Tag: ausa-2024

  • Training partners give US soldiers better backup in future combat

    Training partners give US soldiers better backup in future combat

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    The Army’s answer to training partner forces — its security force assistance brigades — is proving as helpful to the trainers as the students.

    Col. Brandon Teague, commander of the 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade, or SFAB, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, or JBLM, Washington, spoke with Army Times on Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition about the brigade’s work in the Pacific and how it’s growing the Army’s capacity to operate in the region.

    For instance, the Thai military has been working in recent years with the SFAB on training and maintaining its Stryker units through an SFAB partnership using a specially trained team of Stryker advisors from the 7th Infantry Division, also at JBLM, and a unit from the Washington Army National Guard, Teague said.

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    The first SFAB units were formed in 2017 to fill a conventional military partner training force mission, first in Afghanistan. The brigades tailor their deployments down to the small-unit level, dispatching teams of no more than a dozen soldiers led by a captain to just about every combatant command across the globe.

    “Even though we’re helping the partner, it’s mutual,” Teague said.

    The arrangement came about because the combatant commanders across the globe, but especially in the Pacific, have requested more SFAB personnel across their areas as the brigades have grown, the colonel said.

    While the work is keeping the Thai Stryker units moving, having a solid system for obtaining parts and conducting maintenance on the crucial vehicle also helps U.S. soldiers, Teague said.

    That’s because should there be a ground fight in the region involving U.S. Strykers, they’ll likely need parts.

    Early partnership and coordination ensures that should the Army need to lean on a partner, it can, Teague said.

    In even more foundational areas, the SFAB’s work is building out a knowledge base that could save soldiers’ lives.

    “The first line of care is buddy aid, the person on your left and right,” Teague said. “And the people in 5th SFAB’s left and right are our partners that we’re partnered with.”

    For the first time, the Army sent a maneuver advisor team to Mongolia this year, which is assisting the nation’s military in preparing a platoon of Mongolian soldiers for a February rotation at the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center in Alaska, Teague said.

    That follows years of training the next-door neighbor of China’s military in leadership fundamentals. One of the first requests from Mongolian military officials to the Army was to help them set up a noncommissioned officers academy, which the Mongolian military now runs.

    The major focus areas for the SFABs, Teague said, involve aligning the people, technical aspects and procedures between the U.S. and partner units.

    For example, during the current Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center rotation that the unit is conducting with the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii this month, the SFAB is working with the Japanese Self-Defense Force. The partnership works on the same kind of communication gear and communication protocols.

    So, even though the brigade’s team might meet up with a different unit within the Japanese military than in a previous encounter, they’ll already be coordinated on their communications.

    Those same communications challenges are being worked through with each of brigade’s partners, such as the Philippines, Mongolia, Thailand and other Pacific nations.

    Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.

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  • Soldiers will get $240 a month for operational deployments

    Soldiers will get $240 a month for operational deployments

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    Soldiers deployed for more than 60 days in an Army operation will now receive an extra $240 each month.

    For those already deployed, the cash benefit is retroactive to Oct. 1, said Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth.

    The new benefit, dubbed “operational deployment pay,” is specifically for operational deployments and does not cover exercises at the combat training centers, Wormuth said. For example, the pay is intended for brigades and battalions who’ve deployed to Europe for Operation Assurance, she said.

    “That is both to recognize the hardship of being away from families but also the rigors of deployment,” Wormuth said.

    Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George told media about the new initiative during a press conference Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.

    The pay benefit isn’t a limited-time offer, Wormuth said; instead, it is the new standard for operational deployment pay moving forward for the service.

    Soldiers receive the same amount regardless of rank or billet, George said, much like other pay linked to job duties.

    “If you get jump pay, jump pay is the same for everybody,” he said.

    The new pay is in addition to existing deployment and other duty pay. Some examples include assignment incentive pay, hazardous duty incentive pay and combat zone tax exclusion.

    Military.com reported in September on a draft memo the Army had not yet finalized that looked at monthly pay for operational deployments that ranged between $210 and $450. The news outlet reported that original plans would have tied the pay to rank.

    Despite the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, much of the Army, especially certain job fields such as armor and air defense, are deployed at levels that reach what soldiers saw during the Global War on Terror.

    Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.

