLSP fleet will consist of 93 aircraft spread among Air Force Global Strike Command, the Air Force District of Washington and other major commands.
"We're proceeding toward an initial operating capability for common vertical lift support platform program in 2015." Fullhart said.
For the HH-60 replacement program, Fullhart anticipates a request for proposals will be released in 2012. The Air Force did not say how many aircraft it would buy.
Industry welcomed the announcement.
"Sikorsky welcomes a competition to offer the proven H-60M Black Hawk aircraft for both the HH-60 Recap and CVLSP missions," said Tim Healy, Sikorsky's director for Air Force programs.
Healy said that the Air Force would derive significant savings from "Sikorsky's mature H-60M multi-year production line for the U.S. Army, and an established logistics support and aircrew/maintainer training effort."
If the company was selected for both missions, Sikorsky estimates a "conservative savings of $3 billion … over the 25-year operational life of 205 HH-60 Recap/CVLSP aircraft."
AgustaWestland also plans to compete for both tenders. It plans to bid its AW-139M helicopter for the CVLSP, and the larger AW101 for the HH60 replacement program.
"We're enthusiastic and look forward to working with the Air Force as they develop their specs for the CVLSP program and HH-60 recap, and we anticipate being very competitive," AgustaWestland vice-president for strategy Dan Hill said.
"We're ready."
Said John Williamson of The Boeing Co.: "Boeing looks forward to fully supporting the recently announced acquisition strategy to recapitalize the U.S. Air Force helicopter fleet."

Raytheon Wins Army Deal for Excalibur Ia-2 Shells

PHOENIX - Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded a $172.6 million contract to manufacture thousands of artillery shells for the U.S. Army.
The money will allow the company to start full-rate production of the Excalibur Ia-2, a longer-range shell than previous versions of the projectile.

According to the contract, Raytheon will provide the shells by the end of January 2013. Raytheon has been building the projectiles since 2007.
Excalibur is a 155-millimeter precision-guided artillery round that is in use with the Army and U.S. Marine Corps. It uses GPS precision guidance to come within about 30 feet of its target to limit collateral damage, Raytheon said.
Excalibur Ia-2 has a range of nearly 26 miles when fired from U.S. howitzers. The previous version, the Ia-1 has a range of 14 miles.
The projectiles give soldiers lifesaving options when close air support is unavailable, the company said, adding that more than 300 rounds have been fired in battle in the past year.
"War fighters need Excalibur because it provides a level of precision they simply cannot get with other artillery rounds," said Col. Michael Hartig, of the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence, in a statement.
He said the weapon's GPS precision is ideal for all types of terrain, including urban settings and areas where soldiers and Marines are close to the target.
In August 2010, the Army awarded Raytheon a contract to complete the design of the next generation: Excalibur Ib.
It is expected to leverage current technology but reduce costs by an estimated 50 percent.
Work for the contract will be performed in Tucson, 10 other U.S. cities, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

DoD Axes Joint Strike Fighter's Alt Engine

The U.S. Defense Department has formally terminated the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternative engine for the tri-service Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

General Electric says the F136 program has completed 80 percent of its developmental phase. (GE Aviation)

According to a Defense Department news release, the companies, along with Congress, were notified of the decision April 25.

Pentagon procurement czar Ashton Carter issued a stop-work order March 24 to the companies to halt their work on the alternative engine, which the Defense Department had determined is "unneeded and wasteful."
That action, which saved the Defense Department $1 million per day, was put in place prior to a final resolution of the F136's disposition in the FY2011 budget.
After Congress voted earlier this month to enact a full-year continuing resolution in which there were no funds allocated to the F136, Carter ordered the engine to be terminated.
General Electric spokesman Rick Kennedy said in a written statement that the company was disappointed but would comply with the termination notice. However, the company is not backing down from continuing the fight to save the engine.
"[General Electric] and Rolls-Royce will work closely with our Congressional supporters during the 2012 budget process in pursuit of incorporating the engine into the program, and preserving competition," Kennedy said, echoing earlier comments by General Electric CEO and chairman Jeffrey Immelt.
In a letter to GE Aviation employees, Immelt vowed to continue to fight to save the engine program.
"I can assure you we are not giving up. We will fight to bring competition to the 2012 budget debate," he said.
Immelt said that the government would forgo billions in long-term savings by canceling the F136, which he said has completed 80 percent of its developmental phase.
"We will keep the core technical team together as we continue the fight, and reassign the other highly skilled employees of the F136 team to other Aviation programs," Immelt said.

Americans Left Behind Hitler, Hilaku and Genghis Khan...

The member of KILL TEAM, Sergeant Kalvin Gas, posing with the corpse of underage Afghan in a victorious way, while the finger of the Afghan has been already removed.

In today’s civilized which country has such laws allowing massacre of persons, group or tribe merely under the doubt that they may be planning to attack that country. They are attacking thousands of miles away from one’s boundaries. In the way USA is using drone technology in massacre of innocent Pakistanis, has USA any ground to justify these murders? Where are the human rights activists of Europe? Why UNO and its influential members do not take any notice of such murders of innocent women, children, and innocent tribal people who are even ignorant of conspiracies and interests of international imperialistic forces?

                According to the news published on Saturday 16 April, 2011, USA has rejected protest of Pakistani people and concerns of Pakistani govt. over drone attacks. Not only this USA has repeated that she will not stop these attacks and end CIA operations within Pakistan as well. In order to justify these murders she harped on the same string which were used in Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq and Afghanistan, “it is the duty of US govt. and CIA to protect Americans in the whole world”.

