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Navy, Air Force cleared to fly Ospreys after inspecting gears

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The Navy and Air Force are now cleared to resume flying their grounded V-22 Ospreys after conducting inspections on a crucial gearbox in the tiltrotor aircraft, and some are already back in the air.

The military temporarily stopped flying some Ospreys on Dec. 9 after a near crash in New Mexico in November. The Marines soon resumed its Osprey flights, but the Navy and Air Force kept them on the ground longer while they further reviewed what was causing metal components to fail.

Naval Air Systems Command, or NAVAIR, issued a bulletin to the fleet Friday morning ordering crews to verify how many hours each aircraft’s proprotor gearbox had flown.

If an Osprey’s gearbox meets or exceeds a particular number of flight hours — NAVAIR would not say how many due to operational security concerns — it can resume flying under limitations issued in March.

But if the gearbox is found to have fewer flight hours, it will have to fly under a new and stricter set of limitations, Air Force Special Operations Command Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Becky Heyse told Defense News. Heyse said the groundings were not absolute, and some Ospreys kept flying to conduct necessary operations.

The fatal crash of an Air Force CV-22 near Japan in November 2023 was caused by a cracked gear, which had impurities called inclusions that weakened the metal. Similar metal weaknesses may have also caused the near crash near Cannon Air Force Base last month.

Osprey manufacturer Bell is working with the V-22 Joint Program Office to upgrade some of the aircraft’s gears to make those weakening impurities less common.

But that will take some time to roll out, Heyse said, and the military had to find a way to get its Ospreys back in the air in the meantime.

“It’s really important we don’t keep these aircraft grounded,” Heyse said. “This allows us to fly and keep pilot proficiency while a longer-term fix is put in place.”

Studies of the Osprey have shown that when those impurities cause gear cracks, Heyse said, it typically happens in their early life. Once they have flown a certain number of hours and are “broken in,” she said, they are less likely to crack and the military is more confident in them. That is why the Ospreys under the flight hour threshold must adhere to the more conservative restrictions, she said.

The stricter guidelines for those Ospreys will stay in place until their gearboxes are upgraded, or they exceed the flight hour threshold, NAVAIR said.

Air Force Special Operations Command had already been inspecting some aircraft before today and verifying how many flight hours their gearboxes had, according to Heyse. Those Ospreys are already flying, she said.

The inspection process for each aircraft doesn’t take long, she said.

The military declined to say how many Ospreys are affected by these changes, and what their additional flight restrictions are, for security reasons.

The Marine Corps has by far the most Ospreys in its fleet, at about 350. The Air Force has about 52 Ospreys, and the Navy has roughly 30.

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

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12/21/2024
Taiwan gets US Abrams tanks, hardening final defenses in an invasion

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CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Taiwan, which ratified a record defense budget of $20.2 billion in August as it contemplates rising Chinese aggression, received a first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams tanks on home shores this month.

After being unloaded at Taipei’s port on Dec. 15, the tanks were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County southwest of Taipei. Around ten will remain there for training purposes.

The M1A2T is a customized M1A2 SEPv2 Abrams version, and these are the first new tanks Taiwan has received in nearly a quarter of a century. Taiwan previously received M60A3 TTS tanks from the U.S. between 1995 and 2001.

Following this month’s first batch, 42 more Abrams tanks would be delivered next year, and the final 28 in 2026, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Taiwan had ordered them in 2019.

Chen Kuoming, a Taipei-based military analyst, told Defense News the weapons are meant “most importantly” for defending the Taipei capital area. They will outfit an armored brigade in Linkou in Taipei, and another brigade in Hukou in Hsinchu.

The Abrams represents a significant step up in terms of firepower and protection compared to the existing fleet of M60A3 and M48H/CM11 models, which are armed with a 105mm main gun.

Chen said those tank types were too old and outdated, although 108 new Abrams “are just not enough” to cover replacements in central and southern Taiwan as well.

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Tanks essentially represent a final line of defense against any Chinese invasion. Taiwan’s earlier lines of defense against an amphibious assault include anti-ship missiles, artillery and rockets as well as attack helicopters.

