In addition to Military Intelligence in each of the Ranger Battalions and Regimental headquarters, the 75th has a dedicated Military Intelligence Battalion at Fort Benning.
Archive for the ‘ISR’ Category
TacJobs – The Ranger MI Bn
Thursday, November 14th, 2019US Army Develops TITAN System To Tie ‘Deep Sensing’ To Long-Range Fires
Tuesday, October 29th, 2019WASHINGTON — The Army plans to use one of the largest exercises in Europe since the Cold War to pilot new tactical space technology that will help Soldiers carry out mission command on a multi-domain battlefield.
An initial prototype of TITAN — Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node — will be tested during the Defender-Europe 20 exercise next spring. The exercise is set to have about 37,000 U.S. and European troops training in 10 nations across the continent.
The TITAN system, which is a scalable and expeditionary intelligence ground station, leverages space and high altitude, aerial, and terrestrial layer sensors to provide targetable data to fires networks. It also provides multi-discipline intelligence support to targeting, and situational awareness and understanding for mission command.
Today, the Army has roughly 100 tactical ground stations, 13 operational ground stations and a few other dissemination vehicles to inform battlefield commanders, said Brig. Gen. Rob Collins, Program Executive Officer for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, or PEO IEW&S.
But “some of those are more specific to the echelon,” he said Oct. 16 at the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition. “They’re not necessarily tailorable, easy to use or expeditionary as we want them to be.”
TITAN aims to consolidate much of those capabilities to better provide “deep sensing” information from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors from all domains.
It also ties deep sensing to long-range precision strike options to defeat enemy anti-access/aerial denial environments, officials said.
An industry day is scheduled for Dec. 4 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, to further discuss the way forward with TITAN.
A TITAN space prototype is expected to be delivered by early fiscal year 2022.
“How do you bring those ground stations together in one platform, or a series of platforms, that are modular, scalable and [with] open systems architecture,” said Willie Nelson, director of Army Futures Command’s Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing Cross-Functional Team.
Collins said they are looking for a modular “Lego approach” for the system that will go through an iterative testing process, starting with the Defender exercise.
It is then expected to be rolled out in another exercise in the Pacific region to get additional user feedback later next year, Nelson said.
TITAN will fit into the Army’s Multi-Domain Task Forces being built up in the Pacific and in Europe. The system will work with the task force’s unit called I2CEWS, which stands for intelligence, information, cyber, electronic warfare and space.
It will “absolutely be part of that task force to be able to see deep and target deep,” Collins said. “It’s going to be a key capability, key enabler.”
TITAN will also play a large role in the Army’s space strategy, in which one of its main areas is battle management command and control.
“It’s leveraging both commercial and military capabilities to be able to provide eyes and ears on the battlefield for our Soldiers and our platforms,” Nelson said.
Since the sensors will compile massive amounts of data, TITAN will need to rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning to sift through it.
“As we start pulling in all this data, there’s going to be a significant and overwhelming amount for our intelligence Soldiers to be able to process,” Collins said.
The goal will then be to quickly deliver easily-digestible data to Soldiers in combat and to their systems.
“We just don’t collect this data for the sake of collecting it,” Collins said. “We collect it so that we can distribute that to kinetic, non-kinetic weapon systems and for commanders to be able to make decisions on the battlefield.”
By Sean Kimmons, Army News Service
Remote Sensing Network Will Advance Safety and Security Applications in the Arctic
Friday, October 25th, 2019Copenhagen, Denmark, October 22, 2019 – A new consortium of international companies, called IRSA Development Group (IDG), was announced October 1, 2019, at DEFSEC Atlantic in Halifax, Canada. IDG consists of international companies with expertise in selected technology domains to bring the world an advanced remote sensing network.
Integrated Remote Sensing for the Arctic (IRSA) is a scalable, civilian, all-domain system-of- systems remote sensing solution designed to provide more persistent monitoring of the Arctic. The network comprises satellites, high altitude long endurance (HALE) drones, medium altitude long endurance (MALE) drones, small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), sea-surface and sub-sea platforms, and ground stations. Technology development for each segment, and their integration, is underway. Initial IRSA services are expected to be available to clients in early 2020.
