Armada International - October/November 2019

october/november 2019. Issue 05.

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08 commander's intent

MANAGING THE BIGGEST AVIATION CHALLENGE IN THE ROYAL NAVY Rear Admiral Martin Connell, Royal Navy, talks to David Oliver about his responsibilities as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff and Rear Admiral Fleet Air Arm.

24 land warfare

BEYOND ARTILLERY’S REACH Missiles have a reach way beyond artillery, and their adoption is likely to accelerate without treaty guidelines, says Stephen W Miller.

16 air power

20 sea POWER

SURVIVABILITY THROUGH DIGITAL STEALTH Jon Lake examines how reprogrammable electronic warfare systems may better protect combat aircraft.

NATO BEARS DOWN ON ASW Dr Lee Willett reports on NATO's anti-submarine Exercise Dynamic Mongoose, based around Standing NATO Maritime Group1 (SNMG1).

28 land warfare

32 special ops and expeditionary

MULTI-LAYERED SHIELD Anti-access area denial (A2AD) needs to be coordinated to achieve full effect. Stephen W Miller reports.

forces debrief UNANNOUNCED ARRIVAL Andrew White takes a look at how SOF operators may arrive discreetly by air, land and sea.

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WINTER IS COMING Fighting in cold weather is a battle against two enemies, and casualties can result from either, as Stephen W Miller explains.

40 COUNTRY ANALYSIS

BLACK SEA FLASH POINT NATO's commitment to patrolling in the Black Sea to support members Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey is no easy task, as David Oliver discovers.

46 armada commentary

MANAGING DEFENCE INDUSTRY RISK Andrew Hunter asks whether industry's attitude to risk mitigation should not adopted by higher political echelons.

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SUPPLEMENT CENTRE PULL OUT tactical radios SUPPLEMENT Armada’s annual examination of tactical radios for the modern soldier.

By Peter Donaldson.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

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ON THE COVER: During September 2918, HMS Queen Elizabeth conducted deck trials with two Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightening II fighter jets.

Armada talks to Rear Admiral Martin Connell in a new section within this month's magazine entitled Commander's Intent.

RAdm Connell is Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Aviation & Carrier Strike) and Rear Admiral Fleet Air Arm. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)

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Editorial

A BLESSING AND A CURSE

A

s I write this column before the start of the biennial DSEI exhibition and conferences (10-13 September) at London’s ExCel Centre, the sheer volume of technological advancement on show in virtually every area of defence will be almost overwhelming.

Gone are the analogue days of over half a century ago where reconnaissance skills, navigational skills, gunnery precision and aerial prowess could still be, at least in good part, attributed to the individual soldiers, sailors and airmen. Of course this in itself is no bad thing; technology has created a more level playing field opening the capability to accomplish tasks to a wider section of the population (the Big Bang Theory meets Captain America). Software and rapid processing has led to the margin for error being substantially decreased while there has been a corresponding increase in precision in everything from kinetic weapons to location identification. The current twist in this never ending arms race has now turned to disrupting this knowledge and capability, not least through cyber attack.

Commanders at all levels face the daunting challenge of trying to prepare, deploy and sustain their forces against a backdrop of continually available intelligence and information. At the individual unit level, a squad leader will be continually updating the mission brief perhaps with intelligence from his own unit’s micro UAV such as FLIR’s

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Black Hornet, while battalion assets including larger UAVs such as the General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle fill in the broader picture tactically. All this without adding the plethora of air sensors from the Modernised Day Sensor Assembly (M-DSA) on the Boeing AH-64E right through to classified communications analysis systems onboard special aircraft. These might include those such as the RAF’s Sentinel R1 airborne battlefield and ground surveillance equipped Bombardier Global Express, Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawks and even space based sensors if particularly relevant.

But the pressure to produce rapid results and to succeed with minimum casualties has never been greater. The ‘thousand mile screwdriver’ between headquarters (and the politicians) can mean that with every new nugget of intelligence received, comes a temptation to ‘tinker’ with the plan.

Accountability is a burden badly shared politicians, feeling the heat from the usual intense media coverage that magnifies mistakes, urge military commanders to a pace they often know to be too rapid (while the same politicians will limit the numbers deployed as they continually eye the mounting cost of the campaign). Commanders will task lower echelons into conducting missions that they might not be ready to prosecute. Just because a volume of intelligence is available does not mean that all of those down the length of the command chain are sharing the same conglomerated picture.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

Layer on top of this aggressive, effective and sustained cyber attacks - and tactical electronic warfare - and the pressure caused by disrupting this information flow is likely to play havoc with the military’s beloved OODA (observe–orient–decide–act) loop.

Today’s growing threat of disruption to this steady stream of vital information is designed to create hesitancy and uncertainly.

The military may be preparing to counter or, at worst, work around the problem. But what about their political masters, brought up on 24/7 satellite imagery and approving actions from behind the shoulders of Generals?

COMMANDER’S INTENT A new regular section begins in Armada International in this issue. The aim of Commander’s Intent is to illustrate the thinking of senior military leaders and to show their objectives, key challenges to be faced, and outcomes expected. Interviewees will be international, of varying rank, and with a wide range of responsibilities from general staff members, to formation commanders, and to those responsible for the procurement and implementation of new capability. I hope you enjoy the read.

Andrew Drwiega, Editor-in-Chief

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

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COMMANDER'S INTENT

F-35Bs land on the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth during trials off the United States in September 2018.

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MANAGING THE BIGGEST AVIATION CHALLENGE IN THE ROYAL NAVY

Lockheed Martin

COMMANDER'S INTENT

Rear Admiral Connell spoke to Armada International about the responsibility and challenges of developing the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike capability.

By David Oliver

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“A

s Rear Admiral Fleet Air Arm I am a Head of a Naval Fighting Arm, responsible for the professional effectiveness, ethos and spirit of all Fleet Air Arm personnel. I act as the owner of the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.”

So says Rear Admiral (RAdm) Martin Connell, who earlier this year was appointed to one of the most important posts in the Royal Navy (RN), that of Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Aviation & Carrier Strike) and Rear Admiral Fleet Air Arm (ACNS (A&CS) & RAFAA).

“My responsibilities include delivering aviation Force Elements at Readiness in accordance with the RN plan and arising, contingent events. This includes all RN fixed and rotary wing assets, the two Naval Air Stations and the new generation of aircraft carriers and carrier capability. I am the lead, on behalf of the Fleet Commander, for the development of the future Carrier Strike capability. As the Navy’s Aviation Operational Duty Holder, I am personally, legally accountable for the safe execution of maritime aviation by all Royal Navy units, including aircraft, ships and submarines.

He added that it is his responsibility to accept the ships into service with a clear and smooth audit trail. “A decade of development is aimed at establishing the premier carrier operations in Europe. We have to make sure and exploit the capability of the whole carrier strike force including communications and the use of drones.

AIR AND SEA Commissioned in 1987, RAdm Connell qualified as a front-line Westland Lynx Observer and his early RN career was spent at sea in various frigate and destroyer Lynx fights and as an Officer of the Watch.

In the early 1990s he became a Qualified Observer Instructor at 702 Naval Air Squadron, followed by time as a Flight Commander in HMS Coventry and Manchester as well as instructing front line aircrew in 815 Naval Air Squadron. He has had the privilege of commanding at sea at every rank from lieutenant to commodore, including HM Ships Severn, Chatham.

Appointed Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier Illustrious in 2012, one of the highlights of his captaincy was sailing the carrier up the River Thames, and through the Thames Barrier with only feet to spare each side, to Greenwich in May 2013 to mark

Crown Copyright

COMMANDER'S INTENT

Rear Admiral Martin Connell.

10 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

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COMMANDER'S INTENT

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy's two aircraft carriers together, HMS Queen Elizabeth (left) and HMS Prince of Wales (right) after the QE had finished a dry dock inspection earlier this year.

HMS Queen Elizabeth will keep the original 1913 battleships ship crest – a red and silver Tudor rose (the ship is named after Elizabeth I), as well as the motto – semper eadem (always the same).

the 70th anniversary of the climax of the Battle of the Atlantic.

RAdm Connell also served at Staff Officer to the Chief of Defence Staff working for General Lord Richards and General Sir Nicholas Houghton, and as a Naval Attaché at the British Embassy in Washington.

MYRIAD OF ROTORCRAFT The development and implementation of new on board procedures for rotary-wing aircraft has been a top priority. “We have developed well proven structures for the ship’s to operate aircraft,” RAdm Connell said, “A number of authorities including QinetiQ and REME Aviation engineers have been involved in the on-board operating procedures for Joint Helicopter Command’s (JHC) myriad fleet of helicopters. JHC brings under one command battlefield helicopters of the Royal Navy, Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force that operate the core tasks of lift, find and attack on the battlefield supporting ground forces in the

12 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

land and littoral environments.

Commando Helicopter Force (CHF) is part of the JHC and was formed to bring the helicopter units which supported 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines based in Plymouth, Devon under a single command.

Its primary role is to provide rotary-wing support to the Brigade and other UK force elements in the amphibious environment.

“The JHC has its own Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for its helicopters but the carrier is our airfield and they have to understand and follow our on board procedures.” All the JHC helicopter types have to carry out Preliminary Ship Interface Trials (PSITs) that are a vital step in granting approval and the issuing of a Ship Air Release clearance for the aircraft to operate safely from the QEC-class carriers for training and ultimately on operations.

To date these include Royal Navy AW159 Wildcats and AW101 Merlins, RAF CH-47 Chinooks, and most recently the Army Air Corps Boeing Apache AH.1, whose trials formed part of the Ship Helicopter

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COMMANDER'S INTENT

HMS Queen Elizabeth embarked two RAF CH-47 Chinooks in early 2018 (later joined

by AW101 Merlin helicopters) to conduct various flying serials during sea trials.

unique to the UK F-35B fleet that permits the aircraft to land onboard with heavier loads meaning that expensive fuel and weapons will not have to be jettisoned before landing, will be carried out on HMS UK MoD

Operating Limits (SHOL).

“We are trying to expand the clearances to cover the night envelope for US Marine Corps (USMC) MV-22 and MH-53 helicopters, and the first UK type will be the Commando Merlin HC.4s. In future we will be looking at training with other Lockheed Martin F-35 operating nations such as Italy and Japan,” said RAdm Connell. The carrier task force will be offered to NATO in mid2020 and the focus will be global operations with basing access at Duqm Port in Oman, the only place designed to support Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers in the Gulf region. Although the UK Naval Support Facility (UKNSF) in Bahrain, HMS Jufair, is not able to berth the carriers, it would be able to support them offshore.

RAdm Connell stressed that lessons learned from the QEC’s sea trials have quickly been adapted for HMS Prince of Wales. There are already 60 Royal Navy personnel aboard the second QE-class carrier before it commences its first sea trials at the end of this year. Complimentary trials will be held on both carriers from 2021 carried out by UK Joint JSF Program Office pilots and engineers based in the United States. Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landings (SRVL) trials, an innovative manoeuvre

Prince of Wales.

At the end of next year Initial Operational Capability (IOC) will be achieved that will allow US Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighters to operate from the QEC. The next milestone is 2024 when 24 British F-35Bs embarked for her maiden deployment.” RAdm Connell added that “we will also see the introduction into service of the new Crowsnest helicopter-borne airborne early warning and control system, and new missiles on Wildcat. The growth of the Royal Navy is exciting.”

