US Army

Rappel du premier message :

Citation :

« J'aime les USA, et je combats pour elle», c'est ainsi que Lamia Lahlou commente son adhésion à l'armée américaine, et sa participation à la guerre contre l'iraq- depuis déjà 8 mois-. Née au Maroc en 1986, Lamia Lahlou rejoint l'armée américaine 3 ans après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001.

Tempérée par sa propre volonté, «la marocaine», ne mâche pas ses mots pour affirmer que ce pas emboité s'inscrit dans le cadre d'un «vrai Jihad». Rapporte une idéo diffusée largement sur Internet (Voir ci-aprés).

Choquée par la mort de sa meilleure amie, Lamia croit dur comme fer que l'adhésion à l'armée américaine est le seul et unique moyen susceptible de calmer le feu de sa vengeance.

A noter que les USA continuent à «renforcer » son armée via le recrutement des marocains, à l'heure où ALQIADIA ciblent d'autres recrues du Maroc vers la Hollande et la Belgique, tout en passant par la Syrie, l'Espagne et l'Iraq.

source: emarrakech.info

Rafi

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 Djibouti, Niamey et maintenant N'Djamena: concubinage franco-US

Washington a déployé des militaires supplémentaires pour aider les forces nigérianes à retrouver les lycéennes kidnappées par le groupe islamiste Boko Haram. Quelque 80 militaires américains ont été envoyés au Tchad pour mener "des opérations de renseignement, de surveillance et des vols de reconnaissance au-dessus du nord du Nigeria et des régions voisines", a annoncé mercredi soir le président Barack Obama dans une lettre au Congrès.

Ils seront chargés d'opérer un drone non-armé, a précisé un porte-parole du Pentagone, le colonel Steve Warren. Une partie de ces soldats assurera la protection du détachement selon une autre source US.


N'Djamena est effectivement beaucoup plus proche de la zone de recherches que Niamey, Ouagadougou ou Djibouti où le Pentagone dispose de moyens ISR (drones et avions). Les temps de survol seront donc ainsi considérablement allongés.

La lettre du président Obama (ci-dessous) précise que ces forces resteront au Tchad tant que durera la traque des otages et de leurs ravisseurs. En revanche, elle ne dit pas que c'est un Predator qui sera déployé.



Le positionnement au Tchad de moyens ISR américains (les moyens britanniques sont au Ghana) était dans les tuyaux depuis quelques jours. Le temps de négocier avec N'Djamena et de voir les détails avec Paris.

Sur un plan pratique, un tel déploiement prend tout son sens. Les Américains pourront disposer de la logistique française.

Sur un plan stratégique aussi: il témoigne de la volonté US de limiter l'expansion de Boko Haram et des synergies qui existent entre forces françaises et américaines. Ces synergies sont déjà à l'œuvre au Tchad où des formations conjointes franco-Us ont été dispensées récemment aux forces locales.

http://lignesdedefense.blogs.ouest-france.fr/archive/2014/05/22/djibouti-niamey-et-maintenant-n-djamena-concubinage-franco-u-11847.html  

Citation :

U.S. Training Elite Antiterror Troops in Four African Nations

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/27/world/africa/us-trains-african-commandos-to-fight-terrorism.html?ref=world&_r=2

Citation :

Un militaire américain fait prisonnier par les taliban échangé contre 5 détenus de Guantanamo

Posté dans Afghanistan, Amériques, Otan par Laurent Lagneau Le 01-06-2014



Après 5 années de captivité, le sergent Bowe Berghdal, seul prisonnier militaire américain détenu par les taliban et dont une preuve de vie avait été donnée en janvier dernier, a été libéré le 31 mai. L’annonce a été officiellement faite par un communiqué diffusé par la Maison Blanche.

« Aujourd’hui, le peuple américain est heureux de pouvoir bientôt accueillir chez lui le sergent Bowe Bergdahl », a ainsi affirmé le président Barack Obama. Le sergent, en « bonne condition », a été transféré sur la base de Bagram pour y être placé en observation médicale. Il rejoindra ensuite l’hôpital américain de Landstuhl (Allemagne). Là, « il commencera un processus de réadaptation, bénéficiera de temps pour raconter son histoire, décompresser et commencer à renouer des liens avec sa famille », a indiqué une source militaire.

Selon des responsables parlant sous le couvert de l’anonymat et cité par l’AFP, le sergent Berghdal a été remis à une unité des forces spéciales américaines, dans l’est de l’Afghanistan, par une vingtaine de combattants taliban.

Comment cela a-t-il a pu être possible? Dans un premier temps, les autorités américaines ont été relativement floues. Peu après l’annonce de la libération du sous-officier, le secrétaire américain à la Défense, Chuck Hagel, a indiqué avoir informé le Congrès que 5 prisonniers détenus à Guantanamo allaient être transférés vers le Qatar sans pour autant faire un lien entre les deux affaires.

Quasiment dans le même temps, John Kerry, le chef de la diplomatie américaine, a remercié l’émir du Qatar, le cheikh Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thani, pour l’important rôle qu’il a tenu dans la libération du sergent Bergdahl.

En clair, le sous-officier a été échangé contre 5 taliban, à savoir Mohammad Fazl, Norullah Noori, Mohammed Nabi, Khairullah Khairkhwa et Abdul Haq Wasiq. Ces derniers étaient des responsables influents du mouvement taleb avant les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 et l’intervention américaine en Afghanistan qui suivit.

« Le gouvernement qatari nous a donné l’assurance qu’il allait mettre en place des mesures pour protéger notre sécurité nationale », a déclaré, plus tard, le président Obama, sans donner plus de précisions.