“We are excited to be part of the IDG collaboration and the development of IRSA. The potential benefits of the IRSA system range from enhancing safety and security applications to supporting Northerners in their response to climate change. The agile team is made up of international leaders in their respective technology areas,” says Paul Adlakha, Managing Director of LOOKNorth at C-CORE.
Recognizing the need for more persistent remote sensing, robust communication and data connectivity in the Arctic, Boeing Defense, Space, and Security (BDS) began an intensive study in 2015, mapping the challenges and identifying gaps in designing and creating a solution to address them. Since then, Boeing has invested in establishing an international consortium to develop the technologies, products and services that can provide that solution through the IRSA program.
“This project is another testament to the reputation of Boeing’s industrial programs and the path for future growth it can provide our partners,” says Maria Laine, Vice President, Boeing International Strategic Partnerships. “Projects like this underscore our commitment to provide opportunities for innovation and technology collaboration around the globe to develop advanced capabilities.”
Trillium Engineering
Friday, October 11th, 2019Trillium Engineering was founded in Hood River, Oregon, in 2013 by three engineers with experience in EO/IR sensor development, up to 8″ in size.
They are vertically integrated, with both in-house development and production. They specialize in stabilization control and GPS INS, integrating highly accurate geopointing along with h.264 video encoding. While the H.264 encoding standard might blur imagery, the newer H.265 is a more efficient compression. For instance, you’ll see 20-50 MBs with WiFi and .5-1 MBs for UAS operation.
I am particularly impressed with the HD25-XV, which is an EO only configuration, integrating a 3.5x optical zoom visible camera. Now get this, it’s a gimbaled camera weighing just 325g.
Much of their work is directly with OEM UAS producers. For example, the Trillium HD-45 sensor has already been integrated on the Lockheed-Martin Stalker.
However, Trillium can also provide sensors as upgraded payloads for already fielded platforms. In this case, they prefer whenever possible, to work directly with the customer in order to engineer a proper installation. Considering their sensor payload weights and sizes, there may be additional room for extra batteries, or an additional sensor.
To be sure, Trillium’s gimbaled EO/IR sensors are fantastic, but they combine them with intuitive software. They offer a 3D map GUI called Skylink which will run on Samsung tablets and handhelds. It allows control of the gimbal. Additionally, their feed is MISB compliant and will interface with ATAK.
To learn more, visit trilliumeng.com.
Logos Technologies Unveils New Platform-Flexible Multi-Modal Sensor Pod at AUSA
Thursday, October 10th, 2019Pod combines wide-area hyperspectral capability with wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) and high-resolution imagery
The Multi-Modal Sensor Pod combines wide-area, hyperspectral, and high-resolution sensors into a single podded system, with real-time onboard processing and storage. (Graphic: Business Wire)
FAIRFAX, Va.–Logos Technologies announced today that it will be exhibiting for the very first time its airborne, platform-flexible Multi-Modal Sensor Pod (MMSP) at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Meeting and Exposition, on October 14-16.
Mounted on planes, helicopters and Group 3-5 unmanned aircraft systems, the MMSP houses:
• A wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) system,
• a wide-area hyperspectral imager,
• a high-resolution spotter, and an
• onboard embedded processor for real-time processing and storage.
The three MMSP sensors work in partnership, with autonomous cross tasking, to deliver comprehensive, multi-layered information in real-time.
“This is invaluable and a great force multiplier to the warfighter,” said Doug Rombough, VP of Business Development for Logos Technologies, “because it greatly reduces the number of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sorties needed over a target area, saving time, saving platforms and saving equipment.”
As part of the MMSP, the WAMI system can image a city-sized area in medium resolution, enough to detect and track every mover within the vast scene, while the narrow-field high-resolution spotter can be cued to monitor 10-plus locations automatically, providing identification-quality imagery.
