Special Operations International March 2016

March 2016 • Volume 14 • Issue 2

The most widely distributed special operations magazine in the world

Inside ...

This Issue Rotary Wing Assets page 14

UAS Anti-Ice Protection page 17

Small and Nano UAS page 18

Small SATCOM page 22

CBRN Detection and Protection page 25

USSOCOM FY17 Construction Projects page 28

International Vector Lieutenant Colonel Riho Ühtegi Commander, Estonian Special Operations Force

Q&A With

James F. Geurts Acquisition Executive U.S. Special Operations Command

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Special Operations International Features

14

Rotary Wing Assets

17

Carbon Nanotube Coating For UAV All-Weather Operations

In these frugal times, helicopters that have been specially procured for special mission operations are few and far between. Internationally many helicopters used by special forces have dual use between the regular forces and SOF, but often it is the pilots who are imbued with special operational training.

By Andrew Drwiega

March 2016 • Volume 14 Issue 2

Table of Contents Departments

Cover/Q&A with James F. Geurts Acquisition Executive U.S. Special Operations Command

2 4 27

The phenomenon of ice accretion on aircraft wings and control surfaces is a well-recognized challenge in aerospace engineering. The problem is more pronounced on unmanned aerial systems.

By Chris Corsbie

18

22

28

People Resource Center

Smaller is Getting Better

Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) or drones in common language have been crowding the news lately and may someday crowd the skies. While the field of small, mini and nano UAS platforms may be crowded, technology is propelling capabilities to meet the demand signal.

By Henry Canaday

12

International Vector

Exclusive interview with: Lieutenant Colonel Riho Ühtegi Commander Estonian Special Operations Force

Maximizing Small SATCOM Capabilities

When special forces were beyond the reach of highquality communications networks, they operated at a deficit of the kind of information and data that would make fulfilling their missions quicker and more efficient.

By Peter Buxbaum

25

BlackWatch

Detection and PROTECTION

The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense purpose is to defend the United States against the unknown and unexpected, defend cities, support allies and protect warfighters.

By Patrick E. Clarke

USSOCOM Military Construction FY17

Sixteen projects drive the special operations military construction budget request for FY2017.

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Don’t miss the SOFIC issue of Special Operations International Exclusive interviews with USSOCOM, CANSOFCOM and our annual USSOCOM program management updates

Ron Mayne • ronm@defense-house.com • 240-813-5654

BlackWatch

Department

17th SOS’s First Five-Ship MC-130J Commando II Formation Instead of the usual howl of jet engines, Team Kadena heard the growl of 120 turboprop blades chopping the air as 17th Special Operations Squadron MC-130J Commando II aircraft dominated the airfield February 17, 2016.

The aircraft took to the skies during the Pacific region’s first five-ship formation flight involving the new specialized mobility aircraft.

The formation was part of a 353rd Special Operations Group exercise testing the 17th SOS and 353rd Special Operations Maintenance Squadron to launch a short-notice, large-scale tasking.

weapon system parts that are not available within the regular military/government supply channels.

ILS is used to research and resolve AFSOC critical parts shortages and mission capable required assets for the AFSOC weapons fleet.

With over 5 billion parts listed, ILS is the largest and most active business-to-business electronic marketplace. More than 15 vendors who supply certified aircraft components utilize the ILS on-line database to post their aircraft parts inventory. Without using the same company the vendors of certified aircraft parts use, the program would be useless.

Additionally, ILS is the database used by the C-130 System Office at Warner Robins when they require surplus assets.

Multi-Purpose Canine and Handler Training

“We routinely fly two ships, but we mobilized five ships to test our ability to generate aircraft in full force to make sure our maintenance can support that, and to make sure we can do the planning in case we are ever asked to fly a large formation,” said Major Brad Talley, 17th SOS assistant director of operations.

As part of that assessment, team members evaluated their formation flying and short runway landings, combat systems operators tested their cargo air drop timing, and loadmasters practiced their cargo delivery system rigging capabilities.

As reported by Senior Airman Peter Reft.

AFSOC Issues Contract for Aircraft Component Locator Service The Inventory Locator Service (ILS) program is a database warehouse program used by civilian companies to list their inventory of aircraft components and their conditions. The software assists AFSOC in finding parts that are not stocked in the standard base supply system.

They are critical in maintaining mission readiness and avoiding unnecessary delays in repairing their aircraft. The database is a necessary and valuable tool to support the AFSOC mission by providing an avenue to locate and procure 2 | SPECOPS 14.2

The United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), Fort Bragg, N.C., has a requirement for a contractor to provide nonpersonal services and provide all personnel, supervision, supplies and other items and services (not specifically identified to be government-furnished) necessary to provide special operations forces multi-purpose canines and handler training. To this end, USASOC issued a presolicitation announcement in early February and expected to release an RFP in late February 2016.

The contractor shall possess the capability of providing the latest methodologies in the canine community regarding skilled canines and associated training and lodging and equipment in accordance with the requirements stated within the performance work statement. The contractor shall provide a multi-purpose canine handlers course that will train a soldier with no canine experience to handle a multi-purpose canine in basic and combat situations.

Additionally, the contractor shall provide pretrained multi-purpose canines capable of on and off leash forensic, explosive ordnance detection for area, route/road, vehicle and building clearance, sensitive site exploitation, pursuit, tracking/ trailing, patrol/bite-work, close quarter combat apprehension, and bite and hold capability to restrain fleeing subjects by using less lethal means.

Night Vision Kit On February 11, TrackingPoint announced its first night vision product for their precision-

guided firearms. The Night Vision Kit (NVK) is available for most fielded and future PGFs. The NVK provides Gen2-like night vision performance.

The kit is comprised of a software upgrade and high intensity infrared (IR) illuminator.

“Our customers have patiently waited for night vision capabilities,” said John McHale, TrackingPoint CEO. “Now they can make extraordinary shots in total darkness.” Later this year the company will announce additional night vision and thermal products for their precisionguided firearms.

The Night Vision Kit enables the scope’s embedded infrared sensitive CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) sensor to detect light not visible to the human eye. Depending on the strength of the IR illuminator, targets can be engaged and tracked out to 200 yards at night.

As a shooter pulls the trigger the target is automatically acquired and tracked. When trigger pull completes, the target is instantly eliminated.

Total time-to-kill is approximately 2.5 seconds.

RapidLok fire control is image stabilized enabling you to make off-hand shots and shots on the run.

The NVK includes a thumb drive and high intensity IR illuminator. Installation is simple and straight forward. To enable night vision the user inserts the thumb drive into the scope’s USB port and powers on the scope. The IR Illuminator comes with a rail mount kit.

Suggested price of the NVK kit is $2495 and includes an IR Illuminator.

Ballistic Head Protection 3M Deutschland GmbH and Schuberth GmbH have joined forces to develop new and improved ballistic head protection systems for military and law enforcement applications.

The agreement outlined plans to collaborate and create custom solutions for end users in the European market. Schuberth will also be a distributor of 3M ballistic helmets manufactured by Ceradyne, Inc., a 3M company.

“The agreement with 3M is an important step for us in strengthening our position in the market segment of ballistic head protection systems,” said Schuberth CEO Jan-Christian Becker. Cheryl Ingstad, 3M business manager, advanced ceramics platform— defense, added “Schuberth is a leader in military head protection and accessories, with a deep understanding of customer requirements. This aligns well with our efforts to understand and translate needs in head protection to exciting, new developments in our products.” www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

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BlackWatch

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Schuberth is a manufacturer of head protection systems for various applications, including motorsports, industrial safety, military and law enforcement. 3M subsidiary, Ceradyne, Inc., utilizes advanced materials and a proprietary manufacturing process to produce lightweight body armor and ballistic helmets, which has helped to make them a key supplier to the U.S. armed forces.

MEUAS ISR Services Contracts USSOCOM’s Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (SOF AT&L), Procurement Office-KW intends to solicit, negotiate, and award a sole source contract to AAI Corporation and Insitu.

Both will provide contractor-owned, contractoroperated mid-endurance unmanned aircraft system (MEUAS) intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services while operating at multiple simultaneous sites worldwide.

The estimated award value of the AAI contract is $75 million for continuation of three sites ranging from 378-700 flight hours per month and any emerging requirements. The anticipated contact type is an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity firm-fixed price contract with a six-month base period and two three-month options.

The estimated award value of the Insitu contract is $150 million for continuation of four sites ranging from 450-900 flight hours

per month and any emerging requirements.

The anticipated contact type is an indefinitedelivery, indefinite-quantity firm-fixed price contract with a six-month base period and two three-month options.

Spain to Acquire Predator B On February 17, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., a manufacturer of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) systems, radars and electrooptic and related mission systems solutions, announced its notification of Spain’s selection of the Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper RPA system to support the nation’s airborne surveillance and reconnaissance requirements.

The Spanish Ministry of Defense has awarded GA-ASI the delivery of one Predator B RPA system for the Spanish armed forces to include four aircraft equipped with MTS-B electro-optical/infrared sensors and GA-ASI’s Block 20A Lynx multi-mode radar, two Block 30 ground control stations, and satellite communi-

cations and line-of-sight data link capabilities by means of a Spanish-U.S. Foreign Military Sales agreement.

“GA-ASI is proud to partner with the Spanish Armed Forces to offer our operationally proven Predator B RPA to fulfill Spain’s emerging multi-mission requirements,” said Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI. “We also look forward to working with teammate Sener, a leading engineering company, and developing collaborative partnerships with other Spanish companies to help ensure the long-term success of the program.”

Helicopter Landing Aid Contract from DARPA Honeywell has been awarded a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to continue improving three-dimensional visibility and safety for U.S. military helicopter pilots experiencing inclement weather and harsh environments. Among the visual challenges faced by pilots are issues with rain, snow, dust, fog and other elements that reduce the ability to fly and land.

As part of the DARPA Multifunction Radio Frequency effort, Honeywell will program, update and integrate the company’s Synthetic Vision Avionics Backbone (SVAB) solution on U.S. military test helicopters such as the UH-60 Black Hawk.

Honeywell’s technology provides pilots with the most accurate “out-the-window,” 3D view on their

PEOPLE general, Special Operations Command, Korea, U.S. Forces Korea, Yongsan Garrison, Korea.

Brigadier General Tony D. Bauernfeind, deputy commander, Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command, Kabul, Afghanistan, has been assigned to commanding

4 | SPECOPS 14.2

Brigadier General Scott A. Howell, who has been selected for the grade of major general,

the director of operations, Headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command, Hurlburt Field, Fla., has been assigned as the new commander, Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Major General Mark R. Stammer, commander, Combined Joint Task ForceHorn of Africa, Operation Enduring Freedom-Horn of Africa, Djibouti, has been assigned as the deputy

commanding general, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Air Force Brigadier General Albert M. Elton II has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general. Elton is

currently serving as the deputy commanding general, Joint Special Operations Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Rear Admiral (lower half) Collin P. Green has

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primary flight displays, which is critical in lowvisibility environments that mask hidden dangers such as treacherous terrain, other aircraft or utility wires.

Honeywell will update the synthetic vision system to support the next phase of the Multifunction Radio Frequency program to fuse information from DARPA’s Advanced Rotary Multifunction Sensor radar along with terrain and obstacle databases and satellite imagery. The wider breadth of information will better inform helicopter pilots faced with low-visibility challenges.

“Honeywell is meeting the challenge of mitigating degraded visual environments,” said Howie Wiebold, manager of business development at Honeywell Aerospace. “By processing data from multiple sensors and developing a 3D synthetic rendering of the exterior view in degraded conditions, we can create a safe environment where military pilots can turn degraded visual environments into a tactical advantage.”