S’il se réjouit de la libération du sergent Bergdahl, l’influent sénateur John McCain, candidat malheureux de la course à la Maison Blanche en 2008, a demandé la nature des mesures envisagées pour « s’assurer que ces extrémistes taliban violents ne retourneront jamais combattre les Etats-Unis ou nos alliés ».

L’on sait que le Qatar est impliqué dans les tentatives de dialogue entre Kaboul et les insurgés afghans. D’ailleurs, un bureau des taliban a été ouvert à Doha. A priori, le départ de Guantanamo de ces 5 hauts responsables était une des conditions posées par le mouvement taleb pour ouvrir des négociations de paix en Afghanistan.

Seulement, son porte-parole, Zabihullah Mujahid, a affirmé que cet échange « n’avait pas été fait dans l’optique du processus de paix ». « Il s’agit seulement d’un échange de prisonniers de guerre, cela n’a rien de politique », a-t-il affirmé à l’AFP.

Cela étant, cet échange n’est pas une surprise. En mai 2012, le gouvernement américain avait admis avoir engagé des négociations avec les taliban pour obtenir la libération du sergent Bergdahl. Plus tard, la Maison Blanche avait indiqué qu’elle était prête à libérer 5 responsables du mouvement taleb à cette fin.

Quant au sergent Bowe Bergdahl, alors âgé de 23 ans au moment de sa capture, le 30 juin 2009, dans la province de Paktia, il avait été porté disparu avant la diffusion d’une vidéo le montrant aux mains des insurgés. Sur ses images, il était apparu habillé à l’afghane. Répondant à des questions posées en anglais, il avait déclaré, sous la contrainte, que le gouvernement américain devant « retirer ses troupes d’Afghanistan ».

Par la suite, les taliban ne communiquèrent pas énormément au sujet de sa détention pendant ces 5 dernières années. En tous, ils diffusèrent 5 ou 6 vidéos, le plus souvent à des fins de propagande. En août 2010, un commandant taleb avait même affirmé que le sous-officier s’était converti à l’islam et qu’il enseignait aux insurgés des tactiques de combat. Ce qui avait été démenti par le Pentagone à l’époque (la version du responsable ne collait pas avec les éléments alors connus). Qui plus est, il fut rapporté, en décembre 2011, que le militaire américain tenta de s’évader.  

http://www.opex360.com/2014/06/01/militaire-americain-fait-prisonnier-par-les-taliban-echange-5-detenus-de-guantanamo/

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Kirghizstan: fermeture d'une base américaine servant aux opérations afghanes



Les Etats-Unis ont fermé mardi leur base aérienne au Kirghizstan, qui servait depuis douze ans de principale base de transit aux militaires américains engagés sur le terrain afghan.

Lors d'une cérémonie officielle, des responsables américains ont remis symboliquement les clés de la base de Manas, située près de Bichkek, aux autorités kirghizes, a constaté un correspondant de l'AFP.

Le commandant de la base, le colonel John Millard, a souligné que quelque 5,5 millions de soldats de la coalition internationale avaient transité par cette base depuis son installation en 2001.

L'ambassadeur des Etats-Unis au Kirghizstan, Pamela Spratlen, a précisé que tout le personnel aurait définitivement quitté la base d'ici une semaine.

La fermeture de cette base intervient après le refus l'an dernier du gouvernement kirghiz de prolonger le bail dans un contexte où cet ancien pays soviétique cherche à renouer des liens plus étroits avec Moscou.

Le Kirghizstan est notamment candidat à l'entrée dans l'Union économique eurasiatique dont la création a été signée la semaine dernière par la Russie, le Bélarus et le Kazakhstan.

La Russie conserve de son côté sa propre base au Kirghizstan et devrait voir d'un bon oeil cette décision au vu de sa quête d'influence croissante en Asie centrale.

Washington a déplacé sa principale base de transit pour ses opérations afghanes en Roumanie. Bucarest a approuvé en avril une hausse du personnel américain dans cette base située sur la mer noire.

quebec.huffingtonpost.ca

La vidéo de la libération du sergent Bowe Berghdal !

Citation :

Mars Attaque

[VIDEO] Rare de voir de telles images - Afghanistan : opération de récupération du prisonnier américain

 

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US Army Europe aviators arrive in Poland


MIROSLAWIEC, Poland – More than 60 pilots and support personnel and five UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters from the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) deployed here from Katterbach Army Airfield, Germany, June 6 to support U.S. and NATO forces training in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

The CAB Soldiers arrived by helicopter at the 12th Air Base of the Polish air force, where they were met by Polish ground teams and escorted to the facilities they will use for the duration of their stay here.

In a round trip from Katterbach to Miroslawiec, three CH-47F Chinook helicopters from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support) ferried support personnel and equipment to Poland, then returned to their home base in Germany. Almost immediately after arriving here and unloading the equipment, the Soldiers established maintenance, flight operations and a command post in the facilities provided for them by the Polish air force.

Representing a diverse array of specialties, Soldiers from three battalions and the brigade headquarters prepared to sustain CAB operations here. The 412th Aviation Support Battalion laid the groundwork, with signal specialists providing network connectivity and radio communications. Fuel, ammunition and supply specialists coordinated long-term logistical support from their home base in Germany and from Polish forces. Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 58th Aviation Regiment (Airfield Operations) began building relationships with the Polish air traffic controllers they will work alongside in the control tower. Planners from the brigade headquarters and the Soldiers of C Company, 3rd Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment built air missions for future training.

