Friday, November 11, 2011

U.S. Navy Ship Set for Alt Fuel Demo

Having powered jet fighters, helicopters and small craft with alternative fuels, the U.S. Navy will conduct its largest-yet demonstration next week when a former destroyer takes to sea with a mixture of algal oil and diesel fuel.
The former destroyer Paul F. Foster will be the largest ship yet to operate with so-called alternative fuels. (U.S. Navy)
The Paul F. Foster, a Spruance-class destroyer now used for experimental purposes, will sail from Point Loma in San Diego to her base at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Port Hueneme, Calif., powered by a 50-50 blend of hydro-processed algal oil and F-76 petroleum, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) said Nov. 10.
The alt fuel will power one of the ship's LM2500 gas turbines used for propulsion, and the ship's service gas turbine.
The short, overnight transit is part of a commitment by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to demonstrate a Green Strike Group in 2012 and deploy a strike group composed completely of alternatively powered ships, "the Great Green Fleet," by 2016, NAVSEA said in a press release.
In October, the Navy demonstrated the algal oil-F-76 fuel aboard a landing craft utility at Little Creek, Va., where a riverine combat craft also operated with the fuel mix. Yard Patrol training vessels at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., have also used the alt fuel.
Several different aircraft types have flown with alternative fuels, including F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-15 Eagle jet fighters, a T-45C Goshawk training jet, an EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft, an MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor, an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter and an MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter.
Another alt fuel test of a Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicle is to take place in December at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, Fla.

Norway Should Maintain Submarine Fleet: Study

HELSINKI - Norway's national defense capability would be best served by either extending the life of its submarine fleet or acquiring a next-generation sub, according to a study commissioned by the Ministry of Defense (MoD).
The study, which examined Norway's submarine needs after 2020 when the Navy's Ula-class fleet is due to be renewed, determined that no other military capabilities are suited to replace its submarines. The direct inference is that Norway should replace its submarine fleet with a new-generation of Arctic-class stealth subs.
The study is a collaboration among MoD, the Defense Forces Command and the National Institute of Defense Research. The Ula-class submarines have had midlife upgrades and are due to be phased out after 2020 unless a new investment program is established.
MoD now plans to analyze how the Navy's submarine fleet can be replaced. This investigation will form a central part of a new study to be completed in 2014.
This new study will examine available options, including extending the life of the current Ula-class fleet or acquiring a next-generation submarine after 2020. It is expected that a final recommendation will be submitted to the MoD and parliament in 2017.
The study given to MoD on Nov. 3 considered three primary options before it concluded that maintaining a submarine fleet is in the best interests of national defense and key to the government's High North and Arctic security strategies.
The study contemplated the consequences of halting investment in submarine capability and phasing out the present fleet. The second option considered the impact of a continuation of the submarine fleet. This included the possibility of prolonging the life of the Ula-class subs, a new acquisition program or a combination of the two. A third option explored alternatives to the submarine, such as the expanded use of surveillance technologies, including sensors.
Sweden has had informal discussions on the possibility of selling its next-generation A26 submarine, which is under development, to Norway. Other possible European acquisition options include France's Barracuda-class submarine or the German-designed Type 212 or Type 214 subs.
Norway's submarine capacity was reduced in the late 1990s when the Kobben-class subs were phased out. This left the Navy with six diesel-electric propulsion Ula-class vessels.
The Ula-class boats are primarily active in coastal policing and defense operations, being limited in their diving depth to around 820 feet. All six subs came into active service in 1989-92 and comprise a mix of German, Norwegian and French engineering technologies and weapon control systems, including Kongsberg's MSI-90U torpedo fire-control platforms.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Air-Sea Battle Office a Nexus of Networking