Tagging, Tracking and Locating Information Dissemination and Visualization USSOCOM has issued a special notice seeking information from sources that can provide USSOCOM with a software based management system for the dissemination and visualization of TTL data as well as device command and control.

been assigned as commander, Special Operations Command South, U.S. Southern Command, Homestead Air Force Base, Fla. Green is currently serving as executive officer to Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, Brussels, Belgium.

Air Force Command Chief Master Sergeant Matthew M. Caruso, currently assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla., has been selected to replace Air Force Command Chief

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This software must be capable of providing situational awareness, data collection, geospatial data and two-way communications between multiple satellite, cellular and radio frequency providers.

Technical requirements include: •• Provide the ability to connect with DoD and commercial gateways as well as other commercial data management servers •• Provide a permission based system (user, admin, etc.)

•• Provide tools for data filtering and analysis, geofencing, management of devices by groups/units, and historical querying •• Allow for the integration of 3rd party devices as directed by the government •• Remotely configure and send messages to devices, query devices for configuration information •• Operate in a DoD cloud based network and meet DISA Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG) mandatory requirements •• Provide options for hosting and maintaining physical server based systems at the contractor facility •• Provide technical and training support 24/7/365 •• Provide over-the-horizon airtime services (Globalstar, Iridium, Cellular, etc.)

•• Provide U.S personnel cleared to the secret level as well as secret cleared facility at the start of the task.

Master Sergeant William W. Turner as the command senior enlisted advisor for the U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

(Force Structure, Requirements, Resources and Strategic Assessments), U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

Major General Sean P. Swindell, commander, Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan/ Special Operations Component CommandAfghanistan, Resolute Support Mission/United States Forces-Afghanistan, Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, Afghanistan, has been assigned as director, J-8

Brigadier General Mark C. Schwartz, deputy commanding general (maneuver), 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, has been assigned as commander, Special Operations Command Europe; and director, Special Operations, U.S. European Command, Germany.

Hybrid Unmanned Ground Vehicle Milrem, an Estonian defense solutions provider specializing in military engineering, unveiled the first-of-its-kind modular hybrid unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), THeMIS (Tracked Hybrid Modular Infantry System), on February 16.

A multi-mission vehicle platform that can assist and replace soldiers on the battlefield in complex and hazardous tasks, THeMIS is able to reduce operational risks and work as a force multiplier.

Together with Singapore Technologies Kinetics (ST Kinetics), Milrem developed the THeMIS Adder which is a variant where THeMIS is equipped with ST Kinetics’ remote weapon station, the RWS Adder.

Unlike existing UGVs, THeMIS is a highly modular platform that allows different superstructures to be mounted and integrated onto the middle vehicular platform for complex missions such as rescue, transport and reconnaissance. The flexibility and versatile nature of the system not only increases efficiency, it also significantly reduces the life cycle costs of these complex unmanned systems with simplified maintenance and spare supplies.

Spain’s Paratroop Brigade Celebrates 50th Anniversary On February 23, Spain’s Paratrooper Brigade celebrated the 50th anniversary of its creation coinciding with the 62nd anniversary of the founding of

Brigadier General Antonio M. Fletcher, special assistant to the commanding general, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C., has been assigned as deputy commander, Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan, Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, Afghanistan.

Brigadier General Bryan P. Fenton, assistant chief of staff, G-3, U.S. Army Pacific, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, has been assigned as commander, Special

Operations Command Pacific, U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii.

Brigadier General Robert P. Walters Jr., director of intelligence, J-2, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., has been assigned as deputy chief of staff, intelligence, Resolute Support Mission, North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and director, J-2, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, Afghanistan.

SPECOPS 14.2 | 5

the Airborne Forces, at a ceremony held at the Prince of Paracuellos del Jarama (Madrid) Base.

Jetboot Maintenance

Naval Special Warfare Command maintenance personnel require original equipment manufacturer (OEM) authorized training on the proper preventative maintenance services, unscheduled maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting of its Jetboots.

To that end, NSW announced its intention to award a single award, sole source, indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract to Patriot3 Maritime for those services.

Dutch Special Forces Decorated for Afghanistan Service The special forces of the Dutch army, the Korps Commandotroepen, will be awarded with the highest Dutch military order, the Military Order of Willem, the Dutch ministry of defense announced on Monday.

“The Korps Commandotroepen get their award for their extraordinary efforts in Afghanistan,” the defense ministry said.

King Willem-Alexander will present the award on March 15 in The Hague. The award is intended for soldiers, civilians or units that distinguished themselves in a military battle by bravery, leadership and loyalty. It is the first time that since World War II that a whole unit is to be honored for actions.

The Military Order of Willem, the oldest and highest bravery honor of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, was established in 1815 by King Willem I. The last time the Military Order of Willem was awarded was in 2014 to Gijs Tuinman for his performance as commander in the Korps Commandotroepen, also in Afghanistan. The Dutch joined international missions in Afghanistan since 2002.

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Communications Training Services for MARSOC

Special Forces C-27J Engine Support Contract

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. recently received a contract from the Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) to provide communications training services to Marine Raiders combat personnel.

As the prime contractor, Jacobs brings a team of highly qualified communication and data experts to develop and provide hands-on training in state-of-the-art radio and data communication systems. Under the contract, Jacobs is also providing technical advice to MARSOC on training and employment of future ground-based and satellite communications systems.

In making the announcement, Jacobs Senior vice president aerospace and technology Darren Kraabel stated, “Jacobs is proud to provide this unique and important training capability in support of MARSOC. This appointment extends our longstanding and successful relationship with MARSOC.”

StandardAero was recently awarded a new contract to provide support for the U.S. Army Special Forces Aviation Group’s engine maintenance, repair and overhaul services for its fleet of eight C-27J aircraft.

The contract will be administered by Lockheed Martin, who holds the overarching responsibility to provide maintenance for the U.S. Army special forces aviation sector.

“We are excited to begin this new relationship with the U.S. Army Special Forces and Lockheed Martin and hope to exceed their expectations,” said Fritz Wolkenstein, vice president and general manager of StandardAero’s Defense and Energy business unit in Winnipeg, Canada. “We look forward to developing a long-term partnership.”

South Africa and Brazil Practice At Sea Special Operations Mission As the South African Navy’s SAS Spioenkop continued passage to Visakhapatnam, India to participate in the Indian International Fleet Review and thereafter sail to Goa for Exercise IBSAMAR V, joined up with the Brazilian Navy’s BNS Amazonas, an offshore patrol vessel. The two ships practiced replenishment-at-sea functions including multiple helicopter cross-decking.

Concluding the exchange, two basic interdiction boarding exercises took place. Phase 1, was the SAS Spioenkop’s Special Forces and the Marine Reaction Squadron boarding the BNS Amazonas.

Phase 2 was the BNS Amazonas special forces boarding the SAS Spioenkop, simulating anti-piracy search and seizure mission. A non-compliant procedure was followed which simulates a no co-operative posture being adopted by the vessel being boarded. The vessel being boarded also “refuses” to stop which necessitates the boarding team boarding the suspect ship whilst underway.

Simulated Intelligence Training Environment PlatformSimulated Intelligence Training Environment Platform Visual Awareness Technologies and Consulting Inc., a provider to SOCOM with global strategies, training and technology for secure operations around the world, recently launched its Simulated Intelligence Training Environment Platform. SITREP is a patented, secure, fully operational social media platform to support simulated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for special operations and joint training environments.

SITREP will be demonstrated during SOFIC 2016 as one of the first innovations showcased at The Farm, a new 16-acre operations and training facility being developed by the nonprofit WOLF— Warrior Outdoor Leadership for the Future. VATC will be one of the first tenants at The Farm, which is expected to open in May in the Tampa Bay area and offer field testing grounds and mobile facilities that complement existing academia, industry and government research capabilities.

“We’re committed to engineering ongoing innovations for SOF customers and are excited to have a real operational environment opening in which we may test SITREP and other technology solutions we have in development,” said VATC president Sara Moola.

All proceeds from The Farm will support WOLF, which provides leadership and internship opportunities to sons and daughters of fallen special operators (www.sofwolf.org). .  www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

Q&A James F. Geurts, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is the acquisition executive, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. He is responsible for all special operations forces research, development, acquisition, procurement and logistics.

Geurts, a native of Charleston, S.C., entered the Air Force in 1987 as a distinguished graduate from the Lehigh University ROTC program, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. He has served as an acquisition program manager with engineering and program management leadership positions in numerous weapon systems including intercontinental ballistic missiles, surveillance platforms, tactical fighter aircraft, advanced avionics systems, stealth cruise missiles, training systems, and manned and unmanned special operations aircraft. He commanded an acquisition group, served as the Program Executive Officer for Fixed Wing Programs at USSOCOM, and was commander, Joint Acquisition Task Force Dragon, an elite team of USSOCOM and service acquisition personnel responsible for executing USSOCOM’s most urgent acquisitions in response to wartime critical mission needs statements. He retired from the Air Force in the rank of Colonel in Jul 2009 after more than 21 years of active duty. Prior to his current assignment, he was the deputy director, Special Operations Research, Development, and Acquisition Center, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base.

His awards and decorations include: Defense Distinguished Service Medal; Legion of Merit; Defense Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster; Meritorious Service Medal ; Air Force Commendation Medal; Joint Service Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster; and Air Force Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster Q: Understanding that there are few working crystal balls, but what are you expecting for FY17 your budget to look like?

A: USSOCOM continued to be well supported, both within the Department of Defense and with Congress. Our fiscal year 17 President’s Budget request maintains a balance of reducing expenses with the operational necessity to continue building networks, relationships and resources required to successfully accomplish our missions. In this year’s submission, USSOCOM sustains its investment in technology to exploit special operations peculiar capabilities and ensures special operations forces maintain the ability to prepare for the future.

The FY17 President’s Budget request includes $1.6 billion dollars in procurement and nearly $500 million in research, development, test and evaluation, needed so that USSOCOM can continue to develop and integrate new technologies to sustain USSOCOM’s decisive combat system superiority across the globe.

Q: What are the key technological challenges for the future SOF warrior?

A: In an increasingly interconnected world, a broadening array of state and non-state actors are employing irregular and hybrid approaches to challenge U.S. interests.

For USSOCOM, the future operating environment will be characterized by an increasingly complex set of challenges in every part of the world. Beyond the employment of improved technology, adversaries will www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

James F. Geurts

Acquisition Executive U.S. Special Operations Command

continue to blend traditional and irregular techniques, capabilities, and resources to execute hybrid approaches in the ‘gray zone’, the space between peaceful competition and war. The operational challenge for SOF will be to deter ‘gray zone’ emerging security challenges, rather than responding to them once a crisis erupts.

After 14 years of sustained combat operations, U.S. Special Operations Command has reassessed its capability requirements in light of rapid changes occurring in the strategic operating environment. The Future Special Operator is USSOCOM’s solution to the challenges posed by the increasing velocity of human change. Some of the key technology challenges for the Future Special Operator include: comprehensive signature management and protection; tagging, tracking and locating (TTL), countering weapons of mass destruction, C4 revolutionary capabilities, biomedical/human performance, scalable effects weapons and battlespace awareness/intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

In addition, we are looking for novel ways to employ commercial or commercially-derived technologies to simplify the tools we use with partnered force operations to enable more adaptive solutions, decrease training time, and allow more affordable support for those activities.

SPECOPS 14.2 | 7

Q: How will USSOCOM help them overcome those challenges?

A: USSOCOM will continue to foster a culture that embraces and supports innovation in our research, development and acquisition programs, and capitalize on our number one asset—our people. USSOCOM’s Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Center (SOF AT&L) is developing and testing new operating models to help build a marketplace for SOF innovation.

For example, SOF AT&L has established SOFWERX; an open collaboration facility designed to bring non-traditional partners from industry, academia, and the government together with SOF operators and SOF acquirers to focus on SOF’s most challenging problems. Programs such as the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS) are providing an opportunity to collaborate and rapidly prototype with industry, academia and other government organizations to match the latest technologies with the needs of SOF. This approach is also “spinning off” technologies from the larger TALOS effort that are improving SOF capabilities at an accelerated rate.

