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05 Sept 24. Air Force’s NGAD revamp could open up more business to smaller firms. The Air Force is rethinking its approach to how it will fight a future air war as it considers a new path forward for its Next Generation Air Dominance fighter system, top officials said Wednesday.
And the revamping of NGAD and the air superiority concept could open up more opportunities to smaller and non-traditional firms to compete for elements of the Air Force’s next fighter, officials said.
Major prime contractors in the aerospace world bring vast and unique experience that will be needed for a redesigned Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Jim Slife said at the Defense News Conference in Arlington, Virginia, Wednesday. Those primes have already done considerable work on a future fighter system that must be leveraged, Slife said.
But “niche capabilities” that smaller firms specialize in will also be vital to creating “whatever NGAD turns into,” Slife said.
“There are absolutely parts of whatever this mission engineering that we do, for this [air superiority] space, that will open the door to non-traditional contractors as well as the major primes,” Slife said. “It’s a yes-and.”
The Air Force put its years-in-the-works NGAD effort, which had originally been expected to award a contract this year, on hold this summer. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a June interview that NGAD was on track to cost about three times as much as an F-35, placing its potential price tag at as much as $300 m apiece. At that cost, the Air Force would only have been able to buy a small NGAD fleet.
Kendall said the Air Force planned to redesign NGAD to bring its costs down and better integrate its planned drone wingmen, which the service calls Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
At Wednesday’s conference, Slife said the Air Force is conducting a wholesale rethinking of how it will achieve air superiority against a major adversary such as China as it reconsiders its way forward with NGAD.
“You get two different answers if you frame the question as, ‘How do we achieve air superiority in a contested environment?’ [versus] ‘How do we build a 6th-gen manned fighter platform?’” Slife said. “Those are not necessarily the same question.”
Since the Air Force drew up its original ideas for NGAD, Slife said, technology has advanced much quicker than anticipated. Concepts such as autonomously-flown drone wingmen are now within the Air Force’s reach, and the service wants to better fold those capabilities into NGAD.
And with those advancements in technology, Slife said, nothing is off the table.
“There are capabilities that we [now] have that perhaps we would want to be part of this mission space going forward, that weren’t baked into where we started with the NGAD system,” Slife said. “I wouldn’t rule anything out, but I also wouldn’t rule anything back in.”
The Air Force’s recent experience with NGAD shows the importance of flexibility in major acquisitions as the threat evolves, Hunter said.
“It definitely prioritizes towards … not being over-specified for any particular problem set, or any particular approach to the problem set,” Hunter said.
When asked if a revised NGAD contract might come in 2025, Hunter said, “We’ll have to wait and see what our analysis delivers.” (Source: Defense News)
04 Sept 24. United States of America-Republic of Korea Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group. On September 4, 2024, the foreign affairs and defense agencies of the United States and Republic of Korea (ROK) convened the fifth meeting of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) in Washington. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins and Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Cara Abercrombie led the U.S. delegation. ROK First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Hong Kyun and Deputy Minister for National Defense Policy Dr. Cho Chang Lae led the ROK delegation.
The EDSCG serves as a key annual forum for the Alliance to discuss and coordinate on security strategy and policy issues affecting the Korean Peninsula and broader Indo-Pacific. The fifth EDSCG built on the progress of the previous years’ meetings and carried forward the significant Alliance efforts to strengthen extended deterrence since the April 2023 announcement of the Washington Declaration.
In the meeting, participants shared assessments on the DPRK’s dangerous and irresponsible behavior, including its ongoing missile launches and continued pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. Both sides also shared concerns on the DPRK’s recent reckless and dangerous behaviors along the DMZ that raise the risk of inadvertent escalation on the Peninsula. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula consistent with UNSC resolutions. The two sides committed to further enhance coordination to address DPRK sanctions evasion, including malicious cyber activities, and bolster deterrence against DPRK nuclear attacks, as well as non-nuclear WMD attacks, which pose a threat of high consequence, strategic-level attacks to the Alliance. The United States reiterated its strong support for President Yoon’s aim to open a path for serious and sustained diplomacy with the DPRK, and the goals of the ROK’s Audacious Initiative. Both sides reaffirmed that they remain open to dialogue without preconditions.
The ROK and the United States condemned the military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia, including arms transfers, which are in direct violation of UNSC resolutions, and identified measures to address the challenge posed by increased DPRK-Russia security cooperation. Both sides resolved to closely monitor what Russia provides to the DPRK and urged Russia and the DPRK to abide by the relevant UNSC resolutions.
The ROK and the United States recognized the deepening interconnectedness between the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic and discussed the implications for deterrence and U.S. nuclear posture. The two sides considered the impact of non-nuclear threats to the Alliance, including emerging technologies, and committed to leverage Alliance technology advantages to enhance the Alliance’s deterrence and defense posture. They pledged to continue to utilize the diplomatic, informational, military, and economic tools available to the Alliance to strengthen deterrence and reinforce the U.S. security commitment to the ROK. To that end, both sides committed to cooperating with likeminded partners to counter foreign misinformation on extended deterrence. Both sides welcomed the significant advances made by the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) in its first year, including the completion and signing of the NCG Guidelines. In the context of a deteriorating security environment, the principals conducted a scenario-based discussion, for the first time at the EDSCG, to strengthen policy planning and coordination.