The hyperspectral imager provides additional information by scanning the scene for unique spectral signatures of camouflaging netting, explosive stores, tank hulls or any other relevant targets. The MMSP hyperspectral imager covers an area 15 times larger than that of traditional hyperspectral sensors.
“The MMSP covers an area in real-time as well as records, tags and stores up to eight hours of imagery for review by analysts while the pod is still in the air. It does all of this while fitting in a package that weighs less than 100 pounds (45kg),” Rombough said.
In addition to the MMSP, Logos Technologies will also be exhibiting the following lightweight WAMI systems:
• the Redkite platform-flexible pod,
• the Redkite-I for the Insitu Integrator,
• the Kestrel Block II for aerostats, as well as
• the Multi-Modal Edge Processor.
For more information on Logos Technologies and its innovative sensor products, please visit Booth 1467, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, in Washington, D.C., or the company website: www.logos-technologies.com
CIA’s Mi-17 Helicopter Comes Home
Sunday, September 29th, 2019Final Mission of a Valiant Workhorse
Fifteen days after the attacks of September 11th, 2001—on President George W. Bush’s orders—the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) deployed a small team into Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley. Its mission: to launch U.S. operations against al-Qaida and its Taliban supporters. JAWBREAKER, as the operation would be called, was the United States’ first response to those attacks, and stands as an exemplar of the extraordinary capacity of CIA and the broader U.S. Government to respond swiftly and decisively in defense of the country. The JAWBREAKER team of seven Agency officers, three aircrew and two Afghan partners boarded a Russian-made, CIA-modified, Mi-17 heavy-duty helicopter on what would become a historic flight.
The Search for 10,000 Pieces
Robert Byer, CIA Museum director and curator, opened the ceremony by thanking attendees for joining CIA in celebrating what he described as an “incredibly auspicious day that has been many years in the making.” He briefly recounted the story of how the Mi-17 helicopter came to rest on CIA campus as a “macro-artifact” in CIA Museum’s growing collection. A macro-artifact, Mr. Byer explained, simply means that “we couldn’t fit it inside the building.”
“In 2006, CIA museum began working on an exhibition about the Agency’s role leading up to Operation Enduring Freedom,” Mr. Byer explained. What began as a small collection of photographs and artifacts from those involved in the early response to 9/11 quickly grew to include flight kits, cartography and even a cockpit instrument from the Mi-17. “The aircraft was ubiquitous in the part of the world,” he said. “Rugged and dependable and described by those who flew aboard as ’10,000 parts all trying to come apart at once,’” he explained to laughter from the audience.
In the fall of 2018, Mr. Byer and the rest of the CIA Museum staff reunited that single cockpit instrument with the remaining 9,999 pieces of the Mi-17 with its delivery to CIA campus. “With today’s dedication,” he said, “we now have the full story of CIA’s response to those attacks on American soil. It [the exhibition] serves as a bookend to its 911 counterpart,” Mr. Byer said referring to the 9,000 pound rust-colored steel column on the Southwest side of CIA’s Original Headquarters Building that was recovered from World Trade Center 6 in New York City.
Today—exactly 18 years after the members of operation JAWBREAKER set foot in Afghanistan—CIA had the distinct honor of commemorating that mission with the dedication of the Mi-17 that shuttled team JAWBREAKER over the “Hindu Kush and into history.” Adorned with the tail number 9-11-01, the fully-restored Mi-17 helicopter is nestled amongst the trees in a large green space to the northeast of CIA’s Original Headquarters Building. The rocky landscape on which the helicopter sits was designed to mimic the Afghan landscape in which the helicopter served so well. Hundreds gathered at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to see the helicopter in its final home and hear from the Agency officers who played a significant role in the success of CIA’s first response.
To Right a Terrible Wrong
Mr. Byer welcomed Gina Haspel, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, to the stage to introduce the ceremony’s keynote speaker, Gary Schroen, who delayed his retirement to lead Operation JAWBREAKER in 2001. “Today’s ceremony is a celebration of the daring spirit that defines the Central Intelligence Agency,” Director Haspel said. She explained the importance of teamwork in the pursuit of success. “Gary and his team were at the tip of the spear, and at every step of the way there was an Agency family, here at Headquarters and across the world, who had their back.”
