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13 Oct 22. L3Harris Reveals New Handheld Radio Module Enabling Worldwide Communications for Warfighters in the Field.
- Integrates global push-to-talk for voice and data into an existing handheld tactical radio
- Provides commanders vital communications for improved mission planning and execution
- Operates on U.S. Space Force’s worldwide DTCS Network
L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) today announced the unveiling of its Iridium Distributed Tactical Communications Systems (DTCS) mission module at AUSA’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, enabling push-to-talk voice and data for warfighters worldwide.
The mission module connects the L3Harris AN/PRC-163 multi-channel handheld tactical radio to the U.S. Space Force’s DTCS network, providing warfighters in the field secure voice and data communication without having to carry a separate Iridium satellite radio.
“This new capability enables warfighters to stay connected anywhere on the battlefield and provides commanders extraordinary versatility exercising command and control,” said Ed Zoiss, President, Space and Airborne Systems, L3Harris. “The ability to stay connected in virtually any situation allows for better planning and responsive execution of missions.”
Warfighters armed with the AN/PRC-163 and DTCS mission module can now communicate using any combination of satellite communications, mobile ad-hoc network, or line-of-sight modes even in situations when one or more connection methods are not available. Small, power efficient and easy to use, the mission module attaches directly to the AN/PRC-163, or through a tethered cable, and controlled from the radio’s existing control panel.
The mission module, a part of the Assured Reach family of communications technologies, complements L3Harris’ Falcon® radio product line, delivering networked communications to more than 700,000 U.S. and allied users around the world. With more than six decades of tactical expertise and one m radios deployed, L3Harris connects ground, sea, air and space with reliable, secure mission-critical tactical communications. (Source: ASD Network)
11 Oct 22. Small Radios On Armored Vehicles Will Be a Big Step Toward the Army’s Networked Future. The challenges include trying to install them and making sure they don’t run out of range. Handheld tactical radios are officially entering the chat for this year’s Project Convergence, the Army’s annual large-scale effort to try out new tech.
Putting small radios aboard armored vehicles promises to improve mobile communications and reduce the need for full-blown command posts. Testing them at PC ’22 may illuminate the challenges of realizing that promise—and even accelerate the arrival of the connect-it-all Integrated Tactical Network.
PC ‘22 will be “the first time we’re touching an armored platform,” said Shermoan Daiyaan, the program manager for small tactical radios for the Army’s Program Executive Office—Command Control Communications-Tactical. “And that’s a big deal.”
Before the PC ‘22 demonstrations kick off in various locations this fall, the radios will be installed aboard various vehicles belonging to an armored brigade combat team based at Fort Hood, Texas. Daiyaan said that’s where the challenge starts: figuring out how to run the cables and installation kits, learning their limitations for each vehicle and its variants. The Stryker, for example, has more than a dozen main variants with sub-variants for each one, which makes every installation different.
“It’s the first time the guys are really climbing around in the back of those vehicles. So they’re learning how to do those installs, the limitations of those installs. And so when we get to the shift to armored brigades in a year or two, we know more than we would have,” he said Tuesday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.
After installation, the next challenge is configuring the radios for use on moving vehicles. Today, such radios are generally used on the battlefield by dismounted soldiers or at company and battalion command posts. But vehicle-mounted radios can easily get out of range “because they weren’t set up correctly. So we’re making adjustments,” he said.
“What we’re doing with dismounts, it’s hard to outrun the network because it’s just a couple of guys. But when you’re in a vehicle, you can get 10 [kilometers] away from each other really quick. Or in the case of my radios with a mesh network, it’s like 3 km, so you can do that really quick by just making the wrong turn.”
After that comes PC ‘22 itself and trying the radios out in combat-like situations. For Daiyaan and his PEO C3T team, the demonstrations will be a “free look” because they weren’t originally scheduled to participate. In any case, this isn’t a formal test, but a chance for the Army to get a sense of what it needs from its tactical radios as it upgrades its armor formations. The service has been experimenting with putting network capabilities onto armor vehicles throughout the year.