He told Armada that he had good relations with the RAF and No.1 Group’s AOC, Air Vice Marshal Harvey Smyth who has responsibility for the UK’s Carrier Strike capability, with the joint RN/RAF F-35B Lightning Force based at RAF Marham when not operating from the UK’s QE-class carriers. Having worked with him in the past, he knows Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston well, who was appointed Chief of the Air Staff on 26 July 2019. RAdm Connell is also looking forward to working with the new First Sea Lord, Admiral Tony Radakin, whom he describes as “a visionary”.

To sum up his role to date, RAdm Connell said that his biggest challenge has been to re-establish expertise of carrier operations that had been lost since the three Invincible-class carriers had been decommissioned.

On Friday 30 August HMS Queen Elizabeth set sail from the Portsmouth naval base to conduct her second deployment to the United States.

14 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

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air Power

Man and machine prepare for combat, An RAF Typhoon Eurofighter at the US Exercise Red Flag 2014.

SURVIVABILITY THROUGH DIGITAL STEALTH Can reprogrammable electronic warfare systems provide protection for tactical aircraft in a dynamic and changing threat environment?

L

eonardo believe in rapidly reprogrammable electronic warfare (EW) systems. Not only do they protect the aircraft, they will also provide the pilot with much better situational awareness, allowing him to know what threats are out there, to understand their behaviour, to evade them, and ideally to prevent or manage any engagement.

Modern tactical aircraft have to operate in a complex, contested threat environment whose lethality is growing exponentially, with the emergence of a plethora of high-end, long- and mediumrange multi-spectral threats, including Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) systems like the SA-21 ‘Growler’ (S-400 Triumf), SA-22 ‘Greyhound’ (Pantsir-S1), and SA-25 (9K333 Verba). These threat systems are software re-programmable and are being updated

By Jon Lake more and more regularly. They are also frequently networked, allowing them to share a lot more intelligence of the air situation.

One solution to the problem of combat aircraft survivability is to use Low Observable (Stealth) technology to escape or delay detection. But although such fifth generation aircraft are very hard to detect using current radars, these aircraft are not invisible, and are becoming progressively easier to detect as counter stealth technologies are being rapidly developed and deployed. Mark Hewer, Leonardo’s vice president for the Integrated Mission Solutions Business, points out that: “You cannot easily modify a stealth platform to counter new high-end threats, because you can’t redesign the skin of your aircraft, or its internal structure, or its configuration. You have got what you have got.”

16 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

This means that when new radars are introduced that erode the low observability of fifth generation fighters, there will be little that can be done to counter that, or to restore the combat advantage enjoyed by these aircraft. By contrast, EW systems are able to evolve to take account of this dynamic threat, in a way that stealth aircraft cannot. They can be upgraded and updated, incorporating new hardware and software.

Hewer believes that such agile evolving EW systems, typified by Leonardo’s open/ reprogrammable electronic warfare (EW) suite for the Typhoon, represent what he calls ‘digital stealth’, conferring a high degree of survivability.

Though Hewer talked to Armada about the Typhoon EW system, he was quick to point out that the basic concept - of using a rapid mission data reprogramming cycle to

air Power

maximise the effectiveness of EW against a rapidly evolving and proliferating threat - is applicable across platforms and indeed domains.

The Typhoon’s EW capabilities are provided by Leonardo’s Praetorian Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS). This incorporates an onboard ECM jamming system using the aircraft’s wingtip pods as well as an RF Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS), laser and radar warning systems and a flare and countermeasures dispensing system. The system also incorporates an off-board ECM system, using a Towed Radar Decoy, and the new BriteCloud system.

The Typhoon’s EW system is undergoing a continuous evolution, with regular upgrades to the hardware and a spiral software development process, while having Open/Reprogrammable Mission Data makes the integration of new EW system elements easier and more effective, allowing Typhoon to better exploit the capabilities offered by BriteCloud, for example.

flight trials will take place towards the end of 2020, with safe separation/functional flight trials following by the end of 2021.

BriteCloud represents a world-leading expendable active decoy capability that will give Typhoon a discriminatory capability that is not available on any other platform and will add to the portfolio of options that the Typhoon pilot will have to counter the very highest end threats. “There’s nothing like it on the market today,” Hewer explained.

But more important than the performance of the individual hardware elements within Typhoon’s DASS is their ability to be reprogrammed using open/ reprogrammable mission data. Mission data is used to interpret the information that the sensors receive, and drives the behaviour of the EW system. ‘Good’ Mission Data is what makes an EW system effective, since only by understanding and predicting a threat system’s behaviours and vulnerabilities can that threat be defeated or evaded. Mission data is far more important than the angular accuracy of a radar warning receiver, or the radiated power of a particular jammer, though parameters like these are obviously relatively easy to quantify and are perhaps easier for a lay observer to understand.

Sources close to the Eurofighter export campaign in Switzerland blamed a poor, generic, and out-of-date Mission Data load for the aircraft’s relatively poor showing in the first Swiss evaluation. A senior Typhoon test pilot once admitted that the EW capabilities of a Typhoon ‘off RAI Nvolsti

Leonardo’s Praetorian Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS) currently installed on the Eurofighter Typhoon. (Dave Hamster/ Matthias Kabel 1. Laser warners 2. Flare launchers (IR decoys) 3. Chaff dispensers 4. Missile warners 5. Wingtip pods for ESCM 6. Towed decoy

Britecloud is a small, self-contained, highly programmable Digital RF Memory (DRFM) active decoy that was first integrated on the Tornado in March 2018.

Typhoon testing began in April 2019, and by the end of May 33 BriteCloud rounds had been dispensed by No.41 (Reserve) Squadron Typhoons. The MoD’s own ‘Desider’ magazine has stated that initial operational capability on Typhoon will be declared in late 2019, following the conclusion of testing on the Typhoon.

Programme insiders consider this to be a realistic goal because much of the work has already been done on Tornado.

Britecloud functionality will be enhanced with the integration of a new Saab Smart Dispenser System on the Typhoon. This will allow Britecloud rounds to be reprogrammed on the wing to take account of new threat intelligence, and will allow complex and co-ordinated patterns of expendables to be dispensed.

The Saab Smart Dispenser System (SDS) is of modular design, with magazines for different expendable types installed in one of four different positions in the launcher, giving a large range of potential combinations of expendable type and release location within the launcher. The launcher will accommodate an increased number of flares and decoy expendables, giving enhanced persistence, and will also provide improved firing angles. Testing work, including both ground trials and

Russian army parades the S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) medium- and long-range surface-to-air missile systems during a Victory Day parade at Red Square, Moscow.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019 17

air Power

“There’s no point having a cycle that can take a year - such as sending data back to, say, the US and then turning it into a mission data set which by that time could be way out of date,” Hewer observed.

Mission Data is key, and most customers want to be able to generate their own autonomous and sovereign data, and not to simply have to rely on what they may be given by their platform provider.

Hewer compared the approaches to mission data taken on the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Lockheed Martin F-35.

“Because of the relationship that Leonardo has with the UK Joint EWOS centre, and Leonardo

the production line’ with a basic ‘factory’ mission data load, were unimpressive, but that with the latest RAF Mission Data (for example) the aircraft’s EW and radar capabilities were world-beating.

“What is really important for the highend customer buying Typhoon is that their EW system is highly programmable,” Hewer said. “There’s no point in directing your ECM if it is going to be ineffective against that threat because you’re not exploiting its vulnerabilities.”

Reprogrammable mission data allows the right threat intelligence (including threat vulnerabilities) to be loaded into the system and Leonardo believes that this represents a major competitive advantage for the company.

Air forces are increasingly seeing the need to be able to generate the most up-to-date mission data set in order to ensure relevance to the environment and to guarantee mission success. This makes the rapidity and agility of the mission data upgrade cycle of paramount importance.

On Exercise Red Flag, and during some operational deployments, RAF Typhoons have sometimes loaded new Mission Data sets between individual waves or ‘vuls’ in order to exploit new intelligence.

This kind of agility isn’t possible for lower priority export customer of some US fighters, who won’t have access to the source codes necessary for reprogramming an EW system, and who may not have their own national EW database. Such air forces will have to rely on a relatively slow and infrequent Mission Data reprogramming cycle.

MoD

On Exercise Red Flag, and during some operational deployments, RAF Typhoons have loaded new Mission Data sets between individual waves to exploit new intelligence.

18 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

because Leonardo has provided training to the F-35 reprogrammers, I do have some insight into that programme and what I can say is that Typhoon is many more years more mature in its operational use of programming for EW,” he said.

The US has tried to provide its ‘first tier’ F-35 customers with a sovereign Mission Data capability, but there is still a very heavy reliance on the US for F-35 Mission Support Capabilities. The ACURL (Australian/Canadian/ UK Reprogramming Laboratory) is not really agile, and is permanently based at Eglin AFB in the USA, which mitigates against rapid and frequent Mission Data reprogramming. By contrast, the UK has the tools, knowledge and infrastructure necessary for reprogramming the Typhoon EW system in the Mission Support Centre at RAF Coningsby, and also in the Joint EWOS Centre at RAF Waddington, which Hewer singled out as being: “an absolute world leading example of a Centre of excellence in creating Mission Data.”

Leonardo is aiming to offer its customers a similar, sustainable tailored sovereign mission support capability, either via a paid-for service, which they can dictate the outputs of, or via a tailored solution The UK Ministry of Defence has contracted Leonardo to provide its BriteCloud 55 Expendable Active Decoy (EAD) for trials with the RAF's Eurofighter Typhoon fleet.

air Power

designed in concert with the company.

To provide customers with this kind of sovereign capability, Leonardo offers very comprehensive EW support and Mission Support training programmes (including classroom-based to software and indeed hands-on, hardware-in-the-loop training), and has a suite of deployable software tools including a Mission Data Generation toolset and threat vulnerability analysis tools, as well as modelling and simulation products that allow a customer to develop countermeasures, and then to verify and trial them.

These analysis tools allow an operator to evaluate what has been seen by the EW system, whether it was what had been expected, how the system has performed and whether the Mission Data needs to be evolved. This allows the establishment of a continuously agile EW life cycle.

Leonardo can also help customers to set up a national EW database (or an aircraft/system specific database) that can capture all of the intelligence on particular threats – their characteristics,

performance, capabilities, vulnerabilities, and countermeasures.

“All of that has to be housed and we can design relevant infrastructure which has the right networks, rigs and people,” Hewer says.

Leonardo and the Eurofighter partners have enabled Saudi Arabia to establish its own very comprehensive sovereign Mission Data capability, and similar offerings formed a major part of the Kuwaiti and Qatari Typhoon bids.

Leonardo is keen to emphasise its links to the UK armed forces, and stresses the way in which they (and the armed forces and air forces of the other Eurofighter partner nations) have provided forward leaning support to export customers.

“We have the benefit of a very proactive supporter in the form of UK MoD and RAF, to help complement our knowledge as industry with real operational experience and best practise,” Hewer averred. I think that’s a unique value proposition combining the strengths of industry and all the knowledge that we have and the

experience of our military forces.”

For the future Leonardo is looking at increased automation and machine learning in the production of mission data, in order to achieve a step change in data management and analytics. This promises to reduce the burden on people, in an increasingly complex threat environment, which is producing ever greater amounts of mission data. The company is also looking to share mission data across platforms.