The complexities of modern warfare offer a bewildering array of threats, countered by an increasing and sometimes disparate list of countermeasures. Military commanders seeking to thwart an enemy's moves may not be aware of the full range of options, leaving gaps in their defenses even when an effective counter may be available elsewhere.
The Pentagon officially announced the creation of the Air-Sea Battle Office in a Nov. 9 press release. (File photo / U.S. Air Force)
Helping commanders fill those gaps with assets they may not otherwise know they had is one of the prime missions of a new, very small, yet potentially very influential office in the Pentagon, the Air-Sea Battle Office (ASBO).
Although created on Aug. 12, the Pentagon officially announced the office's creation with a Nov. 9 press release. The small group, with a core of about 12 to 15 officers, is drawn from the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.
Its charter is to examine the full range of threats to the United States, from more traditional air, sea and land-based threats to space and the cyber environment. ASBO is also, according to defense officials, about assuring the ability to move into contested areas and clear them of a threat - also known as anti-access, area denial capabilities.
"It's about access and freedom of action and making sure you have enough of what you need to get after your goals and protect and preserve your vital assets," one defense official said Wednesday at a press background briefing.
The Pentagon stressed that the office is "not about a specific actor, not about a specific regime." Officials resisted efforts by reporters to link the effort to China's rising capabilities.
"We're talking about taking our current state to a higher level," said one defense official.
"Air-Sea Battle represents change," the official said. "Three dimensions of change - institutional, conceptional and material."
Broadly, a Pentagon official agreed, the concept is a highly classified clearinghouse, set up to consider a wide range of current and potential threats. ASBO is charged with gaining familiarity with a vast number of capabilities and potential responses already available in the military, and matching them with threats.
"This is not about telling the combatant commanders to do their job," a defense official stressed. "It's about maintaining a military advantage to operate in the global commons."
A key priority for the office, a defense official said, is "to develop air and naval forces that are integrated."
The Army, for the time being, is not a significant player in the ASBO construct, although one officer is assigned to the group. Officials stressed that the office will evolve and mature, and will not be tied to a specific doctrine or set of responses.
"There is a nearly limitless number of things we can look at to challenge integration," one defense official said.
A report on the group's efforts will be issued, defense officials said, but "the report is not the end state."
Pentagon officials stressed the group has top-level support and will establish "an enduring relationship."
"They're actually very serious about this," an official said.

India Presses Russians on Smerch Problems

NEW DELHI - India is pressing Russia about Smerch multibarrel rocket launchers (MRBLs) that Indian Army officials say have problems with their firing system. The Army is also having difficulties obtaining spare parts for the Russian-built weapons.
An Indian delegation raised the matters last month at a joint meeting in Moscow, Defence Ministry sources said. The outcome of the meeting was not known.
A Russian diplomat here said the firing system problems occur only in isolated cases, and noted that the Army had tested the weapons before bringing them into service.
The Indian Army needs more Smerches, despite the technical problem, an Army official said.
India bought the Smerch in 2005 and 2006. New Delhi asked for technology transfer, but Russia refused.
The Army relies heavily on the Smerch MRBLs, which can fire 12 rockets at once and hit targets out to 70 kilometers, along with the Russian-origin Grad 122mm rocket systems and indigenous Pinaka MRBL.
Its range can be extended to 90 kilometers, the Army official said. It can also launch surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, he added.

Chemical Weapons Inspectors to Return to Libya

UNITED NATIONS - International weapons inspectors will visit Libya within weeks to check new secret chemical arms stockpiles found since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi, a weapons treaty spokesman said Nov. 10.
"Eyes in the sky" are watching over the security of the caches which Libya's National Transitional Council reported to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said its spokesman Michael Luhan.
Inspectors went to Libya last week to check the safety of the stockpile that Gadhafi revealed in 2004 after his country signed the treaty which orders a global ban on chemical weapons.
Luhan said the weapons base at Ruwagha in the Libyan desert was "in order."
"Those stockpiles remain in place. There had been no tampering, no diversions despite the emergency and the insecurity."
The Libyan authorities must now make a new declaration about the new caches.
"They have provided general descriptive information of what is there," Luhan told AFP.
Luhan said the OPCW hoped to carry out a new visit "in the next three or four weeks."
"We also hope to keep a small group of inspectors on the ground, to liaise with the government on security arrangements."
Canada, the United States and Britain have offered technical assistance to Libya with the destruction of the weapons.
Countries in the chemical weapons treaty "have had different kinds of forces on the ground and they have been focused on certain things such as keeping eyes in the sky on the chemical weapons out on the desert, making sure there is a semblance of security," Luhan said.
After the stockpiles have been assessed, the OPCW will set the Libyan government a deadline to complete destruction of the stockpile.
Luhan praised the NTC for having "proactively and very quickly brought the existence of these two undisclosed stockpiles to the attention of the international community."
The OPCW "will set what we feel would be a reasonable deadline, to keep pressure on the government to address this but also give enough latitude as it is becoming a new government," the spokesman said.
At the Ruwagha facility in southeast Libya, the Gadhafi government declared 25 tons of liquid sulfur mustard gas, 1,400 tons of precursor chemicals intended for use as nerve agents and 3,500 unfilled aerial bombs designed to carry the chemical weapons.