Director Haspel spoke of the courage and motivation of the JAWBREAKER team in their pursuit to “right a terrible wrong.” Her hope for this helicopter is that it serves as a reminder of the sacrifices made in defense of freedom and that visitor’s “gain a deeper appreciation of what it takes to keep our country safe and free.”
Business as Usual
Director Haspel introduced Mr. Schroen, the ceremony’s keynote speaker, as “a living legend and inspiration to every CIA Officer” and thanked him for his 50 years of service to the CIA.
Mr. Schroen took the stage to generous applause, a clear indication of the respect and admiration he commanded from those in attendance. He thanked Director Haspel for her remarks before launching into his recollection of the time, the operation and the sequence of events that led to his team landing in Afghanistan just two weeks after the attacks on American soil. “It’s an awkward looking piece of machinery,” he began. “But don’t be fooled – the Russians built it for utility and service, rather than looks and style.” He described the helicopter as a workhorse “designed to take a punishment,” which was exactly what the CIA needed.
He recounted the shudder of the helicopter as it began its ascent over the 14,500-foot Anjuman Pass and into Panjshir for the first time—a recollection that would make even the most valiant palms a bit sweaty. “We were very heavy,” he admitted. Between the passengers, weapons, fuel, ammunition and all of the other equipment, the team was pushing the helicopter’s payload to its outer extremes. “It wasn’t ‘business as usual,’” Mr. Schroen recalled. “But looking around the compartment, you would think it was – no one was dwelling on the danger we were in.”
Echoing Director Haspel’s comments on teamwork, Mr. Schroen noted that the success of the team was not theirs alone, but that of the “heroic efforts that this organization [CIA] made in getting the JAWBREAKER team ready.” He pointed to a number of officers and offices across the Agency that were instrumental to navigating the many processes needed to get JAWBREAKER airborne. He also credited the foundation which had been laid years prior, namely the relationships built with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, which would help JAWBREAKER navigate the unfamiliar territory.
Mr. Schroen concluded by expressing a simple hope that “we can all on occasion take a look at old 9-11-01 sitting out here, and remember that the seemingly impossible is in fact achievable.”
I often think there are things I’ll never get to share on SSD and then the CIA publishes something like this.
Air Combat Command Discusses 16th Air Force as New Information Warfare NAF
Saturday, September 21st, 2019JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. (AFNS) —
Gen. Mike Holmes, Air Combat Command commander, discussed the designation of the 16th Air Force as a new information warfare numbered air force Sept. 18 at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor.
ACC will integrate 24th Air Force and 25th Air Force capabilities into a new organization under a single commander who will be responsible for providing information warfare capabilities to combatant commanders with the speed to match today’s technological environment.
“By having cyber and all the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tools together, one of the things it allows me to do is build a collection plan in advance before I do something and am able to have better information to support better decisions for our warfighters,” he said. “The Air Force is not going to run independent information warfare campaigns, but we’ll build those, organize, train and equip tools for combatant commanders.”
The heritage of 16th Air Force pays tribute to a group of highly decorated Airmen with a history of continued excellence in joint warfighting, strategic deterrence and military partnerships. During the Balkans air campaigns in the 1990s, the 16th Air Force pioneered efforts in the way the Air Force conducts intelligence operations, setting the foundation for operating in a continuously evolving information environment.
“We want to arm our leaders with options they can use that are proportional to the things that peer adversaries are doing,” he said. “We think we can present more robust teams with better intelligence support behind them and present some information ops options, which we have some game at already, but to improve that and be able to offer it on a larger scale to more combatant commanders at once.”
Activating 16th Air Force emphasizes the organization’s continued excellence in addition to its early use of integrated information systems and emerging technologies, such as remotely piloted aircraft. Just as the 16th Air Force made history bedding down the RQ-1 Predator at Taszar, Hungary, to provide enhanced ISR capabilities in the Balkans, it will soon make history again in the expanding arena of information warfare.