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  • US Army Pacific to absorb new units under ‘transformation’ mantra

    US Army Pacific to absorb new units under ‘transformation’ mantra

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    The U.S. Army command for the Indo-Pacific finds itself at the front of the service’s transformation initiative, incorporating new unit types created to facilitate rapid adaptation to adversary tactics, according to U.S. Army Pacific Command chief Gen. Charles Flynn.

    Several units in the Pacific, from Hawaii to Alaska, were chosen as part of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George’s initiative, dubbed “Transforming in Contact,” Flynn said in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference.

    “But there’s a whole other transformation in contact that’s going on out here at the operational and theater level.”

    That transformation has to do with absorbing new organizations and capabilities designed to facilitate the quick incorporation of new tactics and technologies in the field.

    “In my view, that is where the connective tissue occurs between tactical forces and operational and strategic forces that exist in the joint world,” Flynn said.

    For example, the Army in the Pacific is the first to get a Theater Information Advantage Detachment, Flynn said. The TIAD is meant to keep its finger on the pulse of how adversarial nations like China and Russia are conducting information warfare.

    The service has deployed a Security Force Assistance Brigade, a Theater Fires Element and the TIAD into areas near China, Flynn added.

    The Army has already created two of three Multidomain Task Forces in the Pacific theater, which have been heavily involved in exercises throughout 2024.

    The service is planning to build five MDTFs total. Another is based in Europe, while one more will be based at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, and designed to align with global rapid responses.

    The units will operate across all domains — land, air, sea, space and cyberspace — and are equipped with the Army’s growing capabilities, including long-range precision fires.

    The MDTFs will take on game-changing capabilities like the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, the Mid-Range Capability missile system and the delayed Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon as part of a Long-Range Fires Battalion.

    The Army in June fired two PrSM missiles in Palau as part of a ship sinking exercise during Valiant Shield. The service also deployed the MRC missile to the Philippines during the Balikatan exercise in May. The MRC missile system, for the time being, will remain in the Philippines, Flynn said.

    The Pacific Army has also established a Theater Strike Effects Group, Flynn added.

    “This theater-level Army space formation is integral for today’s battlefield,” Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler, then the head of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said in January. “It will allow us to leverage the experience of its command team and staff to ensure success at every echelon, ensuring that all our capabilities are being employed when and where they’re needed best.”

    The group will coordinate with the MDTFs that will use Army space interdiction forces with cyber and electronic warfare capabilities to block adversary defenses, according to the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command.

    As it works through the deployment of these major new capabilities like long-range precision fires, it’s imperative, Flynn said, that the Army is organized properly at the theater level in order to effectively coordinate the right engagement authorities.

    “This extra capacity at the Theater Army level is transformational and its organizational changes are in front of the arrival of new technologies, new capabilities and new platforms,” he said. “It’s tailored to the region.”

    Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

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  • US Army Pacific to absorb new units under ‘transformation’ mantra

    US Army Pacific to absorb new units under ‘transformation’ mantra

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    The U.S. Army command for the Indo-Pacific finds itself at the front of the service’s transformation initiative, incorporating new unit types created to facilitate rapid adaptation to adversary tactics, according to U.S. Army Pacific Command chief Gen. Charles Flynn.

    Several units in the Pacific, from Hawaii to Alaska, were chosen as part of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George’s initiative, dubbed “Transforming in Contact,” Flynn said in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference.

    “But there’s a whole other transformation in contact that’s going on out here at the operational and theater level.”

    That transformation has to do with absorbing new organizations and capabilities designed to facilitate the quick incorporation of new tactics and technologies in the field.

    “In my view, that is where the connective tissue occurs between tactical forces and operational and strategic forces that exist in the joint world,” Flynn said.

    For example, the Army in the Pacific is the first to get a Theater Information Advantage Detachment, Flynn said. The TIAD is meant to keep its finger on the pulse of how adversarial nations like China and Russia are conducting information warfare.

    The service has deployed a Security Force Assistance Brigade, a Theater Fires Element and the TIAD into areas near China, Flynn added.

    The Army has already created two of three Multidomain Task Forces in the Pacific theater, which have been heavily involved in exercises throughout 2024.

    The service is planning to build five MDTFs total. Another is based in Europe, while one more will be based at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, and designed to align with global rapid responses.

    The units will operate across all domains — land, air, sea, space and cyberspace — and are equipped with the Army’s growing capabilities, including long-range precision fires.