The CAB will conduct operations in the region on a rotational basis as part of the continued U.S. Army Europe’s persistent presence land forces assurance exercises, supporting the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team and partner forces. The persistent presence land forces assurance exercises are the first in a series of expanded U.S. land force training activities in Poland and the Baltic region slated to continue for the next few months.

The exercises, conducted by USAREUR Soldiers and host nation forces, are a demonstration of U.S. commitment to NATO and America’s collective defense responsibilities through increased ground, air and naval forces presence. The intent of the supplementary exercises is to reassure NATO allies that the U.S. is committed to upholding its obligations under Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. This action comes at the request of the host nation governments.

Read more: http://www.dvidshub.net/news/132749/us-army-europe-aviators-arrive-poland#.U5l_j3b-Ict#ixzz34Q58xSOb

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$40-BILLION MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM PROVES UNRELIABLE

After a decade and $40 billion, U.S. missile defense system can't be relied on, even in scripted tests
Lawmakers have protected flawed missile defense system's funding and want to spend billions more to expand it

With a convulsive rumble, followed by billowing flames and exhaust, a sleek 60-foot rocket emerged from its silo at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

It was a test of the backbone of the nation's missile defense system. If North Korea or Iran (  ) ever launched nuclear weapons against the United States, the interceptors at Vandenberg and remote Ft. Greely, Alaska, would be called on to destroy the incoming warheads.

Scientists conducting the test at Vandenberg on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010, had left little to chance. They knew exactly when the target missile would be launched from an atoll in the Marshall Islands 4,900 miles away. They knew its precise dimensions, expected trajectory and speed.   

Based on this and other data, they had estimated the route the interceptor's heat-seeking "kill vehicle" would have to follow to destroy the target.



Within minutes, the interceptor's three boosters had burned out and fallen away, and the kill vehicle was hurtling through space at 4 miles per second. It was supposed to crash into the mock enemy warhead and obliterate it.

It missed.

At a cost of about $200 million, the mission had failed.

Eleven months later, when the U.S. Missile Defense Agency staged a repeat of the test, it failed, too.

The next attempted intercept, launched from Vandenberg on July 5, 2013, also ended in failure.

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, or GMD, was supposed to protect Americans against a chilling new threat from "rogue states" such as North Korea and Iran. But a decade after it was declared operational, and after $40 billion in spending, the missile shield cannot be relied on, even in carefully scripted tests that are much less challenging than an actual attack would be, a Los Angeles Times investigation has found.

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The Missile Defense Agency has conducted 16 tests of the system's ability to intercept a mock enemy warhead. It has failed in eight of them, government records show.

Despite years of tinkering and vows to fix technical shortcomings, the system's performance has gotten worse, not better, since testing began in 1999. Of the eight tests held since GMD became operational in 2004, five have been failures. The last successful intercept was on Dec. 5, 2008. Another test is planned at Vandenberg, on the Santa Barbara County coast, later this month.

The GMD system was rushed into the field after President George W. Bush, in 2002, ordered a crash effort to deploy "an initial set of missile defense capabilities." The hurried deployment has compromised its effectiveness in myriad ways.

"The system is not reliable," said a recently retired senior military official who served under Presidents Obama and Bush. "We took a system that was still in development — it was a prototype — and it was declared to be 'operational' for political reasons.

"At that point, you couldn't argue anymore that you still needed to develop and change things. You just needed to build them."

Dean A. Wilkening, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., offered a similar assessment. Wilkening served on a National Academy of Sciences panel that issued a 2011 report on missile defense.

GMD remains a "prototype system" that "has performed less well than people had hoped," he said at a May 28 policy conference in Washington, D.C. "If you're going to rely on that as an operational system, one shouldn't be too surprised that it does tend to fail more than you'd like."

At a separate conference this month, Wilkening called the system's test record "abysmal."

The Times interviewed missile defense scientists and current and former Defense Department officials, and reviewed thousands of pages of congressional testimony and reports by the Government Accountability Office, the Pentagon's independent testing office, the National Academy of Sciences and the Defense Science Board.

Official pronouncements about the GMD system, The Times found, have overstated its reliability.

Early on, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer told Congress he had high confidence an attack could be foiled by firing one to three missiles at each enemy warhead.

Under that scenario, "the effectiveness would be in the 90% range," Defense Undersecretary Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. told the House Armed Services Committee in 2003.

Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating, then head of the U.S. Northern Command, was even more emphatic when he told the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2007: "I appear before you today as confident as I know how to be in the employability and efficacy of that system."




But given GMD's record in flight tests, four or five interceptors probably would have to be launched to take out a single enemy warhead, according to current and former government officials familiar with the Missile Defense Agency's projections.

The system's 30 interceptors — four at Vandenberg and 26 at Ft. Greely — could be overwhelmed by an attack with multiple missiles.

The threat would be even greater if enemy missiles were outfitted with decoys or shed metal debris, which could confuse GMD's radar and sensors.

Despite GMD's problems, influential members of Congress have protected its funding and are pushing to add silos and interceptors in the Eastern U.S. at a potential cost of billions of dollars.

Boeing Co. manages the system for the Pentagon. Raytheon Co. manufactures the kill vehicles. Thousands of jobs in five states, mostly in Alabama and Arizona, depend directly or indirectly on the program.

The Obama administration, after signaling that it would keep the number of interceptors at the current 30, now supports expanding the system. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has called for deploying 14 new interceptors at Ft. Greely by late 2017.

Missile Defense Agency officials declined to be interviewed for this article. A spokesman, Richard Lehner, said in a statement that the agency was working "to conduct component testing and refurbishment of the interceptors currently deployed to ... improve their reliability."