Under the Army’s Integrated Tactical Network plan, a new set of capabilities is added every two years. The 2023 set, for example, will network Stryker Brigade Combat Teams on foot and in vehicles. The goal for the 2025 set is to network other types of armored vehicles. PC ‘22 will be the first time the team will get to put that gear in action. Feedback from the demonstrations, which will involve the joint force and coalition partners, will inform what happens in 2025. (Source: Defense One)
12 Oct 22. HII Announces Mentor-Protege JV with Markesman Group to Accelerate Next-Gen Cybersecurity Solutions. HII (NYSE: HII) announced today the formation of Tuple, a mentor-protégé joint venture with Markesman Group. Together, HII and Markesman form a unified team to accelerate next-generation cybersecurity solutions for the defense marketplace.
Tuple was formed under the U.S. Small Business Administration mentor-protégé program, which allows eligible small businesses to gain capacity and win government contracts by partnering with more experienced government contractors like HII, which serve as mentors.
The Tuple joint venture will leverage HII’s information warfare domain and Markesman Group’s unique cyber operations expertise to support the Department of Defense’s cyber mission as it pertains to force transformation and multi-domain operations. Combined capability areas include offensive and defensive cyber operations; vulnerability analysis and risk assessment; cloud and software development; and enterprise IT operations, architecture and engineering support.
“HII and Markesman will accelerate the development and deployment of cyber capabilities for operations and systems critical to national security,” said Grant Hagen, president of the Cyber, Electronic Warfare and Space business group in HII’s Mission Technologies division. “This joint venture will combine our unique mix of skills and domain expertise to support warfighters where and when they need it.”
“By creating the Tuple joint venture, our two companies are able to bring experts together to fast-track new concepts, prototype them and enable a path to faster operational execution while optimizing mission outcomes,” said Alex Wang, chief operating officer and co-founder of Markesman Group. (Source: ASD Network)
07 Oct 22. Italy eyes US-style Compass Call electronic-attack jets.
As it expands its fleet of sensor-loaded Gulfstream jets, the Italian Air Force has set its sights on acquiring the Compass Call electronic-attack variant now being test-flown for the United States, the service’s chief has said.
Italy already operates two Gulfstream G550 business jets converted for early warning missions (CAEW) and has ordered two more with signals-intelligence capabilities, as well as six other unconverted G550s which are yet to be officially given a role.
Air Force chief Gen. Luca Goretti told Defense News that those six aircraft would become “a mix of CAEW and Compass Call” aircraft, meaning Italy will have a ten-strong G550 fleet divided into three different variants.
Test flights are now being undertaken in the United States of a G550 converted into an EC-37B Compass Call electronic-attack jet, following a U.S. Air Force contract handed to L3Harris Technologies in 2017, with ten jets to be initially acquired.
The deal involves transferring electronic-attack systems into G550s from aging EC-130H aircraft which have been in service for decades with the U.S. Air Force and cannot manage the speed and altitude of the more modern Gulfstream.
The systems on Compass Call aircraft are designed to disrupt enemy command and control communications, radars and navigation systems.
Adapting the G550 involves modifying the aircraft’s exterior and installing radomes and antennas.
Italy would need U.S. approval before obtaining Compass Call G550s.
The two Gulfstream G550′s Italy flies now in Conformal Airborne Early Warning, or CAEW, format were purchased from Israel’s IAI in 2012 as part of a swap deal under which Israel purchased 30 M-346 trainers from Italian firm Leonardo.
Thanks to a 2020 Foreign Military Sales deal with the U.S. worth $500 m Italy is now set to receive two more G550s in a type of signals-intelligence (SIGINT) format dubbed Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Electronic Warfare (AISREW).
