US deploys 2 B-2 bombers to Europe for exercises

By Agence France-Presse on Wednesday, June 11th, 2014

The US Air Force has deployed two nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers to a British air base for exercises with NATO allies, the Pentagon said Monday.

The deployment, which the Pentagon said was preplanned and short-term, comes against a backdrop of tension with Russia over unrest in Ukraine.

“It certainly is yet another demonstration of America’s ironclad commitment to the NATO alliance,” said Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.

US military deployments have increased in recent weeks as Washington seeks to reassure Eastern European allies worried about Moscow’s moves in the region.

The two B-2 bombers arrived Sunday at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England, where they joined three other B-52 strategic bombers that got there on June 4.

“These multi-role heavy bombers will conduct training flights in the US Eucom area of operation, providing opportunities for the air crews to sharpen their skills and increase interoperability,” Warren said.

Overseas deployments of the B-2 are rare, as the United States jealously guards the costly aircraft’s secrets. There are only 20 B-2s in existence.

A B-2 bomber overflew South Korea last year during an exercise amid tensions with the North.

Based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the B-2 were designed to penetrate the world’s most formidable air defenses and drop dozens of precision, conventional or nuclear bombs.

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US Announces More Exercises with East European Allies, Partners

The United States has begun a new military exercise with Estonia amid no indication of a Russian troop pullback from its border with Ukraine.

Pentagon Spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren announced today that Exercise Spring Storm began earlier this week. At the same time, he said there has been no change in the Russian posture along the country’s border with Ukraine, despite statements yesterday by President Vladimir Putin that Russian forces would pull back from the area.

Spring Storm is the latest exercise announced by the Pentagon since Russia annexed Crimea in March and is aimed at reassuring the region of NATO’s resolve. Warren called the exercise with the NATO ally “the first of three annual, multinational and bilateral exercises that will occur in the Baltic region,” with U.S. Special operations forces training with their Estonian counterparts.

Two more bilateral special operations exercises — Flaming Sword and Namejs — will be held over the next two months. More information about these exercises will become available later, Warren said.

There are 41 personnel participating in Exercise Spring Storm, officials said. Exercise Flaming Sword will involve 140 personnel.

U.S. special operations forces will also participate in a number of joint, combined exchange training events in five countries throughout the Baltic republics and Eastern Europe through the next two months. Eight countries are participating in this training — Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United States.

The exchanges give American special operators valuable experience in the language and culture of the region and provide opportunity to hone their tactical skills with NATO allies, Warren said.

In the Black Sea, the USS Taylor, an Oliver Hazard-class destroyer, is visiting the Georgian port of Batumi today.

“While in Georgia, Taylor will conduct training with the Georgian coast guard,” Warren said.

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Komodo 2014 Naval Exercises Prove Beneficial for Russia

The 2014 Komodo multilateral naval exercises of 17 countries that are drawing to a close in Indonesian waters have been very useful to Russia, Mikhail Galuzin, the country’s envoy to Indonesia told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

“The exercise not only allowed Russia to practice cooperation with other participants but, just as important, contributed to a better mutual understanding between sailors from different countries,” Galuzin said.

Russia brought the largest squadron of naval ships to the exercises, including the Marshal Shaposhnikov, Irkut tanker and Alatau service ship.

“This indicates Russia’s particular interest in questions concerning the development of multilateral cooperation in the Pacific Rim, aimed at the promotion of security and stability in the region,” Galuzin said.

Other participants in the joint exercises include Australia, Brunei, Vietnam, India, Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea and Japan.

The excercises part of Komodo 2014 simulate disaster-relief maneuvers. They mark the first time all major Asia-Pacific countries have gathered together in an effort to enhance cooperation. The exercise kicked off in Indonesia on March 28 and will last until April 3.

Ships from the 17 countries took part in search and rescue operations, practiced first aid measures and the evacuation of people from disaster areas.

The Komodo 2014 closing ceremony is due to take place on Natuna Island on Thursday.

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Egypt’s Sisi in UAE for joint military exercises

By Agence France-Presse on Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

Egyptian military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates, a strong supporter of his July ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Field Marshal Sisi, who is Egypt’s defence minister and deputy premier, traveled to the UAE to attend the closure of joint military exercises there. He was met by UAE deputy army chief Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

The two men noted the “fraternal and solid relations linking the two countries and their peoples,” and their wish to “consolidate bilateral cooperation,” the WAM news agency reported, without giving details on Sisi’s plans or the length of his stay.

The Emirates have given Egypt $4.9 billion in financial aid since Morsi’s ouster, as well as deposited $2 billion in the Egyptian central bank, interest free.