Germany Plans Major Afghanistan Troop Reduction

BERLIN - Germany is planning a major cut in its military forces in Afghanistan next year, according to a government document seen by AFP on Nov. 10.
Under the plan, the current force, up to 5,350-strong, will be reduced to 4,900 in February, with a further 500 soldiers leaving the country by early 2013.
The plan was outlined by German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in a letter to parliamentary groups, obtained by AFP.
Behind the decision, it said, was the "current and forecasted security situation", as well as the state of training of Afghan security forces. Germany, which has the third biggest force in Afghanistan behind the United States and Britain, said at the start of the year that it aimed to begin pulling its military forces out, eyeing 2014 for complete withdrawal.
Polls have shown the mission, the first major Bundeswehr deployment outside of Europe since World War II, has been consistently unpopular in the country.

Lockheed Martin Unveils Australian Cyber Lab


CANBERRA - Lockheed Martin has unveiled its latest NexGen Cyber Innovation and Technology Centre (NCITE) facility in Canberra, joining existing sites in the United States and United Kingdom.
The 10 million-Australian dollar ($10.38 million) center, known as NCITE AU, occupies a reconfigurable, 900-square-meter area of the company's new headquarters in the nation's capital. When fully operational, about 200 people will work in the facility.
The official opening will occur in March, when the center will reach full operational capability. The company said it will link with the other two labs and bring together leading technologies and talent in a secure environment.
"The investment in the NCITE AU demonstrates Lockheed Martin's long-term commitment to Australia and the desire to serve its national security requirements." said Raydon Gates, chief executive of Lockheed Martin Australia.
"It will provide us with a base to service customer needs in both the civil and military markets, along with a platform to leverage industry partner and Lockheed Martin technologies to create rapid prototypes to speed innovation of solution delivery, while providing seamless advanced cybersecurity," he said.
"Networks and platforms must be defended against breaches," added Curt Aubley, Lockheed's vice president and chief technology officer of cybersecurity and NexGen Innovation. "By building trust and resilience in the systems we build and use for ourselves, Lockheed Martin and its industry partners can assure our customers that we have the capabilities and technology to do the same for them."
According to Aubley, the facility will also be part of a Global Cyber Innovation Range.
"We will be able to conduct offensive and defensive control testing and wildfire work on the Internet," he said. "It is a separate network where we can train offensive versus defensive, so we can rapidly learn in a safe and secure environment."
It will operate three private and one public computing clouds and operate to a secret level, Aubley said.
Lockheed also is considering incorporating a Systems Intelligence center in the facility in the future.
Other NCITE facilities, together with Systems Intelligence centers, are located in Gaithersburg, Md., and Ampthill, U.K.
The company also announced the imminent formation of what is tentatively known as the Global Innovation Alliance to harness the resources of leading technology providers in Australia. Inaugural members of the alliance will include Australian National University (ANU) Edge, Computer Associates, Dell, Glasswall Solutions, Hewlett-Packard, McAfee, Quintessence Labs, Schneider Electric and Taskey. Other organizations also are reportedly interested.
"By bringing the combined strengths of leading universities such as the ANU together with industry partners to address the challenge of cybersecurity, we can accelerate the development of effective solutions to growing threats without boundaries or limitations," said ANU Edge Professor Mick Cardrew-Hall, speaking on behalf of Canberra-based IT service providers.
"To defend against advanced persistent threats, we need to build effective security ecosystems based on collaboration, knowledge sharing and the rapid uptake of best practices," he said.
Cyberspace threats were recently added to consultative arrangements within the Australia, New Zealand, United States Treaty and the Australian government is fast-tracking a cybersecurity white paper, that was flagged in the defense white paper of 2009.