Join ADS at Lost Rhino Brewery in Ashburn, VA on March 25th at 1500 for Take Your Best SHOT. Learn about the latest and greatest products at each exhibitor booth, play in the cornhole competition, compete against your fellow peers, and connect with an ADS Sales Representative to plan for an amazing year.
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CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait — Soldiers with the 1st Theater Sustainment Command’s operational command post, or 1st TSC-OCP, headquartered here, successfully executed joint airdrop missions with a Marine C-130J Hercules aircrew and Army riggers in the U.S. Central Command’s area of operations.
Pallets loaded with key medical supplies, food and other materiel were delivered in three drops to different locations, said Army Warrant Officer Michael Romeo, who works in the air section of the 1st TSC-OCP Support Operations, or the SPO shop.
The aircrew belongs to the Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron-352, Detachment A, and are known as the “Raiders” Romeo said.
“These missions are definitely a high priority,” said Romeo, who is a warrant officer in the 165th Quartermaster Company, Georgia National Guard, but now serving with the Army Reserve’s 310th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The 310th ESC acts as the staff for the 1st TSC-OCP.
Romeo, who was on the mission as an observer for the 1st TSC-OCP, said the airdrops are a regular part of 1st TSC-OCP’s support for personnel forward deployed, especially for perishable medical and food supplies.
“They will send in an airdrop request for review, and then it comes to me,” he said. “The biggest thing we do as logisticians and sustainers is making sure we are getting the right equipment and supplies to the people who need it,” he said. “Using aerial delivery is a quick and easy way to do that.”
The 101st Sustainment Brigade, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and the 151st Quartermaster Detachment from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, also supported the air drop operations, he said.
Marine Gunnery Sgt. David Hoyt, the loadmaster for the flight, said he was impressed by the Army riggers.
“They are quick and focused and do a good job,” he said. “They understand we have time constraints and got the job done.”
Army Spc. Christian Ramos, 151st Quartermaster Detachment, said he is a team leader for airdrop system, equipment and repair.
The Guam native said once the pallets were loaded onto the aircraft, he and the other riggers use strings and rubber bands to attach the parachutes to the static lines on both the left and right sides of the plane.
“The static line is connected to the G-14 clevis, upon deployment, it will pull the parachute off,” Ramos said. “The strings I was attaching with the rubber or retainer band, are called anti-oscillation ties, so they prevent the static line from moving around in flight and getting tangled.”
The G-14 is a U-shaped piece of metal that slides on the static line, like a curtain ring on a curtain rod. When the pallet reaches the plane’s back door, the rubber band snaps from the weight of the pallet and the parachute deploys.
Ramos said this air drop mission was his first time as a joint airdrop inspector. “It means that I am inspecting the loads and ensuring that these loads are free of deficiencies, which reduces the likelihood of a malfunction, so the guys on the ground can get the supplies that they need.”
Spc. Hope Mastroberti, a parachute rigger, 151st Quartermaster Detachment, said during this deployment, she was able to attend the Joint Air Load Inspector course.
Mastroberti, a native of Crystal River, Florida, said she loves being a rigger, a job she has had for two years. “I love the opportunities I’m provided. I pack personal parachutes and I pack heavy rigging parachutes.”
By SSG Neil W. McCabe
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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — New Army-funded research could help lay the groundwork for future quantum communication networks and large-scale quantum computers.
Researchers sent entangled qubit states through a communication cable linking one quantum network node to a second node.
Scientists at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago, funded and managed by the U.S. Army Combat Capability Development, known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory’s Center for Distributed Quantum Information, also amplified an entangled state via the same cable first by using the cable to entangle two qubits in each of two nodes, then entangling these qubits further with other qubits in the nodes. The peer-reviewed journal, Nature, published the research in its Feb. 24, 2021, issue.
“The entanglement distribution results the team achieved brought together years of their research related to approaches for transferring quantum states and related to advanced fabrication procedures to realize the experiments,” said Dr. Sara Gamble, program manager at the Army Research Office, an element of the Army’s corporate research laboratory, and co-manager of the CDQI, which funded the work. “This is an exciting achievement and one that paves the way for increasingly complex experiments with additional quantum nodes that we’ll need for the large-scale quantum networks and computers of ultimate interest to the Army.”
Qubits, or quantum bits, are the basic units of quantum information. By exploiting their quantum properties, like superposition, and their ability to be entangled together, scientists and engineers are creating next-generation quantum computers that will be able solve previously unsolvable problems.
The research team uses superconducting qubits, tiny cryogenic circuits that can be manipulated electrically.
“Developing methods that allow us to transfer entangled states will be essential to scaling quantum computing,” said Prof. Andrew Cleland, the John A. MacLean senior professor of Molecular Engineering Innovation and Enterprise at University of Chicago, who led the research.