The agency's director, Vice Adm. James D. Syring, told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday that officials had identified the causes of the two most recent flight-test failures, and that the underlying problems had been fixed, or would be by the end of this year.

Asked about the system's ability to defend against an attack with multiple missiles, Syring said his goal was to "greatly improve where we are today in terms of the number of interceptors that we fly at each threat."

Raytheon referred questions about GMD to Boeing, the prime contractor for the system.

A Boeing spokesman, Dexter Q. Henson, said the company "remains confident in the system's ability to defeat potential adversaries."


::

Missiles launched from North Korea or Iran probably would fly over the Arctic Circle on their way to the U.S., the most direct route. The GMD system is designed to destroy incoming warheads at roughly the midpoint of their arcing journey, as they begin their descent toward Earth — hence the term "midcourse."

Intercepting a ballistic missile is a supreme technical challenge. Scientists liken it to hitting one speeding bullet with another.

The GMD system's bullet is the 5-foot-long, 150-pound kill vehicle. During flight, it is subjected to extreme stresses: blazing heat and violent vibrations, followed by frigid temperatures outside Earth's atmosphere. Each kill vehicle has more than 1,000 components. The slightest glitch can foil an attempted intercept



"Fly, then buy" is a maxim in the defense and aerospace fields, meaning that customers should wait until a complicated new system has been rigorously tested before purchasing.

With GMD, the government's approach was the opposite: "Buy, then fly."

Then-Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld exempted the Missile Defense Agency from standard procurement rules and testing standards, freeing it to use research and development money to buy and deploy a system quickly.

The rocket interceptors were essentially prototypes rather than finished products when put in the field. The first model of kill vehicle was not flight-tested against a mock warhead until September 2006 — two years after the vehicles had been placed in the silos.

Because each of the kill vehicles is handmade, no two are identical. A fix that works with one interceptor might not solve problems with others. The piecemeal approach has left the system short of spare parts for critical components.

Pressure to produce and deploy the interceptors at a breakneck pace made it difficult to revise engineering drawings to correct shortcomings exposed in flight tests or keep up with technological advances.

One senior official involved in the system described his frustration at learning that some computers aboard the kill vehicles lacked the processing power of common cellphones.

About a third of the kill vehicles now in use — the exact number is classified — are the same model that failed in the 2010 tests, according to people familiar with the system who spoke on condition of anonymity. That model has yet to intercept a target.

Because interceptors used in test flights burn up when they reenter the atmosphere or are lost in the ocean, scientists have been hard-pressed to pinpoint the causes of the failures.

But some of the system's problems can be traced to the kill vehicles' internal guidance center — the electronic brain that dictates final speed and trajectory.

The tests are scripted for success. What's amazing to me is that they still fail.
- Philip E. Coyle III, former Pentagon director of operational testing and evaluation

Scientists suspect that intense vibration during the interceptors' ascent is the cause of some of the test failures. A GAO report in April described vibration as a "systemic problem."

It could take years of additional engineering work to solve this and other technical problems in the kill vehicles, scientists said.

Lehner, the Missile Defense Agency spokesman, said vibrations were successfully dampened in a January 2013 flight test. The test did not involve an attempt to intercept a target.

Project engineers were concerned that some components of the kill vehicles, known as CE-1 models, were already outdated. Spare parts, including replacements for the vehicles' guidance system, were out of stock. This prompted development of a partly redesigned kill vehicle, designated CE-2.

"The CE-2 was going to be the salvation of the program," recalled a Defense Department engineer.

Yet neither the original kill vehicle nor the CE-2 featured modular designs that would enable technicians to swiftly remove and replace suspect components. It typically takes a year or more to disassemble and restore a kill vehicle.

Defense officials bought the CE-2 models from 2008 to 2010 knowing that preliminary factory testing had found problems with the inertial measurement units, according to federal auditors. Though the design of those units was tweaked and they were ultimately cleared as acceptable at the factory, malfunctions arose during flight testing.

Some of those working on the GMD system believed it was time to stop buying more interceptors and embark on a comprehensive redesign.

"But the pressures did not allow that to happen," said a former high-ranking Pentagon official, referring to lobbying by contractors and demands from members of Congress. "There was a drive — we had to keep going to more and more" interceptors.

Boeing and Raytheon are among the top four defense contractors worldwide in revenue. From 1999 through March of this year, Boeing spent $261.6 million on general lobbying of the federal government and Raytheon spent $144.4 million, public records show.

On Dec. 15, 2010, engineers once again launched a CE-2 kill vehicle from Vandenberg toward a target missile.

This time the sea-based radar "performed as planned," the missile agency said, but the kill vehicle missed the target.

Appearing before a House Armed Services subcommittee on May 8, 2013, Syring said the next flight test would "demonstrate the improvements made" to the fleet of interceptors. For this test, the missile agency would use one of the original CE-1 kill vehicles.

The test was held July 5, 2013 — 31 months after the last attempted intercept, which failed.

After burning its boosters to reach space, the interceptor failed to separate from the rocket, preventing it from striking the target.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-missile-defense-20140615-story.html

Citation :

Ajoutée le 24 juin 2014

http://defense-update.com/20140622_us... Over the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the newest generation of ground
based interceptor defending the United States, the CE-II, successfully collided and destroyed an incoming ballistic
missile warhead high in space amongst decoys and countermeasures representative of a long-range North Korean
ballistic missile that would threaten the United States of America

Citation :

Raytheon completes preparing JLENS radar for contingency deployment

TEWKSBURY, Mass., June 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Should the U.S. or its allies need enhanced protection against cruise missiles, hostile airplanes, sea-borne threats or unmanned aircraft, military commanders will have a new system at their disposal. Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has finished preparing a blimp-borne radar system previously used for testing, for use as a rapidly deployable strategic asset.

