#defense one

[misfitwashere]

A killing at sea marks America’s descent into lawless power

The peremptory strike on a speedboat is a warning to all who serve. Remember your oath.

"The oath is clear: unlawful orders—foreign or domestic—must be disobeyed. To stand silent as the military is misused is not restraint. It is betrayal."

[intelligentliving]

This Material Could Make An Invisibility Cloak That’s Heat Sensitive Too

Researchers in South Korea are developing a cloak that makes soldiers invisible to regular cameras and infrared-based night vision ones. The artificial “skin,” as they’re calling it, allows the wearer to blend in perfectly with his or her surroundings. The skin can camouflage itself like a chameleon blending into the...

[sarcasticcynic]

US Customs Officer Harasses Defense One Journalist at Dulles Airport

Repeating “You write propaganda, right?”, officer held passport until he received an affirmative answer.

When journalist Ben Watson returned to the United States from an assignment in Denmark, he handed his passport to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. Millions of airline passengers go through this routine every day. Watson, however, had a slightly different experience than usual:

CBP officer, holding Watson’s passport: What do you do?

Watson: Journalism.

CBP officer: So you write propaganda, right?

Watson: No.

CBP officer: You’re a journalist?

Watson: Yes.

CBP officer: You write propaganda, right?

Watson: No. I am in journalism. Covering national security. And homeland security. And with many of the same skills I used in the U.S. Army as a public affairs officer. Some would argue that’s propaganda.

CBP officer: You’re a journalist?

Watson: Yes.

CBP officer: You write propaganda, right?

Watson, after a five-second wait: For the purposes of expediting this conversation, yes.

CBP officer, a fourth time: You write propaganda, right?

Watson, again: For the purposes of expediting this conversation, yes.

CBP officer, finally returning Waton’s passport: Here you go.

This was not an isolated incident. In fact, it wasn’t even the worst example of CBP misconduct directed at journalists this year alone:

In February, when journalist David Mack was returning from a trip to the United Kingdom, a CBP employee found out he worked for BuzzFeed. Before he would let Mack back into the country, the employee spent ten minutes grilling Mack about the Mueller investigation and challenging BuzzFeed’s story about Trump ordering Michael Cohen to lie to Congress.

In June, when Rolling Stone reporter Seth Harp was returning from Mexico, a CBP employee learned he was a journalist and demanded to know the substance of the story he was working on. When Harp declined, the CBP held him there for hours, refused to let him call a lawyer, searched his phone and laptop without a warrant, went through his personal journal, and told him (falsely) that if he didn’t answer the question he wouldn’t be allowed back into the country.

In August, when a CBP employee in Los Angeles learned that James Dyer was a journalist from Great Britain, he accused Dyer of “being part of the ‘fake news media’”; demanded to know whether Dyer had ever “worked for CNN or MSNBC or other outlets that are ‘spreading lies to the American people’”; and declared that “journalists are liars and are attacking [our] democracy.”

The CBP’s Standards of Conduct specifies a great deal of conduct prohibited for CBP employees. Among the relevant standards are:

“Employees will avoid any action, whether or not specifically prohibited by these Standards of Conduct, which might result in, or reasonably create the appearance of ... Impeding government efficiency.” (6.2)

“Employees will not use the authority of their position in any way that might result in adversely affecting public confidence in the integrity of CBP and of the government.” (6.3.4)

“Employees will be professional in their contact with ... members of the public. ‘Professional’ for the purpose of this provision means being polite, respectful, and considerate.” (6.7.3.)

“Employees will not make abusive, derisive, profane, or harassing statements or gestures.” (6.11.2)

The casual disregard of Trump’s CBP for its own standards is just one of the many, many reasons that the standing of the United States in the World Press Freedom Index has plummeted so drastically under his administration.

[suzilight]

How Not to Announce a Ship Deployment

A simple press conference could have avoided 36 hours of confusion and fears of war with Iran.

No answers could be had because no White House or administration official was made available to answer them.

Create Confusion; then Yell Fake News; Repeat

It has been more than 330 days since a Pentagon spokesman was on camera in the Pentagon briefing room. 

It has been 252 days since a U.S. defense secretary held a press conference in the briefing room. 

President Trump has not nominated a replacement for former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Shanahan has been serving as “acting” secretary for 126 days. 

[misfitwashere]

Ukraine’s F-16s are fighting with help from a USAF electronic-warfare unit

A U.S. Air Force squadron reprogrammed the jets' EW gear before delivery—and expects to upgrade them as needed.

A U.S. Air Force unit loaded Ukrainian F-16s with new electronic warfare capabilities ahead of the jets’ delivery—and plans to reprogram them based on data collected in combat. 

The 68th Electronic Warfare Squadron, a small unit based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, was tasked with reprogramming the electronic warfare system aboard F-16s being donated by Denmark and the Netherlands to enable them to survive Russian jamming and other electromagnetic attacks.

Air Force engineers first had to understand an unfamiliar electronic warfare system, since the system on the F-16s transferred from Denmark and the Netherlands isn’t used by the U.S. But with data supplied by Denmark and Norway, the unit was able to understand the new system and then sent personnel abroad to develop and test the system with allies, according to a press release.   