“From the Russia-Ukraine war, we’ve seen drones and loitering munitions attacking tanks,” Chen said. He therefore expressed a need for the new M1A2Ts to be upgraded against such aerial attacks.

In that context, the analyst warned of diminishing returns for tank investments. Instead, he suggested the budget should be used on other equipment like small drones and loitering munitions, Javelin antitank missiles, Stinger air defense missiles or lighter armored vehicles.

“I want to encourage army officers to think about future wars, so they’ll change their thoughts about buying heavier tanks,” he urged.

Taiwan is also in receipt of an initial 11 of 29 M142 HIMARS rocket launchers. The defense ministry revealed that the first tranche arrived in October, with 18 more systems due before the end of 2026. These HIMARS were delivered to the 58th Artillery Command in Taichung, a city midway down Taiwan’s west coast.

Taiwan’s army has received a first batch of an undisclosed number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the U.S. too. Fired from the HIMARS launchers, the ATACMS’s range of 186 miles (300km) puts mainland China within strike range.

Gordon Arthur is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. After a 20-year stint working in Hong Kong, he now resides in New Zealand. He has attended military exercises and defense exhibitions in about 20 countries around the Asia-Pacific region.

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12/20/2024
US Army extends Palantir’s contract for its data-harnessing platform

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The U.S. Army has awarded Palantir a $400.7 million contract to continue providing its artificial intelligence-enabled Vantage system as the service’s main data platform, the company announced Wednesday.

The contract covers a period of up to four years and could ultimately be worth nearly $620 million if additional options are exercised.

The service first brought Palantir on to provide its Army Data Platform, or ADP, in 2018, taking roughly 180 disparate data sources across the enterprise and consolidating them into one ecosystem.

“The Army has leveraged Palantir’s software to transform how it uses data and artificial intelligence (AI) to more effectively perform essential missions and enable faster decision-making across the force,” the Dec. 18 company statement reads.

The capability grew from a focus on a data platform that could help understand personnel and combat readiness to a system that “powers warfighters at every echelon and supports a diverse set of use cases across every data domain including readiness, logistics, recruiting, force management, talent management, financial management, risk management and installation management,” according to the statement.

The Army plans to continue to grow the capability.

“Our continuous addition of new AI capabilities enables the Army’s own ability to develop applications and incorporate the benefits of effective data analysis across nearly every high-priority mission in the Army,” Akash Jain, Palantir USG president, said in the statement.

As emerging technologies are developed, they will be introduced into Vantage on a continuous basis, according to the company.

Vantage now has over 100,000 users within the service and that number is growing, Palantir said.

Palantir’s business with the Defense Department and particularly with the Army has grown dramatically since 2018 when it won, in a head-to-head competition with Raytheon, a contract to provide the Army a new tactical version of its Distributed Common Ground System-Army, or DCGS-A, an intelligence analysis platform.

The company famously sued the Army over its DCGS-A procurement strategy in 2016 — and won — prior to scoring the new contract for the system.

Since then, the Army has taken different approaches in how it procures software capabilities and is developing a software acquisition policy that outlines how to best work with the software industry to obtain the right capability for the service at a much faster pace.

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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12/19/2024
Corruption may slow China’s ability to one day invade Taiwan, DOD says

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Rampant corruption in the Chinese military may be slowing its ability to one day launch an invasion of Taiwan, according to the Pentagon’s annual report on China’s armed forces released Wednesday.

While the People’s Liberation Army is still progressing overall — deploying ships farther from its shores and displaying longer-range missiles — a yearslong anti-corruption probe may delay some of its goals related to 2027, an important mile marker for the PLA.

Between July and December of 2023, at least 15 senior members of China’s military and defense industry were sacked over suspicions of graft, the report found. And the subjects extend to the very top.

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In November, a member of China’s governing seven-member military board was removed and placed under inquiry. Beijing’s Defense Minister Dong Jun is also reportedly being investigated for corruption, though different parts of the U.S. government aren’t yet certain. If charged, Dong would be the country’s third consecutive defense minister to be charged with corruption.

