14-20 March 2015
ARMY
Army cyber force grows fast
C4ISR & Networks, 18 Mar 15, Michael Peck
The Army’s cyberwarfare chief says the Army’s cyber force has grown “exponentially.” Since September 2013, 25 of 41 Cyber Mission Force (CMF) teams have achieved initial operational capability, Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) chief Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon told House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities last week, according to an Army news release. “We are on track to have all 41 CMF teams established and operating by the end of fiscal year 2016,” Cardon said. “However, they will not all be fully operationally capable until FY17.”
US Plans Show-of-Force Exercise in E. Europe
Defense News, 17 Mar 15, Joe Gould
With an eye toward Russia’s ability to mass troops quickly, the US plans to demonstrate its own ability to move manpower and heavy vehicles as soldiers begin a 1,100-mile convoy through six countries en route to their home station in Vilseck, Germany. The US Army squadron wrapping several months of training with allies in Poland will take its Strykers through the Baltics March 21 through April 1, stopping in a new community each night. The vehicles are part of an armored brigade’s worth of equipment the Army plans to station in Europe.
Army orders 19 MQ-1C Gray Eagle attack drones
Military & Aerospace News, 18 Mar 15, John Keller
U.S. Army aviation experts are ordering 19 MQ-1C Gray Eagle reconnaissance and attack drones under terms of a $132.7 million contract announced this week to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. in Poway, Calif. Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., are ordering the 19 unmanned aircraft from General Atomics, as well as 19 satellite communications (SATCOM) air data terminals, one lot of spare parts, and one lot of ground support equipment. The General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft that is an upgraded MQ-1 Predator as an extended-range multi-purpose UAV. The aircraft can be fitted with the AGM-114 Hellfire missile or GBU-44/B Viper Strike guided bomb for attack missions.
Army cyber chief outlines key challenges, goals
Defense Systems, 18 Mar 15, Mark Pomerleau
The U.S. military has been steadily expanding its cyber operations workforce, but still faces a lot of challenges in the increasingly contested cyber realm, the Army’s cyber commander said recently. High-profile attacks such as those against Target, Sony pictures—allegedly by North Korea—and the hack of CentralCommand’s Twitter page have underscored the risks posed by sophisticated, often state-backed hacker groups. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey, if fact, has said that the U.S. military’s superiority does not carry over to the cyber realm. Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, commander of the Army Cyber Command, addressed these concerns and several others in a recent podcast hosted by New America.
JOINT
Pentagon Dismantles JIEDDO Counter-IED Agency
Military.com, 15 Mar 15, Richard Sisk
The Defense Department organization set up to help troops detect and destroy improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq and Afghanistan will have a diminished role under an administrative “re-alignment” that will result in major cuts in funding and personnel, the Pentagon said Tuesday. The Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), which was a field agency reporting directly to the Deputy Defense Secretary, will transition to becoming a combat support agency under the authority of the undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition. JIEDDO’s roster of about 430 government civilians and 1,900 contract personnel was expected to be cut significantly. Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, did not specify how large a percentage of funding will be cut for JIEDDO. In addition, JIEDDO will also be getting a new name, but that hasn’t been decided, Warren said.
Raid Breaker: Work Elevates Electronic Warfare, Eye On Missile Defense
Breaking Defense, 17 Mar 15, Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
The Pentagon is creating a new high-level council to direct all Pentagon electronic warfare programs, Deputy Secretary Robert Work said this morning. The Pentagon’s top weapons buyer and the Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will lead the group that will make permanent a top-level focus on a long-undervalued aspect of modern warfare. After decades of US technological dominance, “now competitors have caught up in this regime and they’re going to fire mass guided missile salvoes at us,” Work said at the annual Newseum conference hosted by Credit Suisse and McAleese & Associates. That’s a large part of the reason Work and the Pentagon launched its third Offset Strategy last year. The first offset strategy of the ’50s relied on our nuclear superiority over the Soviet Union; the second offset of the 1970s relied on smart weapons, stealth, and networks, which are the advantages we’ve relied on since. Now adversaries from China to Hezbollah are increasingly getting their hands on precision guided munitions, however, and we might be on the receiving end. Work, understandably, would like the stop that. “So the first aspect of the third offset strategy is to win a guided munitions salvo competition,” he said — that is, to survive the enemy’s precision-guided barrage while crippling him with your own.
