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21 Dec 23. DOD Issues Civilian Harm Mitigation, Response Instruction. Defense Department officials have completed work on a DOD instruction that incorporates the direction of the department’s civilian harm mitigation and response action plan.
Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder made the announcement during a news conference today.
The department has long recognized that causing civilian casualties produces a moral dilemma for service members and the protection of civilian populations just makes strategic sense.
When then-Army Gen. Stan McCrystal took command in Afghanistan in 2009, he looked at the situation in the country and concluded that protection of civilian populations in the country was a paramount objective. “We will not win based on the number of Taliban killed, but instead on our ability to separate insurgents from the center of gravity — the people,” he wrote at the time. “That means we must respect and protect the population from coercion and violence — and operate in a manner which will win their support.”
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III recognized this priority and in January 2022 he directed the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl to develop a Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan to outline steps the department will take, and the resources needed to put the recommendations in place. From this effort would come the DOD instruction, officials said.
The new instruction formally establishes DOD’s enduring policies, responsibilities and procedures regarding preventing and mitigating civilian harm. The U.S. military has long had these concerns, but this places them all under one instruction and re-emphasizes the importance of the concept.
The instruction establishes U.S. policy on pre- and post-strike measures to address civilian casualties in U.S. operations involving the use of force, officials said. It also directs the appointment of a senior DOD civilian official “to develop, coordinate and oversee compliance.”
The instruction demonstrates the importance DOD places on protecting civilian populations and the department’s commitment to the responsible use of military force, officials said.
Moreover, the instruction also spells out that the department understands that better strategic outcomes are achieved by improving civilian harm mitigation and response.
The instruction is the action plan for commanders up and down the chain to follow. It also serves as a standard for all service members to meet and demonstrates DOD’s transparency in this matter.
Overall, the instruction will facilitate establishing doctrine, policies, tactics and operational processes related to civilian harm military response. It also will help develop capabilities and processes that enhance battlespace awareness of the presence of civilians and civilian objects.
The instruction will also emphasize military capability improvements that could reduce risks to civilians.
The instruction will also cover assessments of civilian harm that may have resulted from U.S. military operations and investigations of incidents of alleged civilian harm.
Finally, the instruction will seek to incorporate the policy and practices in multinational operations and operations with non-state armed groups, and the integration of these efforts into DOD security cooperation and security assistance.
The new instruction will not magically stop all civilian casualties. The fog of war is still dense and mistakes happen. It will not answer all questions because each incident or situation is different. How does a unit behave when an enemy is purposely using the civilian population as shields? Are civilian casualties ever justified? Who makes those decisions? Is there any difference between civilian casualties of a nation state and those associated with terror groups?
The instruction calls for continued research and discussion of all aspects of civilian harm mitigation and response. (Source: U.S. DoD)
20 Dec 23. OFAC Targets Procurement Network Across Middle East and East Asia Supporting Iran’s UAV Program. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on four individuals and 10 entities based in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Indonesia supporting Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) production. This network, led by Iran-based Hossein Hatefi Ardakani, has allegedly facilitated the procurement of U.S.- and foreign-origin components worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization (IRGC ASF SSJO) and its UAV program. Concurrent with OFAC’s action and following a multi-year investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Department of Justice announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Hossein Hatefi Ardakani and Gary Lam with crimes related to an illicit procurement network and scheme to unlawfully export U.S.-origin, dual-use, and sensitive technology to Iran. HSI’s global investigation identified a network of Iranian intermediary companies, front companies, and logistics businesses used to procure and facilitate the transfer of sensitive U.S.- and foreign-origin technology to Iran for its weapons programs. On October 18, 2023, OFAC designated Gary Lam, whose primary name is Lin Jinghe, for his support to an Iran-based procurement agent working on behalf of the IRGC-owned Saberin Kish Company. OFAC took these actions pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13382, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. As a result of these designations, all property and interests in property of the designated individuals and entities, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC. All transactions by U.S. persons or within the United States (including transactions transiting the United States) that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons are prohibited. In addition, persons who engage in certain transactions with the designated individuals or entities designated themselves be exposed to sanctions. Furthermore, any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction or provides significant financial services for any of the individuals or entities designated today could be subject to U.S. sanctions. Click here for further identifying information on the designated individuals and entities: https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20231219 (Source: ASD Network)
20 Dec 23. US Army to trim Black Hawk helicopter fleet. The U.S. Army is readying to trim its UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter fleet by nearly 8% as it prepares to field a replacement, Maj. Gen. Mac McCurry, the Army’s Aviation Center of Excellence commander, told Defense News in a recent interview.
The service plans to cut roughly 157 Black Hawks, or 7.5% of its total utility fleet, from its active-duty component. McCurry said the move is intended to help the Army optimize its current fleet while making room in the budget for the Black Hawk’s replacement, the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, or FLRAA, that will begin fielding in the early 2030s.