Last week, the UAE joined Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in recalling their ambassadors from fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member Qatar over its support for Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.

As a sign of support for the military-installed government in Cairo, the UAE’s Arabtec contractor signed a memorandum of understanding Sunday to develop a $40 billion project to build one million housing units in Egypt.

The signing came ahead of an expected announcement by Sisi that he will run in elections to replace Morsi, a vote he is widely expected to win.

Sisi has emerged as the most popular political figure in Egypt following Morsi’s troubled year-long rule, with many viewing him as a strong leader who can restore stability after three years of unrest unleashed by the 2011 revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

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Russian Navy conducts training exercises

By Xinhua on Tuesday, March 4th, 2014

As Russian President Vladimir Putin moves to extend Russia’s military presence in eastern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula amid civil unrest in the region, more than 3,500 Russian naval infantry and coastal forces from the Western and Central Military Districts took part in unscheduled tactical exercises Monday in the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

Captain Vladimir Matveev, spokesperson for Russia’s Baltic Fleet, confirmed that the exercises, involving more than 450 military units, would prepare soldiers for “offensive and defensive combat in a context of enemy signal jamming, air strikes and artillery fire.”

Matveev also stressed that the exercises were being conducted in a setting “as close as possible to that of actual combat,” with deployment of live weaponry and the full range of available military vehicles and communications technology. The military units will “hone their skills with standard weapons and military equipment and test their battlefield mobility,” Matveev said.

The large-scale exercises come as Russia intensifies its diplomatic and military involvement in the ongoing civil conflict in neighboring Ukraine. While Western powers have threatened Russia with a range of economic and diplomatic sanctions including suspension from membership of the G8 bloc, if it continues with its current posture, Russia has defended its right to secure its own borders and to protect the predominantly Russian-speaking and ethnically Russian populations of eastern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula.

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Iran navy launches 6-day massive exercises

By Xinhua on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

Iranian Navy launched a 6-day massive drill in its southern waters on Friday, local satellite Press TV reported. The naval drills, dubbed Velayat 91, or Guardianship 91, are being carried out in the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman, north of the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said Friday.

He said Velayat 91 drill is aimed to display Iran’s capabilities to defend its water borders and interests, establish durable security in the region, and convey a message of peace and friendship to neighboring countries.

The maneuver also sends a message to enemies that Iran will seriously defends its vital interests in all areas, in particular in international waters, Sayyari added.

He said the maneuver seeks to boost the navy’s tactical and operational capabilities, adding that the navy’s 23rd fleet, comprised of Busheher warship and Jamaran destroyer, will escort Iran’s merchant vessels and oil tankers as part of the navy’s mission to fight piracy.

On Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) launched a 4-day naval exercise, code-named Fajr-91 (Dawn- 91), in the area of South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, aiming at evaluating the defense capabilities of the troops stationed in the region against potential threats.

Over the past few years, Iran has held several military drills to enhance the defensive capabilities of its armed forces and to test modern military tactics and equipment.

On Dec. 24, 2011, Iran held the 10-day Velayat 90 naval drill in its southern waters, including the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, aiming at demonstrating the combat readiness and ability of the country’s naval forces to defend its territorial waters.

Iran has test-fired long and short-range missiles during the military drill in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s submarines also hit pre-determined targets during the exercises, using domestically- manufactured torpedoes.

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Communication exercises in full swing as Army preps for its next large-scale network test

By Army News Service on Thursday, October 4th, 2012

In preparation for the Army’s Network Integration Evaluation 13.1, the System of Systems Integration Directorate, with support from the Army Test and Evaluation Command, the Brigade Modernization Command and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, kicked off a four-week-long network validation exercise, last month.

Designed to “load” the network throughout the brigade and set the stage for developers and brigade staff to validate its functionality, each week-long portion of the network validation exercise, known VALEX, incorporates an increased number of systems and Soldiers from the previous week, and greater evaluation intensity.

“During VALEX, we stand up every node and every vehicle in order to do a connectivity check,” said Col. Gail Washington, Project Manager Current, System of Systems Integration Directorate, or SoSI. “We’re doing a lot of integration work, along with shooting satellite signals to Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Gordon, which is the regional hub. We’re also running validation threads which will allow us to pass position location information, calls for fire, send an email and various other communication tasks.”

Three hundred sixty-one vehicles including mine-resistant, ambush-protected all-terrain vehicle, or M-ATV, variants, Bradleys, Strykers, Abrams Tanks, Scout vehicles, Humvees and Light Weight Tactical Vehicles have been integrated for NIE 13.1. “We have touched every type of vehicle that’s in the Army inventory for this iteration,” said Washington.

