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NCOs recognized at AUSA meeting
March 3rd, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
The Year of the NCO became part of the official activities at the mid-winter meeting of the Association of the United States Army. Three soldiers were invited on stage Feb. 26 at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., conference and recognized by the senior leadership of the Training and Doctrine Command.
TRADOC Command Sgt. Maj. David Bruner, left, and commander Gen. Martin Dempsey, right, recognized Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Loddick, second from left, Sgt. 1st Class Shateria Rhaming, center, and Staff Sgt. Luisa Ocampo, second from right, as part of Year of the NCO.
Those recognized were Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Loddick, Joint Communications Support Element NCO of the Year and AUSA Suncoast Chapter Tampa NCO of the year; Sgt. 1st Class Shateria Rhaming, Miami Recruiting Battalion NCO of the Year; and, Staff Sgt. Luisa Ocampo, Central Command NCO of the Year.
Army Secretary Pete Geren declared 2009 as Year of the NCO during the annual AUSA meeting in October.
Gaming at Fort Hood – and beyond
February 27th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by John Bray
Let the virtual games begin. Fifty-two laptops loaded with an Army-modified VBS2 have been delivered to Fort Hood. Fort Bragg is getting the game too and by September the game should be at 50 sites around the Army, including Germany and Korea, according to Norm Greczyn of PEO STRI. The plan is for the game to be downloadable off a Web site with an AKO account to make the training tool even more accessible.
Tags: gaming
TRADOC Chief Sees More Electronic Warfare
February 27th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by Kris Osborn
The U.S. Army’s new Training and Doctrine Command leader Gen. Martin Dempsey is focusing on how to bring elements of the service’s new Electronic Warfare doctrine to the fight in Afghanistan. EW efforts have already proven vital to Army efforts to precisely locate and target enemy fighters, he said.
Dempsey is focusing on EW integration as it applies to the unique challenges of the current war in Afghanistan. “What we are trying to become is more versatile. We are trying to integrate things like electronics, signal intelligence and full motion video. You would want a platform able to integrate those things,” said Dempsey. Along these lines, the Army is bringing more electronic capability to Afghanistan in order to help units navigate the countries varied, rigorous terrain. In Afghanistan, soldiers are conducting missions in both desert areas and high-altitude, mountainous regions, Dempsey said. For instance, the Army has begun fielding a high-altitude counter-IED unit Task Force Odin in Afghanistan; more UAVs such as the Army’s Sky Warrior are planned for later this year. The EW manual specifies key areas of electronic attack, including both offensive and defensive activities. “Defensive electronic attack protects friendly personnel and equipment or platforms. Offensive electronic attack denies, disrupts or destroys enemy capabilities,” the EW manual states.
Looking toward the future, Army leaders expect to see EW as a fast evolving area of focus likely to take on new shapes in years to come. “It is probably not wise to think of an end state in terms of collecting intelligence over time,” Dempsey said.
Battery-powered soldiers
February 27th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by Michelle Tan
Every soldier knows and loves his gear. What Joe might not be so fond of are the batteries he has to carry to fuel this gear.
Well, BAE Systems is working on its Integrated Warfighter System, a multi-piece system that includes powered E-SAPI plates capable of powering just about any piece of gear a soldier might carry.
The plates, worn on the front and back like regular E-SAPI plates, are a power and data distribution center, said BAE’s Mike McElroy. And the redesigned vest holds a computer in the back, just below the plate carrier.
Each plate is integrated with a lithium-ion battery that uses thin film technology and is less than three-eighths of an inch thick, McElroy said. The battery is split into four packs across the plate, so if one quadrant of the E-SAPI gets hit, the other three packs continue to provide power, he said.
The battery provides a “unique power supply for the warrior,” said Val Horvatich, director of engineering at BAE, and has enough power for all basic soldier equipment (radios, flashlights, navigation systems, night-vision devices, etc.) for a 72-hour mission. The idea is to give already overloaded soldiers a 10 percent reduction in weight.