A year ago, the Army chose Textron-Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft to replace the 40-year-old Sikorsky-manufactured UH-60. The Army also has plans to replace the Boeing-made AH-64 Apache attack helicopter with the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft. Two companies are building competitive demonstrator aircraft.
“It’s really about balancing the current readiness with the procurement and fielding in the future,” McCurry said. “As we looked at our utility fleet specifically, we had grown that fleet since early in the 2000s by over 300 aircraft.”
That growth kept pace with the Army’s higher end strength during continuous rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Black Hawk fleet in the fiscal 2004 timeframe consisted of 1,806 aircraft, but rose to 2,135 aircraft during counterinsurgency operations.
Today, with a smaller force, the service doesn’t need to keep all of those helicopters in service, he said. The total will now drop to 1,978 aircraft.
The Army will only be removing the oldest aircraft — a few Alpha models and the rest Lima models — from the active component. Those aircraft will not come from units actively deploying or preparing to deploy, but from what the service calls “operational readiness floats,” McCurry said.
By targeting these aircraft, he added, the service reduces the overall fleet age, lowering long-term maintenance requirements, including mitigating “some critical parts challenges.”
The Army plans to sell the divested Black Hawks either through Foreign Military Sales transactions or through an exchange and sales program, McCurry said. Each aircraft is expected to fetch roughly $2m.
When the aircraft will be taken out of the fleet is not yet determined, McCurry said. Fleet managers between Program Executive Office Aviation and Army Aviation and Missile Command will assess the health of the fleet to determine which aircraft should move and when.
The Army remains committed to upgrading its Mike-model Black Hawks, the latest variant, McCurry said.
The service is also providing Victor models to the Army National Guard. Victor models are upgraded Lima-model helicopters with digital cockpits identical to the Mike model.
Black Hawks are also expected to get brand new engines through the Improved Turbine Engine Program, but the effort has been delayed due to technical and supply chain issues during engine development, testing and early production phases.
Meanwhile, the Army is planning to examine the size of the Boeing-manufactured CH-47 Chinook cargo fleet to ensure it also matches the service’s force structure and end strength, McCurry said.
AH-64 Apache attack helicopters will not get the same review at this time, he added, because “we have remained short of AH-64s with some recent losses and … we are still short AH-64s.”
(Source: Defense News)
19 Dec 23. State Dept. Designates Three Chinese Entities Contributing to Ballistic Missile Proliferation – (88 Fed. Reg. 87836) – Pursuant to the authority in the Executive Order, “Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and Their Supporters,” and delegated authority, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, has determined that General Technology Limited, Beijing Luo Luo Technology Development Co Ltd, and Changzhou Utek Composite Company Ltd, engaged, or attempted to engage, in activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or pose a risk of materially contributing to, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or their means of delivery (including missiles capable of delivering such weapons), including any efforts to manufacture, acquire, possess, develop, transport, transfer or use such items, by Pakistan. The Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security made these designations pursuant to E.O. 13382 and delegated authorities, on October 18, 2023. (Source: glstrade.com)
19 Dec 23. DMA Innovates to Establish Central DoD Public Web: Converts AFPIMS to WEB NextGen. More than 500 Stakeholders across the Department of Defense met virtually and in-person as a part of the Defense Media Activity’s efforts to enhance customer experience in the organization’s priority to consolidate all military websites within a centralized DoD public web program. DMA’s new NextGen pilot program is designed to assess new website user interfaces and increased capabilities to better serve DoD clients. The NextGen pilot program addresses technologies for DoD websites that do not require government authentication and are open to the public.
In 2021, the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (ATSD-PA) directed DMA to consolidate and maintain all DoD public websites via a Directive-type Memo (DTM) 21-001, “DoD Public Web Program” (DTM Link). As a part of this initiative, DMA is conducting monthly collaboration meetings including the Web Summit and a pilot of a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform to determine if it complies with DoD requirements.
The Public Web program was established as a component at DMA in Oct. 2020 and was rebranded to the Web Enterprise Business, WEB.mil in Oct. 2021. WEB.mil is responsible for fulfilling the requirements of the 21st Century IDEA Act for DoD public-facing, non-authenticated websites. The 21st Century IDEA Act is a bipartisan law passed in 2018, which aims to improve digital experience for American citizens engaging with federal websites.
DMA is the parent organization for military-produced media brands, including the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS), Defense.gov, the military service websites and news services, publications like All Hands and Airman magazine, and American Forces Network. DMA hosts more than 1000 websites on a legacy system, the American Forces Public Information System (AFPIMS). In September 2023, DMA awarded a contract to run an 18-month to test capabilities to sunset AFPIMS.