JLENS is a powerful airborne radar system that floats at altitudes as high as 10,000 feet, suspended from two 80-yard long, helium-filled blimp-like aerostats which are tethered to ground stations via a rugged cable. It helps defend critical assets, population centers and infrastructures against a variety of threats, such as manned- and unmanned- aircraft and missiles.

"By putting JLENS in strategic reserve, the Army is giving combatant commanders around the globe the ability to pick up the phone and, in short order, receive this incredible air defense capability in their area of responsibility," said Raytheon's Dave Gulla, vice president of Integrated Defense Systems' Global Integrated Sensors business area.

The U.S. Army has procured two JLENS systems to date. In addition to keeping one system in strategic reserve, a second system is scheduled to participate in an operational evaluation at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, in fall of 2014. JLENS completed Early User Testing in the third quarter of 2013, and concluded system design and development in the fourth quarter of 2013.

"JLENS has proven its ability to extend the air-defense umbrella by integrating with our nation's land-, sea-, and air-based air defenses to detect and intercept threats, such as airplanes, drones and cruise missiles," said Doug Burgess, Raytheon's JLENS program director. "The success of this operational evaluation is another significant step forward because it will demonstrate that JLENS has unmatched defensive capabilities. Raytheon is doing its part to get both the Soldiers and the system ready."

Since JLENS began development in 2005, it has completed a rigorous testing program that included tracking and targeting airplanes and drones, and helping destroy cruise missile targets by integrating with the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System, Standard Missile 6 and AMRAAM defensive systems. JLENS has also tracked threats such as swarming boats, unmanned aircraft, and detected tactical ballistic missiles in their boost-phase.

http://raytheon.mediaroom.com

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Paratroopers with 173rd Airborne Brigade fire Javelins and mortars with Lithuanian forces

Pfc. Jerome Cuthbert (right), a mortar gunner assigned to Company B., 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, trains a
Lithuanian Soldier to fire the U.S. Army’s 60mm mortar system at Pabrade Training Area, Lithuania June 21. The exercise provided an opportunity
for U.S. and Lithuanian Soldiers to train together and increased interoperability between NATO forces. (PHOTO: Spc. Brett Hurd, 173rd Airborne Brigade)





Paratroopers assigned to 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, fire a Javelin anti-tank guided missile during training
with Lithuanian soldiers at the Pabrade Training Area in Pabrade, Lithuania June 21. The exercise provided an opportunity for U.S. and Lithuanian
Soldiers to train together and increased interoperability between NATO forces. (PHOTO: Spc. Brett Hurd, 173rd Airborne Brigade)

Citation :

Lockheed Martin Receives $212 Million Contract for PAC-3 Missile Support

DALLAS, July 14, 2014 – Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] received a contract award recently totaling $212 million from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Maintenance & Surveillance services to U.S. and international PAC-3 customers from the Missile Support Center.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor on the PAC-3 Missile Segment of the Patriot air defense system. These Maintenance and Surveillance services will begin immediately at Lockheed Martin facilities in the United States.

The PAC-3 Missile is one of the world’s most advanced, capable and reliable theater air defense missiles. It defends against advanced tactical ballistic and cruise missiles, and fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. As the most technologically advanced missile for the Patriot air defense system, PAC-3 significantly increases the Patriot system’s firepower, as 16 PAC-3s can be loaded in place of only four legacy Patriot PAC-2 missiles on the Patriot launcher.



PAC-3 is currently in the inventory of six nations – the U.S., the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan. Lockheed Martin is under contract to provide assets to a seventh nation, Kuwait.

Lockheed Martin is a world leader in systems integration and the development of air and missile defense systems and technologies, including the first operational hit-to-kill missile. It also has considerable experience in missile design and production, infrared seekers, command and control/battle management, and communications, precision pointing and tracking optics, as well as radar and signal processing. The company makes significant contributions to all major U.S. missile defense systems and participates in several global missile defense partnerships.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 113,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation’s net sales for 2013 were $45.4 billion.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com

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BAE Systems is confident that by 2015 its precision rocket guidance system will be operational with the US Army.

The Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) is already in the inventory of the US Navy (USN) and is used on board the US Marine Corps' Bell UH-1Y Venoms and AH-1W Cobras in Afghanistan.

BAE carried out testing of the weapon on board the US Army AH-64 D/E Apache at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona in 2013 under a military utility assessment, which resulted in some minor modifications made to the system.



BAE Systems

“This is going to be really easily integrated into the Apache,” Dave Harrold, director of precision guided solutions at BAE, says. “I feel pretty bullish about the US Army buying APKWS in 2015.”

APKWS typically uses the Hydra 70 unguided rocket, and there is a budget line for this which includes APKWS, Harrold notes.

“It is likely that the first platform will be the Apache, but I can’t speak on behalf of the army.”

APKWS effectively adds a precision-guided capability to an unguided 70mm rocket, and fills the gap between these rockets and advanced missiles such as the Lockheed Martin Hellfire.

Harrold says that APKWS is one third of the price of a Hellfire and also one third of the weight, so more of the weapons can be stowed onboard.

A joint technology demonstration between the USN and the US Air Force demonstrated the weapon on board fixed wing aircraft, including the A-10, AV-8B and F-16, a marketing avenue that BAE is also pursuing.

http://www.flightglobal.com

Citation :

Jammer successfully tested on-board Gray Eagle UAV


The US Army has completed the integration and testing of an electronic warfare (EW) capability on board its General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned air vehicle.