During the Planning Phase of VALEX, network requirements were defined and designed using Information Exchange Requirements prioritized by Department of the Army objectives, TRADOC capability gaps and system objectives. During the Preparation Phase known as LOADEX, or loading exercise, the systems underwent various hardware and software integration.

“The whole intent of VALEX is to make sure the pieces are communicating,” said Alex Gonzales, 1st Battalion, 35th Armored Regiment trail boss. “The end state for us is to hand off a 100 percent integrated network to the brigade combat team so that every piece of equipment is communicating with platoon, company and battalion, all the way up to the brigade level. We’re testing radios at the platoon level to ensure everyone at the platoon level is talking and knows each other’s position location at the dismount level through the use of handheld radios and up so the people in the vehicles are able to see where all their Soldiers are on the battlefield.”

Gonzales is one of seven “trail bosses” selected to support NIE 13.1. The trail bosses are a group of Army Acquisition Officers who serve as a link between 2/1 AD and the acquisition, training and test communities. They develop and lead a team of engineering, logistics, test, information assurance, resource management and combat development personnel responsible for management of planning, synchronizing and integrating multiple systems under test and evaluation into units participating in the NIEs.

The trail boss role is critical to the NIE process because these officers provide subject matter expertise and advice to their supported unit on the integration, issue, training, operation, maintenance and employment of the systems being evaluated in the NIEs.

In the Execution Phase, 2/1 AD will operate the network with all systems configured and tested at the individual system level. These tests will be conducted during the Brigade’s Garrison COMMEX, or communication exercise, and will be scheduled as independent company, battalion headquarters and brigade headquarters events.

“We’re loading roughly 1,800 systems during VALEX,” said Lt. Col. Keith Taylor, with Product Manager Capability Package Integration, SoSI and 2/1 AD trail boss. “The integration work is intense. Everyone thinks about the major systems involved in each NIE, but they don’t realize we have to install, integrate and validate every radio on every system undergoing test and evaluation prior to the evaluation.”

To complete this integration, approximately 600 cables have been produced and recorded, totaling roughly 1.2 miles of cabling with various connectors on both ends. Many of the cables used for NIE 12.2 are being reused for NIE 13.1.

Following the integration work, the network will be handed over to the unit for a Garrison COMMEX.

“During Garrison COMMEX, the first week in October, we’re going to turn everything off and then the unit will bring it back up to make sure the network is functional and running as it should,” said Washington. “The Soldiers will run various tests on the systems under evaluation and systems under test and if they find a problem, they are issued a trouble ticket and a Field Service Representative is dispatched to help trouble shoot the problem. This ensures these bugs are worked out prior to taking the systems out to the field during the NIE.”

As was done for the previous NIEs, Army engineers are conducting significant up-front integration at Fort Bliss, Texas in order to decrease the integration burden on 2/1 AD Soldiers during 13.1 operations at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

The four-week-long NIE will begin mid-October and will be conducted by the 3,800 Soldiers of 2/1 AD. NIE 13.1 will conduct several program tests for record, additional tests for record from distributed sites, and less formally evaluate more than 20 industry and government capabilities. NIE 13.1 will help establish an early look at the Capability Set 14 network baseline, building upon the CS 13 network architecture that was validated during NIE 12.2 in May and June 2012.

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Inputs Into Army Exercises Increase Command Awareness Of Cyber Threat

By Army News Service on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

An increased focus on training and leader development can help commanders at all levels better understand the threat to America posed by adversaries in the cyber domain, said the commander of Army Cyber Command, during the Aug. 16 Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association TechNet Land Forces East conference in Baltimore.

“There is still more that can be done that causes leaders at all levels to understand and appreciate what it is going to take to operate and be able to conduct operations in land and cyber,” said Lt. Gen. Rhett Hernandez, commander of ARCYBER. “I put a lot of energy into our exercise program.”

Hernandez said ARCYBER has already participated in three brigade combat team-level training rotations at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., and is working now to expand opportunities where commanders can really see the impact that the cyber threat has on operations. Included in that effort is expansion to the Joint Readiness Training Center level and also into Europe at the Combat Maneuver Training Center

“Once commanders are allowed to see and understand what it takes to plan for and integrate, and we unleash a world-class cyber [opposing force] on them, they now have the ability to recognize what they have to protect, what they can take risk in, and where we might have gaps in our training, or in our capabilities,” Hernandez said. “That will improve our ability to conduct operations at those levels.”