Entanglement is a correlation that can be created between quantum entities such as qubits. When two qubits are entangled and a measurement is made on one, it will affect the outcome of a measurement made on the other, even if that second qubit is physically far away.
To send the entangled states through the communication cable—a one-meter-long superconducting cable—the researchers created an experimental set-up with three superconducting qubits in each of two nodes. They connected one qubit in each node to the cable and then sent quantum states, in the form of microwave photons, through the cable with minimal loss of information. The fragile nature of quantum states makes this process quite challenging.
The researchers developed a system in which the whole transfer process—node to cable to node—takes only a few tens of nanoseconds (a nanosecond is one billionth of a second). That allowed them to send entangled quantum states with very little information loss.
The system also allowed them to amplify the entanglement of qubits. The researchers used one qubit in each node and entangled them together by essentially sending a half-photon through the cable. They then extended this entanglement to the other qubits in each node. When they were finished, all six qubits in two nodes were entangled in a single globally entangled state.
“We want to show that superconducting qubits have a viable role going forward,” Cleland said.
A quantum communication network could potentially take advantage of this advance. The group plans to extend their system to three nodes to build three-way entanglement.
“The team was able to identify a primary limiting factor in this current experiment related to loss in some of the components,” said Dr. Fredrik Fatemi, branch chief for quantum sciences, DEVCOM ARL, and co-manager of CDQI. “They have a clear path forward for increasingly complex experiments which will enable us to explore new regimes in distributed entanglement.”
By U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory Public Affairs
I’m up, he sees me, I’m down: Moving targets arrive to K-Bay Range
Marines with 1st Battalion, 3d Marines were the first to try the new Trackless Moving Infantry Targets on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Feb. 24, 2021.
The motorized targets simulate live, independently thinking enemies and encourage Marines to anticipate movement and adapt accordingly.
“They egress, they assault to you, and they move around so it’s a better challenge to hone our skills,” said Lance Cpl. Logan Raebuck, a rifleman with 1st Battalion, 3d Marines. “I think it’s great having the targets here because we can always have that ‘thinking’ enemy to train with.”
“They’re here to solve the problem that all military facilities are facing,” said Dominic Jurado, the site manager for K-Bay range, MCBH. “These targets give the Marines something to shoot at that mimics an actual human.”
“It’s more immersive because it actually has clothes on and a face, so it gets us skilled with actual conflict,” said Raebuck. “On a regular target you don’t have that, so it’s great to get this moving enemy in front of us.”
There are currently 16 TIMITS on K-Bay and are able to be controlled by a person who is overseeing the training.
“The Marines with 1/3 have definitely progressed in the short time the targets have been on island,” Jurado said. “Everyone seemed more comfortable behind the trigger and hitting more of their shots, it’s awesome to see.”
Small unit leaders with 1/3 have also noticed the differences in their squads while working with these new targets.
“Seeing these moving targets here with us is definitely helping us get better,” said Cpl. Ryan Hankins, assistant patrol leader, 1/3. “It gives us a better sense of communication and helps us lead in our small unit leadership.”
The targets have helped Marines immensely improve their ability to train in an immersive environment, Hankins said.
“Overall it’s been a great experience,” said Hankins. “It makes me comfortable knowing that I can leave them with what I know and they can pass that on to their junior marines so the mission of the rifle squad can continue to be accomplished.”
Story by Sgt Luke Kuennen, Marine Corps Base Hawaii
Photos by Cpl Jose Angeles, Marine Corps Base Hawaii
The Battle of Hampton Roads took place in March 1862 in Virginia during the American Civil War. The battle is considered historically significant, although it did not yield a definitive outcome, as it was the first time that ironclad warships met head-to-head. This battle effectively made all wooden naval ships obsolete, especially those of Great Britain and France, and forced them to shift towards an all-ironclad fleet.
President Lincoln ordered a blockade in the spring of 1861, shortly after the war outbreak, of the ports of those states that had declared their secession from the Union. By the end of April, the blockade had been extended to the anchorage near the Chesapeake Bay at Hampton Roads in Virginia. This was of great strategic significance because it marked the Nansemond and Elizabeth Rivers’ confluence with the James River. Due to their base at Norfolk and the Portsmouth navy yard, Confederate forces occupied the south side of the river.