With L3Harris as prime contractor, the United States listed likely on-board kit for the AISREW aircraft including the L3Harris Rio communications intelligence system (COMINT), the MX-20HD electro-optical turret from the same firm and the Osprey 50 radar by Italy’s Leonardo, which offers synthetic aperture radar and ground moving target indicator functions.
Italian officials have said the electro-optical and radar capability make the Italian aircraft more than SIGINT jets.
That leaves the six unconverted G550s Italy has also purchased, which Goretti said he aims to be converted to both Compass Call and CAEW format.
“The two CAEWs operated by Italy have proved really useful and efficient during the Ukraine conflict because they can loiter, and they can avoid the need to use larger assets like the NATO AWACS aircraft, which means a saving,” he said.
“We will buy more to cover multiple theaters, from missions undertaken with our allies to our national interests in the south to Kuwait,” he added. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
09 Oct 22. The U.S. Army is looking to air- and ground-launched platforms, such as drones, to more effectively wage electronic warfare, amid a Pentagon push to modernize arsenals and the expectation that long-held technology investments are set to pay off.
Officials involved in the effort point to two experiments: air-launched effects, or ALE; and ground-launched effects, or GLE. By outfitting them with kit capable of jamming, spoofing or collecting intelligence, the platforms could help deter and neutralize technologically advanced adversaries, such as China and Russia, during a conflict.
“Ground to space, rear to deep: From a threat standpoint, we have to be prepared to operate in that entire range,” Brig. Gen. Ed Barker, the deputy program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors, said during an Aug. 30 event at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. “As we operate in this environment, we have to be enabling the larger Army priorities.”
Air-launched effects are relatively low-cost drones or payloads catapulted midair by larger aircraft, either crewed or uncrewed. They are meant to detect, disrupt, deceive or destroy, and can sync with a larger family of battlefield tools. The Army considers them a crucial piece of the future vertical lift effort meant to overhaul the helicopter fleet. The service is expected to spend bns of dollars in the next five years on both the future long-range assault aircraft and the future attack reconnaissance aircraft, according to fiscal 2023 budget justification documents.
Coordination on air-launched effects between the electronic warfare camp and aviation officials is in the early stages.
“We have some tech maturity investments happening next year in ALE, and we’re going to share it,” Mark Kitz, Barker’s boss and the leader of Program Executive Officer Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, said at the same August event. “They’re going to do sort of the vehicle piece, and we’re going to do some electronic warfare prototyping. And we’re going to integrate that together. So that’ll be a partnership.”
The prototyping will shape the roles each community plays, or to whom the most work falls.
“If we’re just going to buy commercial technologies to integrate, I think aviation could probably handle all of that,” Kitz said. “If we’re going to do some unique things, or some exquisite target or exquisite sort of EW, we’ll do it as a partnership.”
Already, the service is tinkering. The Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team, a group focused on replacing legacy Army aircraft, worked with air-launched effects during the 2021 iterance of Project Convergence, a large-scale Army demonstration. During that exercise series, officials want to propel the Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept by putting cutting-edge tech to the test in demanding conditions. In addition, at an earlier Edge 21 exercise, air-launched sensors were used to collect and distribute real-time information.
The Army has studied air-launched effects for years. In 2020, the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command published a related request for information detailing a future battlefield rife with “highly lethal and complex” targets.
Those targets, the documents stated, “will include networked and mobile air defense systems with extended ranges and long- and mid-range fires systems that will deny freedom of maneuver.”
Even less mature are the ground-launched effects, which Kitz said lack actual requirements. Early stage experimenting with the ground-launched systems coupled with industry consultation could inform the path forward.
“We’re just looking at doing some prototyping to figure out: OK, what types of effects, what types of collection, could we get?” he said. “Very small. There’s not a ton of power. So what could we actually deliver? These are the types of things that we’re asking industry: What can you do?”
Kitz has yet to be involved in a GLE industry day, an indication of the endeavor’s infancy.
