September 2020 | Soldier Systems Daily Soldier Systems Daily

Archive for September, 2020

Sen Duckworth Introduces Legislation to Restrict Federal Law Enforcement from Wearing Camouflage

Thursday, September 24th, 2020

Sen Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) has introduced a bill called the Clear Visual Distinction Between Military and Law Enforcement Act, from her position on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which restrict federal law enforcement officers from wearing camouflage patterns.

Above, FBI HRT members wear MultiCam pattern uniforms as part of their duties. Photo: FBI

This comes after calls by the Department of Defense for better differentiation between military and law enforcement personnel in the wake of the summer’s riot across the United States. In particular, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, GEN Mark Milley testified before Congress that he was particularly concerned over uniform colors and not equipment.

Sen Duckworth’s Office issued a statement which states, “The Trump Administration’s decision to deploy federal law enforcement officers outfitted in camouflage uniforms in response to those protesting the death of George Floyd and other Black Americans blurred the lines between military servicemembers and law enforcement officers while causing even more fear and division. We must prevent this from happening again.”

According to the bill, the restriction on camouflage use isn’t just military patterns, but all camouflage.

While the bill includes the following exception, “shall not apply to the wearing of a uniform that includes a camouflage pattern that matches the surrounding environment during a period during which a covered Federal law enforcement officer is engaged in a discreet tactical operation where the ability to blend into the surroundings is judged to be necessary for the success of the operation,” it also requires a biannual report to Congress, including dates, operation name and justification for invoking the exception.

In late summer, both DoJ and DHS publicly mentioned their intention to transition many of their personnel to solid colors. This will most likely be Green which those agencies have used in the past, before transitioning to MultiCam several years ago. At the time they wore OD. Now, based upon supply chain availability of materials, it will probably be Ranger Green. Although, in some instances we could see a return to Black clothing and equipment.

For uniform suppliers, this would be a boon. However, there is still no requirement that non-DoD federal entities buy American made clothing and individual equipment.

Posted in Camo, Clothing, LE | 85 Comments »

General Dynamics Mission Systems – Tactical Electronic Warfare System

Thursday, September 24th, 2020

General Dynamics’ Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS) is a COTS solution to solve the Army’s current shortfall of CEMA capability, going beyond Prophet’s current state of the art.

It is an all-weather, 24-hour, ground-based tactical electronic support and electronic attack system that provides the Commander with options to create multiple dilemmas to a designing enemy by decreasing the sensor to shooter timeline. TEWS will enable a Brigade Combat Team Commander to detect, locate, identify the enemy and will give the Commander the capability to act/react/counter with non-lethal effects by denying, disrupting, and degrading the enemy’s ability to communicate, coordinate, and synchronize. TEWS is platform independent; a modular system that will enable integration onto any vehicle. TEWS supports stationary, dismounted, and on-the-move, man-pack operations.

TEWS can be integrated on:
-AMPV
-NGCV
–Stryker
-Flyer (as TEW Light)
-JLTV

Non-Tactical Vehicles (NTV)

Current capabilities:
-Satcom-on-the-Move /Trojan Network
-Multi-Comms Enclaves
-Open Architecture
-Electronic Warfare Targeting (ES/EA)
-Integrated EWPMT (Raven Claw)
-EW Support to SIGINT
-Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML)
-Expanded Signals of Interest (SOI) Capability

Planned upgrades:
-Support to Offensive Cyber Operations (OCO)
-Assured-Position, Navigation, Timing (A-PNT)
-Integration with airborne sensors
–Multi-Function Electronic Warfare (MFEW-Air)
–Aerostat and/or balloon
–Joint Airborne Systems
-Training Support via IEWTPT
-Robotics/Autonomous Vehicles employment of sensors
-Unattended and/or remote ground sensors
-Extended Range – Tethered UAS

Posted in CEMA | Comments Off on General Dynamics Mission Systems – Tactical Electronic Warfare System

Army to Host Tactical Assault Kit Virtual Workshop for Industry, Federal Agencies

Thursday, September 24th, 2020

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (Sept. 23, 2020) — The U.S. Army is hosting a virtual workshop to expedite the development and integration of situational awareness tools Sept. 29 – Oct. 2.

The Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) is a map-based software application that enables coordination among thousands of users with features such as a position data, chat, mission planning and shared overlays. It is compatible with Android, Apple iOS and Windows.