USSOCOM is also working closely with international SOF partners to leverage the capabilities of those partners and work together to solve the common challenges we are all facing.

Q: How does SOCOM acquisition and technology programs differ from the services?

A: USSOCOM has no special authorities or waivers which makes our acquisition systems different from the service acquisition systems and, as in operations, we rely heavily on the services to provide many of the capabilities we need. Not only do the services assign their talented uniformed and civilian acquisition professionals to SOCOM, but our acquisition workforce often reaches back to the services for support.

USSOCOM could not develop the capability of a SOF AC-130 gunship without the Air Force first developing and procuring the C-130 airplane, the MH-60 or MH-47 without the Army’s Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters, or the CV-22 without the USMC’s Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

That being said, we have developed a SOF acquisition system and

culture which is geared to operate to meet the demanding needs of the SOF operator.

As the SOCOM acquisition executive, I work directly for the USSOCOM commander, which enables me to proactively initiate action on the commander’s intent and the intent of his subordinate commanders without reactively waiting for formal requirements. This allows for a parallel pursuit of capability as we also line up the requirements and the funding. Rather than trying to have one acquisition process, we have many different acquisition approaches which allow us to take advantage of our decentralized approach to acquisition management.

My PEOs are delegated full authority to execute the programs in their portfolio, which enables us to be more adaptive and responsive to the SOF operators’ needs. We focus on developing our SOF acquirers and logisticians to be recognized experts and trusted providers to the SOF operators they support. Integrating SOF operators directly into the acquisition processes ensures we’re fielding relevant capabilities with the balance of capability, cost and schedule needed to meet the operational requirement.

Q: How did SOFWERX come into existence? Was there one specific challenge that spurred the inception?

A: One my biggest fears is that we fail to capture an idea, innovative approach or technical solution which might solve a SOF need because of the complexities of the traditional federal acquisition processes, which can create significant barriers to innovation.

In addition, I have also found the traditional acquisition approaches do not make it easy to co-invent solutions through the collaboration of diverse contributors. This is essential to help us develop solutions to hard problems through the integration and accumulation of multiple ideas towards a common problem.

To address these issues, USSOCOM created SOFWERX—an open, easily accessible, business model designed to bring non-traditional partners from industry, academia and the government together to work on USSOCOM’s most challenging problems.

USSOCOM has no special authorities or waivers which makes their acquisition systems different from the service acquisition systems and, as in operations, they rely heavily on the services to provide many of the capabilities they need. Not only do the services assign their talented uniformed and civilian acquisition professionals to SOCOM, but their acquisition workforce often reaches back to the services for support. U.S. DoD photo.

8 | SPECOPS 14.2

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intern and now full-time employee at SOFWERX, thus we are growing a future generation of SOF acquirers. We also connected with several other government organizations interested in similar problems, and from this event are now fully linked in with our activities, enabling us to collectively deliver more capabilities to our customers through integrated use of our resources.

Q: How does SOCOM see competition in the marketplace?

USSOCOM AT&L has established SOFWERX; an open collaboration facility designed to bring non-traditional partners from industry, academia, and the government together with SOF operators and SOF acquirers to focus on SOF’s most challenging problems. U.S. DoD photo.

Q: What is the future of SOFWERX and what benefits do you anticipate?

A: SOFWERX is designed to serve as an incubator for innovative thinking by creating an interactive venue for “return on collisions” of innovative ideas and non-traditional partners. It includes rapid prototyping and fabrication capabilities so that operators, acquirers, and technologist can invent, rapidly produce, test, and improve capabilities for the SOF operator.

Rapid prototyping events enable a multi-disciplinary team to focus on a particular problem to create new and innovative approaches to solve those problems.

The projects coming out of SOFWERX will benefit USSOCOM by serving to better inform future technical development, engineering decisions, and provide a center of mass for future innovations.

The SOFWERX eco-system consists of both traditional and non-traditional partners from industry, academia and the government. These relationships, when cemented with divergent thought and design thinking, will create a forum for innovation and accelerating technologies to USSOCOM. These continuing relationships will allow USSOCOM to increase its iteration speed, flatten information dissemination and influence initiatives across the enterprise.

Q: Give an example of how SOFWERX acts as a “collision chamber.”

A: Competition is extremely important to us, as we seek to provide best value both in terms of capability for our operators and value for the taxpayer. A strong and vibrant competitive marketplace also incentivizes innovation and new approaches to solving problems.

USSOCOM executes roughly $3 billion per year in contracts with approximately 1,150 different industry partners. We competed 76.4 percent of all contracts awarded in FY15.

We believe Small Businesses are also a key to achieving agile, affordable, and innovative results for our operators. Of the contracts USSOCOM awarded in FY15, 33.1 percent were awarded to Small Business, including 10.8 percent to Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, 10.5 percent to Small Disadvantaged Business, 4.6 percent to Woman Owned Small Business, and 2.3 percent to Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone).

Opportunities for contractors can range from technology information exchanges, to cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs), to contracts across a vast array of capability areas—in programs that range from undersea to space.

This year we’ll begin hosting monthly capability collaboration events where we will seek to bring together key stakeholders from the USSOCOM staff, academia, other government agencies, and industry to focus on a specific capability area; such as biometrics/forensics, precision munitions, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance etc.

The FY17 USSOCOM budget request includes $1.6 billion dollars in procurement and nearly $500 million in research, development, test and evaluation, needed so that USSOCOM can continue to develop and integrate new technologies to sustain USSOCOM’s decisive combat system superiority across the globe.

U.S. DoD photo.

A: We have used SOFWERX to host Hackathons—prize contests to solve a particular problem or set of problems. Our first Hackathon was co-sponsored by the Military Open Source Software (MilOSS) Tampa chapter; and participants worked on a number of challenges, including developing an Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) framework, developing automated actions to configure secure cloud server instances, developing real-time visualizations to enhance tactical urban operations, or developing a 3D multi-model collaboration environment.

The winning Hackathon team (Team Shudder) created a very novel heads up display that integrated data from satellite feeds to show what was behind walls and buildings or other obstructions to the operator’s view. Their concept and design was so novel that they were invited back the following week to participate in a heads up display technology sprint for the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit. This is exactly the kind of unique input and non-traditional performer that we’re attempting to attract with our open collaboration model and SOFWERX. Additionally, at the event, we identified several up and coming students in undergraduate programs, one of which became our first 10 | SPECOPS 14.2

www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

Q: What advice would you give would-be contract partners?

A: When considering USSOCOM, it is important to remember that our focus is on the procurement of SOF unique capabilities and equipment.

USSOCOM has many different avenues to provide industry with opportunities to participate and support the command, which include our small business office, our Technology and Industry Liaison Office (TILO), our technical experimentation (TE) events, our Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program and CRADAs. For small businesses, we recommend you contact the Small Business Office directly at 813-826-9475, christopher.harrington@socom.mil.

The Small Business Office is one conduit into the command. Their charter is to ensure small businesses are represented within the command when acquisition strategies are being developed to ensure maximum participation for small businesses, either as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor.

The TILO supports the command through interfaces with large and small businesses, educational institutions, and think tanks.

To initiate the TILO process, the first step is to submit a capabilities paper via our website (http://www.socom.mil/sordac/pages/default. aspx) under the applicable technology area of interest. This allows our office the ability to capture all contractor-provided information in one central data repository, which is accessible by all USSOCOM personnel throughout the headquarters.

Once received, the information will then be reviewed and staffed to the various HQ USSOCOM program executive offices responsible for the development, acquisition, production, and sustainment of material and technology platforms and other HQ personnel that support our special operations forces, to include our science and technology advisor. If there is interest generated from a submission, our office will coordinate a capabilities briefing with company representatives, in accordance with FAR Part 10.001, for the purpose of market research.

This review and evaluation process is usually completed in 30 days. We are looking for solutions focused on the special operations forces mission, vice a generic corporate overview.

USSOCOM conducts TE events throughout the United States with government, academia and private industry representation. TE provides a unique opportunity for technology developers to interact with the SOF community in a collaborative environment. TE identifies potential Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 or greater technology solutions, impacts, limitations, and utilities to meet SOF technical objectives and thrust areas. TE is not a marketing event or trade show, therefore engineers are likely the best representatives. To view the most current Request For Information (RFI), go to FedBizOpps.Gov then search for Keyword/ Solicitation #: “Technical Experimentation” and Agency: “U.S. Special Operations Command”.

The USSOCOM SBIR program supports the DoD SBIR program’s overall mission to leverage small business technology innovation for the warfighter, and is focused on providing funding for the development of advanced technology that provides increased capability for the SOF warfighter. The command issues broad agency announcements (BAAs) to provide a general description of USSOCOM’s research areas of interest, general information, evaluation and selection criteria, and proposal/ application preparation instructions.

CRADAs are agreements between USSOCOM and a non-federal party to perform collaborative research and development in any area that is consistent with USSOCOM’s mission. They allow us to provide the partner with virtually anything but money to further an agreed upon work plan or technology development effort. This can include access www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

to people, access to technology, access to ranges or test venues, and many other enablers.

Q: Are you satisfied with the rate that contract awards are protested and denied (as a reflection that USSOCOM’s contracting processes was handled appropriately)? Within your processes, are there mechanisms in place to mitigate or reduce the likelihood of a protest or, barring that, it being sustained?

A: For USSOCOM, the number of protests received is relatively low as compared to the total number of contract awards over the past three fiscal years. Thus, I feel confident that our acquisition and contracting processes are being handled appropriately.

However, in that same respect, I feel we can continue to refine our processes and procedures to not only improve upon our denied rate, but also decrease the rate at which contractors file protests. That would be a win-win for everyone since it mitigates costs on both sides and helps to maintain acquisition schedules in order to deliver services or equipment to the SOF operator.

I have found that when we communicate with industry early in the solicitation process (i.e. industry conference, draft request for proposal, etc.), industry provides valuable feedback in such areas as performance thresholds and objectives, evaluation criteria and pricing structure.

In addition, I have formalized a process where I and my director of procurement will meet with competitors (selectees and non-selectees) after major competitions to enable them to provide feedback on the process so that we can use that information to continue to improve our competitive processes and ensure a vibrant competitive business market. 

The Farm

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Critical Design Thinking and Field Testing for Mission Readiness and Joint Coordination Minutes away from Tampa Bay’s Carillon Park Technology corridor, The Farm is a 16-acre secure field research, testing, and training facility for operator-designed technologies.

Contact info@sofwolf.org or visit www.sofwolf.org to find out more.

SPECOPS 14.2 | 11

International Vector An Exclusive Special Operations International Q&A with Lieutenant Colonel Riho Ühtegi, Commander, Estonian Special Operations Force

Q: Tell me about Estonian Special Operations Forces. Ühtegi: From the beginning of restoration of Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) there was always the idea to create a unit similar to Special Forces (SF).

In the 1990s there was a small unit called the Special Operations Group (SOG) which was part of the EDF, but this was more of a SWAT-type unit which was disbanded in 1999. At the same time, as a part of military intelligence (MI), a new unit was established and called the Long Range Reconnaissance and Diversion Platoon (LRRDP).

In 2003, a concept was developed to reorganize the LRRDP to a modern SOF-type unit.

Those initial concepts that we used to plan the initial units and the primary functions of each unit within Estonian Special Operations Forces (ESTSOF), are still very similar to the way we are organized today. Unfortunately not all the decision-makers supported this concept at that time and, as a result, it took us until 2008 to receive the funding and resources to completely establish the unit.

This is a reason why we celebrate our anniversary in May each year—starting from 2008.

