DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Army Expected To Pick JLTV Winner Soon
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources By Brendan McGarry | Wednesday, August 19th, 2015 7:36 pm
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - August 20, 2015: Defense contractors competing for a contract to build the U.S. military’s replacement to the iconic Humvee are eagerly awaiting a decision from the Army.
Humvee-maker AM General, truck-maker Oshkosh Corp. and defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin Corp. are vying to begin production of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV.
An announcement on which company will be chosen to build the first 17,000 production models of the vehicle is expected either this week or next, sources told Military.com.
Overall, the Army and the Marine Corps plan to buy a total of 54,720 JLTVs to replace about a third of the Humvee fleet at an estimated cost of more than $30 billion, or about $559,000 per vehicle, according to Pentagon budget documents.
That figure, which rose from earlier estimates, includes expenses for research and development, overhead and add-on equipment such as radios, weapons and armor. Officials have said the cost of manufacturing the vehicle alone will be about $250,000.
The companies submitted their final bids to the Army in February. Each of the firms previously delivered 22 prototypes for testing under an earlier contract.
Over the past decade, the Pentagon spent nearly $50 billion buying 25,000 or so of the bigger, mine-resistant ambush protected, or MRAP, vehicles as part of a rapid-acquisition effort spearheaded by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates to better protect troops from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thousands of the hulking vehicles were subsequently scrapped, mothballed or handed down to local police departments because the military never intended them to be a permanent part of the tactical wheeled vehicle fleet.
Now, the Army and Marine Corps are trying to incorporate some of the lessons learned from the wars into a lighter vehicle. “As we move forward, it will be a central piece of the Army,” former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said in June of the JLTV.
*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources By Brendan McGarry | Wednesday, August 19th, 2015 7:36 pm*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News *Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com ©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS
DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: US Launches Biggest Allied Airborne Drills Since Cold War
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources AFP(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - August 18, 2015: The United States said Tuesday it has launched the biggest allied airborne drills in Europe since the Cold War ended, as fighting involving pro-Russian separatists escalated in eastern Ukraine.
Nearly 5,000 soldiers from 11 NATO allies are taking part in four weeks of "simultaneous multinational airborne operations" across Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania that began in Saturday, the US Army said in a statement.
"Swift Response 15 is the largest Allied airborne training event on the continent since the end of the Cold War," according to the statement from the US Army in Grafenwohr in southern Germany.
It is designed to help allied "high-readiness forces" act as one and "demonstrate the alliance's capacity to rapidly deploy and operate in support of maintaining a strong and secure Europe," it said.
The statement made no reference to the crisis in Ukraine where government troops have been fighting pro-Russian separatists since April last year, which has claimed the lives of nearly 7,000 people.
While the conflict eased after a truce in February, fighting has escalated in recent days.
The fighting has stirred the highest tensions since the Cold War ended more than two decades ago as the West accuses Russia of not only arming the rebels but sending in troops to support them. Moscow denies the charges.
NATO, a 28-country alliance led by the United States, last week defended the number of military exercises it has staged as a response to "growing Russian aggression" and refuted suggestions that they were helping make war in Europe more likely.
The US Army said the highlight of the drills will take place on Aug. 26 when allied warplanes will drop more than 1,000 paratroopers and equipment the to Hohenfels training area in Germany.
A similar drill will also take place the same day at the Novo Selo training area in Bulgaria, a former Soviet ally.
Participating in the exercises until Sept. 13 are more than 4,800 soldiers from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Britain and the United States.
It said the exercise marks the first time the US 82nd Airborne Division has operated in Europe since supporting NATO operations in Kosovo in 1999.
*Related Images - courtesy AFP
*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources AFP*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News *Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com ©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Asian Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. Army Prepares For Next Network Integration Evaluation
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Claire Heininger, U.S. Army
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 16, 2013: With two units now readying for Afghanistan with the Army's new tactical communications network, the service will continue to drive technology forward through its next Network Integration Evaluation this spring.
Soldier training, vehicle integration, system check-outs and other preparations are well underway in advance of Network Integration Evaluation, or NIE, 13.2, which begins in May at Fort Bliss and White Sands Missile Range, N.M. It is the fifth in the series of semi-annual field evaluations designed to keep pace with rapid advances in communications technologies and deliver proven and integrated network capabilities to Soldiers.
The NIEs are not stand-alone events, but build on previous exercises by improving the Army's integrated network baseline and incorporating Soldier feedback into system functionality and training methods. As the Army continues to field network capability sets with systems and doctrine vetted through the NIE, the events will further evolve to include joint and coalition involvement next year.