                Now the question is that how undeveloped tribal people can be threat to America thousands of miles away? The answer we get from Americans is that the US forces in Afghanistan are at stake. Would the western media and civilized world like to clarify that why US forces and their western allies are present in Afghanistan? Moreover, what these wild beasts are doing for welfare of humanity in Afghanistan? Americans are of the view that they are here to free afghan people from Taliban and give them their basic human rights, than Afghan are protesting against these bastards. Leaving others aside now even American puppet and slave Afghan President Hamid Qarzai is also protesting against war crimes of US forces in Afghanistan.

Afghan killed by Kill Team near Kandahar...

                You might have seen the videos by ROLLING STONE.COM, these videos were uploaded three weeks ago show that how American soldiers are murdering innocent Afghans as a game just for entertainment. They are made to run for their lives, than bullets are fired around them. Afghan youth try to take shelter behind trees or rocks but at last are killed by American terrorists.

                Afghan youth are made to run for their life in open fields/plans, during this a US helicopter shows its skills to target these innocent people by firing rockets. As soon as the rocket hits the running poor soul his/her body is torn apart into pieces. Such scenes are recorded to commemorate the violations of human rights by Hilaku and Changez Khan. When alive humans were targeted by arrows in the big gatherings, as the arrow hit the running man and he fall down, spectators used to clap and raised slogans for the arrow man. These movies were published under the title of

                THEY KILLED FOR ENTERTAINMENT

by rolling stone.com.

                2 days before this German weekly SPIEGEL  published 18 pictures of Afghan people corpses in a post US SOLDIERS MURDERING AFGHAN CIVILIANS FOR FUN. In these pictures it has been showed that how US soldiers thirsty of human blood enjoy slaying innocent Afghans, these American beasts have been given the name of KILL TEAM by Spiegel International. After watching the pictures Afghan President first time condemned the war crimes of US army saying, “US soldiers deployed in Afghanistan use opium and marijuana whole night and in the day when they get out of effect of drugs, they set out for hunt of innocent Afghans”. He also said, “I am shocked after watching these photos, all these scenes should awake world that what US forces are doing in Afghanistan. They killed our youth for fun”.

Scanning birthmarks of a dead Afghan through Portable Biometric Scanner

                According to John Goetz and Marc Hujer, representatives of Spiegel, US govt. got worried after the photos were published. Because this might become another scandal like Abu Ghraib jail scandal in Iraq 6 years ago. In order to tackle this situation Vice US President Joe Biden at once visited Kabul to restrain Hamid Qarzai from a harsh reaction. But the photos are so much dreadful and heart rendering that if Hamid Qarzai had not condemned them, his govt. would have been at stake. According to the report, the kill team belongs to fifth Stryker Brigade.

                In order to suppress these reports, US govt. has sentenced one American soldier 24 years imprisonment for murdering innocent Afghans. Although he has been put behind the bars but after a plea in the civil court he will be freed. However, can this punishment redress the massacre of Afghans? Like Vietnam US soldiers are busy in raping Afghan women besides murdering them.

An ill fated Afghan who became target of a rocket fired by American Kill Team...

                On 14^th January 2011 different news websites published a reportDAUGHTER OF AN AFGHAN POLITICIAN DIED FROM RAPE INJURIES CAUSED BY US SOLDIERS. According to the report, many Afghan women and girls were kidnapped and shifted to an American army base in southwestern province FARAH of Afghanistan to fulfill sexual lust of US soldiers. Here three underage girls got critical situation and were shifted to hospital. A 14 year old girl lost her life due to over bleeding of blood.  Americans wanted to take the dead body along with them so that it can be safely disposed off. However, an employee of the hospital identified the girl as the daughter of a famous politician from the Farah province. She had disappeared a few days ago. On the interference by the hospital staff, Americans left the dead body into the hospital and took the other two girls along with them.

                 These news got published on different news websites by an Iranian news agency, in spite of all the efforts to suppress the report by Americans. After this the report about the KILL TEAM unveiled the American terrorism in Afghanistan. According to German weekly Spiegel, “Americans after murdering innocent Afghans as a game, create war like environment by throwing grenades and firing countless bullets, they try to feel like they have murdered these innocents after a fierce fighting. Afterwards in order to fulfill the legal requirements they make photos with the dead bodies as victorious. Dead bodies are ripped of the clothes and fingerprints, other birthmarks are recorded through the portable biometric scanners and this recorded information is than sent to higher command. The finger of the dead is cut and preserved so that when these soldiers return back home they can put it as a trophy in their drawing room”. These bastards in Vietnam and Iraq did same actions.

                Although Americans have assured Afghan officials that they will punish other soldiers seen in the pictures (this has been done just to avoid protests), an American envoy also visited Kabul in this regard. But will America fulfill it promises? The answer is, “the murderer of two Pakistanis Raymond Davis has been appointed as in Afghanistan to supervise anti-Pakistan activities”. According to the media reports, he is given free hand to conduct terrorist activities through his agents in Pakistan from Afghanistan.

                Keep in mind that American officials, Hilary Clinton and Senator John Kerry had assured Pakistan that a case would be filed against Davis in American court to punish Davis for murdering two Pakistanis. But alas! In spite of all their boastful and barbaric practices Hilaku and Genghis Khan always fulfilled their promises…