Hernandez said that commanders who operate “all the way to the tactical edge” must learn the importance of the network, and the impact that threats to the network have on land operations

“Every day at the tactical edge there is an absolute requirement to conduct operations that ensure that you are defending your network so you maintain the freedom to operate,” Hernandez said. “That’s not going to go away. What I believe will happen over time is we will have more convergence. We will train more as one team, and we will be able to bring cyberspace operations effects at all echelons, through all three lines of operations.”

Those lines of operations, Hernandez said, include “operate, defend, and when directed, conduct offensive operations.”

SOCIAL MEDIA PREVENTS, SHAPES, WINS

Mirroring the words of the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Ray Odierno, Hernandez presented to AFCEA conference attendees the roles of ARCYBER, in the cyber domain, in terms of the three roles that the chief has spelled out for the Army: prevent, shape and win.

Hernandez said that the network, mobile networks and the social media networks have the ability to both shape the battle space and to prevent conflict in the first place, and that commanders must come to understand the influence of those networks on operations.

“It is the social media that we all have a lot of work to do, and understand and appreciate it, because it is key to not only preventing but also shaping,” Hernandez said. “We have seen from activities from around the world, particularly with the ‘Arab Spring,’ that it plays a significant role in winning.”

The general said the Army has “a lot of work to do” in determining how to include social media as an operational issue and not just as a public affairs issue, and must determine what needs to be done to “prepare ourselves for that social media environment that will be a part of, I believe, any future contests.”

SECURING RESOURCES FOR CYBER

With budget cuts on every Army commander’s mind, Hernandez said the Army must be smart in how it prioritizes the threat in the cyber domain, and how it allocates limited funding to combat those threats.

“What’s on us is to ensure that we clearly articulate the most significant gaps and the requirements that need to be addressed — are prioritized in a way that give us the biggest effect for the least amount of cost,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez said that DOD’s plans for the “Joint Information Environment,” which includes consolidated data centers, consolidated operations and management of network infrastructure, consolidated end-user services like e-mail, migration to cloud services, and standardization of hardware and software platform, are essential. Until the Joint Information Environment comes to fruition, he said the Army must focus on the essentials.

“Absolutely essential to this is our ability to bridge the gap between now and then with only those things we have to absolutely invest in to mitigate the most significant vulnerabilities and risk to the network,” Hernandez said.

Additionally, he said, the Army must remain focused on research and development to stay abreast of rapidly changing technologies.

The Army, he said must “remain committed to identifying and articulating the most significant science and technology requirements we need for the future, so that they are not surprises, but we are ahead of the threat and we are investing in the right R&D capability that will be there before we need it and not too late.”

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US, South Korean and Japanese Naval Exercises Announced

By US Department of Defense on Friday, June 15th, 2012

The United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan will conduct a two-day, trilateral naval exercise June 21 – 22 in the waters south of the Korean peninsula.

The exercise will focus on improving interoperability and communications with the ROK Navy and the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force, which can facilitate cooperative disaster relief and maritime security activities in the future. The three navies will conduct this exercise beyond the territorial waters of any coastal nation.

The United States will then conduct a routine carrier operation with the ROK Navy in the Yellow Sea immediately after the trilateral exercise June 23 – 25.

The George Washington Carrier Strike Group will make a port call in Busan, South Korea, after completing the two exercises.

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Australian Navy Completes Maritime Exercises with China

The Royal Australian Navy has completed a maritime exercise with the Chinese Navy as part of a highly successful visit to the People’s Republic of China.

Australia is committed to further developing strong and positive defence relations with China through dialogue and practical activities.

The Passage Exercise (PASSEX) was conducted between HMAS Ballarat and the Chinese Navy frigate Anqing at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

The exercise was part of Ballarat’s five day visit to Shanghai, where the ship helped mark 40 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and the People’s Republic of China.

The PASSEX scenario was constructed around a radio call from a stricken merchant vessel located to the East of the Yangtze Estuary. Both vessels closed the last known position at best speed and prepared to render assistance. Upon arrival, a man overboard exercise was initiated by Anqing, with Ballarat launching her Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) to conduct a search of the area. The RHIB then performed a recovery operation before returning a casualty to Anqing for further care.

As the exercise drew to an end, HMAS Ballarat’s Commanding Officer Jonathan Earley sent a signal to the Anqing:

“Our exercise today contributed significantly in deepening our mutual respect and trust of each other’s capabilities at sea and has further strengthened our bilateral relationship in many ways,” Commander Earley said.

“We look forward to conducting more maritime engagement activities with the PLA(N) in the near future.”

Ballarat is currently on a North East Asian Deployment with further bilateral exercises planned with the Republic of Korea, Japan and the United States prior to returning to Sydney in late June.

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