Uprooting graft in the PLA has long been a priority of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and a place of insecurity despite its growing power. Beijing has the world’s largest navy, an increasingly advanced fleet of aircraft and a surging nuclear arsenal.

These advances are part of what U.S. officials say is the largest peacetime military buildup since the 1930s. The new equipment, however, is far easier to track than the overall quality of China’s military, which hasn’t fought a war in more than 40 years.

Xi has told the PLA it should have the ability to invade Taiwan by 2027, though he hasn’t issued orders to do so, according to American intelligence. A senior U.S. defense official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, said Xi had “reaffirmed his commitment” to that goal but that the corruption probe may be hindering it.

“It’s having some impact already,” the official said.

Despite multiple questions, the official wouldn’t say whether China was on track to meet its aims for 2027, which have to do with using more advanced technology and training different parts of its military to operate together. Nor would the official say, specifically, what the impact of the anti-corruption purge would be for Taiwan.

“The substantial problems they have with corruption that have yet to be resolved certainly could slow them down on the path toward the 2027 capabilities-development milestone and beyond,” the official said.

In simpler terms, China has specific goals planned around the year, which if achieved could help with an invasion of Taiwan. Losing so many of its military leaders due to corruption may interrupt that progress.

Other important weaknesses noted in the report include the quality of commanding officers, urban warfare and logistics — all surely key in any attack on Taiwan, separated from the mainland by 100 miles of rough seas.

These notwithstanding, Xi has made it a hallmark of his time in office to continue China’s pursuit of a “world-class” military by the middle of this century. In 2024, the Pentagon estimated, Beijing spent between $330 and $450 billion on its armed forces, a number hard to track because of the closed nature of China’s government.

In the last year alone, China also added around 100 operational nuclear warheads, reaching 600 by mid-2024, according to the report. American officials have tracked the rapid growth in Beijing’s arsenal for the last few years and have been frustrated by what they say is an unwillingness to discuss the motives behind the buildup in their discussions with the PLA.

“They’ve often stated with us that they continue to maintain their nuclear force at the level that’s required for their national security needs. Our response to them has been that they must judge that their national security requirements have changed,” the official said.

The annual China Military Power Report is America’s most detailed public assessment of its main competitor and this year’s report marks the last during Joe Biden’s presidency. President-elect Donald Trump has filled his incoming National Security Council and State Department with China hawks, though his return to the White House also brings uncertainty, as captured in his invitation for Xi to attend the Jan. 20 inauguration.

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

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12/18/2024
Slovakia buys Black Hawk helicopters, leaving Vipers up for grabs

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WARSAW, Poland — After months of pondering, Slovakia has decided to purchase 12 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters for its military, according to Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák. The move could encourage Ukraine to intensify its lobbying in Washington as Kyiv seeks the 12 AH-1Z Viper helos that Bratislava rejected.

The Black Hawk offer, comprising second-hand modernized copters, was submitted by Ace Aeronautics which is part of the Helicopter Alliance group, local daily Denník N reported. The group is controlled by Czech entrepreneur Jaroslav Strnad, the founder and former owner of local defense group Czechoslovak Group. The holding is currently owned by the founder’s son Michal Strnad, and operates a number of production facilities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Black Hawks were recently offered to Bratislava for around €150 million ($158 million) without weapons, compared with the Vipers’ revised price which exceeded €550 million, according to the minister. The Black Hawk is manufactured by Lockheed Martin’s subsidiary Sikorsky, and the Viper is produced by Bell.

In July 2024, the U.S. State Department authorized a tentative foreign military sale of 12 Vipers to Slovakia for an estimated $600 million. This represented a sizable increase compared with the initial $340 million price tag pitched to the previous Slovak cabinet. That discount resulted from the fact that a deal with Pakistan, the initially envisioned recipient of the copters, had fallen through.

Slovakia’s previous government was offered discounted Vipers under the country’s attack helicopter program, but the government that took over power in October 2023 has long hesitated over the purchase.

