Ryan Pitts was awarded the Medal of Honor as a solider with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in 2008. We asked him 5 questions only a veteran would ask. Army photo, Marty Skovlund.
You never know who you are going to meet at the Army-Navy game.
As Task & Purpose staffers meet some of the remarkable service members and veterans attending the game outside Boston this weekend, we’re running them through our own brand of interview, asking questions that only veterans would think to ask.

Hosts L Todd Wood and Col John Mills (USA, Ret) discuss new developments in Chinese night tactics, and the looming war in Guyana.
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Commanders now have a tool to visualize and plan operations within the invisible confines of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Electromagnetic Battle Management – Joint (EMBM-J) released its minimum viable capability release for the first iteration of the tool, called situational awareness, according to the Defense Information Systems Agency, the manager for the program.
While invisible to the naked eye, the spectrum has become an increasing strategic maneuver space in recent years, with adversaries seeking to block vital access that enables communications, precision weapons and navigation.

During his opening remarks at the USAA Media Row press breakfast, Bill White, Senior Vice President and GM, Distribution and Service for USAA, reminded attendees what the Army-Navy game presented by USAA really means. “It’s bigger than football,” he said. “We all know the players will leave the field and go out and serve our country, but so will every member of the marching band. Every cheerleader. Think about that: every cheerleader on the field will die for you.” It’s an incredible sentiment and an equally great headline: These cheerleaders will die for you.

The compromise draft of the annual defense policy bill includes a mandate for the Pentagon to set up a bug bounty program and a prize competition to mitigate risks posed by artificial intelligence — a reflection of lawmakers’ concerns about potential military vulnerabilities.
The Department of Defense has used bug bounty programs to find cyber weaknesses by incentivizing white-hat hackers to hunt for them. Now, lawmakers want a similar concept to be applied to AI models.

Rowland White
British F-35B Joint Strike Fighters are, for the first time, being operated by a Royal Navy squadron, which will eventually take them to sea on aircraft carriers alongside their Royal Air Force squadron counterparts. The milestone has been a long time coming and full operating capability — when both squadrons can be deployed concurrently — is still not due until 2025, amid continuing questions over how many F-35Bs the United Kingdom will actually buy.

Welcome to The Adversarial. Every other week, we’ll provide you with expert analysis on America’s greatest challengers: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and jihadists. Read more below. *** Russia The latest $175 million package of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine was announced on Dec. 6 with this somber warning from the State Department: “Unless Congress acts […] this will be one of the last security assistance packages we can provide to Ukraine.

The former executive officer of a Navy ship pleaded guilty this week to distributing child porn and keeping classified material on a flash drive at his house.
According to a release from the Department of Justice, Lieutenant Commander Gregory McLean faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years and up to 20 years in prison for the child exploitation offense and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the retention of classified information offense.
McLean was the Executive Officer of a ship homeported at Naval Station Mayport in Florida, near Jacksonville, according to the DOJ.

Arquus, Nexter, and OCCAR are jointly leading the way towards the future of armoured mobility with the collaborative VBAE project.
The post Franco-Belgian armoured vehicle alliance VBAE contract appeared first on Army Technology.

Lawmakers are moving forward with legislation that would require the Department of Defense to study the impact of information operations during Russia’s war with Ukraine.
The directive comes from the comprise draft of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that was unveiled this week after members of the House and Senate hashed out their respective versions of the bill.
Under the provision, the secretary of defense must enter into an agreement or contract with a capable entity to conduct an independent study on the lessons learned from information ops conducted by the U.S.

The Green Ammo E-blanks M249 version displayed at I/ITSEC 2023. (Giles Ebbutt)
Norwegian firm Green Ammo has continued to develop its electronic blanks technology and introduced several enhancements.

Speaking to
Janes
at Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2023 in Orlando, Steffen Botten, Green Ammo chief operating officer, said that the system software had been improved and there was now an inertial measurement unit (IMU) embedded in the bolt to monitor weapon movement.

The Airsoft surrogate Glock pistol that Thales Training and Simulation has integrated into its Gladiator laser-based TESS. There are no additional attachments to the basic form factor. (Giles Ebbutt)
Thales Training and Simulation unveiled new capabilities for its live and indoor training systems at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2023 in Orlando.

South Korea agrees to remove bureaucracy behind the mutual transfer of Korean artillery between Norway and Finland.
The post Norway and Finland simplify mutual transfer of K9 artillery systems appeared first on Army Technology.

It was another crystal blue December morning on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. 
Along Opana Point at the island’s northern edge, two enlisted men were on duty at the Army mobile radar station. At 0701 hours, while monitoring the oscilloscope for activity, they noticed what appeared to be a large flight of aircraft approaching from the north at a distance of approximately 132 miles.
Following standard operating procedure, the pair contacted Fort Shafter to notify the Army’s Aircraft Warning Center of the “unusually large response” observed on their warning device.

The UK stood up 809 NAS as its second front-line F-35B unit at RAF Marham on 8 December 2023. (Janes/Gareth Jennings )
The UK stood up its second operational squadron for the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning combat aircraft on 8 December.
The Royal Navy’s (RN’s) 809 ‘Immortals’ Naval Air Squadron (NAS) was reconstituted at the home of the Lightning Force at Royal Air Force (RAF) Marham in Norfolk.

Military Times
Capt. Adam West already had plenty of reasons to become a Marine.

USNI News
WASHINGTON, D.C.

Stars&Str.
An Army civilian employee in Texas is accused in a federal indictment of stealing more than $100 million from a fund meant to help military children.