“The activation of 16th (Air Force) will synchronize the mission areas of ISR, electronic warfare, cyber and information operations capabilities,” said Holmes. “This integrated capability will provide multi-domain options to component and combatant commanders around the globe.”
The 16th Air Force will be located at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, where ACC will hold an activation ceremony later this year.
By Staff Reports, Air Combat Command Public Affairs
Rohde & Schwarz at DSEI: Information Superiority, Situational Awareness and Spectrum Dominance
Monday, September 9th, 2019Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates tactical and strategic intelligence and digital communications sovereignty, as a systems partner and integrator for planning, developing, manufacturing and implementing secure communications architectures and monitoring networks. The privately owned company showcases an innovative portfolio of interoperable, high-performance solutions for deployment on land, in the air and at sea.
London, September 9, 2019 – At this year’s DSEi, taking place in London, Great Britain from 10 to 13 September 2019, Rohde & Schwarz pushes information superiority, situational awareness and spectrum dominance to the next level, presenting its full technology portfolio on booth S1-350. Showcased are EW/SIGINT (electronic warfare/signals intelligence) systems, integrated communications on the high seas, on land and in the air, networked encryption devices and test and measurement solutions for radar and EW, alongside counter-UAS systems.
Rohde & Schwarz will showcase its operationally proven NAVICS integrated communications system for internal and SOVERON for external communications on all classes of ships. Relying on commercial IT technology to a large extent, the system is especially cost-effective, and its modern graphical user interface (GUI) makes it intuitive to operate. The system is fully IP based, allowing the integration of further communications services such as Voice-over-IP (VoIP), broadcast, alarm functions and shipborne telephone systems. Rohde & Schwarz will equip the Royal Navy’s Type 26 Global Combat Ship with an integrated communications system, built around the NAVICS, under a contract from BAE Systems, covering both internal and external communications.
As a leading supplier of EW/SIGINT solutions, Rohde & Schwarz is THE One-Stop Shop for reliable and field-proven EW, offering an exceptional portfolio and comprehensive functionality. In London, the company will showcase advanced EW systems for enhancing the situational awareness during operations in the field. The presented ELINT system features components of next generation ELINT intercept solutions that have been established on the market for years. The core component is a new 8-channel wideband ELINT concept, with 2GHz bandwidth, collecting and analyzing modern LPI signals and likewise legacy radar emissions. Exhibits also include a cellular network analysis system for supporting reconnaissance missions with focus on non-military communications. Moreover, Rohde & Schwarz will present a counter-UAS solution that provides reliable drone detection and countering capabilities even under challenging signal scenarios. The modular and scalable systems can be deployed on a variety of platforms and are in operation in the field several dozen times.
With its expertise in test and measurement, Rohde & Schwarz is also a leading provider of dedicated test solutions that help developers and engineers address the latest challenges in advanced radar and EW system design. At DSEI, the company will showcase its state of the art solutions for testing multifunctional radar systems, radar warning receivers and deceptive jammers/DRFM.
Addressing land-based platform requirements, SOVERON provides government customers with a secure, high-performance network architecture based on state-of-the-art hardware and software. SOVERON creates technological independence, scalable and modular according to customer requirements thus enabling digital sovereignty. As key components of the SOVERON architecture, Rohde & Schwarz presents its innovative SOVERON software defined radios (SDR) for tactical and airborne communications scenarios. For these SDRs, the company has designed high data rate, anti-jam waveforms to match diverse mission requirements. For every communications scenario, users can select the waveform and encryption that best suit their requirements in terms of range, data rate and jam resistance.
Furthermore, Rohde & Schwarz displays a broad range of hardware and software products to effectively protect networks and critical infrastructures against attacks. These encryption solutions protect authorities, organizations and enterprises against espionage and data manipulation. The Rohde & Schwarz network encryption devices are approved by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and can be used flexibly with many stationary and mobile applications.