Today, ESTSOF is much larger, but the size and, as would be expected, our tactics, techniques and procedures are classified. It is a separate command under direct subordination to the Chief of Defense. The main mission of unit is to support law enforcement in crisis situation and provide deep operations behind enemy lines 12 | SPECOPS 14.2

in case of war. ESTSOF is capable of conducting—as normal SOF—military operations like direct actions, special reconnaissance, military assistance and unconventional warfare.

Q: Is ESTSOF tasked with both domestic and international operations? Would you be called on if there were an aircraft hijacking or a domestic hostage crisis?

Q: Are there capabilities that you do not have today that you would like to add to ESTSOF?

Ühtegi: ESTOF has already been engaged in international operations. Between 2012 and 2014 our troops operated in Afghanistan. Our troops are now also in Ukraine to support the Ukrainians as they are working to develop their own special operations capabilities.

Earlier this year we also participated in the Flintlock exercise in Senegal, Africa, along with I think more than 30 other countries.

If another country asked for help from Estonia and our government decided to deploy the ESTSOF unit, we are ready to operate with no caveats. But we prefer military assistancetype missions.

Ühtegi: ESTSOF has limited transportation resources. If we need airlift, we need support from our allies. Airlift is probably the biggest challenge for us. Also we have very limited capabilities for NBC reconnaissance which we would like to improve.

Q: The Estonia budget is expecting about a 9 percent increase in 2016 over 2015. That’s a fairly substantial amount in this day and age. How will that affect Estonia special operations? Ühtegi: There will be no remarkable affect.

EDF creates armored warfare abilities and this project “eats” most of money.

Q: Do you train for those kinds of missions? Ühtegi: Yes, we train routinely for those kinds of missions. We train for missions on our own, also with police SWAT units and with allied SOF units. www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

Q: What are your biggest procurement priorities? What equipment items are your forces most in need of replacement or updating? Ühtegi: We have equipment which is good enough. We keep all of that equipment and gear continuously up to date. Of course there are challenging moments. Especially if when we talk about communications, night vision and other special equipment where the technology advances very quickly and unfortunately, the procurement process can take substantially longer.

Lieutenant Colonel Riho Ühtegi (right) meets with General Joseph Votel during a recent visit the USSOCOM commander made to Estonia.

Estonian Special Operations Force photo.

Q: How do you search for the best candidates for ESTSOF? What are the attributes you look for? Ühtegi: We have a two-week selection program where we test different abilities of candidates. From that process, we select candidates who are mentally and physically healthy.

Normally only one or two candidates out of 10 can pass the selection. If we call them to the unit, they still stay for one year under observation and if we detect bad habits or anomalies, they will then leave the unit.

Q: Tell me about your training of a special operator? Ühtegi: To be an ESTSOF operator every soldier must pass three years of training. During the first year they improve their personal skills, go through NCO training and then go through ESTSOF basic training.

The candidate will spend the second year in qualification courses and learn special skills according their position within the team.

The third year is for team training and also for cross training. Normally this three-year cycle ends with a mission. The last months of the final year, the team spends on permission training.

After this initial three-year cycle there follows more exhaustive training on unconventional warfare and military assistance which takes an additional two to three years. Only after that can the team focus more on specific expertise or areas, like counter terrorism for example.

Lieutenant Colonel Riho Ühtegi was conscripted into the Soviet Army in 1982. He joined the Estonian Police Forces in 1991 and became a company commander in the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) in 1993. He became a section chief in the EDF J2 office in 1996 and chief of the J2 Department in 1996. From 1998 to 2006 he commanded the EDF military intelligence battalion while remaining chief of the J2 Department within EDF headquarters.

He became the Chief of the G2 Department of the Army Staff in 2008 and was a contingent commander for ISAF in 2010. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel also in 2010.

In 2011/12 he was the defense attaché in Georgia.

He became commander of ESTSOF in 2012.

His awards and decorations include: The Cross of the Eagle, 4th Class Order; The Cross of the Eagle, 5th Class Order; Badge of Merit of EDF; Medal of Special Services of EDF; EDF Service Medal; Service Medal of EDF HQ; Service Medal of Army Staff; 10 years of restored Defense Forces Memorial Medal; White Cross of Estonian Defense League, 4th Class Order; Service Medal of Estonian Defense League; Medal of Special Services of Estonian Defense League; Badge of Service of Estonian Defense League; Medal for participation in international peacekeeping operations; Golden badge of Ministry of Defense; Badge of service of Army Staff; Badge of service of Intelligence Battalion; Medal of NATO Non-article 5 operations Georgian medal of General Kvinitadze; Estonian paratroopers’ badge 1th Class; US Marine paratroopers’ badge; French paratroopers’ badge 3th Class; and German paratroopers’ badge 3th Class.

Q: What have been the biggest lessons learned from the international missions that ESTSOF participated in?

traditions and habits of the local people. You must be trustable and supportive. If you have to work alongside local troops, you must show yourself as competent and experienced, you have to train them, make them to listen you and also to go with them on operations. Only then can you expect them to trust you.

Ühtegi: Probably the biggest lesson that was learned was that if you deploy your troops to foreign country you have to understand the

Q: Do you have ESTSOF officers embedded with special operations forces of other countries on an exchange basis?

www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

Ühtegi: No, we don’t.

Q: What are your goals for ESTSOF over the next 12 months? Ühtegi: Our main goals are: to man and train a new team, to participate in NATO response forces, to continue participation in the joint training mission in Ukraine and to be ready to deploy on NATO or European Union-led missions.  SPECOPS 14.2 | 13

Where U.S. special operations forces can rely largely on their own specialist aircraft and units to deliver aviation support, the lack of mass among European nations has resulted in a trend to look for ‘pooling’ opportunities to create capability.

By Andrew Drwiega SpecOps Correspondenta

The role of rotorcraft in special forces operations is a vital one.

The conditions under which such missions are undertaken not only demand aircraft that deliver the performance required, often in hot and high conditions and at night, but also that they have or can be fitted with mission specific equipment and weaponry which allows them to support ground forces not only while the operation is in progress, but also during the entry and exfiltration phases. Most of all, extensive training is vital to mission success.

In these economically frugal times, helicopters that have been specially procured for special mission operations are few and far between. Internationally many helicopters used by special forces have dual use between the regular forces and SOF, but often it is the pilots who are imbued with special operational training.

Forces that posses their own SOF fleets are few but would probably be headed by the United States Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) (SOAR (A)), part of U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). Nicknamed Night Stalkers, their three stalwart helicopters are MD Helicopters’ MH/AH-6M Little Bird, Sikorsky’s MH-60M Black Hawk and Boeing’s MH-47G Chinook.

Borne out of the failed Operation Eagle Craw, the attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran during 1980, the 160th SOAR has been supporting U.S. special forces since from Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada (1983) through to being used extensively during the campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and now in the fight against Daesh in Syria/northern Iraq.

160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)

MH/AH-6M Little Bird

51

MH-47G Chinook

61

MH-60M Black Hawk

72

Total

184

14 | SPECOPS 14.2

While none of the SOAR’s helicopters are new in design (two forerunners saw service in the Vietnam War—the 0H-6 Cayuse ‘Loach’ and the CH-47A Chinook), all three MH designations are now very much equipped for SOF use.

One of the major advances across the whole SOAR fleet is that all rotorcraft now have a Rockwell Collins Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) cockpit. Initially developed for the SOA MH-4 communications, navigation, weapons and mission sensor subsystems.

The MH/AH-6M (Mission Enhanced Little Bird) has had many modifications during its time, including a removable mounting system (called a plank) across the cabin of the aircraft which allows weapons pods either side of the main airframe. These pods can hold General Dynamics M260 folding-fin aerial rockets and Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided missiles. Doormounted Dillon Aero M134 mini guns are more usually seen in the regiment’s Black Hawk and Chinook. However, the age of the aircraft means that a replacement is being considered from 2030 onwards.A proposal under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, which was vetoed by President Obama last October, called for the “DoD to submit to Congress a roadmap for replacing A/MH-6 Mission Enhanced Little Bird aircraft to meet the rotary-wing, light attack, reconnaissance requirements particular to special operations.”

Until such time that a new aircraft is identified, planning for the block upgrade of the aircraft continues with the next in line to be the Block III upgrade. The airframe upgrades are necessary because of structural failures caused by frequent, high intensity www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

operations often with the aircraft at high gross weight, not to mention battle damage that has been repaired.

This upgrade will encompass a number of improvements including the latest high-performance rotor blades and main/tail rotor drive train together.

Following suite with the Army Kiowa community and went with the Single Channel full authority digital engine control (FADEC) upgrade program to improve reliability of the system, not to improve the engine performance. Engine performance at high hot conditions will be improved with the Rolls Royce Value Improvement Program kitted engines.

The rotor blades are a result of Boeing’s upgrade to the AH-64E Guardian. The new blade design will increase lift capacity and provide a 55 percent increase in forward level flight at high/hot, high grow weight, high drag conditions.

The direction of rotation of the tail rotor will also be changed to provide increased stability and better performance. Additional upgrades within the avionics are planned to increase battlefield situational awareness in the cockpit in support of time sensitive missions.

It is planned for the upgrades to the 51 MH-6M are currently planned to begin in 2019 at a rate of 10 per year, depending on budget. However, the rate of transition will also be moderated by availability of helicopters that can be taken out of the line, with each upgrade cycle lasting around 12 months.

In terms of the other two aircraft, the standard Black Hawk replacement is currently being studied by the DoD through the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program, which also encompasses the replacement of the Boeing AH-64 Apache.

The initial milestone for this comes next year when the two contenders, Boeing/Sikorsky’s SB.1 Defiant and Bell Helicopter’s V-280 Valor will perform first flights in the Joint Multi Role technology demonstrations (JMR TDs).

Until that progresses through the development phase into a program of record, the MH-60M continues to be used by the SOAR in two versions: troop lift and a direct action penetrator configuration. The MH-60M modernization program delivered 72 aircraft to the SOAR and involves the addition of mission equipment including a suite of integrated radio frequency countermeasures, wide-chord rotor blades, active vibration reduction, and an improved electrooptical sensor system. Above all, The T706-GE-700 engine featuring a larger compressor, hot section improvements and a full FADEC) to provide increased power for the SOAR’s MH-60Ms. Interestingly, it was also used to power Sikorsky’s S-97 Raider, a rotorcraft that was being considered as a replacement for the MH-6M. Recently, Boeing delivered all eight new-build MH-47G aircraft.

Improvements include the digital advanced flight control system, zero-time monolithic machined-frames to give greater durability and a lifting capacity of 54,000 pounds. The expected number of MH-47Gs that the SOAR will end up with including new builds and remanufactured aircraft will be around 69.

The United States Air Force SOF rotorcraft focus is currently on the Bell Boeing CV-22 tiltrotor Osprey. Like its Marine Corps cousin, it provides speed over long range, day or night. It is self-deployable and has already been proven in action. By January this year 46 CV-22s had www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

been delivered out of a total order of 51 aircraft scheduled by the end of 2019. It also has the added advantage of being fly by wire.

The SOF Osprey has been enhanced with the addition of a range of countermeasures including the AN/AAQ-24 directional infrared countermeasure (DIRCM), the AN/ALQ-211 suite of integrated radio frequency countermeasures (SIRFC), and the AN/APQ-186 terrain following/terrain avoidance (TF/TA) multi-mode radar. This latter system gives it low-level penetration capability in difficult terrain.

One new advantage the Osprey might bring to the fight is selfdeployable vehicles. SOCOM is evaluating the potential of a fast, light vehicle that could be deployed for a range of missions from reconnaissance, to combat or even search and rescue. A small, narrow vehicle which could quickly be deployed. A proof of concept evaluation to end in the summer may then trigger a request for proposals later in the year with a potential requirement for around 68 vehicles from 2017.