A senior industry official close to the talks told Defense News that Ukrainian decision-makers requested the Vipers from Washington some 20 months ago, and the latest decision is likely to further intensify Kyiv’s lobbying activities to secure the aircraft.

“They’d have been flying them by now,” the official said in a reference to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The Slovak military has a fleet of nine UH-60 Black Hawks.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

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12/18/2024
Ursa Major tests long-range rocket motor for Army as firm eyes growth

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Raytheon and growing propulsion firm Ursa Major on Wednesday announced they have conducted successful missile flight tests with a long-range solid rocket motor for the Army.

In a briefing with reporters Tuesday, Ursa Major CEO Dan Jablonsky said his company has so far twice flown this motor with Raytheon, an RTX company, at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.

The tests of Ursa Major’s motor — and the rapid pace at which it was developed — show that the nine-year-old company is taking an increasingly prominent role in the military’s propulsion sector, Jablonsky said.

“In this particular program, we went from concept and design to firing and flight on the range in just under four months, which is lightning fast … for solid rocket motors,” Jablonsky said. “Using our additive manufacturing techniques, … agile manufacturing systems and using the expertise and know-how that we’ve developed as propulsion engineers, we were able to work with Raytheon in a very, very quick time frame.”

Since starting its solid rocket motor program 14 months ago, Ursa Major has grown it to more than 40 people, Jablonsky said. Its manufacturing process cell is producing its own energetics on site to power the motors and has developed several configurations for programs including the Navy’s Standard Missile platform.

These tests show Ursa Major’s agile manufacturing techniques work, Jablonsky said, and that the company can field a system that could be used in several programs.

“Part of it was not just proving that we could do this once in this configuration, with gear that’s not adaptable to other sets, but the same manufacturing cells that were used to configure and build these can be used for other types of rounds as well,” Jablonsky said.

Ursa Major plans to next conduct more tests of this motor, including with an extended-range version, in 2025, according to Jablonsky. The system is expected to be qualified in 2026.

Jablonsky said he could not identify the Raytheon program its motor flew on, but said it has a diameter of less than 10 inches and a range of less than 1,000 kilometers.

Ursa Major wants its work on this program to prove it can scale up its ability to produce solid rocket motors to industrial level and help meet U.S. defense needs, Jablonsky said.

RTX was one of several firms that invested in Ursa Major in 2023 to help the company further develop its solid rocket motor program and expand its production capabilities.

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

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12/18/2024
Trilateral joint venture to manage GCAP warplane work from London

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ROME — The British, Japanese and Italian firms partnered on the sixth-generation Global Combat Air Programme fighter announced on Friday the launch of a joint venture dedicated to the program which will be headquartered in London, have an Italian CEO and be up and running by mid-2025.

BAE Systems, Italy’s Leonardo and Japan’s JAIEC will each have a third share of the design and construction of the new fighter, which is expected to operate with drones and be in service by 2035.

JAIEC is a firm jointly funded by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies.

Basing the firm in the UK will ensure “maximum alignment and collaboration” with the UK-based GCAP International Government Organisation (GIGO) which teams the three government customers on the program.

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“The new joint venture will be accountable for the design, development and delivery of the next generation combat aircraft and will remain the design authority for GCAP for the life of the product, which is expected to go out beyond 2070,” the joint venture’s founders said in a statement.

At a signing in London, Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani said, “Peace must be defended and defending peace has a cost, that’s why synergies among governments and companies are fundamental, nobody can make it on its own … and (the GCAP) is a terrific example.”

BAE Systems Chief Executive Charles Woodburn said the deal was “a culmination of many months working together with our industry partners,” while Kimito Nakae, President of JAIEC said, “As we now embark upon the exciting and important journey towards the success of GCAP, I acknowledge that the way might not always be simple and straightforward.”

But he added, “I believe that through continuing the strong spirit of trilateral cooperation and collaboration that we have fostered up to this point, we will not only deliver the GCAP on time but also at a level that exceeds all of our expectations.”

BAE managing director Herman Claesen said the new joint venture would be open to new entrants like Saudi Arabia, which has shown interest in the program.