    The MDTFs will take on game-changing capabilities like the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, the Mid-Range Capability missile system and the delayed Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon as part of a Long-Range Fires Battalion.

    The Army in June fired two PrSM missiles in Palau as part of a ship sinking exercise during Valiant Shield. The service also deployed the MRC missile to the Philippines during the Balikatan exercise in May. The MRC missile system, for the time being, will remain in the Philippines, Flynn said.

    The Pacific Army has also established a Theater Strike Effects Group, Flynn added.

    “This theater-level Army space formation is integral for today’s battlefield,” Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler, then the head of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said in January. “It will allow us to leverage the experience of its command team and staff to ensure success at every echelon, ensuring that all our capabilities are being employed when and where they’re needed best.”

    The group will coordinate with the MDTFs that will use Army space interdiction forces with cyber and electronic warfare capabilities to block adversary defenses, according to the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command.

    As it works through the deployment of these major new capabilities like long-range precision fires, it’s imperative, Flynn said, that the Army is organized properly at the theater level in order to effectively coordinate the right engagement authorities.

    “This extra capacity at the Theater Army level is transformational and its organizational changes are in front of the arrival of new technologies, new capabilities and new platforms,” he said. “It’s tailored to the region.”

    Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

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  • Italy’s Avio expands to fill US Army solid rocket motor orders

    Italy’s Avio expands to fill US Army solid rocket motor orders

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    ROME — Italy’s biggest rocket and missile motor manufacturer, Avio, is set to triple production within five years as the American military and industry look to it to ease a chronic production shortfall in the United States, the firm’s CEO has said.

    In July, Avio signed with Raytheon to develop “critical solid rocket motors for defense applications,” as well as partnering with the U.S. Army “for the development and fast-prototyping of a solid rocket motor for surface-to-air applications.”

    The demand in the U.S. for Avio’s wares and know-how reflects the demand for rocket motors driven by conflicts around the world as well as a narrowing in supply options following the 2018 purchase of Orbital ATK by Northrop Grumman.

    Avio is working on opening a U.S. production site, but will start out by working on its new American workload at its Colleferro site in Italy.

    “Today we manufacture 200-300 rocket motors a year at Colleferro and can triple that in 4-5 years on present commitments,” Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo told Defense News.

    Avio already works on the propulsion and other components for the Aster 30 missile, as well as solid-propellant rocket motor of the new CAMM-ER air defense missile, while its core business is space, putting 120 satellites into orbit in the last 12 years thanks to 24 launches of its Vega launcher.

    Ranzo said approximately two more years would be needed for Avio to qualify Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) products at its Colleferro site as per recent U.S. contracts. The approach would however be faster and safer than waiting for the new facility in the U.S. to start its qualification phase ahead of volume manufacturing, he added.

    “U.S. officials have said production in the U.S. would be the ideal, but they understand that takes time. Establishing new capacity cannot be done in months,” he said.

    “There are plenty of startups trying to enter this market, but this requires decades of experience in production at scale and a large and authorized site to handle explosives” he added.

    Few details have emerged about the two U.S. deals, but Ranzo said, “We have just worked on the new CAMM-ER missile which means we have fresh technical knowledge. Most equivalent systems in the U.S. date to the 1980s.”

    Avio set up a U.S. subsidiary, Avio USA, in 2022, appointing as CEO James Syring, a retired U.S. Navy vice admiral and former director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

    Syring told Defense News, “There has been a consolidation of the industrial base, essentially leaving Northrop Grumman and Aerojet as the sole SRM manufacturers, but even before that there has been a longstanding capacity shortfall for the production of rocket motors and missiles vs current demand.”

    He added, “This is not a new thing. You talk to customers and prime contractors and they say they would order double if they could. The ongoing conflicts have exacerbated the situation.”

    Syring said the company’s expansion aims to top up lagging U.S. production capacity as opposed to capturing market share there.

    “We hear ‘Buy American’ a lot, and that is why we are working to establish by a sizeable U.S. factory presence to serve all customers,” Syring said.

    He added, “The Department of Defense has been vocal about the need to leverage international production capabilities, given the maxed out supply base. The DoD has been supportive of us getting established.”

    As well as capacity, Avio also offered innovations, according to Syring. “Avio has innovative technology and capabilities for booster cases, thermal protections and nozzle manufacturing that no U.S. rocket motor supplier has.”

    Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

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