The Tactical Assault Kit virtual offsite will offer stakeholders from across the Department of Defense (DoD), federal agencies and industry an opportunity to exchange information and identify critical needs. The event will offer tracks for software development, programmatic updates and training on TAK platforms.

“The intent of these sessions is to learn from issues that may have arisen in the past year, produce innovative capabilities and reduce duplicative efforts,” said Josh Sterling, director of the TAK Product Center at the The Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center – a component of Army Futures Command’s Combat Capabilities Development Command.

“Any time we can get more feedback and lessons learned, it’s a data point we can use to improve the platform. I think this is a great way to generate cross-team collaboration that will spur both the development cycle and integration as we continue to push and facilitate a more universal type TAK operation.”

As the central software development hub for all TAK efforts, including 15 DoD programs of record, the C5ISR Center’s TAK Product Center provides software updates and testing for an enhanced user experience.

To foster innovation, the TAK Product Center approved the public release of a non-military variant for federal and government agencies – known as the Android Team Awareness Kit-Civilian (ATAK-CIV) application – on Google Play and the open-source Standard ATAK Software Development Kit on TAKmaps.com.

“TAK is an extensible platform, meaning that we give you a baseline and based on your mission requirements you can build on that baseline to bridge capability gaps,” said Mark Roberts, deputy director for the TAK Product Center.

“Anyone who has a job requirement to display point location information – the military, DoD and federal agencies, state and local authorities, firefighters and emergency responders – will benefit from these sessions. This is a great opportunity to give them a peek at what’s being done around the TAK community,” he said.

Registration for the offsite is available at tak.gov/offsite until Sept. 28.

By CCDC C5ISR Center Public Affairs

Posted in Army, Digitization, Guest Post, Tac Apps | Comments Off on Army to Host Tactical Assault Kit Virtual Workshop for Industry, Federal Agencies

Attach Your Tourniquet to Your Holster

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020

Developed by Condition Gray and manufactured by EMDOM USA, the Gen 3 Sling Retainer Catch allows the Rifle sling to be secured yet ready to put into action, and allows you to strap your tourniquet to the front of your holster, where you’ll always have it.

Made in USA and offered in Black, MultiCam and MultiCam Black.

www.emdomusa.com/Condition-Gray-Gen-3-Sling-Retainer-Catch-SRC3-p

Posted in Weapon Accessories | 2 Comments »

MP17 RAIDER from FLUX Defense

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020

Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept 23, 2020 FLUX Defense has released the new MP17 RAIDER.

Developed specifically around feedback from Tier 1 units, the new MP17 Raider is stronger and packed with new features. A revolutionary new reloading system gets you back in the fight faster. The system is compatible with the US Military’s M17/M18 sidearm as well as the SigTM P320® series of firearms. Simply drop the fire control unit into the system.

Features:
• New advanced injection molded polymer developed to replace metal.
• New ambi safety and controls.
• Flux Speedload System (patent pending) Faster reloads to get you back in the fight. Simply press the forward mag button and it drops the rear empty mag and releases the extra mag for quick insertion.
• Flared magwells.
• 2X QD sling positions
• Higher optic height similar to Unity TacticalTM Fast Mount®
• Spare red dot battery compartment in brace
• Size: 11’’L x 1.7’’W x 6’’H Weight: 18oz (Chassis)

MILITARY/LE SALES CONTACT: anthony@fluxdefense.com

The use of Sig SauerTM, Sig TM P320®, M17and other models is merely to advertise the sale of an aftermarket conversion for Sig pistols and the makers of this product are not affiliated in any manner with, or otherwise endorsed by Sig SauerTM Inc.

Posted in Weapon Accessories | 15 Comments »

USAF and Microsoft Partner to Empower Airmen with Modern IT

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020

The U.S. Air Force is breaking the glass as a leader in harnessing the power of cloud, rapidly rolling out modern services to enable airmen to advance the mission through more effective collaboration. As part of their digital transformation journey to achieve global access, persistence, and awareness for the 21st century, the U.S. Air Force is deploying targeted workloads that allow airmen to focus on their missions rather than spending time managing IT infrastructure.