“The majority of the equipment right now is powered by standard batteries,” he said. “We want to be able to offer a system that keeps things charged so instead of having to carry 10 batteries for a mission, they only have to carry two.”
The folks at BAE have perfected the battery-powered plates. Now they must figure out how to to channel that power in an efficient way to the user, Horvatich said.
One idea in the works includes what he called E-MOLLE, where the webbing on a vest’s MOLLE contains power and data ports, so all soldiers have to do to recharge their flashlight is to hook it to their vests. Horvatich said the company hopes to have E-MOLLE done by the end of the year.
Another element to the IWS is the modular helmet system.
The IWS helmet begins as a carbon fiber chassis. Soldiers then build the helmet based on what they need for the mission using interlocking pieces that can implement capabilities such as a GPS antenna and night-vision, Horvatich said.
The helmet on display at AUSA, weighing 4 1/2 pounds and modeled by BAE’s Mark Jackson, had a heads up display, a tactical light and thermal imaging device, map-reading waterfall lights and GPS capability.
“We’re trying to develop a concept that allows the warrior to select the right protection for his head,” while still maintaining the ballistics protection provided by a helmet, he said. “It’s got to be a helmet first.”
As cool as all this gear sounds, Horvatich said BAE is about 80 percent into Phase Zero of the three-phase project. However, the powered E-SAPI plates will be available in October, McElroy said.
“We truly believe this is the direction that soldier equipment needs should go,” Horvatich said.
Tags: BAE Systems, E-SAPI, helmet, Integrated Warfighter System
Oshkosh, Plasan Team up for M-ATV
February 27th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by Kris Osborn
Photo by Kris Osborn
Oshkosh and Plasan Sasa armor have teamed up to bid for the Pentagons Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) All Terrain Vehicle which aims to field thousands of ambush-protected vehicles in Afghanistan which are smaller and more mobile than standard MRAPs, company officials said.
The Oshkosh M-ATV draws from elements of the Marine Corps Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) such as its suspension system and frame rails.
“Many things are the same as the MTVR. We had a Marine Colonel who had several of his Marines survived in MTVRs. He wrote us and said he wants to personally come back to the United States and talk to the workers and assembly, production and engineer folks and tell them how special it was to drive in an MTVR in Afghanistan,” said Ken Juergens, Oshkosh JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle) program director.
The M-ATV request for proposal asks for a vehicle which can perform 50-percent of its missions in an off-road environment.
“The biggest thing with this vehicle is its off-road capability. This vehicle has 400,000 miles of government tested miles on it. It is designed for 70-percent off-road mission profiles,” said Juergens.
“It is very robust. You see the film of the vehicle going up and down but inside you are not moving, all of the energy is being dissipated. It there is an explosive event, all of the energy dissipates,” said Juergens.
Plasan Sasa armor company, which has provided armor for a range of vehicles including JLTV, MaxxPro MRAP and MTVR, has added a new lightweight armor solution to the vehicle.
“We used some innovative approaches. We used composite armor to help the OEM meet the required weight,” said Dani Ziv, Plasan armor CEO.
Lockheed Reveals 4th JLTV Prototype
February 26th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by Kris Osborn
Lockheed Martin Photo
Lockheed Martin unveiled its fourth Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) prototype Feb. 25 at the Association of the United States Army Winter 2009 convention in Fort Lauderdale, Fl., revealing a 24,000-pound category “B” troop carrier vehicle engineered to achieve the desired blend of mobility and protection, company officials said.
The Lockheed-BAE team is one of three vendors awarded JLTV technology demonstration contracts from the Army last October.
The vehicle recently completed blast and live-fire testing against small and heavy arms at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md. The testing also included side-slope testing to see how the vehicle handles steep inclines and rugged terrain along with a “drop” test to examine how the vehicle performs when released to the ground from a helicopter on-the-move.
Lockheed is preparing to deliver its first JLTV vehicles to the Army in May of next year.