The Networked Electronic Warfare Remotely Operated (NERO) system, derived from the Communications Electronic Attack Surveillance and Reconnaissance (CEASAR) jammer used on the manned Beechcraft C-12 aircraft, was adapted to be used on the UAV.

The testing took place from 2-19 June at Dugway Proving Ground, in Utah, and follows two years of engineering analysis and integration work.



US Army

The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) funded the effort. Other partners included the project manager for the army’s UAV programme; the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Indiana; Raytheon and General Atomics.

NERO flew on the Gray Eagle for 32h during the testing and 20h of this was with the jammer active.

“The NERO capability may well be part of the army’s future Integrated Electronic Warfare System, if it meets the army warfighter’s requirements,” Col Jim Ekvall, chief of the army’s Electronic Warfare Division at the Pentagon, says.

“Airborne electronic attack provides an enormous amount of support to troops on the ground, and with the NERO payload on a UAV, mission times are increased and are more cost effective for the army.”



US Army

The jammer was able to operate at full power with no impact on the UAV, according to Clay Ogden, an expert on airborne electronic attack programmes for the Army's Electronic Warfare Division.

“This demonstrated the viability of a Gray Eagle-based high-powered jamming capability to support the army’s EW counter-communications and broadcasting EW requirements in the future,” he adds.

“Results of the flight testing will inform development of the army’s organic Multi-Function Electronic Warfare capability, which is an integral part of the integrated EW system of the future.”

http://www.flightglobal.com

Citation :

Ajoutée le 26 juil. 2014

The Flyer Advanced Light Strike Vehicle was developed to fill operational gaps in fixed and rotary wing ground
mobility deployment requiring a lightweight, mobile, air transportable vehicle capable of being rapidly
reconfigured for a variety of mission needs. The vehicle is designed and manufactured by the
Defense Company General Dynamics Ordnance Tactical systems.

Citation :

Ajoutée le 28 juil. 2014



POV footage of Paratroopers assigned to the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, jumping from a C-17 Globemaster III in support of a simulated assault on the air field as part of Arctic Thunder. Arctic Thunder is a biennial event hosted by JBER, featuring more than 40 Air Force, Army, and civilian aerial acts and an expected crowd of more than 200,000 people, it is the largest two-day event in the state and one of the premier aerial demonstrations in the world. The 2014 Arctic Thunder Open House is a proud part of the Anchorage Centennial Celebration. (US Air Force video by Senior Airman Joshua Roberts/Released)

AiirSource℠ covers military events and missions from the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.
https://www.youtube.com/AiirSource

Citation :

Scorpion W2: la photo officielle du nouveau camouflage de l'Army est sortie



Voici la photo officielle du nouveau camouflage de l'US Army. Ce "Scorpion W2" n'est qu'une version retouchée du produit proposé en 2002 par Crye Precision dans le cadre de l'US Army Future Force Warrior.

Crye l'a, par la suite, revue et corrigé pour en faire le MultiCam adopté (temporairement) par les forces US en Afghanistan.

Voici donc l'US Army qui a finalisé son choix. Va-t-il être étendu, comme les souhaitent les élus du Congrès, à l'ensemble des forces armées américaines? C'est pas gagné, visiblement.

http://lignesdedefense.blogs.ouest-france.fr/archive/2014/08/04/scorpion-2-la-photo-officielle-est-sortie-12261.html

Citation :

L’US Army sélectionne Bell & Sikorsky/Boeing!



Dans le cadre du programme du programme de démonstration du futur hélicoptère tactique Joint Multi-Role (JMR) Démonstrateur Technologique(JMR-TD) en vue du remplacement des actuels Sikorsky UH-60 «Black Hawk», l’US Army à sélectionné les deux projets de démonstrateurs proposés par Bell Hélicopter et Sikorsky/Boeing. L’Européen Airbus/Eurocopter a vu son projet refusé pour la suite de la compétition.

Programme d’hélicoptère du futur :  

Bell Helicopter et une équipe composée de Sikorsky/Boeing seront chargée de construire

un prototype destiné aux essais du futur hélicoptère de nouvelle génération à grande vitesse destiné à remplacé les actuels Sikorsky UH-60 «Black Hawk». Les deux appareils sont prévus pour voler pendant trois ans à compter de 2017. Puis se sera le choix définitif pour l’US Army.

Deux projets, deux visions :

Bell Helicopter et le team Sikorsky /Boeing propose chacun deux concepts très différent pour répondre aux cahier des charges du programme JMR-TD :

Le Bell V-280 «Valor» :



Le Bell V-280 «Valor» dont le design a été présenté pour la première fois le 10 avril 2013, lors de l'Army Aviation Association of America Annual Professional Forum and Exposition à Forth Worth au Texas se décline comme le futur hélicoptère potentiellement capable de remporter cette compétition. Le V-280 est un aéronef multi-rôle susceptible de répondre au programme «Vertical Lift Program» du département de la Défense. L'armée américaine et le ministère de la Défense sont en effet, à la recherche d’un hélicoptère capable à l’avenir de voler a une vitesse de 230 nœuds, en lieu et place des 140 actuels.

Le concept du V-280 «Valor» est basé sur la gamme des «tilt-rotor» de troisième génération, fortement inspiré du V-22, mais légèrement plus petit. Une des grosse différence avec le V-22 est que les moteurs du V-280 seront fixes et ne pivotent pas avec le rotor, ce qui réduit la complexité et le nombre de pièces mobiles.