“This is not our standard operating procedure,” the 68th EWS director in a statement. “The fact that the team was able to figure out the system in two weeks, go in country with a partner to develop a best-ever mission data file is unheard of and is thanks to the talent here in the squadron and the wing.”

The unit will receive data collected from the Ukrainians during combat, and use that to improve its electronic warfare capabilities, according to the Air Force.   

“With Ukraine now being onboarded as an official foreign military sales case for the 68th EWS, the unit will provide reprogramming capabilities based on feedback from the Ukrainians. Traditionally, feedback from FMS cases is derived from training environments; this case will provide combat-tested data to improve capabilities,” the release said. 

Both sides have used EW capabilities like jamming and spoofing during the Ukrainian-Russo war. Russia’s electronic warfare devices have knocked down many U.S. precision weapons sent to Ukraine. While the Ukrainian F-16s’s reprogrammed EW system won't be able to hold off every threat, it will help the jets survive. 

“When you’re talking about a near-peer conflict, you need all of your coalition partners to operate with the same playbook so you can achieve spectrum dominance,” said the 68th EWS director, whom the press release did not identify by name. “One F-16 with a reprogrammed pod won’t achieve air dominance alone, but it may give you a pocket of air superiority for a moment’s time to achieve an objective that has strategic importance and impact.”

Ukraine received its first batch of F-16s this summer from Denmark and the Netherlands. Belgium and Norway are also planning to transfer jets to Ukraine, and altogether, the country could eventually receive more than 60 jets from Western allies.

From: Defense One

[suzilight]

Defense One

Atlantic Media presents Defense One, a site dedicated to providing news, analysis, and bold ideas to national security leaders, influential professionals, stakeholders and citizens navigating the unprecedented transformation of U.S. defense strategy and operations.

A resource for keeping up with the business of war.

[misfitwashere]

Lockheed aims to churn out dozens of F-16 pilots per year at new training center

COO talks potential Ukraine support, European expansion.

Lockheed Martin just graduated the first students from its F-16 training center in Romania, but the company is already looking to expand it and double its production of pilots as the U.S. and its allies struggle to meet demand for training.

“We could probably do upwards of 30 to 40” pilots per year with expansions, Frank St. John, Lockheed’s chief operating officer, told Defense One. 

The first group of eight Romanian pilots graduated from the center last month, and a second class of pilots is heading in.

St. John said the center is ready to train Ukrainian pilots if it is asked to.

“As Ukraine and the U.S. government determine what the best approach is for training Ukrainian pilots, if they determine that doing that in the Romanian center is the right approach, then we'll follow their lead and do that,” he said.

Ukraine, which recently received its first F-16 jets, has been frustrated by the slow production of pilots to fly them. Some are being trained by the U.S. military, while others are being trained in Denmark, but Denmark plans to close its facility after this year, and the U.S. pipeline must also handle commitments to train other countries’ pilots as well.

To keep Ukraine’s F-16s flying, Kyiv and its allies will need to build out an extensive maintenance and logistics network. How exactly the U.S. will help with maintenance and repair is still an “active conversation” between the two governments, but when they reach a final agreement, Lockheed is ready to help, St. John said, “but we haven't been put on contract for anything at this point.”

Ukraine’s F-16s could be serviced at Lockheed’s maintenance hub in Poland, which was built so the hundreds of F-16s operating in Europe don’t have to come back to the U.S. to get major maintenance work and upgrades, St. John said.

“Our intention for that facility is that it'll be a regional facility, and so Ukraine is certainly in the region. So again, all of this comes under the guidance and auspices of the U.S. government and so it's certainly capable of doing that, but we'll follow the government's lead on how they want us to work Ukraine support,” St. John said. 

While Lockheed expands its infrastructure in Europe, some U.S. defense companies have been in talks with Ukraine about joint production. Northrop Grumman recently announced it will make ammunition inside Ukraine, but it won’t have any people on the ground. St. John said the company is open to co-production deals in Ukraine, but they don’t have any plans in the works. 

“As Ukraine begins to expand its build out of its own industrial base for defense, and as their requirements evolve, long term, we would look to apply a similar model there, as we've applied in places like Poland,” St. John said. 

The company is planning to stand up more regional maintenance hubs beyond the one in Poland, potentially in Western European countries, as well as Australia and elsewhere in East Asia, he said. “It's a model that we've had some success with early on, and now we're looking to replicate it.”

Lockheed is also building out its infrastructure stateside to increase the production of two key weapons for the Pentagon: the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM). 

Amid reports that U.S. officials are considering supplying Ukraine with JASSM, which would give Kyiv’s F-16s the ability to launch cruise missiles at targets more than 200 miles away, the company received a $130 million contract earlier this month to increase JASSM and LRASM production. 

The new contract would give Lockheed the tooling and equipment necessary to fully outfit its facilities to support an increased build rate of 1,100 JASSMs and LRASMs combined, St. John said. 

“We think that with the U.S. government requirement, and then multiple international customers, that we're going to see that 1,100 build rate continue for several years, at least through the end of the decade,” St. John said.

From: Defense One