To protect the navy yard, the Confederacy installed two batteries at Craney Island and Sewell’s Point. However, Fort Monroe, and thus the closest part of the Virginia Peninsula, remained in the Union’s hands. The Confederate forces were almost entirely stopped from traveling between Richmond and Norfolk and the ocean until the blockade began to be enforced. The siege was strengthened by the strong ships of the Union, strategically put beyond the range of the Confederate batteries but under the protection of those of the Union. This standstill when on for almost a year
The US was far behind other countries when it came to updating their Navy. Several ironclads were built during the Crimean War, primarily designed to fight forts. In 1859 the French made an “ironclad frigate” called La Gloire. It was 250 feet long, carried 38 cannons, was covered in over 4 inches of iron, and could travel 12 knots. To keep up with France, Britain built the HMS Warrior (picture above) in 1860, the largest Ironclad. By 1862 Britain and France had 16 ironclads completed or under construction, and Austria, Italy, Russia, and Spain were building them. It was generally recognized that ironclad warships would be the future of naval warfare.
While France and Britain already had ironclad warships, the United States Navy was unconvinced of the armored ships’ value. Therefore, the Confederacy was the first to begin construction on their Ironclad (CSS Virginia). It was not designed from scratch, which would have taken almost a year because of the need to operate quickly, but instead made up from the ruined hull of the sunken USS Merrimack. The ship’s bow was mounted with an iron ram, while it was armed with ten guns. Two-inch thick armor plates, an improvement from the initial one-inch specification, were introduced. Called CSS Virginia, in February 1862, the vessel was eventually commissioned.
Meanwhile, the Union command had received news that the Confederacy wanted to build an ironclad ship. This caused serious concern, and the Union’s Ironclad’s construction, the USS Monitor, was approved by Congress. The most noteworthy feature of this vessel was that it had only two large-caliber guns, mounted in a large cylindrical turret that could rotate thanks to a steam engine’s control. This greatly reduced the manpower required for the armaments of the ship. Eight-inch-thick iron plates coated the entire turret. The USS Monitor was commissioned just a few days after the CSS Virginia.
The battle of Hampton roads lasted two days, with Virginia commanded by Franklin Buchanan and Monitor captain John L. Worden, although neither man was officially in overall command. Intending to mount a direct assault, Buchanan sent Virginia into Hampton Roads early on March 8. Five more ships followed the ship’s route. In the meantime, the Union also had five ships, accompanied by some support vessels, into the bay. Near Fort Monroe, several other ships were moored; one of these was the Roanoke, which ran aground as the USS Virginia approached and two additional vessels. Two of the three were taken out of the battle; the third, Minnesota’s frigate, later returned to action.
Virginia struck the USS Cumberland after a very small skirmish early in the day, ramming the ship and creating a hole below the waterline. With the loss of more than 120 lives, the ship sank rapidly. However, despite this success, Virginia herself was lucky not to go down because the ram of the ship had been stuck in the Cumberland hull. Virginia then advanced on the USS Congress, whose captain had told her to run aground to prevent the Cumberland’s fate from being repeated. The condition of the USS Congress, however, was hopeless after an hour, and Smith surrendered. Buchanan, who wanted to fire on the USS Congress with red-hot cannonballs, was enraged by Union shore guns. The ship caught fire, burning fiercely until it blew up that night as the flames entered its gunpowder store.
By now, Virginia herself had suffered some damage, making the already slow ship even more sluggish, while Buchanan was injured when a rifle shot hit his thigh. Meanwhile, the James River Squadron invaded Minnesota, and now Virginia joined the assault, but its deep draft made it difficult to get near, and as night fell, the attack was called off. Virginia instead returned to the Confederacy-controlled waters, hoping to return the next morning. The Union forces had lost 400 men and two ships at this point, with three more on the ground; the Confederacy had suffered two casualties and had maintained all its ships.
This was the worst loss the United States ever experienced. Before the Second World War, the Navy Secretary of War Edwin Stanton warned that Virginia could even manage to fire shells at the White House, but he was told that this would not happen because the ship was too huge for the river Potomac. Nevertheless, to secure Union ships and avoid Monitor from attacking its towns, Monitor was transferred to Hampton Roads as soon as possible. Captain Worden was ordered to defend Minnesota, and he took over the nearby station. On March 9, Virginia arrived at daybreak and assaulted the Monitor.
The Confederate commanders, who initially thought the ship was simply a boiler being towed down the river for repairs, were startled by the peculiar nature of the Monitor. However, once the ship’s true nature became apparent, a long war began, lasting several hours. Virginia opened with a shot toward Monitor; Minnesota was missing and struck, causing the ship to fire in response to a broadside. Since both ironclad ships were more robust in their defense than they were offensively and were capable of completely piercing the armor plating of the opposing ship without ammunition, neither side could make a decisive breakthrough.
After a few hours, a freak occurrence ended the battle: a wayward shell from Virginia hit the pilothouse of the Monitor, exploding. Worden was temporarily blinded by the debris, which forced Monitor to draw back before the executive officer, Lieutenant Samuel Dana Greene, could take over command. While Monitor returned to the fray then, Virginia’s crew was under the impression that she had withdrawn entirely. Jones chose to take her back to Norfolk because of this, along with the fact that Virginia herself had suffered considerable damage. To find her opponent going away, Monitor returned to the scene, and Greene misinterpreted the move as a retreat.