“AFPIMS has served organizations within the DoD for over ten years, but it is badly in need of updates, and is not a viable platform for the future in consideration of 21st century IDEA and DoD cybersecurity requirements,” said Hal Pittman, DMA Director.
“DMA conducted an analysis of alternatives earlier this year to determine the platform that best fit our documented capabilities,” said Uttam Kumar, Director WEB.mil. According to Kumar, the key to the success of the pilot will be working collaboratively with partners to develop a cloud-based, public website capability focused on user experience and in compliance with regulations. Kumar emphasized that a key goal of the pilot is enhanced customer experience, and monthly customer collaboration meetings are an important aspect of gathering feedback from clients.
WEB.mil hosted virtual customer meetings in October and November. Seeking to leverage the geography of the National Capital Region to take advantage of face-to-face interactions while sharing information with other partners online, WEB.mil chose to host the December Summit as a hybrid in-person, and virtual forum from DMA Headquarters, at Fort Meade, MD.
During the website Summit, WEB.mil experts provided updates on the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act, which requires federal agencies to modernize official websites; TouchPoints, a GSA digital forms technology; the Paperwork Reduction Act, which governs the collection of information on public forms or surveys; the SaaS content management system being utilized for the pilot, and a proposed DOD public web marketplace which would allow DOD units to price out different options for public websites.
“WEB NextGen is DMA’s strategic priority for 2024,” said Pittman during his opening remarks. “All of you being here is a part of that; we need your engagement. This has got be a collaborative effort.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
14 Dec 23. Congress passed the FY24 defense policy bill: Here’s what’s inside. Congress today passed its $874.2bn defense policy bill, sending it to the White House for President Biden’s signature.
Thursday’s 310-118 vote in the Republican-held House on the compromise National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2024 came after the Democratic-held Senate did the same in an 87-13 vote on Wednesday.
“Enacting the NDAA has never been more vital than today,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said ahead of the vote. “America and our allies face unprecedented and rapidly evolving threats from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and terrorist organizations throughout the world.”
The bill hews closely to Biden’s proposed budget request after Republican hawks agreed to cap defense spending as part of the May debt ceiling agreement. However, Congress must still pass full spending bills for FY24 to fund the Defense Department and other agencies. Funding for military construction ends on Jan. 19, and funds for the rest of the Defense Department expire on Feb. 2.
The Defense Department is currently operating under a stopgap funding bill, which means it can’t start most new initiatives or move forward with many acquisitions authorized in the NDAA absent a full spending bill. But the FY24 NDAA authorizes $100m for the Air Force to begin a limited number of new programs until lawmakers pass a full defense spending bill.
The legislation also allows the Air Force to retire some F-15 Eagle fighters and A-10 Warthogs, but it blocks the retirement of 32 older F-22 Raptors.
Meanwhile, the bill expands the list of munitions eligible for emergency and multiyear procurement authorities. It adds Israel and Taiwan to the list in a program started last year to expedite the delivery and replenishment of munitions to Ukraine. This provision exempts munitions for the three countries from cost and pricing data as well as other contracting requirements.
The six new munitions eligible for multiyear buys – a procurement method more often reserved for big-ticket items like aircraft and ships – are Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, Precision Strike Missiles, Mark 48 Torpedoes, Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles, Rolling Air Frame Missiles and Small Diameter Bombs. Still, these multiyear purchases are contingent on funding from congressional appropriators. Congress still hasn’t passed full appropriations legislation to fund multiyear purchase of munitions already authorized in last year’s NDAA.
The NDAA also authorizes $1 bn to finish buying a San Antonio-class amphibious ship per the Marines’ unfunded priorities list. The Navy’s plans to do a “strategic pause” with the program and reevaluate the ship’s design ran into fierce resistance from Congress.
Additionally, the bill institutionalizes the sea-launched nuclear cruise missile program over the objections of the Biden administration for Virginia-class attack submarines, allocating $196 m for the Pentagon to continue research on the endeavor and another $70 m for the National Nuclear Security Administration to modernize its warhead stockpile.
Pacific, Europe — and Space Command
The bill also contains four key authorizations needed to implement the trilateral AUKUS agreement with Australia and Britain, including a provision allowing the transfer of three Virginia-class submarines to Canberra.
As with AUKUS, the bill looks to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific with a provision that would require the Defense Department to “establish a comprehensive training, advising and institutional capacity building program for the military forces of Taiwan.”
Taiwanese officials have said they plan to send up to two battalions of troops to the U.S. to train on new weapon systems and military tactics.
Another provision in the bill requires the Defense Department to help Taiwan enhance its cybersecurity.
For Europe, the final NDAA maintains a provision that would require the Senate to agree to any U.S. withdrawal from NATO. Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary, has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the transatlantic alliance.