“Multi-platform mission data allows you to gain greater accuracy at even greater distance,” Hewer said. “While single platform situational awareness is very good, there are always advantages to be had by sharing a complex battlespace picture, sharing intelligence on identifying threats, and locations.”

The company is also looking at inflight reprogramming of EW systems. This would allow an EW system to update itself as a result of behaviour that it is sensing and seeing. It is also working on advanced AESA radars, which offer considerable potential for EW.

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sea power

NATO BEARS DOWN ON ASW

Exercise Dynamic Mongoose strengthens anti-submarine warfare skills and wider trans-Atlantic naval team building.

By Dr Lee Willett

T

he strategic, operational, and technological impact of the return of state-based naval rivalry in the Euro-Atlantic theatre is perhaps nowhere more acutely evident than in the underwater domain.

Submarines have always been regarded as enabling their operator to deliver a ‘bigger bang for the buck’. Australian analyst Andrew Davies has argued that possession of a submarine enables the navy and the country concerned to “jump

the queue” in terms of developing strategic influence.

So it was that a return of submarine activity across the Euro-Atlantic theatre – from the high North to the Eastern Mediterranean – was one of the first and most prominent military manifestations of Russia’s return to the world stage from 2008. Across the Euro-Atlantic region, Russian boats have become increasingly active in projecting power at sea and ashore and generating presence likely intended to reduce NATO naval freedom of manoeuvre

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or even to deny the alliance access to particular waters.

Consequently, a high-end NATO exercise in the North Atlantic such as the recent Dynamic Mongoose anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise is a significant tool in the alliance’s toolkit for reassuring regional allies and partners and deterring Russian activity, as well as re-building core ASW skills and capabilities.

Underlining another significant factor in the current strategic balance – the increasing presence of US Navy (USN)

DVIDS

sea power

US Navy

maritime patrol role.

The helicopters were joined in the air by two USN Boeing P-8A Poseidon, two Royal Canadian Air Force Lockheed CP-140 Aurora, two French Breguet Atlantique, and three Boeing P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs).

Below the surface, the ASW threat came from four submarines, provided by France, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Ships from SNMG1 sail in formation with USS Gravely during Dynamic Mongoose. The ASW serials presented in the exercise provided a range of challenges, in both deep and shallow waters, for the assembled surface forces.

assets in North Atlantic waters once again – Dynamic Mongoose was based around Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), with the group led by the USN. As NATO seeks to rebuild capacity in core capability areas such as ASW through exercises, while concurrently maintaining presence to provide influence in the ‘real world’ of operations, running a major ASW exercise in the North Atlantic reinforced to exercise commanders the essence of the alliance.

“As I speak to people on the importance

Rear Admiral Edward Cashman, Commander of Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1), and the commanding officer of the Norwegian frigate HNoMS Otto Sverdrup, Cmdr. s.g. Iris Fivelstad, on board the frigate’s bridge at the start of Exercise Dynamic Mongoose 2019.

of the alliance and the connections, I remind them that the alliance itself isn’t named after a nation or a body of land or a place where a people live: it’s named after the North Atlantic; it’s named after that bridge that connects the continents and the [countries] and the members of the alliance,” Rear Admiral Edward Cashman, Commander SNMG1, told Armada.

Talking to Armada from SNMG1 flagship USS Gravely (an Arleigh Burkeclass guided-missile destroyer) during the exercise, RAdm Cashman said “A navy’s role is to maintain that bridge and maintain the freedom of movement and the security of that connection. So the North Atlantic itself is by definition a strategic waterspace that we need to be able to operate in, and we need to be able to assure allies and deter potential adversaries.”

SNMG1 ASSEMBLES For the exercise – held off the Norwegian coast in early July – Gravely was joined by two UK Royal Navy (RN) Type 23 towed-array sonar-capable frigates, HM Ships Sutherland and Westminster, the Royal Danish Navy’s Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes, the Royal Norwegian Navy’s Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate HNoMS Otto Sverdrup, and the Turkish Naval Forces Command’s Gabyaclass frigate TCG Gokova. Together, these platforms brought three Sikorsky MH-60 Romeo, one Leonardo EH-101 Merlin, one Lynx, and one SH-70 Seahawk helicopter in their organic air ‘orbat’. Two more Merlins also joined the exercise, operating in the

SUBSURFACE THREAT The importance of exercises like Dynamic Manta in providing a trans-Atlantic bridge in terms of training, capabilities, and operations is underlined by the level of sub-surface threat in the North Atlantic.

The submarine presence on the exercise demonstrated the extent of the problem for naval commanders in the North Atlantic, with the three submarines exploiting the advantages of the deep, cold waters off Norway and Norway’s own boat using its deep knowledge of Norway’s fjords and other littoral regions to provide the shallow-water threat.

These two challenges provided a combined threat, said Rear Adm Cashman.

Submarines operating in deep water or shallower, more constrained waters present different ASW challenges for surface ships and aircraft, he continued, adding “that’s why it’s important to continue to stress all of those different environments”.

Reflecting the focus across NATO on building exercises that add a greater level of complexity to training, RAdm Cashman said the exercise design and planning for Dynamic Mongoose had enabled participating assets to maximise operational benefit in terms of understanding the operating environment, especially below the surface. “The challenge for us at the task group level and for the aircraft – and for the submarines, frankly, as well – is to assess and evaluate their operating area – the water column, the temperature at depth, what the sound is going to do in various areas, what the non-acoustic detection possibilities could be – and design a set of capabilities and how to employ them to achieve their objectives.” One such objective, he added, is “understanding the adversary and how the submarines are likely to use that environment to their advantage”. A particular new capability that may address this is the USN’s P-8A MPA.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019 21

Details of the annual Norwegian-led anti-submarine exercise Dynamic Mongoose 2019.

US Navy

Alongside the other MPAs present, RAdm Cashman pointed to the P-8A’s speed, reach, and ability to create stand-off capability in a submarine operating area.

“Their endurance [and] their length of time on station is invaluable,” he said. “To go out [and] find, track, either sanitise an area, put up a barrier, [or] make sure no-one is in an area we’re headed to next, there’s various tactics and techniques they can employ,” the admiral continued. “The capabilities are pretty special.”

Norway and the UK are also investing in a P-8A capability, and the three countries are working closely together on basing, logistics, maintenance, and operational concepts to maximise coverage across what is a very busy submarine operating environment in the Euro-Atlantic theatre.

Broadly, the purpose of an exercise like Dynamic Mongoose is to provide complex, advanced, multi-unit operational training in a relevant operational environment.

In the search for submarines, the exercise’s serials covered events using surface ships, aircraft, or surface ships and aircraft combined. Missions for the task group included protecting a high-value unit or convoy in transit between two points, or sanitising a particular area.

RAdm Cashman said the scenarios and serials were designed very well to help the assembled forces achieve the training and wider operational objectives. “The operating area, the number of forces, four different submarines …, MPAs, and helos enabled us to really fuse air and surface operations together, and I think the exercise design enabled us to really test our ability to understand the environment and to design a plan to execute event by event,” the admiral explained.

US Navy

sea power

MIX OF CAPABILITIES Regarding the combination of capabilities an SNMG brings and the impact it has on such an exercise, “the critical thing is to have the right mix of capabilities”, said Rear Adm Cashman, with such capabilities including both platforms and people. “To have hull-mounted sonars operating in various frequencies and levels, to have towed array variable-depth sonars, to have embarked helos … but also controllers and the ability to work with MPAs that will flow in from the outside” all combine to bring this right mix of capabilities in the exercise. “The units themselves bring whatever they’ve been nationally fitted

22 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

sea power

with,” the admiral explained, with these capabilities “[playing] different roles depending on the mission and the waterspace and the potential adversary”. On top of this, he continued, “it’s really [the] communications, the command and control (C2), the data links, and the procedures to be able to integrate units [that] is the core capability the group brings.”

While noting that exercises such as Dynamic Mongoose often validate the experience and best practice established over time, rather than necessarily exposing any new lessons, HE said there remains much value in such validation, particularly in training the people.

“From the sonar operators, the aircraft commanders and pilots, the sensor operators, the ASW evaluation teams, the principal warfare officers (PWOs), and decision-makers. That’s a never-ending process,” he explained. “People grow and

evolve, people change jobs, so the need to continue to train and work together and integrate the people, the way that they communicate and the way that they operate, is really critical. That experience set is one of the critical things we build when we do these exercises.”

With those PWOs set to become commanding officers in the future, the commanding officers to become squadron or task group commanders, and the sensor operators needing to pass on the experience to those who follow them, “it’s the training and the continuity of the people involved that I see as one of the critical values of these exercises”, said Rear Adm Cashman.

Set against concerns in some quarters that the post-Cold War years of NATO maritime operational focus on lowerend maritime security tasks to support expeditionary operations at distance had seen core naval war fighting skills such

SNMG1 flagship USS Gravely is pictured in May 2019 during an exercise in the Baltic Sea. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer was accompanied by five other surface ships, four submarines, and an assortment of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft for ‘Dynamic Mongoose’.

as ASW atrophy, Rear Adm Cashman argued that the returning focus on ASW in exercises like Dynamic Mongoose and Dynamic Manta (the alliance’s Mediterranean ASW exercise) are seeing NATO’s navies re-generate and maintain the required expertise. This has been enabled, he said, by the alliance’s wellestablished communications, datalink, and common operating procedures. “I’ve been incredibly impressed by the readiness, by the experience, of the operators across the force. The non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and the PWOs across the NATO nations are incredibly well trained, experienced, and interoperable. They know NATO procedures and NATO doctrine, and they’re able to integrate quickly, form a unit based on the forces that are available, and almost immediately start operating together.”

“An exercise like Dynamic Mongoose proves the ability for the core of the SNMG to take additional forces, … integrate them quickly based on common doctrine, common understanding, and wellestablished NATO interoperability, [and] to scale the force to what we need for the mission,” the admiral added.

With its own increasing presence, the USN also is re-growing the experience of its own personnel in operating in the region. Alongside bringing highly capable platforms into play, including new capabilities like the P-8, RAdm Cashman said USN personnel are also benefiting from working with allies and partners from countries across the North Atlantic region.

“The regional expertise is invaluable, and the USN units learn a lot whenever we come over, and it’s great professional development and training experience for everyone from folks like me all the way down to [the sailors] sitting in sonar and operating on the plot.”

The importance of that established experience amongst sailors themselves also relates to the alliance as a whole. While the numbers of platforms in an SNMG may change as ships ‘chop in’ and ‘chop out’ of the group over time, an SNMG’s task group staff exists “24/7, 365”, said RAdm Cashman; “the staff, the procedures, and the ability to conduct C2 of that operation is continuous.” As a result, he continued, an SNMG can “build and maintain readiness on a continual basis, to be able to respond if there’s a crisis or conflict, primarily … to deter any sort of actions”.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019 23

LAND WARFARE

BEYOND ARTILLERY’S REACH

The ranges and complexity of ground launched missiles has grown, and with no limiting treaty, looks set to go ballistic.

By Stephen W. Miller The MLRS and HIMARS (shown) have become the primary platforms for the US military’s tactical missiles. Equipped with onboard navigation and digital fire controls they are able to move into a position, deploy, fire and displace quickly.