Virginia spent several weeks doing repairs to a dry dock. The blockade of the Union, meanwhile, was strengthened, with some new ironclads taking part. There was a standoff in which both the CSS Virginia captains and the USS Monitor refused to engage the other ship in action. The decision to leave Norfolk was made by Major General Benjamin Huger of the Confederacy on May 9, as it is now of limited strategic significance. Since Virginia was too big to travel upriver, she was intentionally sunk on her side to avoid causing her to be captured. The fate of the Monitor was different: she sank in a storm in December after being sent to North Carolina.
The fight, overall, was a draw. There were considerably more men and ships lost by the Union, but the vital blockade remained intact. The war of the Ironclads captured the attention of many other navies on a global scale. In particular, Russia, Britain, and France hurried to build ironclads, many of which were highly inspired by the USS Monitor in their designs. Rams were also used in several such ships. However, this innovation was something of a dead-end, as naval guns were sufficiently powerful by 1900 to make it almost impossible for close encounters between ships.
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas (AFNS) —
The Air Force Security Forces Center-led Government Working Dog Category Intelligence Team aims to improve the cost, process and procurement of government working dogs across 14 federal agencies.
The team recently submitted the Working Dog Category Intelligence Report, which looked into the requirements of maintaining working dogs within the Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, in an effort to identify gaps and opportunities, recommend more effective and efficient sourcing strategies, close gaps between current practices and share government and industry best practices.
Scott R. Heise, team lead and director of Air Force Security & Protection Category Management’s Program Management Office for AFSFC, said “The report identified some crucial gaps, such as the procurement process.”
“All of us have the same need for working dogs, but the way we source them is very different,” Heise said. “Even our requirements are different and this inconsistency makes it difficult for the vendors to try to keep up and maintain a supply of high-quality working dogs. Simple things, like the age of the dog or the type of socialization it gets prior to delivery, present challenges for the vendors.”
“If all the agencies give vendors one integrated demand forecast, then the vendors can develop a better plan to meet our needs and satisfy the demand,” Heise added.
“The improved procurement process will allow Air Force Defenders the ability to better manage their MWD programs, making them healthier and stronger at the tactical, operational and strategic levels,” said Master Sgt. Steven Kaun, AFSFC Military Working Dog program manager.
“This streamlined process will pair up more canines with more handlers across the Air Force and allow garrison, and even up to combatant commanders, to have more assets on hand to accomplish their missions,” Kaun said. “And it also helps give some of our older, hard-working dogs a much deserved, timely retirement.”
In addition to the procurement process, the report provided six recommendations to improve the GWD program:
1. Establish an annual purchase forecast to both the contiguous United States and outside-CONUS vendors, which will help with the breeding and preparation process
2. Implement acquisition best practices to guide agencies during the procurement process
3. Provide the Customs and Border Protection Agency opportunities to work with OCONUS vendors, which will give the agency more options to source working dogs
4. Establish a small business breeder communication plan to help develop a larger U.S. vendor base
5. Build standardized U.S. government-wide working dog travel requirements for airlines
6. Develop a national emergency response plan for explosive detection working dogs
“What we expect from these recommendations is continued growth and maturation of the working dog program not only for the Air Force, but all 14 agencies,” Heise said. “We also see great potential to build the U.S. industrial base for government working dogs and ensure the participation of small businesses, and advance the goals of category management.”
Category management is an approach the federal government is implementing to help standardize procurement functions and share best practices across its agencies in the hopes of providing savings, better value, and efficiency. It is divided into 10 categories.
The AFSFC originally started a Category Intelligence Report on the Air Force-led DoD Military Working Dog program, but Heise saw opportunities to look beyond the services and include other federal agencies.
“Once we started, we saw how closely TSA worked with DoD on Lackland AFB, so I recommended to the Federal Category Manager that we make the CIR a government-wide effort,” Heise said. “She agreed and assigned me as the Government-wide Working Dog Team lead for the Security and Protection category.”
The newly-formed multi-agency team then researched and presented the six recommendations in the final Category Intelligence Report to Jaclyn Rubino, the government-wide Security & Protection Category manager. Rubino approved all recommendations and teams will now be assembled to create a category execution plan for each.
“This is the Air Force’s first interagency category management and Category Intelligence Report effort, and it’s an honor to be part of the team that will not only bring change to the Air Force, but other federal agencies as well,” Heise said. “I feel it speaks to the Security Forces Center’s mission, but on a larger, cross agency scale – to train, equip and manage program execution and provide expertise, and drive integration, innovation and advancement of Security Forces mission sets.”
Story by By Malcolm McClendon, Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center Public Affairs
Photo by Airman 1st Class Jason W. Cochran
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