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FORBIN said:

More, details about exercise with F-15E also !

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For science fiction aficionados, a laser-firing starship or jet fighter is but another day at the office. Literally thousands of books and films feature this futuristic tech as a facet of its battlefields, but would you ever expect the likes of the United States Air Force to include it in its arsenal? Well just this week, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) announced it’s developing a working laser weapon that it plans on strapping to an F-15 by as soon as 2020. Less science fiction and more science fact, armed forces may soon see a monumental shift in the way they engage in warfare in just five short years.

While arming an F-15 fighter jet with a laser weapon is as revolutionary as anything coming out of the military lately, the capability of using such a technology isn’t entirely unheard of.

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, the Air Force strapped a prototype attack laser to a 747-400 freighter aircraft (

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) after decades of development and ground testing. By 2007, the YAL-1 successfully fired a low-powered laser at an airborne object, then intercepted a test target in 2010 utilizing a high-powered laser.

The thing is, it’s much easier to equip a large aircraft with a laser weapon than to strap one onto a wee little fighter jet. According to AFRL chief engineer Kelly Hammett, the primary hurdle lies with developing a laser small, accurate, and powerful enough for a jet while avoiding the g-force and vibration interference caused by supersonic speeds. Furthermore, Hammett believes this obstacle is but a temporary hindrance, going so far as to say the problem will be solved within five years.

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Pentagon war planners have focused a great deal over the past 18 months on how the U.S. will fight on a battlefield of smart weapons and intelligent defense systems — with an emphasis on attacking from a distance.

But in the end, it will still be soldiers and Marines on the ground moving in to seize and hold an objective, and these troops are likely to face the threat of precision-guided munitions.

“I’ll be the first to admit that we have not spent as much time on studying the last tactical mile as we have breaking into a theater and then operating in a more general sense,” Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work told a National Security Forum held Monday in Washington, D.C. The event was organized in part by the Center for New American Security.

The Pentagon study is related to the Long-Range Research and Development Planning Program, a strategy to exploit technology and new battle concepts to give the U.S. military a demonstrated edge in any potential conflict, Work said.

And people — service members — are central to the effort, he said.

Pentagon officials are consulting with Army and Marine Corps leaders, including Gen. David Perkins, the commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, “and as far as keeping humans completely central in our thinking, we’re totally aligned there,” Work said.

“You’ll see advances in electronic warfare systems along the FLOT,” he said, referring to the forward line of troops.

Work said the problem posed to advancing ground forces by precision-guided munitions is one the U.S. had to counter during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union’s development of nuclear weapons forced the Army to consider its combat deployment of ground troops on the battlefield.

“We’ve been here before, in the 1950s,” he said. “The Army completely reorganizes its divisional structure — going from its wartime triangular formation to … five battle groups, because they dispersed on the battlefield to avoid an atomic attack … re-aggregate to achieve effects, and then they would disperse again.”

In a triangular formation, each division controlled three regiments, with no brigade echelon. A battle group included five rifle companies, a support company and artillery and service units. They were designed to be self-sustaining, and trained to fight alone or as a combined force.

Work said the Army kept the battle group concept for five years but found it did not work. The technology for dispersing, reforming and dispersing during a combat situation was not there, he said, and so in 1961 the Army returned to its triangular structure.

“You have the same problem with guided munitions. You have to dis-aggregate to keep from getting smashed and you have to re-aggregate … to achieve affects,” he said. “So the next part of the LRRDPP is looking at this problem right now, and we will have a strategic portfolio review that [covers] this specifically.

Work said he intends to have a program with various options or solutions set up in time for the next administration to review.

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Brumby said:

I don't believe the personal e-mail practice is a sole Hillary domain but from reports is pervasive across the Obama administration personnel. I think it is an attitude thing that somehow they can disregard the law, probably a tone set by the POTUS.

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Ballistic missile submarines will once again make port calls in foreign countries, after more than a decade of boomer crews deploying without the possibility of mid-patrol liberty.

The Associated Press reported on Monday that USS Wyoming (SSBN-742) recently stopped in Faslane, Scotland, marking the first of what will become “occasional visits to foreign ports.”