"The NIE offers us the ability to evaluate and improve the network incrementally," said Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, the Deputy for Acquisition and Systems Management, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, known as ASA(ALT). "It forces the community together in an environment where Soldiers are telling us what we did well and what we didn't do well -- very graphically, very visually, very obviously."
From combined arms maneuver across more than 150 miles of desert to subterranean operations in mountain caves, NIE 13.2 includes mission threads designed to measure network performance at all echelons, from the brigade commander down to the dismounted Soldier. It will include an aerial tier to extend the range of communications and operational energy solutions to more efficiently power networked equipment.
"We've got some good questions, and the scenario will allow us to get at a lot of those operational pieces," said Col. Elizabeth Bierden, chief of the Network Integration Division, Brigade Modernization Command, or BMC. "We've seen many of the systems before, but I think we just get the network better every single time."
The main focus for NIE 13.2 is the Follow-on Test and Evaluation, or FOT&E, for Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, known as WIN-T, Increment 2, the Army's mobile network backbone. WIN-T Increment 2 provides an enhanced capability over the current Increment 1 version used today in Afghanistan, including unprecedented "on-the-move" communications capabilities down to the company level. A successful test will enable the Army to keep fielding WIN-T Increment 2 to operational units beyond Capability Set 13, which is now being delivered to select brigade combat teams, or BCTs, preparing for deployment.
During the FOT&E, the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division will conduct the full range of military operations -- from movement to contact to peacekeeping -- and stretch the WIN-T network over even greater distances than during NIE 12.2, which was the unit's first formal chance to assess the system. Following that evaluation in May 2012, the Army aggressively pursued and implemented corrective actions to address the areas identified for improvement, and 2/1 AD Soldiers have also become more comfortable and proficient with the equipment.
"The training is more hands-on, and with the knowledge we already have we're able to go more in-depth," said Spc. Erik Liebhaber, who has participated in three NIEs and said training for 13.2 incorporated specific scenarios that Soldiers had previously encountered in the field. "That's a big part of the continuity."
Other systems under formal test include Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P), the Army's next-generation situational awareness and blue force tracking technology; Nett Warrior, a smartphone-like system for dismounted leaders; the Area Mine Clearance System-Medium Flail, an armored vehicle designed for clearing large areas of anti-tank and anti-personnel landmines; and Tactical Communication and Protection System, designed to prevent hearing injury while allowing Soldiers to remain cognizant of their environment during combat. A dozen additional systems, such as those comprising the aerial tier, will receive less formal evaluations.
Both JBC-P and Nett Warrior have actively incorporated user feedback from several previous NIE cycles into their hardware and software designs.
"It's gotten a lot simpler to use," Staff Sgt. Lance Bradford said of JBC-P. "That was our largest suggestion to them -- you've got to get this more user-friendly."
Soldier feedback and lessons-learned from the NIEs not only affect the conduct of future NIE iterations, but have also been applied to the process of producing, fielding and training units on Capability Set (CS) 13, which is the Army's first such communications package to provide integrated connectivity throughout the BCT. The NIEs informed all aspects of CS 13, from how network systems are installed onto a vehicle, to which training approach is most effective, to which Soldiers within a brigade are issued certain pieces of equipment.
Two BCTs of the 10th Mountain Division, now in the final stages of training before deploying to Afghanistan later this year, are receiving lessons-learned and recommended operational uses for the equipment that were developed during the NIE process. Serving as Security Forces Advise and Assist Teams (SFAATs), the units will rely on the new network as they work closely with the Afghan forces, take down fixed infrastructure and become increasingly mobile and dispersed in their operations.
While NIE missions to date have confirmed that CS 13 can support such operations, they have not been limited to the Afghan mission. The NIE 13.2 scenario will set the stage for future exercises that will include new offensive and defensive operations replicating what units may face in other regions, including joint and coalition involvement beginning with NIE 14.2 next spring.
"We are trying to set the stage for a joint and multinational effort in 14.2, and so we're looking across functions at Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, close air support, air ground-integration, with the major objectives focused on joint entry operations and the joint network," said Brig. Gen. Randal Dragon, BMC commander. "We'll be in a position to look at a number of those joint functions and we'll set the stage through the series of NIEs we have coming up."
*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Claire Heininger, U.S. Army*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News *Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com ©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - August 20, 2015: Defense contractors competing for a contract to build the U.S. military’s replacement to the iconic Humvee are eagerly awaiting a decision from the Army.