It also authorizes $300m for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative in both FY24 and FY25. But that’s a small fraction of the aid the Biden administration assessed Ukraine will need to continue fighting Russia next year, with its $61 bn Ukraine assistance request stalled amid Republican demands for immigration policy changes in the supplemental spending legislation.
The bill also makes Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch, currently the lead watchdog for Ukraine aid, a special inspector general to oversee assistance to the country.
Finally, the NDAA delays construction of the Space Command headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, until July so that two watchdog agencies can complete reports evaluating the decision. Rogers is from Alabama and strongly opposed Biden’s decision to reverse course and place the headquarters in Colorado instead of Huntsville, Alabama, after years of delay. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
15 Dec 23. F-35 head warns future upgrades at risk, production shutdown possible. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is facing “significant challenges” on its future weapons and other capability upgrades that, if delayed, could lead to a production shutdown, the officer in charge of the program told lawmakers this week.
F-35 program executive officer Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt said in written testimony to the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces that the upgrade known as Block 4 has had considerable issues related to the maturity of its hardware design, and timelines for integrating its software.
Block 4 upgrades — intended to allow the F-35 to carry more weapons, better recognize targets, and improve its electronic warfare capabilities, among other features — are also facing serious concurrency problems, Schmidt said in written testimony. Concurrency occurs when a system moves through development and into procurement at the same time, which makes it harder to fix problems discovered in testing.
“Development and production concurrency is Block 4′s most critical challenge, and we are dealing with its consequences today,” Schmidt said. “The F-35 [Joint Program Office], Lockheed Martin, and other industry partners have identified high risk concurrency in the F-35 Block 4 schedule, which would threaten to shut down aircraft production if development slips.”
In a statement to Defense News, Lockheed Martin said some Block 4 capabilities have already been delivered, starting in 2019, years ahead of schedule. Those already-delivered capabilities, which do not require TR-3 to work, include the F-35′s Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System, or Auto GCAS, the Navy’s Joint Standoff Weapon variant known as C-1, and the ability to attack moving targets on the ground using laser-guided GBU-49 bombs.
Lockheed also said Block 4 hardware and software components are in different stages of development, and will be delivered incrementally as contracts are awarded and development on those elements is finished. In its response, Lockheed did not address Schmidt’s comments about a potential production shutdown if Block 4 development is further delayed.
The F-35 program is also struggling to field another series of improvements, known as Technology Refresh 3, that is a prerequisite for major portions of the Block 4 upgrades. Schmidt’s comments on Block 4 show that multiple F-35 modernization efforts are facing major headwinds, which could have ripple effects on the program for years.
Software problems have delayed TR-3, which was originally meant to be ready in April 2023, but now could be finished at least a year late. Schmidt said at Tuesday’s hearing slow production of some key parts for TR-3 has also held up the physical completion of some new jets at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The government is not accepting newly built F-35s intended to have TR-3 installed, because it cannot carry out the necessary check flights.
Jon Ludwigson, director of contracting and national security acquisitions at the Government Accountability Office, said at the hearing the F-35 program’s plans for Block 4 have grown over the years as requirements for the jet have evolved. Block 4′s expected costs have also grown, and it has slipped behind schedule, he said.
Block 4 was originally meant to add 66 new capabilities at a cost of $10.6bn by 2026, Ludwigson said. That has swelled to 80 capabilities costing $16.5bn, he said, and now isn’t expected to be done until 2029.
Ludwigson acknowledged software development is hard, but also pinned some of the problems with Block 4 on the program not setting realistic expectations on how long it would take to develop the upgrades.
“Some of the challenges that have emerged [with Block 4] is because they didn’t have requirements, they didn’t necessarily have a firm sense of what was technically achievable,” Ludwigson said. “They didn’t have a strong basis for understanding how long these things were going to take. It became a bit of a journey of discovery and took time for them to figure out.”
Schmidt said the program is focused on eliminating the concurrency problems and setting a realistic delivery schedule.
Bill LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, ordered a technical baseline review on Block 4′s development earlier this year, Schmidt said. And experts from the Navy and Air Force have been evaluating Block 4′s development schedule, hardware maturity, program risks, software tools, and the skills in the government and industry workforces.
The Pentagon also awarded a contract on Block 4 earlier this year that focuses on reducing the risks of concurrency, he said, including setting milestones for carrying out a thorough review of Block 4′s hardware and software readiness to be folded into future production lots of F-35s.
Schmidt also said the program needs nine flight sciences aircraft, or F-35s specially configured to test and evaluate modernizations such as Block 4. The program now has the resources to convert three production F-35s into the test jets it needs, Schmidt said. But it needs to convert six more to meet its requirements, and that will require congressional authorization.
“The F-35 program must make investments in flight sciences aircraft and software labs at Lockheed Martin and throughout supplier locations to get the most operational capability out of the F-35 weapons system,” Schmidt said. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
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