Electronic warfare in the wild
Air- and ground-launched effects are part of a grander vision for U.S. electronic warfare. EW, as it is known, is a fight for control of the electromagnetic spectrum, relied upon for weapons guidance, communications, situational awareness and more. While EW lacks the bluster of bursting bombs or thundering tanks, it can be pivotal, considering the sensitive digital portfolio of modern militaries.
The Army is rethinking its networks, sensors and EW armory after decades of counterterrorism operations in the Middle East — a period when electronic systems were at less risk of harassment, and when U.S. and allied troops engaged forces outfitted with less-advanced gear.
The U.S. Defense Department is preparing for potential fights against China and Russia. The two world powers have constructed anti-access and area-denial infrastructure in an attempt to counter U.S. strengths and keep at bay forces or weapons that could overwhelm.
“Really, what the Army is asking for electronic warfare is: How do you deliver an integrated architecture that will help me operate in the air and on the ground? And how can electronic warfare enable some of those future operations, whether that’s a [future attack reconnaissance aircraft], whether that’s an [optionally manned fighting vehicle], whether that’s long-range precision targeting, in terms of long-range sensing?” Kitz said. “All of that sort of integrated architecture is what we’re attempting to deliver.”
PEO IEW&S tests and fields a variety of defense kit, including navigation suites, missile warning systems and biometric tools. The office’s reach is long, and its portfolio touches “everything from the sights on an Abrams tank” to “identity access of somebody driving on the Redstone Arsenal,” Barker said.
Among other Army EW pursuits are programs known as the Terrestrial Layer System-Brigade Combat Team, or TLS-BCT; the Terrestrial Layer System-Echelons Above Brigade, or TLS-EAB; and the Multi-Function Electronic Warfare-Air Large, or MFEW-AL. Each serves its own purpose.
The service in July awarded a nearly $59 m contract to Lockheed Martin to furnish prototypes for TLS-BCT. In August, the Army inked separate deals with Lockheed and General Dynamics Mission Systems for TLS-EAB concepts and demonstrations.
The self-contained MFEW-AL pod is made by Lockheed, too. Together, the trio will provide to soldiers a bevy of electronic warfare, signals intelligence and cyber capabilities.
“The Army is developing force structure, developing doctrine, developing training — whether it’s leader, individual or collective training,” William Utroska, a leader at PEO IEW&S, said Aug. 30. “And at the same time, we’re trying to develop systems to address our needs from an EW and cyber perspective.”
The Air Force is similarly doubling down on its EW portfolio, after spending years asleep at the wheel, according to Gen. CQ Brown, the chief of staff.
The service is now organizing a campaign to identify deficiencies, requirements and funding sources, said Lt. Gen. Leah Lauderback, the deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and cyber effects operations.
“We are nowhere near where we need to be with that,” she said Sept. 20 at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. “We are just starting the sprint. It’s with the acquisition community, it’s with the operational community.”
Lessons from Ukraine
Given the Army’s need for flexibility and readiness, backed by a philosophy known as multidomain operations, Kitz does not expect to buy massive quantities of rigid gear. Instead, the executive officer thinks small batches of upgradeable, alterable kit will be the correct choice.
“I don’t think we’re going to ever be in a situation where we’re going to buy thousands of ALEs,” he said, “because the threat is going to continually change.”
A prime example is in Ukraine, where even “six months ago, the environment looked very different than it looks now,” Kitz said. Both cyberwarfare and electronic warfare have played roles in the bloody Russia-Ukraine conflict, leaving government websites paralyzed, command-and-control methods jeopardized, and GPS signals jammed.
Ukraine’s defense minister in July said the military was providing U.S. and other friendly nations with information about Russian tactics, including the use of electronic warfare.
“We are asking you to listen to Ukraine and act now. We have been warning our partners about everything that has come to pass,” Oleksii Reznikov said at an Atlantic Council event. “Russia has to be defeated on the battlefield. Ukraine has proved that this is possible.”
Such information can influence what the U.S. sends to the front lines in Eastern Europe — like the electronic jamming equipment Pentagon officials in May said they would dispatch. It can also shape what the U.S. Army, specifically, invests in back home.