Le Bell V-280 «Valor» à rotors basculants doit offrir selon son concepteur, les plus hauts niveaux de maturité et de préparation technique. Le Bell V-280 aura la capacité d'effectuer une multitude de missions avec une vitesse inégalée avec une grande agilité.  

Spécifications de l’appareil :
•Vitesse de pointe de 280 nœuds
•Autonomie maximum : 2100 nm
•Autonomie en mission : 500-800 nm
•Contrôles de vol fly-by-wire à triple redondance
•Trains rétractables
•Deux portes latérales de 1,80 m de largeur

Le Sikorsky/Boeing SB-1 «Defiant» :



Le «Defiant» est basé sur la technologie du X-2 développé par Sikorsky dans la fin des années 2000. Le démonstrateur X-2 est une plate-forme de 5000 livres, alors que le «Defiant» sera d'environ £ 11’000 et permettra d’emporter jusqu’à six soldats en mode assaut. En mode reconnaissance, cet espace pourrait être utilisé pour l'équipement supplémentaire ou des munitions avec 2 pilotes et réservoir de carburant auxiliaire. Outre, sa vitesse maximale presque deux fois supérieure, à 250 nœuds, le SB-1 sera plus manœuvrable et aura une signature acoustique plus faible qu’un hélicoptère standard.

Pour Sikorsky, ces attributs permettront au SB-1 d’égaler ou dépasser les exigences de l’US Army pour son prochain hélicoptère léger polyvalent, car celui-ci, sera en plus, très performant dans les opérations à haute altitude qui posent problème aux hélicoptères légers actuels.

Le projet de Sikorsky et Boeing devra démontrer comment la technologie dérivée du X2  peut permettre d’atteindre des vitesses de l’ordre de 230 noeuds grâce à la technologie contra-rotatives coaxiales des rotors principaux couplé à une hélice propulsive. Le démonstrateur devra également permettre de valider les commandes «fly-by-wire» pour un tel système.


Photos : 1 & 3 Bell Helicopter V-280 «Valor» @ Bell Helicopter 4 & 5 SB-1 «Defiant» @ Sikorsky/Boeing

http://psk.blog.24heures.ch/archive/2014/08/13/l-us-army-selectionne-bell-sikorsky-boeing-856779.html  

Citation :

SOCOM buying more Carl Gustaf weapons under new contract

Daniel Wasserbly, Washington, DC - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly


The M3 84 mm Carl Gustaf recoilless weapon is in US service called the MAAWS. Source: Saab

US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has signed a new framework contract with Saab to extend its procurement of the Carl Gustaf man-portable weapon system, according to a 27 August company statement.

"The contract is a follow on agreement to a previous five-year contract for the 84 mm recoilless rifle system," Saab said.

The deal is worth up to USD187 million for the weapons as well as ammunition, and SOCOM placed an initial order worth about USD14 million, the company added.

SOCOM and the US Army are known to have ordered and used the Carl Gustaf, known as the multirole anti-armor anti-personnel weapon system (MAAWS) in US service.

"There are approximately 1,500 [Carl Gustaf] systems in total in service with the US armed forces," a Saab spokesperson told IHS Jane's . The company could not divulge specific breakdowns between special or conventional forces.

SOCOM has long purchased and used the 84 mm Carl Gustaf, but in late 2011 regular army troops began using the system for the first time in Afghanistan as part of an operational evaluation.

Soldiers had requested a man-portable weapon for countering opposing forces that employ rocket-propelled grenades and medium machine guns from ranges up to 1,000 m.

The army originally ordered 126 M3 launchers and about 3,000 rounds of ammunition (although SOCOM was included on that order), and has since bought more.

The service has used the high-explosive (HE) round and a high-explosive dual-purpose (HEDP) round. HE rounds include an air-burst capability that can be set to explode over targets that are hiding behind structures or are in defilade. HEDP rounds are intended for use against light armour, walls, or bunkers.

Meanwhile, Saab said "a new, lighter weight, version of the Carl Gustaf is currently under development" that is to include "additional functionality".

http://www.janes.com/article/42424/socom-buying-more-carl-gustaf-weapons-under-new-contract

Citation :

L’US Army recherche des interprètes pour le Maroc


Washington : Le pentagone a publié une annonce de recrutement d’interprètes auprès de son armée de terre, destinés à travailler au Maroc.

En effet, dans une annonce publiée sur le site administratif américain, Federal Business Opporunities, l’US Army, indique avoir besoin de recruter des interprètes maitrisant les langues arabe, amazighe et français pour des traductions vers l’anglais.

Ces interprètes collaboreront au sein de la '414th Contracting Support Brigade' de l’US Army, basée à Vicence au nord de l’Italie.

Les recrues seraient déployées selon l’énoncé de l’annonce, dans la région d’Agadir, pour des 'missions' qui dureraient du 15 Janvier 2015 au 01 Mars 2015.

http://www.lemag.ma/L-US-Army-recherche-des-interpretes-pour-le-Maroc_a85662.html

Citation :

Boeing Laser Demonstrator Destroys Targets through Wind and Fog



HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Sept. 4, 2014 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Army have proven the capabilities of the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) in maritime conditions, successfully targeting a variety of aerial targets at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

“Under windy, rainy and foggy weather conditions in Florida, these engagements were the most challenging to date with a 10-kilowatt laser on HEL MD,” said Dave DeYoung, Boeing Directed Energy Systems director. “As proven at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in 2013 and at Eglin Air Force Base this spring, HEL MD is reliable and capable of consistently acquiring, tracking and engaging a variety of targets in different environments, demonstrating the potential military utility of directed energy systems.”