General Dynamics has been developing its Flyer 60 vehicle not only for the CV-22 but also other aircraft including the CH-53, C-130 and C-5. It is lightweight and reconfigurable with a payload of up to 3,500 lbs. While no ‘shoe-in’, such a vehicle could also appeal to the USMC and Army. (I’m reluctant to mention one of the competitive vehicles and not the others) When it comes to training, 160th SOAR has had a host of full motion simulators and training systems to use, including CAE’s combat mission simulators. These provide dynamic responses in a real-word environment which allows crews to “practice, validate and verify tactics, techniques and procedures to support training and mission rehearsal.” All of the simulators receive modifications in line with those made to the real-aircraft.”

European SOF Helicopter Training In Europe, where dedicated aviation assets such as those in the SOAR are few and far between, there has been there is an increasing belief that international cooperation and joint deployment will be the norm in foreseeable future military deployments. Many regular national forces have been combined in bilateral agreements, such as the Anglo-French Combined Joint Expeditionary Force or the NATO Response Force.

Multinational helicopter training exercises have also been staged by the European Air Group with its Combined Joint Combat Search and Rescue Standardisation Course, now taken over by the newly formed European Personnel Recovery Centre at Poggio Renatico air base in Italy.

On a wider scale than Personnel Recovery, the European Defence Agency (EDA) has been working since 2009 to provide its member states with a framework to learn, develop and share best practices particularly in coalition missions. Within this are a number of courses that are designed to give military participants an insight into coalition operations through the helicopter exercise program, the helicopter tactics instructor course, the helicopter tactics course and an operational English language course.

Since 2012, an annual Hot Blade exercise has been held in Portugal, although the pattern was broken last year when the exercise moved to Italy, hence Italian Blade. The EDA’s exercises since its conception have trained a total of 1,320 aircrew and more than 10,000 support personnel, with the involvement of 206 helicopters.

This year, the exercise moves again and has been renamed Cold Blade 16 as it will be held in Finland, with a focus on cold operating SPECOPS 14.2 | 15

conditions and white out (similar to the dusty version, brown out).

However, in 2012 a SOF exercise was also launched by the EDA called Green Blade. Staged in Belgium it was an integrated ground and air exercise specifically for multinational SOF forces.

It ran from September 17 to October 5, 2012 and was hosted by the Belgian air component, with missions ranging from the north to the southeast of the country. Exercise Pegasus, a SOF training exercise also ran concurrently, the two groups working together over several missions. The inclusion of the Pegasus exercise organized by the (Belgium) Special Forces Group provided the SOF ‘customer’ for helicopter forces to support.

Rotorcraft were supped by Belgium, Germany and Italy, with another 800 personnel being drawn from EDA member states: Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, Ireland and Spain (with Canadian units joining for the Pegasus exercise).

The 15 helicopters were based out of the Kleine Brogel Air Base, and ranged from Italian CH-47s to Belgian AW109s and German UH1Ds, escorted by Italian A129 Mangoosta attack helicopters. As is the case in the EDA’s exercise programs, other air assets are utilized to add realism. In this case those aircraft included an AWACS; F-16; C-130; and the Belgium B-Hunter UAV. This had two roles; to provide intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance for SOF, and secondly to act as a personal recovery asset.

The combat enhancement and force integration training phase Green Blade/Pegasus combined SOF from Belgium’s Special Forces Group in Heverlee, Italy’s IX Battaglione “Col Moschin” based in Livorno, and Spain’s Escuadrón de Zapadores Paracaidistas in Murcia as

well as the Fuerza de Guerra Naval Especial in Cartagena.

The Kleine-Brogel Air Base was used as the deployed operating base during the exercise. All flights had to be made at a minimum of 250 feet above ground level due to noise abatement issues.

However, this restriction was lifted in dedicated helicopter training areas.

Drills rehearsed included fast-roping and the use of special patrol insertion/extraction rigging, or SPIERIG, by day and night. This is where soldiers wearing a harness can hook up to a D-ring inserted into the SPIE rope and inserted or extracted without the helicopter needing to land. Night vision goggle (NVG) flying was also central to the exercise.

There was also a multinational ‘best practice helicopter tactics workshop” that got participating groups to discuss the way that they conduct mission planning, NVG flying, MEDEVAC methods and general SOF tactics.

The helicopter forces executed over 60 missions which gradually increase in complexity as happens with the regular force Hot Blade exercises. However, the missions are planned to align with prospective SOF scenarios including insertion/extraction, direct action, personnel recovery and ISR. They are conducted by day and night and in single or multi-ship packages.

But the main aspects of Green Blade were to demonstrate how resources could be pooled to achieve a mission and to provide an overall combined SOF environment that individual nations would have been otherwise unable to experience.

The next EDA SOF exercise will be Black Blade between November 14 and December 2 this year. 

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Carbon Nanotube Coating for UAV All-Weather

Operations

The phenomenon of ice accretion on aircraft wings and control surfaces is a wellrecognized challenge in aerospace engineering. And while large aircraft are commonly equipped with efficient anti-icing and deicing devices, these are usually unsuitable for small aircraft and essentially useless for unmanned aerial vehicles.

For UAVs, which each week are tasked with a wider range of operations, it is vital to be able to detect and accommodate ice adhesion on wings, control surfaces and airspeed sensors since ice accretion modifies the shape of the aircraft and alters its measurements, thus changing resulting aerodynamic forces and reducing maneuvering capability.

In short, the UAV needs an “overcoat” to keep it warm and the ice away in all kinds of weather. More precisely, it needs a resistive heat coating For military use, the metrics demanded of a UAV are clear: Find and assess the target, engage to destroy quickly, and then analyze the results. To maximize that ability means the UAV must keep that loop as short in time as possible. The less interference in operating, the quicker the loop.

Ice remains one of the largest impediments to that smooth function, whether affecting the UAV enroute or while on orbit, all over the world temperature and moisture can combine to create icing and not just in the coldest climates.

The formula for solving this challenge is one that has proven a winner time and time again. Make the solution more efficient, more transportable, more flexible, more reliable, lighter and less expensive. www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

That is where the battlefield in the UAV anti-ice war will be won.

A solution using a carbon nanotube coating has demonstrated the ability to minimize the threat of icing is feasible with current technology. With this carbon nanotube coating, it can operate on less power than other options, is lighter than traditional ice protection systems, has no moving parts and can be easily retrofitted to all existing craft.

The coating is sprayed onto an aircraft surface, much like paint. This creates a heated area when power is applied. A controller monitors the heater performance and only applies power levels to selected areas per need and as necessary for flight conditions.

The ability of unmanned platforms to loiter at higher altitude for longer durations means they can identify a target and engage in a matter of minutes. That is a strong option against any terrorist targets in the world.

Anything that increases that operational envelope of the UAV large and small across all environmental conditions is a significant step forward. Weather currently is one of the biggest enemies of UAV success; mastering the anti-ice conundrum will elevate effectiveness immensely.

Developed in 2009 by Battelle, this anti-icing technology called HeatCoat has demonstrated its ability to perform inflight anti-icing and de-icing functions on UAVs during wind tunnel testing where the technology was integrated with representative wing and engine inlet test articles and then placed in an aero-icing tunnel developed by an aircraft manufacturer. The chamber was designed to generate the type

of icing conditions a UAV could encounter while in-flight. Temperatures dipped as low as -22 degrees Fahrenheit, with air speeds reaching up to 182 knots. The coating successfully performed anti-icing and de-icing functions.

The carbon nanotube coating is integrated into the normal coating stack found on an aircraft. It is directed through the use of an intelligent autonomous closed-loop controller—a system that senses environmental conditions and the condition on the wings and makes decisions regarding power application. Power is applied distinctively for each heater zone. Thus, you do not have to heat up every section of the wing at the same time. That adaptive ability means you can heat one section for 30 seconds, another for an individual short period and so on, a benefit that helps keep the power demand for an electrical thermal system low.

Continued work on HeatCoat has focused on maintaining its ability to perform over the lifetime of the system and to ensure its durability. Results have shown that it will last the lifetime of the aircraft and will not degrade over time. Once controller development has been completed the next steps would be in-flight demonstration and certification A resistive heat coating helps UAVs operate in conditions that were difficult for them to operate in before. It has the lowest size, weight and power, it solves a worldwide issue for modern day composite craft, and it is elegantly simple.  Chris Corsbie is director of marketing and communications at Battelle.

SPECOPS 14.2 | 17

Black Hornet by Prox Dynamics

While the field of small. mini and nano UAS platforms may be crowded, technology is propelling capabilities to meet the demand signal.

By Henry Canaday SpecOps Correspondent Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) or drones in common language have been crowding the news lately and may someday crowd the skies. UASs in civilian hands are increasing exponentially in number, in variety and in potential uses.

UAS technology began mostly in the military, partly for doing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and partly for hitting targets in the wars on terror.

As businesses and civilians exploit these powerful new tools, defense forces remain intensely interested in improving UASs for future conflicts.

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One important focus has been on smaller UASs, so-called minis, micros and nanos. These are the tools that tactical formations, even individual soldiers, can use in the field to dramatically enhance situational awareness, over the next hill or just over a suspicious wall. Progress here has already been dramatic as the steady advances in consumer electronics enable more surveillance power to be packed in ever smaller devices.

And this progress will continue, better batteries will increase the endurance of electric-powered small UASs. Experience

gained and better materials will increase their ruggedness. Experience and volume will lower costs. Tighter integration and better miniaturization will improve payloads.

Design and configuration will also improve with experience and new demands, for example for more vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities and even tilt-rotor designs that allow VTOL and horizontal flying.

For the military, as for civilians, this UAS revolution is still very young.

The U. S. Army’s Rapid Equipping Force has a long history of evaluating and deploying UASs, noted Sergeant First Class Sam www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

Manufacturing advances and miniaturization technologies have made mini and nano-sized unmanned platforms possible. U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research photos.

Bright of REF Outreach and Assessments.

In the last five years REF has deployed systems such as the RQ-11 Raven, RQ-20 Puma, Lethal Miniature Aerial Munition System (LMAMS) and Instant Eye. “Recently, we have been working more with the micro and nano-class UAS systems,” Bright said. Partnering with the Asymmetric Warfare Group, REF has assessed several micro- and nano-UAS technologies. Assessments use operational vignettes and scenarios to focus on operational applications and technical limitations, and these assessments in turn inform REF deployment decisions.

REF‘s mission is harnessing current and emerging technologies to provide immediate solutions to urgent challenges of U.S. Army forces. It tracks commercial and government off-the-shelf products and stateof-the-technology with the goal of giving warfighters the most advanced products that meet their requirements and are acceptable under Defense Department and Army protocols.

Bright said REF’s major priority is meeting Army requirements. It is not looking for any particular improvements in structural design. It simply accelerates Army technology by inserting new models of UASs from commercial markets. “Design improvements are best handled by subject matter experts in UAS manufacturing.”

However, REF is looking for certain performance improvements: increased range in both flight and signal transmissions; improved performance in winds, better operations in all weather and light conditions and temperature extremes; and better durability. www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

Some Navy researchers are taking a more active role in pushing UAS technology forward. The Close-In Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft (CICADA) is a low-cost, GPS-guided, micro disposable air vehicle that can be deployed in large numbers to an area with miniature electronic payloads.

CICADA is deployed from the air and might perform some missions in the air, but is essentially a set of tiny unmanned ground sensors. These sensors could be connected to form an ad-hoc, self-configuring network.

The Office of Naval Research, which is developing CICADA, has called it a flying circuit board. Aerospace Engineer and Principal Investigator Dan Edwards said ONR is working on version five of CICADA in a program that began in 2004. One initial goal was being able to send perhaps a hundred CICADAs to the ground with confidence that at least 80 would make it and work. On the way down, CICADA could also support some airborne-sensing goals, for example meteorology.