“The door is open to other partners to join, and that includes Saudi Arabia, but ultimately it is the call of the three governments,” he said.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

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12/13/2024
Army, Navy conduct key hypersonic missile test

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The Army and Navy on Thursday completed a successful all-up round test of the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, potentially paving the way for the services to begin fielding the long-awaited system.

The glide body was developed jointly between the two services. The Army plans to integrate its version of the system, the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, into a mobile ground platform. The Navy will integrate its version, dubbed Conventional Prompt Strike, into a ship-launched capability.

“This test builds on several flight tests in which the Common Hypersonic Glide Body achieved hypersonic speed at target distances and demonstrates that we can put this capability in the hands of the warfighter,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in a Pentagon statement.

The launch took place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Defense Department did not offer further details about the event, which represents the glide body’s second successful all-up round test this year.

Hypersonic systems can fly and maneuver at five times the speed of sound — and the Pentagon has been trying to field them for decades. The Army had planned to make a LRHW fielding decision by the end of fiscal 2023, but delayed that milestone after several aborted tests last year. The service now plans to make a fielding decision next year.

Doug Bush, the Army’s acquisition executive, told reporters this earlier this year that the all-up round test is critical to making sure the system is “safe and effective” and ready to field.

The Navy, meanwhile, plans to start fielding Conventional Prompt Strike on its Zumwalt-class destroyer in FY25 and its Virginia-class submarine in FY29.

Leidos is the prime contractor for the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, and Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for both LRHW and the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike program.

Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.

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12/13/2024
British troops test laser weapon as cheap option to fry drones

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PARIS — British Army troops fired a high-energy laser from an armored vehicle for the first time, using beams of infrared light to destroy dozens of flying drones, in what may be a cost-effective way to address the threat of unmanned aerial systems, the Ministry of Defence said.

Soldiers from the U.K.’s 16th Regiment Royal Artillery, which specializes in providing air defense for ground troops, used the laser mounted on a Wolfhound armored personnel carrier to destroy drones at a variety of distances and speeds, the MoD said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ubiquity of drones over the battlefield in Ukraine, where infantry typically operates under a constant buzz of multiple UAVs overhead, has Western armies racing to find countermeasures. The U.S. Army in September tested laser-equipped Stryker combat vehicles to destroy drones, while France deployed a vehicle-mounted prototype anti-drone laser during the Paris Olympic Games.

“This is still an emerging technology, but the world has changed and we are seeing more use of drones in the battlespace,” said Stephen Waller, directed-energy weapons team leader at the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Support organization, or DE&S. “This requires a more cost-effective solution to protect our troops.”

Ukrainian troops are using thousands of drones every week, including first-person view drones that can cost as little as a few hundred dollars apiece but can be lethal when packed with explosives, while small commercial quadcopters costing a few thousand dollars are used for scouting and adjusting artillery.

The “virtually limitless” ammo supply of laser weapons could make them more cost-efficient than some alternatives, the MoD said. This year’s Eurosatory defense show in Paris featured counter-UAS measures ranging from cannons with airburst munitions to net-firing drones, rockets packed with metal balls, jammers and spoofers.

The British Army’s experimental laser weapon uses advanced sensors and tracking systems to maintain lock on target, according to the MoD, which has said the setup is fully portable and easy to operate. As part of its Land Laser Directed Energy Weapon Demonstrator program the ministry in July tested the laser on enemy drones at distances of more than 1 kilometer at its testing range in Porton Down.

“Having the capability to track and eliminate moving drones will give U.K. troops a better operational advantage and these successful trials have demonstrated that we are well on our way to achieving this,” Waller said.

The MoD will now assess the steps needed to develop laser weapons for future frontline use by the British Army, the ministry statement said.

The 16th Regiment Royal Artillery tested the laser, developed in cooperation between the Ministry of Defence and an industry consortium led by Raytheon UK, at Radnor Range in central Wales. The weapon is being developed under a £16.8 million (US$21.4 million) contract from the British government.