“It will carry 4,300 pounds of payload. The improved V-hull design allows us to mitigate significant blasts close to MRAP levels of protection,” said Lou DeSantis, vice president of JLTV Systems at Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed based part of its design for the vehicle upon feedback from soldiers returning from war. For instance, “Lockheed switched its designs from a vehicle with six doors to one with four doors based on soldier feedback. “Soldiers have a lot of war stories, and the back seats were tight,” said DeSantis.
Lockheed-BAE also plan to meet the JLTV program’s requirements for on-board and exportable power.
“We have a motor generation system that provides up to 30 kilowatts of exportable power,” DeSantis said.
Simulated gore, real training
February 26th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by John Bray
What are you going to do when there’s an explosion and your suddenly faced with treating someone who’s had their leg severed? Strategic Operations provides what it calls “Hyper-Realistic” training scenarios to put soldiers in the middle of such action so that they’re better prepared if they actually have to respond. The San Diego-based company employs movie special effects, authentic sets, actors who are amputees and other techniques to simulate a wide range of combat zone circumstances. Stu Segall, the company’s president, has been running demonstrations of the training at the outside exhibition area and drawing crowds, which, on Thursday evening included Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, TRADOC commander, and Sergeant Major of the Army Kenneth O. Preston.
GD Acquires AxleTech International
February 26th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by Kris Osborn
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (GD ATP) has purchased the Detroit-based AxleTech International company in deal which brings axle-building capability to a company known for building gun systems such as the .50-cal. machine gun, company officials said.
The December 2008 deal adds 1,000 AxleTech employess to GD ATPs 2,500 and brings an ability to build independent suspension systems for military vehicles and a high speed planetary axle. AxleTech makes axles for Textron’s Armored Security Vehicle and a host of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles such as BAE System’s RG 33 and Force Protection’s Buffalo MRAP.
”The planetary axle is designed for going off-road,” said Mary Petrovich, a director at AxleTech International.
GD to Test WIN-T
February 26th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by Kris Osborn
General Dynamics C4 is making preparations for an upcoming March 18 test of Warfighter Information Network – Tactical (WIN-T), a mobile satellite network designed to connect vehicles on-the-move and share voice, data and video across the battlefield in real-time, company officials said.
Planned for Fort Stewart, Ga., the Limited User Test will examine WIN-T ’s so-called increment two and move video across as a fleet of up to 30 vehicles.
“This [WIN-T] fixes a problem identified all the way back to Desert Storm and the 2003 run to Baghdad. When a commander moves fast he can outrun his network and not have the information he needs to make decisions in real-time,” said Bill Weiss, vice president of GD C4.
The program was recertified after being cited with Nunn-McCurdy breach cost overruns in June 2007. “We are meeting all of our cost, schedule and performance requirements,” said Weiss.
Northrop Aims to Network Soldiers
February 26th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by Kris Osborn
Northrop Grumman unveiled a collection of wearable technologies in a bid to becoming part of the Army’s emerging Ground Soldier Ensemble which seeks to connect the dismounted soldier to a battlefield network with a series of lightweight communications gear, company officials said at the Association of the United States Army Annual Convention Winter 2009.
Called Soldier Link System, Northrop’s group of technologies are designed to provide the contractor provided information systems portion of GSE. Equipped with a GPS navigator, controller, lightweight hands-free display and a small, wearable computer. Northrop’s system is an effort to respond to an Army request for proposal to industry, asking for elements of GSE which can achieve the desired connectivity while reducing size, weight and power.
“This is a smaller, more capable computer. What we have done is leverage processing power so it consumes less power and reduces battery needs,” said Bill Clingempeel, who leads Northrop’s soldier Link Systems Group.
Solider Link System includes hand held solider radios with lithium-ion batteries able to last for at least 24 hours, Northrop officials said.
With Soldier Link System, a soldier can transmit his or her location information across a combat unit and view the locations of others on a digital display screen.
“The bottom of the computer is curved,” so that is can adjust to the contours of a soldier’s back,” said Norm Blankenbeckler, Northrop training and conops (concept of operations) developer.
For the project, Northrop is partnering with Raytheon for radios, Crye Precision for engineering and NCS for computers.