24 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

Imur

LAND WARFARE

The BM-21 Multiple Rocket Launcher although fielded in the 1960s remains in service with a number of countries and an effective weapon. It is particularly useful fired in salvos against an area or where the exact location of a suspected target is not known. It has been mounted on a number of different trucks as seen here on the Libyan border.

T

actical missiles extend the depth to which the ground force can engage and destroy targets. These missiles are vehicle mounted providing ground mobility and the ability to displace rapidly after firing. The missiles are able to reach targets beyond the ranges of tube artillery. currently about 30 kilometres for 152mm or 155mm artillery. Even extended range howitzers like the US Army ERCA being developed by BAE Systems will likely achieve a range of around 70km. Beyond this is where the ground based tactical missile comes to play.

The multiple rocket launcher widely used in World War II demonstrated the tactical effectiveness of such weapons. Although simple free-flight rockets the Russian truck mounted Katyusha and Wehrmacht towed Nebelwerfer used in mass were deadly from their positions located just behind the forward lines. The introduction of conventional, nuclear or chemical agent warhead capable tactical missiles in the 1960s and 70s, such as the Soviet Frog 7, SS21 Scarab and US Lance, filled a similar role.

These missiles would target assets further to the rear such as forward air bases, staging areas, and command and control facilities.

Despite these warheads, their limited range did not give them a strategic consideration.

Conventional warhead versions today address the same roles but with greater

precision and significantly increased ranges.

MULTIPLE LAUNCHERS These highly mobile systems typically have multiple launch rails or pods mounted on a tactical truck platform, although the US M240 MLRS by Lockheed-Martin is a tracked chassis. Originally these employed free-flight rockets that were unguided and used the mass volley firing to blanket an area. The Russian BM-21 Grail (Hail) is a classic example. It has 40x122mm rockets with a range of 30-45 km on an Ural375 6x6 or similar truck. The system is used by over 40 armies often in locally design versions.

It can fire its entire load in 20 seconds and be ready to move in two minutes. The later is critical since the signature of a MRL firing is pronounced and can be expected to quickly receive counter-battery fires so displacing is essential. In fact, countering artillery and command/control sites are roles for which MRLs are ideally suited, since as a BM-21 battery will cover a large impact area an exact location of the enemy targeted is not essential.

The Russian forces have been replacing the BM-21 with larger rockets. These include the 220mm BM-27 Uragan ‘Hurricane’, the BM-30 Smerch with 12x300mm rockets, and a more recent six tube 9A52-A Tornado all on 8x8 truck chassis. The Tornado is, according to literature, “a

universal multiple launch rocket system offering faster reloading, simpler logistics and the ability to fire existing types of rockets without special preparation or changes”. It can fire all current 122mm and Smerch rockets, including HE-FRAG, incendiary, thermobaric, anti-personnel or anti-tank mine cluster rounds. It also can reportedly launch the 9M534 rocketdeployed unmanned aerial reconnaissance drone. The system has a 120km range with automated laying and fire controls using autonomous satellite navigation and positioning to provide a one minute set up, firing, and move ability. The first Tornado-S systems have been supplied to the Southern Military District.

Several counties have developed mobile rocket systems either drawing on the Russian models or using the 122mm rocket. The Slovak RM-70 uses the Tatra 8x8 truck chassis and includes a 40 round on board reload. It has also been offered with 227mm HIMARS rocket pod as a lower priced alternative. Israel’s LAR-160 rocket launcher is mounted on a simple truck chassis. Its 160mm rockets have cluster warheads and are mounted on pods for fast reloading. A Romanian version called LAROM also uses the 160mm rocket providing a lighter Grad like rocket system. India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRADO) developed its own multiple rocket launchers the Pinaka. Mounted on the Tatra truck it has 12 rockets with a maximum range by the Mark1 of 40km. A 70km guided version was demonstrated in 2019. It was successfully used during the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan. Pinaka uses SAFRAN’s Sigma 30 inertial navigation allowing shootand-scoot tactical employment. Teaming batteries with weapons locating radars and unmanned aerial vehicles offer a responsive counter-battery capability.

The Turkish firm Roketsan manufactures a number of multiple rocket systems with its T-300 Kasirga (Hurricane) the closest fielded equivalent to Russia’s BM-30 Smerch. Using a 300mm rocket its four launch tubes are capable of reaching 100km delivering a 90kg M31 unitary warhead.

Generally mounted on a 6x6 or 8x8 MAN truck, it includes on-board navigation and fire controls.

The Peoples Republic of China also uses the 300mm calibre rocket in its PHL03. The 12 tube system mounted on an 8x8 truck was

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019 25

LMCO

first seen in 2005. The initial 70km range rockets have since been joined by a more advance 150km model. Equipped with an automatic correction system, Norinco, the developer, claims “it is able to achieve more dense impact points allowing greater destructive power with fewer rockets.”

The tracked chassis Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) M270 is fielded by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Turkey.

The system originally had with six M30 traditional rockets per pod with a 70km range and later with one guided MGM-140 ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) per pod. The missile initially carried a payload of cluster bomblets which covered a large area when disbursed but also suffered a high dud rate. These were replaced by a Block IVA variant developed by Lockheed Martin with a unitary warhead.

A company spokesperson shared that “this is a 230kg (500 pound) high explosive air burst warhead with preformed tungsten fragments and a range of 300km, with an increased accuracy as a result of its upgraded GPs and guidance electronics.”

The new versions were first delivered in 2016.

HIMARS M142 (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) is essentially the MLRS launcher mounted on a tactical truck but capable of carrying only one pod. It is, however, more easily transported and simpler to maintain. It has been adopted

Many tactical missiles were originally fielded to delivery cluster bomblets so as to cover a larger target area. These munitions, however, have demonstrated very high dud rates leaving many unexploded bombs.

Unitary warheads with precision accuracy and increased lethality as demonstrated by the Lockheed-Martin test of an ATACMS A1 warhead have been replacing them.

Krishna Chaitanya Velaga

LAND WARFARE

Russian Multiple Rocket Launchers have moved to 300mm rockets in the BM-30 “Smerch” (Tornado) or 9A52. These have greater range and a larger payload/warhead but are able to carry fewer rockets. BM-30 has been widely adopted with an Indian Army system shown.

by seven militaries with the latest being Poland and Romania. HIMARS has recently received considerable attention as a system that can be rapidly air deployed to forward sites to provide control of a sea or land area. In the former role, the HIMARS has been outfitted with the Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile (NSM), a system with proven capability to engage stationary and moving ship targets with precision. Raytheon Missile and Defence, Kongsberg’s US partner was contacted by the US Marines in May of 2019 to fill this requirement. The US Army had originally given anti-ship engagement capability the priority in its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) development to replace ATACMS that is underway under an accelerated programme. However, at a July 2019 conference at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Colonel John Rafferty, director of the the Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) cross-functional team stated that it was determined that the target seekers available from US Navy antiship missiles could not be used. As most are sea skimmers, their targeting parameters differ from that of the high angle attack of the PrSM. Missile testing of candidates from Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin are now projected to begin at the end of 2019.

On 10 August, 2019, North Korean state media announced the country’s test firing of a tactical ground-to-ground missile.

This new multi-tube rocket launcher is said

26 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

to have a range of around 200km, much greater than the 70km range of previous systems. South Korean government officials suggested: “The weapon tested is very similar to the MLRS ATACMS.” When fielded this system will substantially add to the already massive gun and rocket artillery deployed along the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).

FUTURE MISSILES AND PAYLOADS The US Army views the ability to conduct ‘deep strikes’ as an essential tool in ‘near peer-to-peer’ warfare. Attacking targets beyond the forward battlespace had since late in World War II been a task primarily taken on by air forces. Western tactical air has established supremacy and generally freely attacked rear command, support, logistics, and other facilities.

However, given the demonstrated increasing effectiveness of air defences this air dominance is no longer guaranteed.

Building a ground based ability to hit these critical targets positioned beyond the ranges typical of army artillery is now seen as essential. In fact, air forces are now looking to the ground elements to attack and neutralise opposing air defences so as to allow them to operate.

A priority system to accomplish this for the US Army is the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM). Its Precision Fires Rocket and Missile Systems (PFRMS) Project Office at Redstone Arsenal stated: “The Precision

LAND WARFARE

and air extensively relied on them. The problem is they demonstrate dud rates as high as 30 percent leaving large numbers of unexploded munitions. Although the US did not sign the 2010 Convention on Cluster Munitions it did until recently commit to abiding by the agreement and was moving to implement a full ban by 1 January 2019.

However, on 30 November 2017 Deputy Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan indefinitely delayed implementation of this ban. Unfortunately, progress on

ROK

Strike Missile (PrSM) will destroy/ neutralise/suppress targets at ranges from 70-400km plus.” The missile is intended to replace the ATACMS and will be fired from the MLRS and HIMARS. “It will have two missiles per pod and in to utilise a cluster munitions payload that is compliant with the insensitive munitions convention.”

This return to cluster munitions is a point of concern to many. These munitions dominated US military thinking for over 40 years from the 1960s when both artillery

The Republic of Korea indigenous design Hyunmoo-3 is a truck launched missile that is provided in three versions with ranges of 500, 1000 and 1500 km. It uses GPS, Inertial and terrain contour matching navigation in a cruise missile flight profile to deliver a 500kg conventional warhead.

development of cluster munitions with the one percent or lower dud rate viewed as necessary remains elusive. In fact, as shown by its use of such munitions in Syria, Russia not only clearly sees them as legitimate but is pursuing their expanded use. Sputnik News claims that “New Russian sub-munitions are way smarter than their US counterparts.” China also has missiles with cluster warheads which were used by Hezbollah against Israeli civilian targets, deploying 122mm rocket launchers during the 2006 war. The practical fact is that cluster bomblets that can cover a large target area generally offer the most efficient and destructive payload. As missiles achieve greater range and use against area targets like disbursed anti-air missile batteries and operational airfields, the attraction of the cluster payload increases.

MULTIPLE V SINGLE BALLISTIC MISSILES The US and NATO militaries have been content to rely entirely on the multiple launch platform for their ground based long range in-flight propelled projectiles.

They are incorporating autonomous guidance and in-flight correction with precise targeting using GPS supplemented by inertial guidance. Russia, however, has not only continued to develop its traditional multiple launcher systems but has also pursued tactical ballistic missiles. This is a direction the west has declined to pursue since the 1988 withdrawal and elimination of the Pershing II missiles under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Russia’s 9K720 Iskander-M is a potent two missile per launcher short-range ballistic missile with a range of 280km in export versions, and 400-500 km in domestic models. Its 700kg payloads include high explosives (HE), sub-munitions, fuel-air explosive, a HE penetrator and in the domestic model a nuclear payload. The Iskander is also designed to evade missile defences. It complied with INF limits, however, with the US withdrawal from the treaty its design could be pushed for increased ranges.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between tactical and strategic missiles, something which, despite its flaws, the INF provided guidelines. The aggressive development of the hypersonic missile is further compounding this line. This adds an increased level of uncertainty as to a missile’s intended use.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019 27

LAND WARFARE

MULTI-LAYERED SHIELD Anti-Access Area Denial (A2AD) has taken on significant importance as military minds reset to peer-to-peer conflict from two decades of asymmetric warfare.

By Stephen W. Miller

A

nti-Access Area Denial (A2AD) is essentially a defence in depth translated into three dimensions and applied to land, sea and air domains.