In the live test, the soldiers destroyed dozens of quadcopter drones within the constraints of the Radnor range, the MoD told Defense News, without providing details. Radnor, situated in a steep valley, features a 5-kilometer-long testing range for 40mm cannons and aerial countermeasures.

Every engagement using the laser weapon removed a drone from the sky, and what was notable was “how quick a drone can be taken out,” Warrant Officer Matthew Anderson, trials manager for the Army’s mounted close combat trials and development group, said in the statement.

The U.K. is working on other laser weapons, and earlier this year fired the DragonFire laser weapon against aerial targets for the first time. That weapon is being developed within a £100 million program with industry partners MBDA, Leonardo and QinetiQ, and the ministry said the technologies employed between the two weapon systems differ.

Firing the DragonFire laser typically costs less than £10 a shot, with both the Army and the Royal Navy considering the technology for future air defense, according to the MoD.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

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12/11/2024
MDA conducts first-ever ballistic missile intercept test from Guam

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The Missile Defense Agency intercepted an incoming ballistic missile threat target in a test from Guam, according to a Tuesday agency announcement.

The test is the “first ballistic missile defense event executed from Guam,” the statement notes.

As the Pentagon works to build an integrated air and missile defense architecture on Guam, this is the first test of a portion of the future capability designed to protect the key strategic island from emerging and evolving threats.

“Within the context of homeland defense, a top priority for the Department of Defense, Guam is also a strategic location for sustaining and maintaining United States military presence, deterring adversaries, responding to crises, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” the statement says.

In the test, an Aegis Guam System with an AN/TPY-6 radar and Vertical Launching System fired a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptor, which then took out an air-launched Medium Range Ballistic Missile target flying off the coast of Andersen Air Force Base, according to the statement.

The AN/TPY-6 radar, a new MDA system designed specifically for the Guam architecture and delivered there earlier this year, tracked the target from shortly after launch to the intercept, the statement says.

The new radar uses technology from MDA’s Long-Range Discrimination Radar positioned in Alaska at Clear Space Force Station, which will have its own test next year ahead of declaring operational capability.

“This is a tremendous group effort and provides a glimpse of how organizations within the Department of Defense have come together to defend our homeland Guam now and in the future,” Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, MDA director, said in the statement. “Collectively, we will use this to build upon and validate joint tracking architecture and integrated air and missile defense capabilities for Guam.”

The test data will feed into continued concept development, requirements validation and modeling for the future Guam Defense System, or GDS, the statement adds.

GDS will be built using a variety of components from the services. The U.S. Army was assigned in 2023 to lead the acquisition and execution plan for the Guam architecture, and the service’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office lead – a three-star general – was appointed to stand up a joint team for seeing it through.

MDA’s role now is focused primarily on developing the means to tie all the systems together that will be part of the GDS architecture.

The agency is establishing a combined command center on the island that will host all of the “major command and control systems in the missile defense business,” Collins said in an interview with Defense News this summer. Component include the Army’s Integrated Battle Command System, the Navy’s Aegis weapon system and the Aegis ground system being built for Guam, the Air Force’s C2 system and the agency’s Command Control Battle Management and Communications system, known as C2BMC.

“The next big efforts for the defense of Guam will need to encompass the simultaneous engagement of all manner of air and missile threats, and figure out a method of battle management that can do all of that in the most efficient and effective way possible,” Tom Karako, a missile defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Defense News. “The threat has voted and that need is undeniable.”

The architecture also relies on a variety of systems still in development, mostly within the Army. The Navy will provide technology and capability from its Aegis weapon system. The land service plans to bring currently fielded capability like the Patriot system and its IBCS that connects any sensor and shooter together on the battlefield, as well as Mid-Range Capability missile launchers, which were first fielded at the end of last year.

The Army will also incorporate Patriot’s radar replacement, the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, and its Indirect Fire Protection Capability launchers currently in prototype testing and evaluation.

While the test represents a step forward, over the next year or so, the island “will look like it pretty much looks today,” Collins told Defense News. “Our first construction money to start building on the island is ‘25 so we will, by the end of ‘25, we will have begun some military construction on some of the sites.”

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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12/10/2024