In these recent demonstrations, HEL MD used a 10-kilowatt, high energy laser installed on an Oshkosh tactical military vehicle. The demonstrator is the first mobile, high-energy laser, counter rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) platform to be built and demonstrated by the U.S. Army.

“With capabilities like HEL MD, Boeing is demonstrating that directed energy technologies can augment existing kinetic strike weapons and offer a significant reduction in cost per engagement,” said DeYoung. “With only the cost of diesel fuel, the laser system can fire repeatedly without expending valuable munitions or additional manpower.”

Throughout the two series of demonstrations, Boeing achieved all performance objectives on schedule, successfully engaging more than 150 aerial targets including 60 mm mortars and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The next step will be to install a 50 or 60-kilowatt laser on HEL MD to demonstrate counter RAM and UAV capability at this tactically significant power level.

http://boeing.mediaroom.com

Citation :

ISR: 14 King Air 350 de l'US Army bientôt modernisés



EMARSS? Pour "Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System"... C'est un programme de modernisation des avions de l'USAA (US Army Aviation) spécialisés dans l'ISR. Des avions d'abord mis en œuvre dans le cadre des programmes Constant Hawk et Liberty Project pour des missions de renseignement, surveillance et reconnaissance et déployés lors des OCO (Overseas Contingency Operations), l'équivalent de nos opex.

Deux King Air 350 ont déjà été modifiés par Boeing en août 2013 dans le cadre d'une pré-série et 14 autres pourraient bientôt être modernisés pour être portés au niveau EMARSS.

Au total, l'US Army Aviation dispose de près de 30 King Air 350, dont 24 seront modernisés et qui s'ajouteront aux 9 Dash et aux 14 Super King Air 200. L'objectif de l'USAA est de disposer de 52 avions ISR (soit deux fois moins que dans les années 2000). Près de 40 RC-12 Guardrail, avion basé sur le King Air 200, (photo ci-dessous) vont être retirés du service.



Cette modernisation portera sur les équipements de survivabilité, sur les optiques, les communications, les équipements infra-rouge, l'interopérabilité avec les systèmes terrestre, le système de géolocalisation à très haute précision, une liaison de données Link 16 ainsi qu’un poste de gestion pour la guerre-électronique. Les appareils modernisés pourront opérer de jour et de nuit et quelle que soit la météo, à moyenne altitude.

A noter que la firme Airtec va continuer à fournir deux plate-formes ISR à l'US Army pour des missions de lutte contre les trafics de drogue selon un avis du 28 août:

"Airtec Inc., California, Maryland, is being awarded a $10,780,768 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services in support of the U.S. Army's Southern Command. The contractor will provide ISR services utilizing two contractor-owned, contractor-operated aircraft. Work will be performed in Bogota, Columbia, and is expected to be completed in May 2015."

http://lignesdedefense.blogs.ouest-france.fr/archive/2014/09/04/isr-12329.html

Citation :

Raytheon receives $109 million contract for Patriot Air and Missile Defense System

US and international Patriot partners strengthen defense against evolving threats

TEWKSBURY, Mass., Sept. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has received a $109 million Engineering Services contract for its Patriot Air and Missile Defense System. The contract, issued by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is for ongoing technical support and services to the U.S. Army and Foreign Military Sale customers to ensure readiness of their Patriot systems.

"Customers around the world will benefit from the maintenance and upgrades that result from this contract – especially the technical baseline improvements designed to counter evolving threats," said Ralph Acaba, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business. "The U.S. Army recognizes the importance of investing in Patriot sustainment, especially given the instability in the world today."

Under this contract, the system analysis, software development, testing and logistics support, and other country-specific system requirements work will be performed by Raytheon in Andover, Mass.; Tewksbury, Mass.; Huntsville, Ala.; and White Sands, N.M.

http://raytheon.mediaroom.com

Citation :

US Army trains on JLENS ahead of first deployment

In anticipation of its first planned deployment at the end of the year, the first 44 operators of the US Army’s aerostat-based radar surveillance system have been certificated to operate and maintain the system.

Raytheon's joint land attack cruise missile defence elevated netted sensor (JLENS) system – which consists of two aerostats: one with a fire control radar and one with a surveillance radar – will be deployed at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland in 2014, marking its first operational deployment.

The tethered aerostats will sit at some 10,000ft. They can survey an area of some 340 miles (550km), so will be able to monitor the National Capital Region (NCR) – that includes Washington, DC – keeping watch for unmanned air vehicles, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and rockets.



US Air Force

Under the instruction of the US Northern Command (NORTHCOM), the army’s A Battery, 3rd Air Defence Artillery, will operate the system when it is deployed later this year. One JLENS orbit takes six people to inhaul/exhaul the system, and a team of three to four to operate.

“The construction of the site is on-going at Aberdeen Proving Grounds,” says Doug Burgess, Raytheon’s JLENS programme manager. He adds that the surveillance radar on its aerostat will be the first to deploy, followed by the fire control radar-mounted aerostat some months later.

Burgess explains that the operation of JLENS to monitor the NCR comes under a three-year exercise being run by the government and NORTHCOM, and that another team will begin training on it in “a month or so”.

Two aerostats with the two radar types and ground control equipment constitutes one JLENS orbit. Two orbits have been developed under the JLENS programme, and the other is due to enter “strategic reserve”, which will mean that it is maintained ready to be deployed, should it be required.

“There has been some interest from the international market,” Burgess claims. “But it will take some time for these to go forward… they are interested in seeing it deployed.”

http://www.flightglobal.com