In any case, “quantity is itself a quality,” Edwards stressed. Instead of a silver bullet with a million-dollar gimbal and sensors positioned at one point, CICADA would deploy low-cost, low-quality sensors at many points over a wide area.

Many uses are thus possible. CICADA could be dropped into tornados to give meteorologists very useful data on the way down. On the ground, a CICADA network could detect the rumbling of convoys over a wide area. In a disaster, CICADA could provide a distributed network for relaying radio communication. And Edwards said there are many more possible defense missions that he cannot discuss.

Advantageously for ISR, CICADA is hard to see in flight, at 70 grams about a third the size of a Frisbee. “It looks like a bird,” Edwards said. And CICADA sets could come in any number. Version 5 fits 40 units neatly in a sonobuoy—five inches in diameter and three feet long that can be dropped from a multitude of airborne options. An earlier CICADA version was even munition-launched.

The devices have been successfully dropped from up to 57,000 feet, landing within 15 feet of intended locations. All CICADA versions use the same autopilot, a crucial avionics component with two sensors, a three-axis gyroscope and GPS. The CICADA has no motor and only 10 parts in all.

ONR is now focusing on launching CICADA and looking for a service to sponsor and OEM to manufacture it.

Apart from CICADA, ONR is also working on getting more endurance and better propulsion into UASs, on new UAS configurations, on solar aircraft and on autonomous soaring.

The great majority of UAS innovations still comes from the private sector.

Scott Newbern, vice president for small UASs at AeroVironment, said most configuration concepts for UAS platforms are fairly mature, although VTOL capabilities are becoming more desirable. “Advances generally fall into payload capabilities and advancing levels of autonomy.”

For payloads, the priorities are improving the resolution, size, weight and power (SWaP) of traditional electro-optical and infrared sensors and introducing new capabilities, such as high-resolution mapping, light detection and ranging and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear detection.

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For extending flight duration, new battery and propulsion capabilities are key.

AeroVironment routinely surveys battery and other energy storage and conversion technologies to stay up to speed on the state of the art. “This often involves building prototypes and demonstrators for evaluation and characterization,” Newbern explained.

When this results in something promising, the company develops and produces a new UAS. One recent example is a solar wing for AeroVironment’s Puma AE. This solar wing has extended Puma’s endurance from 3.5 hours when powered only by batteries to beyond six hours.

To improve ruggedness, AeroVironment mostly tests and learns. “We analyze product use and feedback from operations,” Newbern noted. Areas of wear or failure are first looked at in detail by developing a test This illustrates the swarming aspect of ONR’s CICADA. U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research image. that reproduces the wear. Then AeroVironment goes through a series of new designs, The latest mini-UAS from Israel Aeromost of its work in-house, with a composite testing them to ensure wear is reduced space Industries’ Malat Division is the shop, aluminum machining and now eight while avoiding any new problems. The result BirdEye 650D, an enhanced version of its machines for 3D printing of plastics. is a revised product or next-generation BirdEye 650. Marketer Dan Bichman said Davidson said he has worked recently design.

650D has a wingspan of four meters and on smaller UASs, weighing 15 pounds or less.

Operating altitude depends on ruggeda maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 30 His Phoenix usually carries full-motion video ness and propulsion. AeroVironment’s small kilograms. Most interesting is a rather long EO and IR cameras, although multispectral UASs are hand-launched and use deep-stall endurance, 15 to 20 hours, possible because or high-resolution still cameras could also be recovery for impact on the ground. “FlyBirdEye has a gasoline engine, unlike most carried. The 3.8-pound version has one bating at higher altitude, while not trivial, is electric-powered mini-UASs. tery for 40 minutes duration, the 5-pounder fairly straightforward,” Newbern said. But The new mini has an operating radius of can stay aloft an hour with two batteries. hand launching at higher altitudes is more 100 kilometers and a payload of EO and IR Both are priced at about $10,000. difficult. Landing-impact force is higher at sensors of 3.5 kg.

UAV Solutions may move into smaller, higher altitudes. So ruggedness and propulIAI is also working on two new minis, pocket-sized UASs, or it might simply try to sion enhancements are required. the Panther and mini-Panther. The conmake its small UASs more capable, in duraTo reduce SWaP, AeroVironment’s tightly cept is the same for both UASs, which are tion and capability. Steady advances in conintegrates its systems and optimizes them electric-powered. They are vertical VTOL, sumer electronics spur constant decreases for low SWaP. Improvements come as small tilt-rotor UASs, like the V-22 Osprey. The in size and weight of UAS components, enhancements and efficiencies are made Panthers can take off and land vertically Davidson noted. And 3D manufacturing methand component revisions are introduced. with no runway, then rotate their two wing ods enable even small firms to make smaller, One example is improved composite fabricaengines to fly horizontally, while the tail lighter and more intricate parts that simply tion that has reduced structure weight by a engine remains in place. were not possible before. 3D also brings few percent without affecting the strucThe larger Panther has a MTOW of 65 kg, with it new materials, such ture’s performance. can be taken out on a vehicle and requires as fiber-filled nylon, that Improvements in af15 minutes to prepare for launch. It normally make thinner, lighter parts fordability come from learncarries a payload of 6 to 8 kg with EO, IR stronger. ing over a UAS’s lifecycle, cameras and a laser range finder. EndurDavidson stressed applying lessons learned ance is four hours. his firm’s ability to make and designing for lower The smaller mini-Panther, has an MTOW most of its own equipment costs in the next product of 12 kg, payload of 2 kg and endurance of without outsourcing and its revision.

2.5 hours. The entire system can be carried wide range of experience UAV Solutions CEO Bill in three backpacks. in variously-sized UASs. He Davidson has been making Bichman expects endurance will be looks forward to supportUASs for about 15 years, all longer for both versions as better batteries ing military, law enforcethe way from 800-poundare developed. He is seeing lots of interest ment and commercial UAS ers to his latest Phoenix in his new mini-UASs and predicts IAI will customers as these devices Ace LE, weighing 3.8 to Bill Davidson always be “working on something new.” increase in number.

5 pounds. His firm does 20 | SPECOPS 14.2

www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

Elbit Systems is introducing a new miniUAS, Skylark 3, designed for brigades and divisions. The Skylark 3 increases range to more than 100 km, endurance to 6 hours and payload to 10 kg. With MTOW of 45 kg, the new model launches from a pneumatic system on the ground or on a vehicle.

Skylark 3 offers EO and IR video and photographic imaging, and an electric motor reduces its sound signature. It can operate at up to 15,000 feet. With a shared ground control system, two Skylark 3s can be assigned to the same mission, yielding consistent target acquisition from two aspects or extended flight endurance by UAS hot-swap. General Manager Elad Aharonson called this UAS, “an ideal solution for carrying out complex ISTAR missions.”

Last year Elbit introduced the Skylark I-LEX, another mini-UAS that is manportable and electric-powered, best suited for beyond-the-next hill reconnaissance, counter insurgency and force protection.

The I-LEX is already used at battalion level

by Israeli land forces and has accumulated thousands of operational sorties.

This mini-UAS carries best-in-class day and night sensors, has secured, encrypted

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communications and offers simultaneous operation of two UASs up to a range of 40 km. An advanced ground control station has a modern graphical interface, automatic tracking and motion detection and adapts to customers’ languages.

Prox Dynamics continues developing and selling airborne soldier sensors through its Black Hornet product line. The Black Hornet is a palm-sized nano-UAV and provides real-time video and snapshots to enhance the immediate situational awareness for soldiers and first responders. The nano-UAV is by far the smallest on the market, weighting only 18.5 grams! The two latest versions of the Black Hornet, BH2 and BH2T (night vision capable), have provided great improvements over the launch model BH1. “The BH2 and BH2T have really proved themselves over the last year, and are now in use by more than 15 countries worldwide. We keep enhancing these small life savers based on customer feedback and a continued increased access to smaller, better and more capable sensors.

We stay loyal to customers’ key demand for keeping sensors light, covert and inherently safe for operations anywhere, anytime,”

said Ole Aguirre, vice president of business development.

Aguirre said rapid developments in camera technology and microchip processors, combined with advanced software engineering, will enable further improvements in the development for nano scale “flying binoculars” like the Black Hornet. “Upgrades made and in development will increase both durability and flexibility, and BH sensors are already combat-proven in the roughest environments in the world.” Most improvements will come from software upgrades, better processing power and enhanced battery technology.

The Black Hornet airborne soldier sensors are part of the PD-100 Personal Reconnaissance System (PRS), giving warriors an instant pocket-sized ISR capability for real-time, live-motion video and snapshots during missions. It was combat-proven in Afghanistan by NATO forces as early as 2012 and has a range exceeding 1.6 km. “Developed in Norway and fielded in both freezing artic, humid sub-tropic and hot dessert combat arenas, the Black Hornets have set the class for the smallest military-rugged UAVs in the world,” said Aguirre. 

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Working to overcome the technology challenges of smaller, more deployable systems.

By Peter Buxbaum, SpecOps Correspondent For years, the United States military has expressed the goal of providing communications and information to the tactical edge of the network. Special operations units, because of the way they operate, represent that leading edge of military networks.

When special forces were beyond the reach of high-quality communications networks, they operated at a deficit of the kind of information and data that would make fulfilling their missions quicker and more efficient. That state of affairs prevailed as long as portable satellite communications equipment was not available to special ops teams.

Those small teams need to rely on what they can carry and are unable to haul heavy equipment with them—huge satellite dishes are out of the question. Missions are often carried out in hostile and austere environments where the benefits of a military infrastructure are not available.

Satellites provide warfighters with the link for beyond line-of-sight communications, allowing small units of special operators performing missions in isolated locations to maintain contact with each other and with headquarters. Besides the ubiquity of SATCOM’s coverage, several interrelated technology developments have contributed to making global broadband communications possible.

Recent advancements in technology have combined to allow satellite communications equipment to be developed that can be carried by special forces to the remotest locations, giving them reachback communications capability, as well as a rich array of information, data, imagery and video which allow them to accomplish their missions 22 | SPECOPS 14.2

more expeditiously. The same technology also allows them to feed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information back into the network to help commanders and decision makers develop situational awareness and script missions for joint forces that better brings the fight to the enemy.

The ultimate requirement that allows small special forces units to carry advanced satellite communications systems with them to remote locations involves the reduction of size, weight and power (SWaP) needs of that equipment. The advent of new high-throughput satellites enable the use of very small and low-power antennas and terminals. Those developments, combined with advances in electronics miniaturization, increases in computing power and innovations in component circuitry combine to reduce the SWaP of SATCOM equipment, all of which come together to make the era of portable satellite communications a possibility, if not a completed reality.

The downside of smaller terrestrial equipment is that it requires more bandwidth to transmit the same volume of data. Advances in space assets, the proliferation of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, efforts to match terrestrial equipment with the most appropriate satellite constellations, and developments in wave form software are all taking place to tackle the bandwidth challenge.

“Fiber and copper communications networks are usually not available in the austere environments in which the Army operates,” said Lieutenant Colonel Joel Babbitt, product director for wideband enterprise satellite systems at the Army’s Program Executive Office, www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

the birds get more powerful the terminals don’t have Enterprise Information Systems. “It is the remoteness to be as large,” said Potter. “Meanwhile, on the ground from terrestrial networks that has led to the explothere has been a shrinkage in the size of electronics. sion in SATCOM throughout the operational forces.

More powerful components can be placed in smaller What we have seen is the thickening of the network packages, requiring less power and weight.” The with products like CSS VSAT which provide warfightproliferation of low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constelers with small satellite dishes.” lations also means that less energy is required to The CSS SATCOM Very Small Aperture Terminal communicate between the space-borne asset and (VSAT) program provides a worldwide commercial the terrestrial terminal.