Mission focus and efficiency

A key part of their digital transformation strategy is leveraging the technology industry’s capabilities for cloud infrastructure, allowing the U.S. Air Force to re-tool and refocus their resources. As part of our collaboration with the U.S. Air Force, we’re deeply aligned on a joint mission to drive IT enhancements that enable airmen to be more efficient and effective. Building out the capabilities for this targeted mission focus started with planning for how the organization will manage their data in the future, deploying core functions such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive and other capabilities delivered through the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity applications.

Improved total cost of ownership

The rapid deployment of cloud tools at this scale is made possible by the U.S. Air Force’s leadership in building the multi-cloud factory Cloud One, a migration center of excellence designed as a foundation for future innovation. Leapfrogging more traditional cloud migration strategies with a Platform as a service (PaaS)-first approach and secure systems boundary, Cloud One enables the U.S. Air Force to rapidly transform legacy systems into modern apps and exploit the agility, scale and global presence afforded by the cloud.

William Marion, U.S. Air Force Deputy Chief Information Officer, says that Cloud One is the U.S. Air Force’s “path to the cloud, but further it is fundamental to the Digital Air Force and the future of Multi-Domain Operations. It enables our teams to achieve unprecedented cost efficiencies and productivity through automation, agile software development at scale, and a streamlined process for moving applications to production.”

Cloud One has recalibrated what internal teams expect from a cloud migration, providing all the foundational cloud capabilities including networking, monitoring, access control and identity. In addition, apps deployed to Azure Government inherit the platform’s security controls by design, further reducing operational costs and freeing up resources to focus on the mission.

Focus on security and compliance

The U.S. Air Force understands the importance of a dynamic, foundational risk management framework that can react quickly to cyber-attacks and changes in the threat landscape. With Microsoft 365 Government and Azure Government, they can obtain the scale and performance of modern cloud tools while maintaining compliance with the strict compliance requirements of the Department of Defense (DoD), including DoD Impact Level 5.

Next-generation collaboration

One of the primary goals of the U.S. Air Force is to empower airmen to collaborate and execute their missions with modern technology best practices. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Enterprise IT and Cyber Infrastructure Division (AFLCMC/HNI) at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts has planned, tested and started deployment of Microsoft Teams to improve project management and teamwork. With geographically separated organizations, Teams will streamline collaboration and communication between airmen across the globe.

The massive scale of this U.S. Air Force organization – wide rollout requires massive change management – so we’ve developed a joint plan with focused training, deployment and service adoption to drive mission-focused use cases. The plan includes learning events with modern modalities, creating consumable resources to enable airmen to learn more about how Teams can work for their unit. This includes product immersion events, ask-me-anything events, and video content so airmen can learn efficiently from wherever they are in the world.

These advances in productivity, cloud acceleration, and collaboration are a result of ongoing teamwork across the 16th Air Force, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, and the Defense Information Systems Agency. As thought leaders and innovators, these organization have planned, built and deployed modern IT experiences at massive scale using Microsoft 365 Government and Azure Government, enabling airmen to continue to fly, fight and win in air, space and cyberspace.

By Leigh Madden – Microsoft General Manager, National Security

Photo – US Air Force

Posted in Air Force, Digitization, Guest Post | 2 Comments »

Victorinox – I.N.O.X. Carbon Limited Edition Watch

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020

Featuring a carbon fiber case, the Swiss-made I.N.O.X. watch incorporates a glow-in-the-dark SuperLuminova dial and comes with a Camouflage design survival paracord strap, two additional straps (one military NATO, one black rubber) and protective compass bumper.

It comes with an Evolution 23 pocket knife. There are only 1500 of this limited edition watch worldwide.

www.swissarmy.com/us/en/Products/Watches/Men%27s-Watches/I-N-O-X-Carbon-Limited-Edition

Posted in Watches | Comments Off on Victorinox – I.N.O.X. Carbon Limited Edition Watch

Cordura NYCO Goes Into Active Service with Britain’s Crack Commandos

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020

Gloucester, UK – 21 September 2020 – Chosen for its durability and high-performance characteristics, CORDURA® NYCO fabric is being used to produce the next generation of highly advanced uniforms for the Royal Marines Commandos, designed and manufactured by Crye Precision and distributed by Level Peaks in a contract with the NATO Support and Procurement Agency.