Acknowledging mounting regional threats, the ROK and the United States committed to continue close cooperation to ensure that ROK and U.S. strategies and postures enhance peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. The United States reiterated its ironclad commitment to draw on the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to support extended deterrence for the ROK. Both sides reaffirmed that any nuclear attack by the DPRK against the ROK will be met with a swift, overwhelming, and decisive response, and the United States reiterated that any nuclear attack by the DPRK against the United States or its allies is unacceptable and will result in the end of that regime.
The co-chairs met with Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell in the State Department Treaty Room, where they applauded the EDSCG as an enduring Alliance forum to strengthen extended deterrence through cooperation between both countries’ diplomatic and defense establishments. Following the meeting, the principals visited the National and Nuclear Risk Reduction Center and praised the rich history of the Alliance at a press conference, where they commended the continued progress of the EDSCG. The next high-level EDSCG meeting will be held in 2025. (Source: U.S. DoD)
04 Sept 24. Expect a $833bn defense budget for FY25, but not on time, lawmaker says. House Armed Services Committee Vice Chairman Rob Wittman is confident Congress will pass a short-term budget extension in the next few weeks and eventually finalize plans for $833bn in defense spending for fiscal year 2025.
But the Virginia Republican congressman acknowledged that the details of how lawmakers will get there is still a mystery.
Wittman’s comments at the Defense News Conference on Wednesday came just 26 days before a potential partial government shutdown if House and Senate leaders cannot pass a budget extension by Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
“I think we know we’re not going to get the seven remaining appropriations bills done between now and the end of the fiscal year,” he said. “In light of that, it looks like there’s going to be another continuing resolution that will come up next week, probably the middle of next week. The debate has been how long should that last.”
With the presidential and congressional elections in 64 days, lawmakers have begun debating whether to extend the budget into mid-November or early 2025, after the new Congress is seated.
Either way, defense planners likely won’t have their allotment of the federal budget until multiple months into the new fiscal year.
Wittman called the short-term budget extensions necessary, but “the worst way for us to be able to manage the defense enterprise,” given the uncertainty surrounding when new programs and initiatives will be fully funded and can start.
But he believes that Pentagon officials can count on the House-passed $833 bn target for total defense spending next fiscal year, whenever the federal budget is finally finalized.
“With the Fiscal Responsibility Act, it actually appropriates to that, and I think that’s the number you’re actually going to have to live with,” he said. “And I think that the Pentagon should be able to do most of the things that it needs to do with that number.”
White House officials have signaled they expect to request supplemental funding to deal with some outstanding defense fiscal needs. During a separate panel at the conference, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said her service will need extra money to cover the rising cost of installations services.
“Not only are our barracks and housing in need of investment, our power projection infrastructure is in need of investment as well,” she said. “It’s really hard to do that all inside the existing Army top line.”
Both the House and Senate return to Capitol Hill work next week. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
03 Sept 24. Defense Leaders Combine Top-Down Guidance With Frontline Expertise to Develop Cutting-Edge Technology. Frontline innovators are key to making the technological breakthroughs that will enable warfighters to maintain the United States’ edge into the future, according to a senior defense technology official.
Margaret Palmieri, the Defense Department’s deputy chief digital artificial intelligence officer, said the most pressing technology challenges facing the Pentagon must be solved with an approach that combines top-down guidance with expertise at the operational level.
“There are principles that we as a Defense Department need to enforce in how our systems are architected and how we buy capability,” Palmieri said during a panel discussion on scaling software and artificial intelligence for DOD applications. The event, held last week, was hosted by Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology in Washington.
“After that, capabilities really need to be driven by the operational problems,” she said.
Palmieri noted the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps has made strides in integrating commercial technology with battlefield expertise to deliver software and AI solutions to key battlefield problems.
The unit developed a comprehensive AI-based, decision-support system known as the Maven Smart System by bringing warfighters, developers and technicians together through its Scarlet Dragon exercise series.
The MSS accesses sensor data and applies algorithms to assist frontline soldiers in identifying and striking military targets. It also assists in chain-of-command approval for strikes and serves as a repository for battle damage assessments after strikes are carried out.
Palmieri said the unit’s success in developing the solution was driven by a culture of innovation that permeated all levels of the organization.
“When you go down the XVIII Airborne, you just get this sense of something different is happening here,” she said. “And it’s not just because the leadership there is pushing something on their people …. You really do see a learning environment, one where their individual members are contributing in ways that you would never expect.”
She said defense leaders must enable that same sense of buy-in across the department. That principle, she said, is at the forefront of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s approach.
“In CDAO, we think a lot about not what can we deliver …, but, really, what can we deliver that enables innovation to happen across the department?” Palmieri said.
“The answers are not going to all come from the Pentagon,” she said. “The good ones are going to come from the people that are closest to the problem, and you have to give them the tools and the data and the capabilities and the understanding to be able to pull that together in real time.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
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Founded in 1987, Exensor Technology is a world leading supplier of Networked Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) Systems providing tailored sensor solutions to customers all over the world. From our Headquarters in Lund Sweden, our centre of expertise in Network Communications at Communications Research Lab in Kalmar Sweden and our Production site outside of Basingstoke UK, we design, develop and produce latest state of the art rugged UGS solutions at the highest quality to meet the most stringent demands of our customers. Our systems are in operation and used in a wide number of Military as well as Homeland Security applications worldwide. The modular nature of the system ensures any external sensor can be integrated, providing the user with a fully meshed “silent” network capable of self-healing. Exensor Technology will continue to lead the field in UGS technology, provide our customers with excellent customer service and a bespoke package able to meet every need.
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