Pentagon Launches New EW Council
Defense News, 17 Mar 15, Aaron Mehta
The Pentagon is launching a group focused on innovations and strategies in electronic warfare across the entire Department of Defense, a top official announced Tuesday. Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work said the Electronic Warfare Programs Council will “look at all of our investments across the department and make strategic recommendations to the secretary and I on how we change that portfolio.” The memo to create the group will be signed today, Work added. The group will be co-chaired by Pentagon acquisition head Frank Kendall and Adm. Sandy Winnefeld, the vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Pentagon Fears Losing Edge as Enemies Build Up Arsenals
National Defense Magazine, 17 Mar 15, Sandra I. Erwin
The U.S. military arsenal historically has been regarded as a deterrent to aggression. But somehow along the way, the trends have reversed and the United States is now the one being deterred by the threat of massive enemy firepower. The Pentagon is working on a new a game plan to regain its edge against increasingly well armed enemies, but there are no immediate solutions, Pentagon officials said March 17 at a defense industry conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by Credit Suisse and McAleese & Associates. “We are losing our margin,” said Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisition William LaPlante. The enemies of the United States have “watched us fight and learned from it,” he said.
Pentagon sets up panel to study electronic warfare requirements
Reuters, 17 Mar 15, Andrea Shalal
The U.S. Defense Department on Tuesday set up a new panel to address shortfalls in U.S. electronic warfare capabilities across the U.S. military and to ensure the United States retains its competitive edge. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work signed a memo creating a new “Electronic Warfare Executive Committee” to be chaired by Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall and Admiral James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Work told a conference hosted by McAleese & Associates and Credit Suisse that the United States still had greater capabilities in the electromagnetic spectrum than potential adversaries, but other countries were investing heavily.
Admiral: Navy’s Surface Fleet Vulnerable to Attacks Without EW Upgrades
Military.com, 17 Mar 15, Kris Osborn
The Navy needs to upgrade electronic warfare technology faster on more of its surface ships because potential enemies are developing weapons designed to penetrate defensive systems on many U.S. cruisers and destroyers, service leaders said. The service is now in the process of upgrading its existing SLQ-32 Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program, or SEWIP — an electronic warfare sensor now on many guided missile cruisers and destroyers. SEWIP is designed to detect approaching threats, such as anti-ship cruise missiles in time for ship commanders to take defensive or protective actions. It is configured to provide early detection, signal analysis and threat warnings against a range of threats.
Electronic Warfare Executive Committee to Focus on Strategy, Acquisition
USNI News, 18 Mar 15, Megan Eckstein
The Pentagon’s new Electronic Warfare (EW) Executive Committee was created this week to refocus the services on matters of EW strategy and operational capability, according to the memo signed Tuesday establishing the committee. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work said Tuesday at the Credit Suisse/McAleese 2016 Defense Programs Conference that he would sign a memo creating the committee to help protect the United States’ EW technical superiority that is “diminishing rapidly.” “The [Defense Science Board] concluded that the Department of Defense (DoD) has lost focus on electronic warfare at the programmatic and strategic level and should recreate the mechanisms needed to develop EW strategies, synchronize programs, and advise the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on EW matters,” Work wrote in the memo.
Pentagon Creates New Electronic Warfare Council To Guide Spending
Inside the Pentagon, 17 Mar 15, Tony Bertuca
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work announced Tuesday the creation of a new Electronic Warfare Programs Council intended to guide Pentagon investments. Work, who broke the news at a Washington defense conference hosted by Credit Suisse and McAleese & Associates, said the new council would be co-chaired by Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. James Winnefeld and Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s head of acquisition. “EW is often regarded as a combat enabler,” he said. “Our adversaries don’t think so. They regard it as an important part of their offensive and defensive arsenal.”