It features layers of overlapping and mutually supporting defensive systems which an attacking opponent is forced to deal with in succession.

While the concept of defence in depth is not new in itself, the difference is being made by the distance at which these systems can be employed, as well as their sophistication. A few decades ago artillery had a maximum range of 15-20, kilometres

and an accuracy of 100 meters, today’s tube guns are reaching more than double that range with precision guided projectiles that will reliably hit within a few metres.

Air defence systems include powerful radar that can detect and track multiple threats beyond the horizon and intercepting missiles that can engage incoming aircraft several hundred kilometres away. Plus, anti-ship missiles sufficiently compact to be mounted on trucks and small, fast and ‘smart’ naval vessels that can autonomously identify and hit specific ships. These are coupled with advances in electronics and data

28 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

communications which allow the various components of such a defensive complex to be integrated and coordinated. This complex defence, now called A2AD, is one of the most significant operational developments facing any military force.

Supporting this US Army General Mark A. Milley, then the Army Chief of Staff and now Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, writing in the foreword to TP525-3-1, the Army’s conceptual guidance for MultiDomain Operations, states “The military problem we face is defeating multiple layers of standoff in all domains in order to maintain the coherence of our operations.”

LAND WARFARE

“The military problem we face is defeating multiple layers of standoff in all domains in order to maintain the coherence of our operations.”

US Army conceptual guidance for Multi-Domain Operations

The Republic of Korea has given significant attention to establishing a layered air defence system. Specific attention has been given to developing and fielding indigenous designs and drawing on industry collaborations.

The Chunma or ‘Pegasus’ is a version of the French Crotale developed by Samsung and Thales.

Yet, this statement reflects a single sided view of A2AD’s possibilities and contribution. It sees it only as a threat to be overcome while it is, in fact, another tool of warfare that can be employed to advantage.

It is also the shield that allows use of the sword.

CROSS-DOMAIN DEFENCE Advances in the sensors and weapons, together with the ability to efficiently integrate them are mobile and able to be deployed worldwide. A typical A2AD complex is both tactical and operational in scope. Its components consist of sensors

The purpose of the Russian Bastion-P is to engage surface ships to 300km with hi-low flight trajectory and 120km with low-low sea-skimming flight trajectory.

They are mobile with two fire-and-forget missiles per platform.

to detect, track and assist in targeting; the weapons themselves; and often a contingency response (counter-attack) capability. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Missile Defence Project’s 2018 Report states: “Rockets, artillery, and mortars (RAM), cruise missiles, and even manoeuvring hypersonic boost glide delivery systems now form the complicated 21st century strike complex with which US, allied, and partner nations must contend.”

A2AD SENSORS The first layer of an A2AD defence focuses on sensors to provide information on the location, movement and composition of the threats. Even the most sophisticated weapon systems defences cannot complete their mission effectively without the ability to see their target. Radar is generally relied upon for long distance detection of both surface and air threats. The challenge for these systems is in detecting and targeting threats without themselves being jammed or be targeted.

Coastal radar is gaining increased attention. “Terma A/B Scanter radars”, Mark Mahoney director of business development shared,”provide fully automatic volume surveillance and early detection and tracking of multiple simultaneous air and surface targets. With an extended horizontal detection range of up to 96 nautical miles, one Scanter radar can cover up to 98.000km².” For closer coverage the French Army in March 2019

acquired Thales Coast Watcher 100 radars to provide low-altitude surveillance. A Thales spokesperson stated: “This X-band long-range radar can even detect small objects such as inflatables, small craft, and low flying aircraft at ranges beyond 35nm (65km).

Aerial surveillance requires even further reach. L3Harris’ AN/SPS-48G(V)1 radar is a variable configuration, high performance, three-dimensional, long range air surveillance radar used for detection and tracking of aircraft and missiles.

L3Harris claims that “its high transmit power combined with simultaneous pencil beam transmissions provide over 200nm detection range in all operational environments including heavy jamming.”

The radar is available in fixed site, transportable or shipboard configurations.

Russia’s S-300 and S-400 are recognised as one of the most advanced long range air defence missiles. The deployed battery has two different surveillance radars including a detection capability against cruise missiles and stealth aircraft and a command unit.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019 29

LAND WARFARE

Long range surface strike and air defence systems are a critical component of A2AD and as such are priority targets for air attack and missile strikes. The Pantsir-P was developed and fielded in large part to protect these assets.

Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) three-dimensional, multi-mission radar, it leverages GaN to provide comprehensive real time, full-sector, and 360-degree situational awareness against a broad array of threats. It is designed to detect, identify, and track cruise missiles, manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles as well as rockets, mortars and artillery fire,

DVIDS

The active electronically scanned array 3-dimensional air search TPS-77 MMS Multi-Role Radar from Lockheed-Martin ‎with a 250nm (470km) range is the most transportable of the family making it ideal for A2AD use.

Providing adequate search for forward deployed forces is the Northrop-Grumman AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR. An advanced Active

yet is fully expeditionary and sets-up in 45 minutes. Another highly mobile unit is the Giraffe Agile Multi Beam (AMB) from SAAB, a true three-dimensional search radar, specifically for short- and medium-range surface to air missile systems. It combines surveillance with its Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) functionality providing a swift understanding of the air situation, enabling immediate responses to changing threats and shifting operational conditions.

The Vera surveillance system by ERA in the Czech Republic is also of interest. It can detect stealth aircraft using TDOA mechanics, making it one of only a few radars worldwide with this capability. Plus, it is a passive, not active, system meaning that does not emit and electromagnetic radiation meaning it can remain hidden from counter-measures.

Very Low Observable (VLO) or ‘stealth’ aircraft and ship designs are a serious threat to A2AD defences. Russia and the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) have leaned to low band radars like the Nebo SVU AESA and KB Radar (Agat) Vostok D/E which have greater ability to detect these threats. Dr. Carlo Kopp, AFAIAA, SMIEEE, PEng in an Air Power Australia technical report reflected: “Their required antenna size results in ungainly systems

The HIMARS can fire both ground strike missiles like ATACMS and Naval Strike Missiles.

30 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

Detecting Very Low Observable (VLO) aircraft and missiles can be best done by low band radar. A number of such have been developed and fielded by Russia such as the KB Vostok D-E .

which are usually slow to deploy and stow (often as long as 24 hours), even if designed from the outset for mobility. The size and high power emissions of these radars often limit mobility making them easier to detect and destroy.” In fact, the VLO threat has lead to the development of Nebo M which combines derivatives of three existing NNIIRT 3D radars: the VHF band Nebo SVU, the L-band Protivnik G and the S/X-band Gamma S1 to counter aircraft like the F-35.

They, thus, become important assets to be protected.

LONG RANGE SEA/SURFACE ATTACK The A2AD defence seeks to engage both surface and aerial targets at maximum stand-off. Long range missiles like the Russian K-300P Bastion-P and K-35 Bal-E, Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM) and SAAB’s RBS-15 MkIII and Mk IV Gungnir are ideal in that they have the mobility provided by their truck mounting, can be ready to fire in minutes, can be dispersed up to 25km from their command centres, and have multi-target capability.

Miguel Svenson, director, Technical Sales Support at Saab Dynamics explained that “the Gungnir is ideally suited for precision attack with a data link that allows retargeting in flight, anti-jamming GPS and advanced target discriminating seekers.” The RBS-15, the NSM, and BAL can be fired from aircraft, ships or ground launchers. These missiles have been widely

deployed with Russia, Vietnam, North Korea, and a number of countries on the Baltic Sea as part of an integrated network.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has also developed the Type 88 a land-based version of the air-launched Type 80 (ASM-1) and ship-launched Type 90 (SSM-1B) missile for the Japanese Self Defence Forces. An improved version, the Type 12, features INS with mid-course guidance and targeting, Terrain Contour Matching and target discrimination capabilities. LockheedMartin’s M270 MLRS and M142 HIMARS are the US/NATO ground attack systems with adoption of MGM-140 ATACMS. They may also be receiving an anti-ship capability through the introduction of the NSM onto the platforms.

DEFEATING AIR ATTACK An effective air defence is a critical part of A2AD as both attacking air and missiles have been often the primary means used to attempt to degrade it. In fact, anti-air and its associated command/control network are initially the highest priority targets of an attacker. It also relies on a layered approach with longer ranging weapons systems themselves also protected by mid- and closer range systems. For example, batteries of the Russian S-300 and S-400 Triumf, with up to 400km range, are supported by TOR mobile 10-16km short range anti-air missile systems and/ or Pantsir missile/30mm auto-cannon systems effective against aircraft or even low level cruise missiles. Russia and, to a lesser degree, China, have built a diverse, redundant and highly credible tactical and operational air defence capability that as yet is not matched by NATO or other militaries. Estonian Defence Minister Jüri Luik, in a 2018 NATO Summit declared “NATO countries have very weak air defence capabilities. This is one of the priority areas, which every [one of the allied] countries should develop.”

The Republic of Korea may come closest to having a viable counter-air capability. It combines the Raytheon MIM-104 Patriot, LIG Nex1 KM-SAM Cheolmai-2 medium, Doosan short/medium range K-SAM Chunma or ‘Pegasus’ (a version of Crotale), and locally developed 7km range KP-SAM Shin-Gung, (Chiron) two-colour (IR/UV) seeker to provide defence against low and medium altitude air attacks. These are complemented by the Hanwha tracked twin 30mm gun/missile equipped tracked Biho

Lockheed Martin

LAND WARFARE

Lockheed Martin’s TPS-77 multi-role radar (MMR) is designed for expeditionary and mobile operations. It fills the role of both volume and low altitude coverage against maritime, air defence, missile detection, and ground surveillance.

and recently unveiled 8x8 Anti-Aircraft Gun Wheeled (AAGW). The reach of these counter-air systems is sufficient to not only address attacking aircraft but to threaten loitering surveillance and control air platforms like AWACS. CLOSE DEFENCE The wide spread introduction of precision direct fire weapons and guided indirect fire munitions offer the ‘close-in’ component to A2AD. Projectiles like the 155mm M982 Excalibur give artillery the capability to accurately hit point targets to 40km and beyond. Even conventional rounds are delivered with greater target effect though multiple rounds simultaneous impact (MRSI), made possible with computer controlled auto-laying and auto-loading.

Ground launched missiles like Russian 9M133 Kornet, Rafael Spike LR/ER/NLOS, and Raytheon’s Wireless TOW and Fireand-Forget Javelin can hit point targets at 55-100km.

The coordination of these direct and indirect fires demands response and accurate supporting fires of its own. The denial of these is another purpose of the other A2AD elements.

Russian, China, Vietnam and other countries have looked to A2AD to restrict an attacker and to control sea/land/air spaces. It would also behove the US, NATO, and the Pacific Allies to consider their own capabilities to establish A2AD as a tool in their approach to future warfare.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019 31

special ops and expeditionary forces debrief

UNANNOUNCED ARRIVAL When conducting operations the challenge to special forces, ideally, is to arrive and leave an area of operations with as much stealth as possible.

By Andrew White

32 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

special ops and expeditionary forces debrief

W

ith special operations forces (SOF) called upon to execute an increasing range of mission types, small unit teams (SUTs) must rely upon the element of surprise in order to maintain the tactical advantage over increasingly better equipped and trained adversaries.