SATCOM network in support of Army CSS Logistics Developed with an internal company investment Information Systems (LIS) operating from garrison or and two DoD small business innovative research deployed within the tactical and operational batcontracts, the GATR antenna is a radome-style tlespace. Babbitt also oversees the acquisition and implementation of a SATCOM terminal with a flexible provisioning of portable SATCOM equipment for the parabolic reflector inside of the radome. There are no Joint Telemedicine Network.

Lt. Col. Joel Babbitt rigid components to the radome and reflector, thus “Special operations forces need to take their allowing the lightweight system to be rolled up inside communications with them,” said Scott Potter, busia compression bag for ultra-portability. “The result in ness development manager for SATCOM solutions at an 80 percent reduction in weight and volume over Harris Corp. “Man portable and vehicle portable systraditional rigid SATCOM systems,” said Cyrus Wilson. tems allow special teams to download ISR informaXXX XXXXX for GATR. “For example, a GATR 2.4-meter tion such as full motion video during their missions.” single band system packs into as few as two cases The Army’s Communications-Electronics Research, with a total weight of less than 200 pounds.”

Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) has Babbitt manages two programs—the CFS VSAT funded Harris Corp. to create and develop a new satthat provides network capabilities for combat ellite terminal that can provide vehicles on the move support—and the Joint Telemedicine Network that with better satellite coverage. “The vehicles can be provides specific network capabilities to medical equipped with smaller flat panels in arrays throughpersonnel. out the vehicle,” said Potter. “The vehicle doesn’t have “CFS VSAT is all about the speed of logistics,” said to look like it is carrying communications equipment.”

Babbitt.

“We are replacing a sneaker net—where we “The main driving factor that makes satellite Scott Potter actually drove a disk from one location to another terminals smaller is lower power consumption,” said to order parts—with network messages. Instead of Karl Fuchs, vice president of technology at iDirect risking their lives to take a disk from one place to Government technologies. “Lower power consumption another to order parts, the request goes over the leads to smaller form factors.” iDG contributes to this network and the parts get requisitioned that much effort by developing smaller satellite modems that faster.” are incorporated into SATCOM terminals and which Joint Telemedicine Network provides communicaconsume less power. tions with medical specialists to the small number of “Historically special ops forces made good use of medical personnel located at forward operating bases L-band satellite technology,” said Dwight Hunsicker (FOBs). “The network adds a huge amount of expertise senior vice president and general manager for Globeto the tactical edge, right at the point of treatment comm Systems. “L-band was relatively restricted in to increase the chances of soldier survivability,” said the amount of throughput available to devices. The Babbitt, “and to better deal with serious problems at advent of Ku-band, X-band and Ka-band man packable FOB as opposed to back at the rear.” terminals are the next step in throughput availability Harris has been developing and manufacturing which will allow special ops warfighters access to Karl Fuchs small ground terminals for SATCOM for a number of greater amounts of information and data, not just years. “We have .6-meter and .65-meter man pack text and voice but also streaming video for ISR types terminals available,” said Potter. “We are working toward creating of missions.” smaller systems as well. We have a 1.3-meter system that fits into two Small satellite dishes and terminals fielded for command and rollaway cases that can be checked as baggage on airlines.” Harris has control are all about the speed of decision-making, Babbitt noted. “You sold over 80 plus of those systems, primarily to special forces in the have to get the information you need and make a decision on it before U.S. military, as well to the larger Army and to foreign militaries. Harris the enemy can make a decision,” he explained. “It’s all about seizing the uses advanced materials to make equipment lighter, improving the decision from enemy forces by knowing more than they know.”

SWaP of the units.

“With this technology special ops teams can change their missions Central to the issue of SWaP reduction is the selection of comon the fly,” said Potter. “Access to real-time video can provide them ponents such as modems and antennas that go into the satellite with new targets or new instructions about targets while on the missystems. In order to reduce the power consumption—and therefore the sion.” size and weight—of the satellite modems that it develops and produces, Perhaps the chief technology change that has enabled the suciDirect Government has migrated from the use of field programmable cessful development of smaller terrestrial satellite communications gate arrays (FPGAs) to application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). equipment has been the deployment of more powerful satellites. “As www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

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Matching ground terminals with space assets, noted “There are pluses and minuses to both,” said Babbitt, is an important part of what he does.

Fuchs. “FPGAs are fairly generic and flexible, can be “Continual improvements in wave forms are also modified by engineers, and can be programmed to do working to correct this problem,” said Fuchs. all the functions, such as modulating and demodulatFrom Hunsicker’s perspective, warfighting units ing, required in a modem. The price you pay for that that absolutely require the use of portable and manflexibility is in power consumption.” pack SATCOM equipment to fulfill their missions have ASICs are pure hardware that are designed to to pay the freight for the increased bandwidth they perform specific applications. “They are designed require, at least for now. The key to making the despecifically to do only one job and can’t be changed,” ployment of this type of equipment more ubiquitous, said Fuchs. “On the plus side they can be manufache said, is to introduce “a step-function increase” in tured inexpensively and are very tight on power. On the performance of the smaller-aperture antennas. the down side, if something isn’t working with the The good news is that these problems are being implementation you have a big issue on your hands.” worked on. “New technologies and new capabilities But shrinking terminal size can also have a Dwight Hunsicker are being developed to improve the aperture part of negative impact on bandwidth. “With smaller antenthe equation,” said Hunsicker, “which will help make terminals less nas you need to utilize a greater amount of bandwidth to get same disadvantaged and help the budget, business and economic cases for amount of data through,” Fuchs noted. the use of manpack satellite terminals.”

Wilson draws a distinction on the bandwidth issues and believes that those issues are primarily on systems smaller than a 1-meter Ease of operator use aperture. “While there are several mitigating factors that will ultimately determine system performance, GATR users have seen a lot of success with our 1.2-m sized terminal with regards to achieving higher bandHarris is eight months into a 28-month program to develop a diswidth data rates in remote areas,” explained Wilson. Furthermore, our tributed aperture scheme for military vehicles. “We are working on flat ability to package the 1.2-m into a single case or backpack, as opposed panels and arrays of small aperture antennas that can be distributed to smaller terminals that consume more volume, makes it the system throughout a vehicle making it electronically the equivalent of a bigger of choice for ultra-portable systems that can provide high bandwidth aperture,” said Potter. “The technology is amazing for reducing SWaP communications while also providing the benefits of a larger dish.” and maintaining communications reliability. If one aperture is blocked For Wilson, there’s always a need for smaller and lighter technolanother can still reach the satellite and maintain the link. The Army is ogy. “Most of our customers are the tip of spear for new technology interested in adapting these technology developments to the Bradley development and implementation, so we are constantly working to fighting vehicle as well as command vehicles.” meet their needs and provide them with greater capability. The technolBesides the use of advanced materials that make equipment ogy is definitely there, and all I can say is keep your eyes open for the lighter, Harris is also working on virtualizing network hardware as well continued innovation from GATR.” as waveform software. Satellite communications works today on the “When manpacks were first introduced into theater it become clear basis of the various military networks such as NIPRnet, SIPRnet and quickly that the terminals worked theoretically but that the amount coalition networks, each of which require their own hardware such of bandwidth required because of small antenna apertures made the as routers and switches. “In the future we see those types of routing business case for manpacks somewhat challenged,” said Hunsicker. functions virtualized on virtual machines,” said Potter. “Standardized “The disadvantaged nature of the terminals inhibited market growth of hardware can be configured using software to perform different misthe manpacks.” sions across different networks.

For Hunsicker, part of the solution is to take a holistic perspective— “Hardware units will become virtual machines in the computer to include the space and ground segments—of the SATCOM ecosystem. system of the terminal,” he added. “We are looking for that to develop within next five years.”

“Manpack antennas with very small form factors are becoming a reality,” said Babbitt. “As satellites become higher powered we can use smaller antennas on the ground” ne continued. “Each generation of satellites is becoming more powerful. LEO satellites are becoming more of a reality and will decrease the power requirements for terminals to close the link because those satellites are so much closer to the earth.

Smaller terminals are more viable for use with LEO constellations.”

The Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T), the Army’s tactical communications network backbone, is fielding dozens of small satellite dishes on small communications nodes throughout brigade combat teams, Babbitt noted. “That development is transforming the Systems ground footprint,” he said. “Basically this means that a lot more inforare becoming mation will be passed throughout the tactical formation. I see SATCOM ever more portable, on the move (SOTM) continuing to mature as time goes by.” like this Harris Seeker which can be dismantled and packed in an While SATCOM terminals provide the most benefits when deployed airline-checkable case. Harris photo. as a ground-based solution, GATR’s modem product line is currently being integrated with SOTM products.  24 | SPECOPS 14.2

www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

Chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear detection threats are requiring more precise and deployable technologies.

By Patrick E. Clarke, SpecOps Correspondent Chemical Biological Radiation Nuclear (CBRN) detection equipment alerts the warfighter to unseen hazards. Hazardous materials are in use by terrorists. Examples include the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway, anthrax in the US postal system, and the discovery of military bioweapons programs in the former Soviet Union.

The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD) purpose is to defend cities, support allies and protect warfighters against new forms of attack. This is not an impossible task. The JPEOCBD is responding with research, development, acquisition and fielding of CBRN defense equipment and medical countermeasures.

JPEO-CBD military and civilian acquisition professionals, along with a dedicated industrial base, are simultaneously developing the next generation of mobile, agile and modular chemical and biological defense systems.

While the task is not impossible, the military faces several challenges detecting these hazards. Detection equipment must be: •• Light weight, easy to use, and rugged enough to withstand field conditions •• Accurate (minimize false positives, produce repeatable results, etc.)

•• Able to detect various concentrations of a hazard (sensitivity) •• Proficient at identifying and correcting for masking agents used by the enemy •• Cost effective Detection equipment is critical as the enemy moves toward more sophisticated methods of attack. Michael Deckert, director, chem-bio defense for SRC, Inc., summed it up, “The probability of chemical and biological attack steadily rises because terrorism is a www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

growing global threat, and terrorists are looking for new ways to make bold statements.

Ricin, abrin and anthrax “how to” instructions are readily available, making it easier to both produce and disseminate weapon agents. The recent spike in the number of ricin threats, and ISIS’ use of chemical warfare agents is absolute proof that the chemical and biological threat is here.”

The primary application of SRC’s Aklus Shield system is to detect and sample biological agents including bacteria, viruses, and toxins. Some of the most common tests for biohazards include anthrax, botulinum toxin, smallpox and plague.

The Aklus Shield system is also flexible enough that chemical and radiological sensors can be added to the sensor platform. One of the technology needs identified by JPEO-CBD is enhanced chemical and biological agent detection/collection/identification. Deckert said SRC has been contributing to military defense against chemical and biological warfare for more than 20 years. Aklus Shield is a selfcontained portable biological detection and sample collection system. It is a battery operated networked warning system designed to rapidly detect, sample and identify biological warfare agents. Its mission space includes perimeter defense, critical infrastructure and building protection, as well as special event surveillance. The bio identification assays developed by Acumen Detection, LLC (an SRC company) for the Aklus Shield system can also be used in support of sensitive site exploitation and consequence management roles. The Aklus Shield system assays have extremely long shelf life. These assays still perform after being stored at 122 degrees Fahrenheit for over three months, and over two years at room temperature. In addition, there’s no

need to perform sample clean-up or extraction prior to running testing, which saves up to an hour of time, and significant reagent costs.

Tim Moshier, president Acumen Detection, LLC, said Acumen Detection’s assays are tolerant to common environmental contaminants so that tap water can be used to reconstitute the freeze-dried assays. Even unpurified swamp water can be used, as demonstrated during a recent U.S. Special Operations Command technology demonstration.