GLOBAL
Ukraine Wants Help With Electronic Warfare Threat
National Defense Magazine, 17 Mar 15, Valerie Insinna
Ukraine is seeking aid from the United States that would boost its ability to grapple with the sophisticated electronic warfare threats emanating from Russia, the commander of Army forces in Europe said March 17. Russia is getting better intelligence than Ukrainian forces because of its extensive electronic warfare and command-and-control capabilities in Eastern Ukraine, said Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe. “What the Ukrainians have asked for, obviously, is real-time information.” It also wants counter-fire capabilities and Javelin man-portable anti-tank missiles, he said during a roundtable discussion with reporters.
Russian army equipped with 20 new types of advanced electronic warfare equipment in 2015
Army Recognition Journal, 18 Mar 15, Unattributed
About 20 types of advanced electronic warfare (EWF) equipment will be supplied to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as part of the state defence order in 2015. It is expected to complete developing and start purchasing at least 10 products in the near future. This information was presented by the press service of the Russian Defence Ministry. The new EWF systems will comprise jamming, radar and navigation equipment, facilities for protection from high-precision weapons, and control devices. The most important facilities include Krasukha-2O, Murmansk-BN, Borisoglebsk-2, Krasukha-S4 and Svet-KU. In addition, the manufacturer has successfully completed state tests of the Lorandit-M radio control and jamming complex that meets all modern requirements for mobility and reliability.
Iran endorses nuclear EMP attack on United States
Washington Examiner, 19 Mar 15, Paul Bedard
Suspected for years of plotting to dismantle the U.S. electric grid, American officials have confirmed that Iranian military brass have endorsed a nuclear electromagnetic pulse explosion that would attack the country’s power system. American defense experts made the discovery while translating a secret Iranian military handbook, raising new concerns about Tehran’s recent nuclear talks with the administration. The issue of a nuclear EMP attack was raised in the final hours of this week’s elections in Israel when U.S. authority Peter Vincent Pry penned a column for Arutz Sheva warning of Iran’s threat to free nations.
OF INTEREST
Spectrum sharing steps up for radars and radios
Military & Aerospace Media Group, 17 Mar 15, John Keller
U.S. military researchers are moving forward with a project to enable radar and communications systems to share radio frequencies in an effort to spur efficiency and alleviate congestion in the electromagnetic spectrum. Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on Friday released a broad agency announcement (DARPA-BAA-15-24) for the second phase of the Shared Spectrum Access for Radar and Communications (SSPARC) project. SSPARC phase two seeks technologies for the coexistence of RF communications and radar systems to improve radar and communications joint operational capabilities through spectrum sharing.
Defense secretary urges lawmakers to undo spending ceilings
The Hill, 18 Mar 15, Kristina Wong
Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned lawmakers Wednesday that President Obama will veto legislation that keeps defense spending caps in place. Carter also said he supported Obama’s goal of removing the sequester.”I support [the president’s] commitment to vetoing any bill that locks in sequestration. Because to do otherwise would be both unsafe and wasteful,” Carter testified at the House Armed Services Committee.
Saab to provide Malaysia with ESP system
Jane’s Defence Weekly, 19 Mar 15, Jon Grevatt
Swedish defence and security group Saab was awarded on 19 March a letter of award from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) to supply an electronic surveillance payload (ESP) system. Saab said in a statement that the ESP system will be operated for training purposes at the RMAF’s Electronic Warfare Support Centre, which is based in Kuala Lumpur. The company’s ESP system is intended to enhance the situational awareness of unmanned aerial vehicles.
House panel passes GOP budget amid rancor over defense spending
Politico, 19 Mar 15, John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman
The House Budget Committee on Thursday morning passed the GOP’s 2016 spending proposal on a straight party line vote, but only after Republican leaders delayed their plan to dramatically boost Pentagon spending. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders, in an effort to win support for the budget resolution from defense hawks, want to pump tens of billions of dollars in new funds into the “Global War on Terror” without reducing spending elsewhere, a move that would increase the deficit. But fiscal conservatives on the Budget Committee balked at leadership’s efforts on Wednesday night, leading to an embarrassing episode as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tried — and failed — to win their support.
Filed under: Electronic Warfare Tagged: Electronic Warfare 