Whether it be the conduct of a special reconnaissance mission to find and fix high value targets (HVTs); a subsequent ground assault force to detain HVTs; or a hostage

High altitude low opening (HALO) parachute insertions has been one of special forces clandestine options for some time.

rescue operation to recover personnel and/or civilians; the ability for SOF SUTs to insert into an area of operation (AO) in a clandestine manner remains a critical requirement to the success of any mission.

Operating in the air, on the ground, as well as over and under water, SOF commanders are able to rely upon a wealth of specialist insertion technology, tactics, techniques and procedures (T3Ps) to enable the clandestine insertion of SUTs. SOF organisations around the world continue to work with industry to identify nextgeneration solutions to improve their clandestine insertion equipment and techniques.

AIRBORNE INSERTION The airborne environment remains a critical domain for the clandestine insertion of SOF, with modern military free-fall (MFF) equipment providing one of the most effective means to deploy SUTs at reach using tactical transport aircraft (both fixed and rotary wing) at significant altitudes and stand-off ranges to avoid detection by enemy air defence systems.

Exiting an aircraft with the assistance of oxygen masks at altitudes up to 9,100 metres (30,000 feet) above mean sea level allows high altitude high opening (HAHO) and high altitude low opening (HALO) parachute systems to glide operators and their personal equipment more than 50km in equivalent ground distance before reaching designated landing zones undetected.

Such a clandestine insertion is enabled by the ‘silent mode’ of modern HAHO and HALO parachute systems currently available to SOF operators.

Examples include Airborne Systems’ Hi-5 Ram-Air parachute system which continues to be fielded with the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) following its public disclosure back in 2016.

Boasting a ‘glide ratio’ of 5.5:1, the Hi-5’s Glide Modulation System not only enables silent insertion down to the ground but also assists operators in reducing their physical signature when descending into an AO. This, company officials at Airborne Systems explained to Armada International, negates any requirement for operators to conduct multiple spirals when descending.

Such a solution also allows operators to to complete more accurate landings using safer and ‘straight-in’ approaches.

In Europe, Safran is preparing to

supply an initial tranche of Multi-Mission Parachute System (SMTCOPS) solutions to the French Special Operations Command by the end of the year.

Speaking with Armada, Safran’s international parachutes export manager, Ahsene Tazairt confirmed how French SOF are due to receive a total of 750 systems following a $71.4 million (€65m) contract in 2016. The new parachute ensemble will replace Air Azur G9 solutions currently in service with COS force components including the 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment.

Similar to the Hi-5, the SMTCOPS also features a Ram-Air parafoil design and comprises a 37 square metre (400sq ft) Phantom high-glide canopy which is capable of providing operators with a 4.8:1 glide ratio as well as carrying up to 200kg (440lbs).

The SMTCOPS’ parafoil is also equipped with collapsing wingtips which allow an operator to reduce height and approaches to landing for a more rapid descent in order to avoid detection, Tazairt confirmed.

Safran has also designed the SMTCOPS ensemble with a series of specialist clothing solutions designed by Carinthia to support the clandestine insertion of SOF operators in cold weather environments such as the Arctic Circle.

Additional elements in the SMTCOPS solution include the X-Shut navigation system which provides a central computing capability allowing SOF SUTs to accurately reach their designated landing zone following a pre-mission ground appreciation conducted by commanders.

QUIET DRIVE In the ground environment, SOF SUTs continue to explore possibilities to integrate hybrid and electric drive powertrains into all terrain vehicle designs, capable of supporting the quiet and clandestine approach of SOF assault teams.

Feedback from operators have also indicated the need to find technologies capable of reducing the electro-magnetic signatures of tactical ground vehicles, allowing them to transition through areas of operation without being detected by enemy image intensification/infrared sensors. Special operations vehicles are already fitted with infrared head- and brake- lights which allow SUTs to drive in a clandestine manner using night vision goggles.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019 33

Safran

special ops and expeditionary forces debrief

Safran's high glide tactical Phantom parachute system.

Many of these operational requirements were outlined at the SOF Industry Conference (SOFIC) in Tampa, Florida on 23 May by USSOCOM’s Programme Executive Office SOF Warrior. According to Lt Col Ray Feltham, demand for a ‘quiet-drive’ solution is being sought for the next-generation of Light Tactical All Terrain Vehicles (LTATVs) which are being pursued to augment and eventually replace USSOCOM’s inventory of MRZR variants as manufactured by Polaris Government and Defense.

According to Feltham, programme manager for PEO SOF Warrior’s Family of Special Operations Vehicles, the socalled ‘Follow-On’ LTATV programme is seeking a “SOF modified commercial off the shelf (COTS) lightweight vehicle that is internally air transportable via V-22, H-53 and H-47 aircraft and consists of two and four seat variants with the ability to change configuration based upon mission and/or threat. It’s intended to perform a variety of missions to include offset infiltration, reconnaissance and medical evacuation”.

An evaluation of next-generation LTATV offerings is being conducted over the second half of 2019, following the publication of a Request for Information (RfI) in August 2018. USSOCOM is seeking to procure an initial fleet of 780 follow-on LTATVs following a contract award by the

start of 2020, Feltham explained.

Similar concepts designed to integrate hybrid and electric powertrains into the Ground Mobility Vehicle (GMV) 1.1 special operations vehicle are also being considered

by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GDOTS). Neither GDOTS nor Polaris was able to provide further details due to competition concerns.

STEALTH BY SEA With an increasing proportion of the world’s population expected to live in littoral environments in the future, the maritime domain will continue to present SOF SUTS with significant opportunities for clandestine insertion.

In the sub-surface environment, US and partner SOF organisations within NATO and the Five Eyes (FVEY) community are set to benefit from a variety of insertion/ extraction technologies. Examples include Lockheed Martin’s Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) and Teledyne Brown Engineering’s Shallow Water Craft Submersible (SWCS).

Designed by Lockheed Martin, Submergence Group and MSubs, the DCS is due to reach initial operational capability (IoC) in 2020, followed by full operational capability (FoC) in 2022.

According to Commander Scott

34 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

Delwiche, USSOCOM’s Programme Manager for UnderSea Systems, the US Navy has already started acceptance trials for the first of a hat-trick of DCS, which will provide an underwater insertion capability for SEAL Teams with capacity to carry up to four operators, exclusive of a two-person crew.

DCS1 is undergoing acceptance trials at Rivera Beach in Florida, while DCS2 remains in manufacture in the UK. The aim of the DCS programme is to deliver SUTs into target areas without physical degradation following immersion in cold water environments.

Meanwhile, USSOCOM is also considering future operating requirements with the work-up of plans to design the “DCS-Next” programme which has been highlighted as a major capability moving forward for the Tampa-based command.

Unlike the original DCS concept, DCSNext aims to be interoperable with US Navy submarines with the capability to be launched and recovered from Dry Deck Shelters integrated onto the hull of Block VI Virginia Class boats.

Additional requirements for DCS-Next call for the ability to accommodate a crew of two and four operators; as well as an ability to be towed underwater by other vessels.

Meanwhile, USSOCOM continues

special ops and expeditionary forces debrief

to pursue its SWCS programme which comprises a next-generation free-flooding wet combat manned submersible which has been designed to replace existing Mk8 Mod1 Swimmer Delivery Vehicles (SDVs) currently in service with the US Navy Warfare Command (NSWC) Due to reach full operating capability by 2022, USSOCOM has to date received a pair of SWCSs with the remaining four watercraft due to be delivered to NSWC between September 2019 and April 2020.

Enhancement of the SWCS over legacy SDVs include an additional 30cm in length; total displacement of 1,814kg, as well as the integration of Intel Core i7 processors, secure SSD, GB Ethernet backbone; improved software and user interfaces; optimised accuracy in navigation; and increased payload capacity.

Similarly, upgrades are being considered to enhance the operational effectiveness of combat divers who, whether deployed from DCS and SWCS technology or not, provide the means to achieve clandestine insertion into an area of operation.

Combat divers are usually equipped with self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) and other specialist equipment integrated into Combat Swimmer Assault Vest (CSAV) technology.

Offerings currently available to SOF customers around the world include Aqua

Lung’s CSAV solution which is currently in a second of five year contract period to support the NSWC. Featuring an adjustable harness, outer container with modular load carriage fittings, air bladder, inflator hose, weight pouches and sheaths, the CSAV comprises a total weight of weighs of 16kg.

As defence sources associated with the international SOF community explained to Armada, additional areas of interest include the design of full face mask protection systems capable of being integrated with closed-circuit rebreathers and integrated voice communications devices; as well as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear or explosive (CBRNE) protection.

Also of interest are individual, collective and hands-free propulsion devices in ‘compact’ form factors; as well as enhancements in acoustic and optical communications to support data, voice and full motion video requirements across an AO. Elsewhere, combat divers are benefiting from the introduction of drysuit technology to not only support operators conducing clandestine insertion but also, transition between sub-surface, surface and groundbased operations.

Examples include Mustang Survival’s Maritime Assault Suit System (MASS) which can be worn by combat divers during sub-surface insertion as well as maritime

interdiction; visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) serials; as well as subsequent tasks on land.

Comprising a total weight of 2.2kg, the MASS has been designed to provide combat divers with maximum levels in dryness as well as mobility and comfort.

Also available to SOF combat dive teams is Typhoon International’s latest drysuit technology, promoted at Underwater Defence Technology (UDT) in Stockholm, Sweden on 13 May, which has been manufactured with Gore Pyrad fabric to reduce the threat of tearing and protect operators against heat and flames.

Available in black and olive drab colouring systems and comprising a total weight of 2kg, the suit also features knee and elbow pockets for the integration of protective pads. The suit is also available in a one or two-piece configuration, dependent upon customer requirements.

The clandestine insertion of SOF will remain a critical requirement for SUTs as they continue to be faced with emerging threats and an ever-increasing range of missions sets. Whether conducted over land, from the air, or under the surface of the oceans, technologies must be easy to operate in order to minimise any cognitive overload for operators already conducting complex tasks.

New methods of delivering SOF onto the beach as an alternative to long, tiring swims may also allow them to bring in more equipment.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019 35

USMC

LAND WARFARE

Proper clothing is critical to assuring the ability of the soldier to operate in cold weather as experienced by these US Marines in the Mountain Warfare Training Center.

WINTER IS COMING

Climate change and the geographical struggle to control natural resources in cold environments has made the need to operate in extreme cold more likely.

T

here is renewed attention being given to conducting military operations in cold and extreme cold. This is partly due to a shift, more accurately a return, to geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War period. The reality is that conducting any type of operation, and especially combat, in cold weather involves specific challenges. It requires special training and equipment, as well as tactical and logistics considerations.

Military history demonstrates that forces fighting in cold weather face not just the opposing army but also a ‘harsh winter’ opponent that can be merciless to both sides.

The force most prepared for its conditions has a significant advantage. Those that are not will suffer.

Three particular areas in which special consideration must be given are the soldier’s personal equipment and uniforms, shelters, and vehicles.

By Stephen W. Miller Living and working in the cold requires personal gear specifically designed to accommodate the severe environment.

For the soldier this is compounded by the possibility of being exposed to these conditions for extended periods. They face not only extreme temperatures but also chilling winds and rapidly changing ground conditions. The later can range from snow or ice to mud, each presenting its own burdens on the person, their wellbeing and ability to perform even routine tasks. Simple physical activity itself can be a threat to the soldier. Exertion results in perspiration, but when activity stops this moisture inside the clothing, socks and boots freezes. The risk of frostbite is a major concern and cold induced injuries can be as big a factor as combat casualties.