Foreign visits by the boomer fleet, which carry nuclear-tipped weapons, were halted in 2003 in part due to post- Sept. 11 security concerns. Whereas attack submarines, which are smaller and carry only conventional weapons, may stop several times during a deployment in places like the Philippines, Diego Garcia and South Korea, the ballistic missile submarines surface rarely and may stop only at U.S. naval facilities around the world.

Retired Vice Adm. Michael Connor, who served as commander of Submarine Forces from September 2012 until September 2015, told the AP that the change was meant to both provide an opportunity to experience what the rest of the Navy fleet gets to do – see the world and interact with foreign counterparts – and emphasize the global presence of the boomer force.

“The fact that a port visit is a possibility, even if it can’t be delivered on every patrol, that is a big deal to the sailors. I know it was a big deal to me,” Connor told the AP.
“It’s a huge motivator. It’s a reason people want to be in the Navy. It’s a reason people want to be up to date on their qualifications so they’re allowed to go ashore and take this time.”

Connor told the AP that port visits stopped in 2003 after the Navy decided these important boats – one leg of the nation’s nuclear triad – could not assume any undue risk. Navy Cmdr. Tommy Crosby, spokesman for SUBFOR, told the AP that there were also fewer opportunities to do so, regardless of security concerns, as the fleet dropped from 18 boats to 14.

Crosby also told the AP that the primary reason for the Scotland visit was “to strengthen cooperation and interoperability between the U.S. and the U.K. and to demonstrate our capability, flexibility and continued commitment to our allies.”

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Jura said:

I wouldn't have thought it possible

Ballistic Missile Submarines Resume Making Foreign Port Calls After 12-Year Hiatus

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Marines will get more lethal, reliable SMAW in 2016
By Lance M. Bacon, Staff writer5:49 p.m. EST December 22, 2015

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I Marine Expeditionary Force in 2016 will receive 56 new and improved versions of the shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon, or SMAW.

The SMAW MOD 2 replaces the 9mm spotting rifle with a laser designator and thermal boresight. The change will improve accuracy and reliability, and reduce the amount of time the shooter is exposed to enemy fire while zeroing in on the enemy, officials said. The targeting system uses the same tubes, which means it will be compatible with existing munitions, but it is not a retrofit. These will be new weapons.

The SMAW is the assault team’s weapon of choice against fortified positions and light armored vehicles. It can fire 83mm High Explosive, Dual Purpose (HEDP), High Explosive, Anti-Armor (HEAA)and Novel Explosive (SMAW-NE) rockets, plus new or enhanced rounds.

It can effectively hit a 1-by-2-meter target from 250 meters away, and a tank-sized target at 500 meters. Shooters currently use 9mm tracer rounds to acquire the target. In the heat of battle, most grunts and engineers will fire one 9mm round and apply “Kentucky windage” to get the rocket in vicinity of the target. When a direct hit is needed, two or more targeting shots may be required. All the while, the shooter is serving as a pop-up target for unfriendlies, who know exactly where he since tracers work both ways.

No more.

“We made some improvements to help bring that Marine home,” said Masco Settles, product manager for anti-armor systems. The laser designator provides immediate and accurate targeting distance without revealing the shooter’s location. The new SMAW is also 3.5 pounds lighter.

Reliability was another factor in the Corps’ decision, Settles said. The 9mm spotting rifle is more than 30 years old, and failure rates were increasing. This was a complaint of frontline fighters who grew tired of constantly sending the systems back for maintenance; trigger mechanisms were especially problematic. Officials said they expect the improved ballistic sight integration will reduce life-cycle maintenance costs, which is always a benefit for a cash-strapped Marine Corps.

The concept of applying thermal and laser range-finding technologies to the SMAW was first tested in late 2013, when Marines fired 146 rockets through modified SMAWS over an eight-day period. The event validated the concept, and helped to form the technical data package.

The $72 million, five-year contract calls for 1,249 systems, which will effectively replace the existing inventory. Atlantic Diving Supply in Virginia Beach, Virginia, will produce the weapon systems.

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