Acumen Detection’s toxin assays are really unique for their ability to provide actionable knowledge at the point of need says Moshier.

The assays measure a toxins’ biological activity, which is very important since some toxins can quickly degrade into a harmless state once exposed to the environment. Determining if a toxin is still dangerous or not is a key piece of information for accurate, informed decision making. Because Acumen Detection’s toxin assays can work on the same polymerase chain reaction (PCR) instruments that the bacteria and virus assays work on, there’s no need to take multiple instruments to the field.

SRC technologies meet several of JPEOCBD stated technology needs and modernization goals: •• Reduced reliance on consumables and high-stability reagents •• Field a new biological toxin identification capability •• Simplified sample preparation for analytic devices Another SRC product, Acu-Swab-R, is a broad-spectrum surface collection device, and is effective in sampling explosives, drugs, chemical warfare agents, and biological SPECOPS 14.2 | 25

agents. It collects both liquid and solid materials from a broad range of surfaces, even highly porous and irregular surfaces like asphalt. The only real limitation is the library that is loaded onto the instrument analyzing the collected Acu-Swab-R sample.

Deckert said, “SRC and Acumen Detection’s innovative design approach and rigorous manufacturing processes assure the highest quality product. Every conceivable approach to masking has been reviewed and assurances have been made to protect the suite of products from any masking attempt.”

False positives are a CBRN concern since they might derail a mission needlessly.

SRC systems minimize false positives using highly sophisticated algorithms to separate background biological particles from “agents of interest.” Acumen Detection’s identification assays are tested against a panel of contaminants (Arizona road dust, humic acid, diesel exhaust, saline, Montana soil) and to assure against false positives and cross reactivity.

During development SRC used side-by-side testing in a dynamic aerosol chamber to ensure the best possible technologies were incorporated. To account for challenging environments, “SRC evaluated detector components against biological aerosols that were of varying concentrations, and particle sizes; with clean backgrounds, and with high-concentration road dust backgrounds. This way we can be sure that our systems have little chance of either being blinded, or spoofed into false alarming” said Moshier.

Hazard detection field use includes several steps: •• •• •• •• ••

Detection of a hazard Sample collection Sample preparation Testing and finally; Hazard identification.

Smiths Detection Inc. (SDI) has more than 50 years of experience partnering with agencies like the DoD. SDI’s sampling device, Custodion, leverages a special technique called solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) to collect trace level samples. This technique combines extraction, collection, and concentration of hazards present for gas-phase, liquid, and dissolved solid samples. “SPME is ideally suited for sampling in the field because of its low logistical burden for sample preparation,” said Dr. Warren Mino, senior product manager at SDI. The technique meets the JPEO-CBD need for simplified sample preparation SPME sampling is used with one of 26 | SPECOPS 14.2

SDI’s detection technologies, Guardion, which employs high-speed, high-resolution gas chromatography (GC) and a miniaturized mass spectrometer (MS) compounds in complex gases, vapors, liquids and solids.

Guardion is hand-portable and ruggedized for use in a hot zone or extreme environments.

“Guardion features both a touch screen and keypad for operation, providing ease-of-use in personal protective gear. All software required for sample identification and reporting is on board the system. It includes chemical warfare agent and toxic industrial chemical libraries, as well as a hazards database for rapid decision support,” said Mino. He continued, “We have an onboard verification to ensure the instrument is tuned properly and is working to our high standards of sensitivity and accuracy, which exceed market standards.” These technologies fall in line with JPEO-CBD modernization goals to improve detection systems’ ability to detect and identify non-traditional agents (NTAs), low volatility agents (vapor/aerosol), toxic industrial chemicals (TICs), and traditional chemical warfare agents (liquid, solid, vapor and aerosol).

One characteristic of the combination of GC and MS is its ability to separate the sample into its individual components. For example, diesel fuel has many compounds that could mask a threat, but even in this complex background, GC/MS can detect and identify individual traces of threats.

All detection equipment identifies hazards by comparing the hazard results to a comprehensive collection of known hazards called hazard libraries. SDI’s Guardian software includes chemical warfare agent and TIC libraries, as well as a hazards database for rapid decision support.

Prime Alert is SDI’s bio-detection and threat verification system. It is a portable system that screens unknown powder samples for suspicious levels of all known microbes and key bio-toxins.

In looking toward the future, Mino said, “Customers are always looking for smaller, lighter and faster technology. In addition to that, the use of data is the future. The ability to use multiple technologies to give users integrated information in the field will raise confidence in decision making.” In its 30-year plan JPEO-CBD agrees, “the mid-term (FY17-20) modernization goal is to improve the integration of chemical detectors. Detector information must be relayed to other information systems to support operations and enable additional analyses.”

Phoenix Defender The Royal Canadian Air Force recently conducted Phoenix Defender, an exercise held at Canadian Forces Base Bagotville, Quebec, aimed to improve the Canadian Armed Forces’ response to a CBRN threat at a busy military airfield using computertriggered alarms.

Another company working to meet JPEOCBD needs is Environics, which offers three detectors for special operations: •• ChemPro100i - a handheld chemical warfare agent (CWA) and toxic industrial chemical (TIC) detector. The ChemPro100i provides early warning and classification of the chemical hazard providing time for the users to protect themselves or escape from the hotzone. The ChemPro100i detects and classifies all the most common CWAs (nerve, blister, blood agents) and approximately 25 of the most common toxic industrial chemicals.

•• RanidPro200 - a radionuclide identifier backpack for gamma and neutron radiation that provides a rapid response time (only a few seconds) and selective identification of the radiation source and •• ENVI Assay System - rapid tests for biological agent identification.

Samuli Kirjalainen, business manager for Environics’ Chemical Detectors said, “Reducing false positives is a challenge which requires new, novel technologies such as orthogonal chemical detection, i.e. combining the sensor responses from different technologies. In addition to IMS (Ion Mobility Spectrometer), the ChemPro100i includes several semiconductor sensors which provide additional, orthogonal information on the surrounding atmosphere. This gives the ChemPro100i remarkable capabilities in terms of false alarm rejection.”

As always, the military must be prepared for future challenges. The same is true for the field of hazard detection. Smaller, faster, more cost effective equipment will be needed. Terrorist threats are a global issue concerning governments, military, law enforcement and public health officials around the world. In the future, hazard detection equipment must be flexible enough to deal with unanticipated conditions as well as meeting international standards to work with partner forces and foreign agencies.  www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

Special Focus Issue of

SPECIAL OPERATIONS INTERNATIONAL

Feature Q&A Brig. Gen. Erik C. Peterson Commander U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command

Bonus Distribution SOFEX MIDDLE EAST SPECIAL OPS COMMANDERS CONFERENCE MARRAKECH AIR SHOW XPONENTIAL Contact me to discuss advertising opportunities in this great international issue!

Ron Mayne ronm@defense-house.com

International Vector Brig. Gen. Adnan Ahmad Al-Abadi Commander Jordanian Joint Special Operations Features Shock Mitigating Seats Tactical Medicine Geospatial Software for SOF Long Range Surveillance Systems Nonstandard Platforms NAVSCIATTS

Advertisers index AR Modular RF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 www.arworld.us/tactical

Middle East Special Operations Commanders Conference . . . . . . . . . . 21 www.inegma.com/events/mesoc2016

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Visual Awareness Technologies and Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 www.vatcinc.com

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Xponential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 www.xponential.org

Editorial Jeff McKaughan • jeffm@defense-house.com Correspondents Peter Buxbaum • Henry Canaday • Andrew Drwiega • Patrick Clarke Associate Publisher RON mayne • ronm@defense-house.com Publication Design Jennifer Owers • Scott cassidy

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SPECOPS 14.2 | 27

USSOCOM Military Construction FY17 Sixteen projects drive the special operations military construction budget request for FY2017.

SEAL Team Five ($47.3 million) Constructs a 96,000 square foot (SF) facility to support SEAL Team Five operations at Naval Base Coronado. Facility will support a variety of functions including operational gear storage, applied instruction, administrative, and includes both interior and exterior operational load out areas.

SEAL Team Seven ($43.9 million) Constructs a 96,000 square foot (SF) facility to support SEAL Team Seven operations at Naval Base Coronado. Facility will support a variety of functions including operational gear storage, applied instruction, administrative, and includes both interior and exterior operational load out areas.

NSW Group Ten, Special Reconnaissance Team One ($20.9 million) Constructs a 340,000 SF facility to support Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Group Ten Special Reconnaissance Team One (SRT-1) operations at Naval Base Coronado. SRT-1 unmanned aerial vehicle operations are currently accommodated in a space approximately 15,ooo SF on the ocean side of Naval Amphibious Base Coronado that only meets 38 percent of the requirement.

Training Center for NSW Groups One, Ten, Eleven and subordinate Units ($15.6 million) Constructs a 40,000 SF human performance training center to support Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Groups One, 28 | SPECOPS 14.2

Ten, Eleven and subordinate units at Naval Base Coronado.

The facility will support special operator injury prevention, rehabilitation, testing and evaluation, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and research and development.

NSWG One Training Detachment ($44.3 million) Constructs a 65,000 SF facility to support Naval Special Warfare Group ONE (NSWG-1) Training Detachment (TRADET) ONE operations and training at Naval Base Coronado. Project also includes a 25,000 SF combat training tank complex. Facilities will support a variety of functions including operational gear storage, applied instruction, administrative, and includes interior and exterior operational load out areas. A synthetic turf test and evaluation field and a combat scenario obstacle course are also included.

Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ($4.8 million)

SOF Combat Medic Training Facility ($10.9 million) Construct a Joint Combat Medic Training Facility for the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, Fort Bragg. This project is required to meet growth requirements to train combat medics in accordance with commercial testing standards.

SOF Parachute Rigging Facility ($21.4 million) Construct a consolidated parachute rigging facility the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS) and the 1st Special Forces Command (1st SFC), Fort Bragg.

SOF Tactical Equipment Maintenance Facility ($23.6 million) Construct a tactical equipment maintenance facility complex for the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade at Fort Bragg.

SOF Maintenance Hangar ($42.8 million)

Construct new hangar and maintenance facility for the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning. The hangar will provide an adequate facility for the storage, maintenance, classroom, operations, and training requirements of the new TUAV platoon.

This project will construct adequate facilities, properly sized and configured, for a multi-bay aircraft hangar and an AMU to supporting MC-130 aircraft and maintenance unit at Kadena Air Base Japan.

Special Tactics Facility ($30.7 million)

This Kadena Air Base, Japan, project supports aircrew training by providing a weapon system trainer (WST) for the new MC-130J model aircraft. This is part of the AFSOC recapitalization of older MC-130s.

Construct two team buildings, ISU Storage, CST maintenance/equipment barn and covered parking (deficit solution) at Fort Bragg.

SOF Simulator Facility ($12.6 million)

Airfield Apron ($41.3 million) Aircraft parking apron with associated taxiways and shoulders required to accommodate CV-22 aircraft at Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Hangar/Airport Maintenance Unit ($39.5 million) This projects funds adequate facilities, properly sized and configured, for a multi-bay aircraft hangar and an aircraft maintenance unit to support special operations forces (SOF) CV-22 aircraft beddown at Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Operations and Warehouse Facilities ($26.7 million) Facility at Yokota Air Base, Japan, will support Squadron operations to provide an adequate facility for squadron commander, command section, secure flight planning, briefing, and critique of aircrews and to direct flight operations of aircraft. Space is also required to maintain, store and issue life support, aircrew flight equipment and clothing.

Simulator Facility ($6.3 million) This project at Yokota Air Base, Japan, supports the bed down of a special operations forces CV-22 aircraft squadron.

It is required to provide an adequate facility for aircraft crews of the special operations squadron to conduct required training for both annual and semi-annual events to support crew upgrade training as well as specific mission rehearsals.  www.SPECOPS-dhp.com

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