“We have got to be able to have systems or capabilities that can adapt,” Kitz said. “What we’re trying to understand in these prototyping activities is: How can we get to an adaptable system?” (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
10 Oct 22. Family affair: US Army pursues synced electronic warfare systems. The U.S. Army is assembling a family of systems to provide soldiers with electronic warfare, signals intelligence and cyber capabilities that they can employ from near and far, on the ground and in the air. The projects — essentially siblings — are known as the Terrestrial Layer System-Brigade Combat Team, TLS-BCT; the Terrestrial Layer System-Echelons Above Brigade, TLS-EAB; and the Multi-Function Electronic Warfare-Air Large, or MFEW-AL.
Each serves its own purpose and is in its own stage of development. But what Army and industry officials emphasize is their future synergy: how each piece fits neatly into the puzzle of electromagnetic spectrum domination.
“We don’t expect these systems to do their own mission; they have to be used in tandem, whether we’re using an MFEW-Air Large in the air to get range [or] looking at long-range precision fires with [TLS-EAB],” William Utroska, who works with the Army’s Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, told reporters in August at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
“That’s one of the points I wanted to make upfront,” he said. “We foresee these systems being mutual, used in tandem, in order to provide the commander the best effects.”
Electronic warfare is a fight for control of the spectrum, which militaries use for situational awareness, communications, weapons guidance and more. This contest is increasingly important as more advanced technologies are deployed on the battlefield and troops try to minimize their signatures to avoid detection.
The Army in July awarded Lockheed Martin a $58.8 m contract for TLS-BCT. The other transaction authority agreement runs through October 2023. The company is expected to provide prototypes mounted to Stryker combat vehicles that are ready for operational assessment and issuance to an initial unit.
“It’s really an exciting time for TLS-BCT,” Maj. Derek Vanino, an assistant product manager with the terrestrial spectrum warfare portfolio at PEO IEW&S, said during an August roundtable. “We’ve made a lot of progress with our industry partner.”
The service in August inked separate deals with Lockheed and General Dynamics Mission Systems for TLS-EAB concepts and demonstrations. The first phase is valued at $15 m over 11 months.
Compared to its TLS-BCT relative, TLS-EAB is meant to reach farther and interface with larger footprints and formations.
“We’re going to be designed to deliver long-range sense and effect, integrated SIGINT, EW and radio frequency-enabled cyber. But we’re going to do it at longer range and at echelons that do not have that capability organically at this time: division, corps and theater,” Maj. Joseph Fink, also an assistant product manager with the terrestrial spectrum warfare portfolio, said at the same event. “We also have different target sets. We have different signals of interest at each echelon. And those are being developed in real time.”
The self-contained MFEW-AL pod is also produced by Lockheed. It was intended for mounting on an MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone. The pod garnered the applause of Army Under Secretary Gabe Camarillo, who observed a prototype in the field this summer, courtesy of PEO IEW&S.
Together, the three systems are expected to boost soldier situational awareness and efficacy in future fights, potentially against technologically savvy opponents such as China and Russia.
“What’s important about this is all three programs have been architected to cooperate,” Deon Viergutz, vice president of spectrum convergence at Lockheed, said in a Sept. 26 interview. “Think about it on a battlefield: They’re part of an integrated, networked family of systems.”
Among other factors, Viergutz credits a shared approach for the success of each endeavor thus far. Rapidly upgradable and flexible equipment is important to the Army, according to service officials.
“What has enabled it is a common architecture, hardware and software,” Viergutz said. “And that’s what really lays the groundwork for the Army to be able to actually achieve these programs as part of a family of systems.” (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
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Spectra Group Plc
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In November 2017, Spectra Group (UK) Ltd announced its listing as a Top 100 Government SME Supplier by the UK Crown Commercial Services.
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Founded in 2002, the Company is based in Hereford, UK and holds ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013 and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation.
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