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02 Oct 19. Singapore, US navies sharpen combat interoperability at ‘Pacific Griffin.’ Key Points:
- Navies of Singapore and the United States have begun a series of complex warfighting exercises off the coast of Guam
- The exercise provides Singapore with the opportunity to hone its capabilities at firing longer-range naval weapons
The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and the US Navy (USN) have begun a series of drills that included the first firing of a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) in the Asia Pacific.
The drills, which come under the scope of a biennial RSN-USN activity known as Exercise ‘Pacific Griffin’, began on 24 September in the waters off Guam. The exercise is designed to improve combat interoperability between the two services and was first held in 2017.
The NSM that was fired during the exercise was deployed from the USN’s Independence-variant littoral combat ship, USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10). The missile struck an ex-USN frigate that was formerly in service as USS Ford, located about 170 n miles off the coast of Guam.
The decommissioned ship was also used as a target by the RSN’s Formidable-class frigates, RSS Formidable and RSS Intrepid, both of which fired Harpoon anti-ship missiles at the vessel.
As part of the exercise, Formidable also intercepted a low-observable, high-speed aerial target with an Aster surface-to-air missile, while a Singapore-operated Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk naval helicopter fired a torpedo at a simulated underwater threat.
“The vast training space in the waters off Guam provides the RSN with the opportunity to conduct exercises of substantial scope and complexity, including the conduct of advanced naval warfare with the USN across the full-spectrum of anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine warfare,” said Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) in a media statement on 2 October. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
01 Oct 19. USAF concludes Mobility Guardian multinational readiness exercise. The US Air Force’s (USAF) Air Mobility Command has concluded the Mobility Guardian multinational readiness exercise at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington. The three-week exercise Mobility Guardian began on 8 September, concluding on 28 September. Mobility Guardian is intended to validate readiness and test rapid global mobility capability.
Hosted by the 92nd and 141st Air Refueling Wings, the 30-nation exercise involved more than 4,000 US and international aviators. The US was represented by around 46 aircraft. The Nato Strategic Airlift Capability – Heavy Airlift Wing’s C-17 also took part in the mobility exercise.
Mobility Guardian exercise director lieutenant colonel Joseph Monaco said: “Mobility airmen train like we fight; as a joint force alongside our coalition partners.
“Our goals for Mobility Guardian included building partnership capacity with our allies and partners, and ensuring the interoperability of our weapons systems and tactics, techniques and procedures through the Five Eyes Air Force Interoperability Council.”
The exercise provided an opportunity to practise international integration, such as mixed aircrews and international aircraft formations.
Mobility Guardian International Coordination Cell director lieutenant colonel Jonathan Magill said: “Our allies and partners participated in every core competency of air mobility in Mobility Guardian, including airland, airdrop, air refuelling and aeromedical evacuation.
“Overall, our partners flew more than 90 missions and we were able to ramp up international sorties during the final phase of the exercise to maximise training for our partners who have travelled across the world to train with us.”
During Exercise Mobility Guardian, the US, four international partners and the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division integrated for a joint forcible entry scenario. For the US, the exercise enabled forces to enhance interoperability with partner forces and share best practices. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
26 Sep 19. Netherlands acquires Ravenswood Solutions’ MARTE-O for experimentation. Ravenswood Solutions has been awarded a contract by the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA) for its modular augmented reality tracking equipment for observers (MARTE-O), the company announced in a press release on 21 August.
Captain Ewout van Dort of the RNLA told Jane’s that the contract was part of the development of the realistic outdoor augmented reality system (ROARS). This name evolved from an OAR experiment that TNO, the Dutch scientific research institute, conducted in 2015. The conclusion at that stage was that the technology was insufficiently mature, despite promising results.
MARTE-O uses AR technology to inject synthetic objects into the real world, including aircraft and vehicles, and show the effect of artillery fire and air-delivered munitions. This enables joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs) and artillery forward observers (FOs) to train unrestricted by the availability of real assets, munitions and suitable ranges, weather conditions, and safety considerations associated with the use of live ordnance.
It also enables training in areas other than formal ranges, such as in urban areas or no-fly zones, and enables the repetition of a particular scenario or procedure to consolidate training and reinforce specific lessons or techniques.
MARTE-O has evolved from the Augmented Immersive Team Training (AITT) system, an Office of Naval Research (ONR) programme developed by Ravenswood in conjunction with SRI International and Lockheed Martin for the US Marine Corps (USMC).
The wearable system consists of a binocular module, head-mounted display (HMD), sensor and graphics modules, a battery pack, and a tablet for the instructor/controller. Accurate positioning of the observer, a critical requirement to ensure that the synthetic objects are realistically located, is achieved by using a vision-based tracking capability that provides high-precision geospatial location data. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
26 Sep 19. L-39NG offered as Visegrád Four trainer jet. The Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak air forces are discussing the possibility of collective fighter jet pilot training. Czech Defence Minister Lubomír Metnar said after a Visegrád Four (V4) meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on 20 September that the L-39NG trainer could be the collective training platform.
The Czech Ministry of Defence plans to be the first L-39NG operator and to procure the first batch of four aircraft for its CLV Pardubice training centre. The contract, worth a total of CZK1.1bn (USD 46.8m), is expected to be approved by the Czech government by the end of the year. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
26 Sep 19. Valiant Integrated Services to support US Army’s KBSC. Valiant Integrated Services has received a five-and-half-year contract to support the US Army’s Korea Battle Simulation Center (KBSC). The contract is valued at up to $119m if all options are exercised. Valiant supports KBSC in conducting training in South Korea, Japan, and other locations in the Indo-Pacific region. The training services provided by the company include the application of constructive and virtual modelling and simulation. The firm also helps in planning and coordination of joint and combined training.
Valiant Integrated Services CEO James Jaska said: “We’ve been honoured to provide mission preparedness support services to the KBSC for nearly 30 years and are pleased to be able to continue bringing fresh and innovative approaches and support to this important customer as critical missions continue to adapt and change.
“This programme remains an important part of our robust training portfolio and I’m proud of our ground training solutions team for their exceptional track-record of meeting the most complex needs of our customers.”
The contract will see the firm support the KBSC in activities such as planning, coordinating, and executing training. Valiant’s team is experienced in doctrine, training methodologies, model federation, data analysis, and local and wide-area networking. The contract will include a 30-day transition period before the company starts full performance from 1 October. KBSC provides theatre-level, manual and computer-assisted training exercises including battle simulation training and live virtual gaming capabilities. (Source: army-technology.com)
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Meggitt Training Systems, makers of FATS® and Caswell technologies, a division of Meggitt PLC, is the leading supplier of integrated live-fire and virtual weapons training systems. Meggitt Training Systems continues to grow its capabilities based on the legacy of these two industry leaders.
Over 13,600 Meggitt live-fire ranges and 5,100 virtual systems are fielded internationally, providing judgmental, situational awareness and marksmanship training to the armed forces, law enforcement and security organizations. Meggitt Training Systems employs more than 400 people at its headquarters in Atlanta and at facilities in Orlando, Canada, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, UAE, Australia and Singapore. It can deploy service personnel anywhere in the world for instructor training, system installation and maintenance. Learn more at https://meggitttrainingsystems.com/.
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