The UK’s renowned Royal Marines Commandos are one of the toughest and most elite forces in the world, operating from polar regions to the tropics and every place in between. From their daring raids on occupied-Europe during World War II, right up to the present day, they have been the spearhead for military action on a global scale and their exploits have won them an awesome and well-deserved reputation.

So, as you would expect, to get the right to wear the famous ‘green beret’ their new recruits undergo one of the most gruelling selection ordeals you could imagine. And the same exacting standards were applied to the CORDURA® fabric used in the new uniforms they are now being issued with as part of the Future Commando Force initiative. The CORDURA® brand takes quality assessment to punishing extremes – with fabric test procedures that include aggressive abrasion testing to push durability to the limit.

This is the key strength of the new uniform which comprises individual Combat and Field ensembles all made from Crye Precision’s comfort weave MultiCam® VTX Ripstop stretch CORDURA® NYCO fabric using INVISTA’s T420HT high tenacity nylon 6,6 fibre blended with cotton. CORDURA® NYCO fabric offers long-lasting comfort and performance for the wearer. The uniform is printed with Crye Precision’s MultiCam® camo pattern by 1947 LLC through an exclusive international manufacturing license agreement.

Along with delivering the enhanced durability required for the Commandos in action, this fabric is a foundation for a new uniform that is lighter weight, has comfort stretch, has higher tear-strength, is faster-drying and is more breathable than typical 50/50 nylon/cotton uniform kit. Meaning it can be trusted and relied on in the most extreme and hostile environments on earth – from frozen wastes to jungle and deserts.

Crye Precision, the ultimate specialist in combat apparel

The Royal Marines uniform has been designed and engineered by a company with unrivalled in-depth knowledge of the specific demands of combat and tactical operations. Crye Precision are the ultimate specialists in their field and work closely with global military professionals to develop new and technically superior generations of combat apparel and related kit incorporating unique technologies.

Why did they choose CORDURA® fabric? Gregg Thompson, Co-Founder Crye Precision, sums it up this way: “The next generation uniform is always our focus, and the fabric is always the starting point. We need people who understand what we’re trying to do. Who are willing to partner with us to help us get there. For us, CORDURA® is that partner. They set the technical standard and pretty much our entire line has some kind of CORDURA® element in it. It’s so reliable, it just performs in every situation.”

Level Peaks – meeting NATO’s needs

The new uniforms are supplied by Level Peaks under its five-year contract with the NATO Support and Procurement Agency. This British company describes its central objective as the introduction of more effective, integrated uniform systems. Jim Clarke- Programme Director for Level Peaks says:

“We are very excited by this initiative. With Crye Precision’s world leading designs and CORDURA® fabric technology we are able to supply troops with a solution that is lighter, stronger and more comfortable. It will be worn by troops rapidly deployed to war zones, combat missions, commando raids, or providing humanitarian assistance”

1947 LLC – Full-service military solution provider

The Crye MultiCam® VTX printed fabric is exclusively supplied by 1947 LLC who are a full-service textile solution provider specializing in military, tactical, and industrial products. 1947 LLC have worked with Crye Precision since the pattern was originally developed and are extremely pleased and proudly support this opportunity to introduce this new and innovative fabric into the European theatre for the NATO forces. Ben Galpen co-Founder of 1947 LLC says: “Entering into a new market is always exciting for our company but this is especially rewarding as we are honoured to support NATO and its mission.”

CORDURA® NYCO, the fighting fabric

CORDURA® NYCO intimate blend nylon/cotton technology was specifically created for military and tactical applications and has a 40-year heritage of success and proven performance in the field. The current range of innovative fabrics based on NYCO technology includes Crye’s NATO selected VTX Stretch Ripstop. The Crye MultiCam® VTX NYCO stretch mobility fabric is powered by INVISTA’s latest high tenacity fibre technology – Type 420HT – for the ultimate in lightweight strength, comfort and enhanced durability.

Allen Mortimer Military EMEA director for INVISTA CORDURA® concludes:

“Through close consultation with military experts – including experienced veterans – we are constantly evolving CORDURA® fabrics to face new scenarios in different theatres of conflict. We’re proud to know that this fabric now provides NATO troops with a tougher way to handle the toughest missions – and we salute the Royal Marines as the first unit to lead the way forward”.

Posted in Materials, Press Release | 11 Comments »