As Johan Dovemark, a product representative at Torraka, a leading uniform manufacturer in Sweden

36 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

explained: “The basics for staying warm apply to anywhere when temperatures drop and the wind blows. Using a ‘layer method’ of dressing is more effective than a single bulky garment. Each layer has its own part to contribute, trapping insulating air as well as providing flexibility as conditions change.”

A typical ensemble starts with a close fitting foundation or base layer next to the skin which provides insulation and wicks away perspiration to maintain comfort.

Polartec Power Dry Silkweight and Under Armour, two well known designers, both utilise the latest synthetic/micro-fibre technology materials to lightweight, comfort, and breathability. The next or mid- insulation layer is intended to be versatile with the ability to be easily removed or put on depending on exertion and weather. The shirts and pants, once more often wool, are now more commonly

USArmy

LAND WARFARE

Shelter from extreme cold temperatures and winds are essential when operating for prolonged periods in arctic like environments. The 10-man Arctic tent includes provisions for a stove, space for packs and wind/weather cove that also blends with the woodland or snow.

ankles, wrists and neck can get very cold very quickly. These areas lose heat easily and generate and retain heat poorly. For example the head can lose up to 20 percent of the body’s heat in cold weather. The quickest and simplest thing that can be done to warm up is to put on a hat. Here again wool and micro-fibre accessories are gaining preference. Fleece with fold down ear-flaps, balaclavas, and poly/wool knit hats are good. For both hands and feet a

SHELTERS In cold weather operations having access to protection from dropping temperatures and wind can be as important as that against enemy bullets. The challenge is in designing a shelter that is not a burden to carry, easy to erect yet is durable enough too stand-up to the harshest conditions.

Fortunately, the recreational camping and backpacking industry have a number of BAE

polypropylene and blends with knit fleece increasingly popular.

Michael Haas at WL Gore shared that “an often overlooked fact is that the most common reason people become cold is in not taking consideration of the effects of the wind. Ensuring an efficient windproof outer layer makes all the difference and can reduce the amount of clothing needed overall. This outer layer provides direct weather protection and must be windproof and may be waterproof. It can be simply a ‘shell’ or have additional insulation built in.” Gore-Tex has been a popular outer material since it is both wind and moisture proof yet still breathes. It does this by incorporating two layers an inner hydrophilic membrane that absorbs perspiration and transfers it by diffusion.

Outside of this is a hydrophobic layer of micro porous polymer that resists the larger water droplets like rain but allows the smaller perspiration water vapour to exit. Materials with similar properties are Sympa Tex and eVent. This outer layer is also the ideal garment for introducing a camouflage pattern. This, as Henrik Ekersund sales manager at Sweden’s Taiga shared, “is more than just the visual pattern and colours but includes properties to defeat infrared and even thermal sensors.”

The final and equally essential task is protecting the extremities. The head, hands, fingers, toes, and feet including

light first layer with wicking for the socks with an insulating layer and for the gloves a weatherproof outer layer are best. The inner glove allows undertaking detailed tasks. Neck covering is often over looked but use of scarves or a neck gaiter keeps snow and wind from entering the ensemble.

The soldiers’ boots are also important.

Mukluks or Bunny Boots with soft insulated uppers, thick plastic soles and thick insoles to prevent heat loss to the snow and ice are popular. Though great at keeping one warm, they make walking laborious especially over rugged terrain. Alternatives suitable for less severe conditions include the Belleville 775 with water proof leather and nylon, Gore-Tex interior booties, and removable polyurethane insole. Danner’s 600 Gram boot is similar but includes a Thinsulate barrier and Vibram 1331 outer sole with wide lug for traction. The Gore-Tex intermediate cold/wet weather boot is designed for up to minus -12C (10 F). It is lighter and has Energy-Return soles providing more comfortable walking.

The BAE Hagglunds BV-206 has been one of the most widely used over-snow vehicles employed by over 26 militaries plus other government agencies and industry. BAE is now offering its BvS Beowolf using the latest automotive technology to replace it. Low ground pressure allows it to travel on top of even deep snow to transport supplies, troops, evacuate casualties or a platform for special tasks.

armadainternational.com - october/november 2019 37

designs which are well suited to military use as well.

One example is the Extreme Cold Weather tent which was designed by North Face but now offered by Eureka! a division of Johnson Outdoor Gear. The company explains that “by using a tension pole support it is able to provide a clear 5.95m² (64ft²) with a bathtub floor sufficient for four soldiers. Set-up time for two soldiers is only five minutes.” The tent comes with both a woodland camouflage and Arctic white rain fly that also provide blackout.

The fly adds another 2.8 cubic metres (30 cubic feet) for gear stowage. It can withstand 80km (50mph) winds and gusts to 104.6kmph (65mph) along with driven rain and snow accumulations. Still the tent is only 9.75kg (21lb) with a small carry volume.

The US Marines have taken another path fielding a somewhat larger shelter that can accommodate fifteen the equivalent of a reinforced rifle squad. Designed by HDT Global the ArctiX offers 28.8m² (310ft²), can be set up in 20 minutes and withstand temperatures to -40C (-40F). The weather and wind resistant lightweight fabric liner breathes reducing internal moisture buildup. It has provisions for an internal space heater or ECU ducts. Both a woodland camouflage and Arctic white external rain/ weather fly can be attached to the external aluminium frame.

The British Royal Marines, who have a large role on NATO’s northern flank utilise a four man Arctic tent. It includes a ‘porch’ that provides a sheltered space to remove wet boots and outer gear. It has two separated layers that reduce condensation

Russian arctic units have introduced the Berkut-2 a specially designed snowmobile with a two person enclosed heated cabin and roof mounted machine gun manned by a soldier on an open rear platform. They also can pull sleds or ski troopers.

and zipper and Velcro closures to keep wind out. With 46.45cum (500cuft) it weighs 10kg (22lb) and goes up in minutes allowing it to be used in even short overnight stays.

SNOW VEHICLES As anyone who has been travelling in a snow storm can attest it presents major difficulties and can halt all movement.

Militaries must stay mobile despite snow, ice and extreme cold. For those where winters are extreme having special over snow vehicles is mandatory. The Canadian Defence Department for example has a total fleet of 963 snowmobiles and 310 small allterrain vehicles.

It is not uncommon for armies to simply acquire and use commercially available vehicles. This is often the case

Use of “Layering” is common in all cold weather clothing.

Military uniforms add the need to blend into the surroundings.

38 armadainternational.com - october/november 2019

with smaller vehicles like snow mobiles with Polaris, Yamaha, Bombardier and others all being used. However, there are desirable performance characteristics that would enhance their military utility.

One of these is having a multi-fuel engine rather than gasoline which allows using the same fuel as all other military vehicles.

DEW Engineering has developed its D900 militarised diesel snowmobile. The Canadian Forces have purchased an initial twenty with an option for twenty more.

Another Canadian Forces project is to develop a ‘stealth” snowmobile. In fact, the objective is to provide a snowmobile that is quieter to allow it to be used more discreetly and not give away its position to an enemy. A prototype of this hybrid-electric snowmobile (codename Loki) has been conducting trial runs to test its speed, noise level, battery endurance and acceleration.

The Russian military has also shown its snowmobiles designed for military use by the firm Russkaya Mekhanika.

It is understood that these machines weighing 430kg (705lb) and designated the Berkut-2 or TTM190-40 could be carried by helicopter. They use a 65hp engine, have an enclosed two man cab, self-sealing fuel tanks, and can mount either a machine gun or automatic grenade launcher. The later would be manned by soldier on the rear deck. It has a 300kg payload, can pull a special 300kg ski-trailer, and has a 0.06kg/sq cm ground pressure. It was seen being used in Arctic exercises in January 2019.

Moving soldier, weapons and supplies demands larger vehicles which still must USN

VOA

LAND WARFARE

have the ability to travel over deep snow, ice and cross-country. The Bv206 from BAE Hagglunds has filled this role for at least twenty-six militaries since the mid-1970s. It has two sections connected with an articulated coupling that assures ground contact even in rough terrain. Its wide tracks and low ground pressure allow it to travel on top of the snow as well as soft ground and bogs. Its configurations include logistics, personnel, ambulance (including an armoured version), command and even weapons carrier. BAE has replaced this offering with the BvS10 which is larger, has a more powerful Cummins 5.9 litre engine, improved drive train, higher 65km top speed, and 5000kg payload. It is also offered in an armoured (Viking) and unarmoured (Beowulf) versions. It is in service with the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Another articulated over-snow vehicle comes from Finland’s Sisu Auto. Its Nasu is powered at all four rubber tracks and has a GM 6.2 l V-8 diesel engine. The vehicle

itself has a 1,950kg (4,229lb) payload while it is also able to pull a 2,500kg (5,512lb) trailer behind the rear unit. In addition to personnel, signals, and logistic versions Nasu is provided as a TOW missile and 120mm mortar carrier and in an armoured version which is used in United Nations operations.

For the Russian military, being able to operate in cold weather given the severity of its winters is a normal function. It has also organised Arctic Brigades specifically for operating in these regions. It is therefore not surprising that they have fielded several over-snow vehicles. Their Vityaz family are similar to the BV206 using an articulated configuration. The DT-10PM has a cab for five and cargo areas for up to 10,000kg. It can operate in temperatures to -50C (-58F).

A larger DT-30 with 30,000kg payload has also been utilised as the platform for mobile ground air defence systems which were fielded in 2018. Both Vityaz are much larger than Western fielded vehicles and are designed primarily for logistics support

across extended distances typical of the Russian northern steppes and tundra.

A NEW COLD FRONT The renewed focus on the northern flank and near Arctic territories and the natural resources there is linked to the increased accessibility of the region given climate change. Russia has moved to exert its claims including standing up special Arctic Brigades and building northern bases. In response the Canadian Forces and both US Army and Marines have stepped up their own attention to preparing for operations in these environments. They are, for example, looking at over-snow vehicles to replace their ageing fleet of BV206s. In addition, winter exercises including those with northern NATO allies have been again regularly scheduled. These moves are timely but may need even further emphasis since, as history illustrates, being prepared for the challenges of warfare in extreme cold weather is critical to not just success but survival.

Photo: Lockheed Martin

LAND WARFARE

U.S. Navy

Country Analysis

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) sails alongside Georgian coast guard ships in the Black Sea, 25 January, 2019.

BLACK SEA FLASH POINT

As Turkey vacillates its affections between NATO and Russia, and since the Russian seizure of Crimea and military action in eastern Ukraine, naval patrols and exercises in the Black Sea have become an intense commitment.

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ince the Russian annexation of the Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, and its subsequent military operations in eastern Ukraine, the Black Sea, and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet based at the Crimea port of Sevastopol In particular, has become a focal point for the United States and its NATO allies.

The Black Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean between Eastern Europe,

By David Oliver the Caucasus and Western Asia. It is bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The 1936 Montreux Convention provides for a free passage of civilian ships between the international waters of the Black and the Mediterranean Seas. However, Turkey has complete control over the Bosporus strait connecting both seas. Military ships are a separate category from civilian ships and can only pass through the straits if the ship

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belongs to a Black Sea power. Other military ships have the right to pass through the strait if they are not in war against Turkey and they can stay in the Black Sea basin for a limited period of time. The 1982 amendments to the Montreux Convention allow Turkey to close the strait at its discretion in both wartime and peacetime.

In September 2016 the US Navy Secretary stated that the United States would maintain its presence in the Black

The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s new stealthy large patrol ship, the Dmitry Rogachev.

Sea despite a Russian warning that US warships patrolling there undermined regional security. Turkey and Romania have continually pushed for a bigger NATO presence in the Black Sea. This has drawn heavy criticism from Moscow which countered by stating that Russian aircraft located in the region were capable of controlling the entire territory of the Black Sea. For much of 2018, Russia detained and inspected commercial ships sailing for Ukrainian ports, which the United States claimed was further evidence of Russia’s ongoing attempt to destabilise and undermine Ukraine.

In February 2019 the US ballistic missile defence destroyer USS Donald Cook began her second deployment to the Black Sea conducting maritime inter-operability training with the Turkish frigate TCG Fatih during which they were shadowed by the Russian corvette Orekhovo-Zuevo and the intelligence gathering ship Ian Khurs. At the same time, one of the Russian Navy’s newest warships, the Admiral Grigorovichclass frigate Admiral Essen entered the Black Sea from the eastern Mediterranean.

All of the Russian Navy’s new Kiloclass diesel electric submarines armed with Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles (SLCMs) are assigned to the Black Sea Fleet, along with the latest Buyan-M class corvette, the Vyshny Volochyok which entered service in May 2019 and two of six stealthy large patrol ships being built, the second of which, the Dmitry Rogachev, being commissioned in July 2019.

The Black Sea Fleet aviation assets include two strike and reconnaissance regiments in Crimea equipped with Su-30SM and Su-24Ms fast jets while four Be-12PS flying boats are used for maritime patrol and SAR duties at Kacha.

The airborne eyes of the Russian Navy belong to an ageing fleet of Ilyushin Il-38 turboprop anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. Prompted by the heightened East/West tension over Ukraine, an Il38 modernisation programme is being undertaken that involves the installation of the new Novella-P-38 target, search and

An upgraded Il-38N, NATO codename May, with the new Novella-P-38 target search and track system mounted above the cockpit.

track system capable of detecting airborne targets at a distance of up to 90km and surface targets up to 320km. The system allows up to 32 targets to be kept in sight simultaneously. The Novella system is mounted on three short pylons above the cockpit while an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) turret is mounted under the nose.

The aircraft has a weapons payload of 9,000kg and the upgrades will enable the Il-38N to conduct additional roles to anti-submarine warfare (ASW), these will include anti-surface warfare (ASuW), electronic intelligence (ELINT) and search and rescue as well as ecological monitoring.

Ilyushin is to deliver a total of 28 Il-38N aircraft to the Russian Navy by 2020. The aircraft are being delivered to Yeish on the Black Sea coast for flight training, type conversion and operational use.

In addition to regular deployment by US Navy ships, NATO also regularly deploys its Standing Naval Forces (SNFs) to the Black Sea and takes an active part in regional multilateral maritime exercises. These include the multinational Mine Counter Measures (MCM) exercises Poseidon and Sea Shield 2019 in which Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG 2) and Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group 2 (SNMCMG 2) took part.

The largest maritime exercise held in the Black Sea is Sea Breeze co-hosted by Ukraine and the United States. Held in July, Sea Breeze 2019 (SB19) is designed to David Oliver

Russian MoD

Country Analysis

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US Navy

Country Analysis

US Navy destroyer USS Carney based at NS Rota in Spain took part in Exercise Sea Breeze 2019 in the Black Sea.

The largest maritime exercise held in the Black Sea during July, Sea Breeze involved two weeks of intense training for some 3,000 naval personnel, 32 ships and 24 aircraft from 18 countries.

US Navy

enhance interoperability of participating nations and strengthen maritime security and peace within the region, involved two weeks of intense training involving some 3,000 naval personnel, 32 ships and 24 aircraft from 18 countries including Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

US participation included the Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney, the expeditionary fast-transport ship USNS Yuma, a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, US Marines from Marine Rotational Force-Europe, Navy Underwater Construction Team UCT-1B, and members of the US Naval Forces Europe-Africa and U.S. 6th Fleet staff. The Royal Navy sent Type-45 destroyer HMS Duncan to take part in the exercise.

Training conducted during SB19 included maritime interdiction operations, air defence, special forces operations, ASW, damage control, search and rescue and amphibious warfare. The exercise was disrupted when the Russian guided missile destroyer Smetivy steamed into an area reserved for naval gunfire serials.

The Russians claimed that the ship has problems with communications.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that increase of NATO activities in the Black Sea entails risks to the security of the entire region: “Our positions are clear: any NATO efforts

in the Black Sea region are senseless from a military point of view. They will not strengthen the security of either the region or NATO itself, but will be associated with additional military risks”.

Even before SB19 was completed, the Russian Black Sea Fleet began an exercise of its own involving 10 warships. They included large landing ships Caesar Kunikov and Azov, and the missile corvettes Orekhovo-Zuevo and Mirazh, Ivanovets, and Naberezhny Chelny. According to the Russian MoD the ship’s crews practiced joint navigation and other elements of naval training, the final stage of which the ships conducted missile and artillery firing.

Turkey, one of three Black Sea littoral states that belong to NATO, the other two being Bulgaria and Romania, occupies a pivotal strategic position in the eastern Mediterranean, Bosporus and Dardanelles

Georgian coastguard craft Ochamcheli trained with an Odessa State Border Guard Service of Ukraine patrol boat during Sea Breeze 2019.

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US Navy

Ukrainian Navy Ka-226 practices a simulated rescue mission at Mykolaiv-Kulbakino during Sea Breeze 2019.

USN P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 9 was one of 24 aircraft involved in Sea Breeze 2019.

which are at the gateway to the Black Sea. Turkey has the second largest military in NATO after the United States, but relations between the two counties and the alliance is at an all time low.

Turkey is seen to be closer to Russia than it is to NATO. It supports Russian intervention in Syria and is buying the Russian Almaz-Antey S-400 Triumf longand medium-range air defence missile system. These factors have resulted in the US imposing sanctions on the export of military equipment to Turkey including the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II. Turkey has been a Level 3 Partner in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, which resulted in the F-35 Lightning II, and it has a requirement for 98 F-35s.

Adding to the rift with the United States and NATO, a wide-ranging meeting held between the presidents of Russia and

The Russian-built Romanian Navy missile corvette, ROS Lastunel at Odessa during Exercise Sea Breeze 2019.

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Turkey in August 2019 included discussions about increased aviation and space technology transfer and closer industrial co-operation between the two countries.

“We have introduced you to a whole chain of both military and civilian production,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the MAKS-2019 air show in Moscow. «This demonstrates not only Russia›s capabilities in the aerospace sector, but also demonstrates the possibilities of co-operation. We know about your plans for high-tech development of the economy in Turkey. We could combine our efforts in those areas that are most in demand,» Putin added.

At the same time Turkey is fully involved in participating and hosting multinational maritime exercises in and around the Black Sea. These include Exercise Ariadne hosted by Turkish Naval Forces Command and the Turkish-led Blue Whale exercise in the eastern Mediterranean focussed on anti-submarine warfare (ASW). The Turkish Navy’s participation in Blue Whale 2018 included four frigates, two corvettes, five submarines, a patrol ship and a replenishment ship as well as three maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) and six helicopters.

Turkey may yet prove to be the catalyst for bringing the Black Sea nations together where maritime security, the rule of law and international order are critical to economic prosperity and regional peace.

US Navy

US Navy

Country Analysis

ARMADA COMMENTARY

MANAGING DEFENCE INDUSTRY RISK Andrew Hunter

I

n many ways, the business of national security is the business of managing risk. In the United States, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff annually assesses risk to the US military’s ability to execute the National Military Strategy and risk is always top of mind with the military’s operational commanders. Risk is no less an obsession for those engaged in developing and fielding new military capabilities, in both government and industry. Because risks in the national security arena are real and substantial, matters of life and death, and in some cases organisational and national survival, it is necessary to carefully manage risk so that the worst outcomes are avoided.

In some cases, this means building in redundancy to systems so that, for example, as an aircraft takes damage from enemy fire, it retains the ability to fly and land, living to fight another day. In many cases though, national security risks are less concrete than the threat of battle damage, and the solutions to mitigating risk less clear.

Risk assessment and risk management are fine arts in many parts of the national security enterprise. However, this is far from universally so. Teams developing new weapon systems generally do a pretty good job of assessing what risks are likely to most imperil the success of their programme.

Sometimes they succeed in managing this risk and sometimes they don’t. However, we don’t have similarly mature mechanisms for assessing systemic risk across defence industry.

The Trump Administration’s industrial base review did a good job in identifying a range of discrete risks in the industrial base which it has subsequently worked to mitigate, apparently with some success.

However, the Administration wasn’t able

to deliver a ready metric for estimating the level of strategic risk across the industrial base, enabling policymakers to effectively manage that risk. This shortfall, which stretches back well before the time of the current Administration, is unfortunate.

Not just because defence industry faces risks from an aggressive and sophisticated set of foes seeking to compromise its supply chains and steal its intellectual property, but because changes in the US approach to developing and acquiring new systems are also adding to the risk defence companies face.

As part of its push for greater innovation and shorter timelines in the acquisition process, the military has turned heavily to approaches like Other Transaction Authority agreements (OTAs), which frequently require matching investment from industry.

In traditional defence acquisition, the government has usually born the full financial risk of failure in challenging development programmes, insulating defence industry from this risk. Under OTA approaches, industry will often have to share some of this financial risk. In addition to the increased risk of financial loss in complex development programmes, the use of rapid prototyping as the primary development approach (often in a competitive environment where one or more competitors will lose) also gives industry less certainty that investments put into designing and building a prototype are likely to result in followon production work. So while industry is expected to take a greater financial stake in capturing government business, the expected rewards for doing so have grown less certain. In this respect, defence industry is facing a double whammy of increasing risk, and in some cases, industry may be left holding the bag. Individual companies will

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likely experience varying degrees of success in managing this risk, but how much additional systemic risk is being introduced into the industrial base as a result? At this stage, the answer remains unclear.

There are, of course, ways for industry to mitigate this form of risk from government policy. After all, they face these risks to some extent just by being in the defence industry in the first place. One way to mitigate the greater financial risk and uncertainty in defence acquisition programmes today is to leverage commercial research and development for national security applications to an even greater extent. This approach reduces the share of investment industry must make in developing new capabilities specifically for defence, and creates potential for alternative markets if the military doesn’t decide to buy or move forward with a system after the prototyping phase is complete. Another likely mitigation option for companies is to merger, acquiring other companies with key technologies that are already developed, and improving their ability to absorb and manage risk through greater scale.

While higher levels of industry consolidation may mitigate risks for individual firms, it is likely to increase overall systemic risk for government customers and taxpayers. At the end of the day, the increased risk presented by some of the more rapid acquisition approaches popular today is unlikely to be a deal breaker for military leaders looking for more rapid deployment of new technology. However, defence leadership would be well served to closely monitor these risks, identify what industry is doing to mitigate them, and develop policy options for managing systemic risks in the defence industry.

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