Steve Beynon, Military.com
Congress is set to direct the Army to boost fitness standards for most combat-arms jobs through a compromise defense policy bill unveiled Wednesday.

Forbes
U.S.

Boeing, RTX Corp, and CAE Inc are among the top employers in the aerospace and defence job market, as Canada ramps up its defence upgrades.
The post Signal: Canada’s defence overhaul creates job boom in aerospace and tech sectors appeared first on Army Technology.

European Commission aspirations to supply one million rounds of artillery ammunition to Ukraine have fallen well below target.
The post Europe unable to fill artillery shell gap if US pulls Ukraine support appeared first on Army Technology.

The Redback IFV (pictured above) weighs 42 tonnes and has a length, a width, and a height of 7.9 m, 3.64 m, and 3.75 m respectively. It has a maximum onroad speed of 65 km/h with a seating capacity for a crew of three and up to eight troops. (Hanwha Defense Australia)
The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) has signed a USD2.4 billion contract with Hanwha Defense Australia (HDA) to deliver 129 Redback infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) to the Australian Army under its Land 400 Phase 3 programme, HDA said in a press release on 8 December.

MASA’s SWORD constructive simulation displayed at I/ITSEC 2023, with a general situation picture at the top, a range of KPI choices (bottom left), and the new web-based analytics dashboard (bottom right) showing crew states in different formats. (Giles Ebbutt)
French firm MASA has continued to refine its widely used SWORD constructive simulation system and outlined the latest developments at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2023 in Orlando.

Saab has integrated a UAV capability into its instrumentation systems. Pictured is the UAV with Saab’s integrated computer card, laser detector from a dismounted harness, and laser small arms transmitter displayed at I/ITSEC 2023. (Giles Ebbutt)
Saab has developed additional capabilities for its live tactical engagement simulation system (TESS) and is eyeing new opportunities both in Europe and elsewhere, company representatives said during a briefing at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2023 in Orlando.

Sterenn Du
has been reactivated by Naval Group for use as an experimental testbed for large unmanned platforms and autonomous systems.
(Naval Group)

French shipbuilder Naval Group has started experimental at-sea trials with the medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV)
Sterenn Du
from its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) centre of expertise in Saint-Mandrier.

A visual comparison of the new Taurus KEPD 350K-2 (in foreground) and KEPD 350K precision-attack cruise missiles. The KEPD 350K-2 uses a new wing design and improved dynamics to retain the 500 km range of the older and larger KEPD 350K. (Janes)
A smaller version of the Taurus Systems KEPD 350K air-launched precision‐attack cruise missile being planned for the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) FA-50 fighter aircraft could enter production two years after full-scale development is launched.

Ansar Allah released a photograph on 1 November showing a Zulfiqar launch to illustrate its attacks on Israel. (Ansar Allah)
The Yemeni rebel group Ansar Allah (Houthis) has been launching Zulfiqar ballistic missiles and Quds cruise missiles at Israel, not new types of weapons, according to two letters submitted to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by Gilad Erdan,the Israeli ambassador to the UN.
The letters said Zulfiqars were launched from Yemen towards Israel on 31 October, 4 November, 9 November, and 14 November.

As the U.S. military prepares for an era of large-scale combat operations, the “golden hour” as medics know it is dead. So long as near-peer adversaries can create anti-access/area denial zones that threaten ground and rotary wing medevac units, they will not be able to get servicemembers to Role 2 surgical care within an hour after the injury. The result will be more casualties. With initial estimates from warfighter exercises suggesting casualty rates as high as 55 percent in future conflicts, the current military medical system, regardless of service, will quickly become overwhelmed.

Christy Abizaid, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, spoke about the duties of the center, terrorist threats to the United States and the role of counter-terrorism during an era of strategic competition. She also participated in a moderated question and answer session with Mark Pomar, discussing U.S. foreign policy, the counter-terrorism mission, and what it is like to work with in the intelligence community. Image: U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Anthony Zendejas IV
The post Counter-Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy Priorities appeared first on War on the Rocks.

US Army 125th Intelligence and Electronic Warfare (IEW) Battalion, Electronic Warfare team, trained 25th Infantry Division soldiers on the V-MAX jamming backpack during the ‘Super Garuda Shield 23′ exercise in September. (US Army)
As the US Army works toward revamping its force by 2030, it hopes to capitalise on new technologies such as warfare on the electromagnetic spectrum and tackle the complexities of training soldiers to operate in the unseen world.

EW officers monitor a simulated test in the Central Control Facility (CCF) at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The CCF is used to oversee EW mission data flight-testing. Portions of their missions are likely to expand under the new Air Force Cyber Command. (US Air Force)

Members of the trilateral security co-operative between Australia, the UK, and the US (AUKUS) have agreed to kick off

collaborative development of advanced combat technologies, with an eye towards commonality and interoperability, beginning with electronic warfare (EW) capabilities.

The new Collins Aerospace Arcus image generator displayed at I/ITSEC 2023. (Giles Ebbutt)
Collins Aerospace, an RTX business, has developed a new image generator (IG) called Arcus and launched it in November at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2023 in Orlando.

Rohde & Schwarz has officially been named as the chosen vendor for the Bundeswehr’s multibillion-euro digital radio programme. The company has already delivered units to the Bundeswehr, which are based on the SVFuA dual-channel, multiband radio (pictured in the vehicular variant). (Rohde & Schwarz)
Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) has officially been named as the chosen vendor for the German Bundeswehr’s major Combat Net Radio (CNR) programme, the company announced on 7 December.

The components of the CAE-led partnership SVT solution demonstrated at I/ITSEC 23. The modified weapon (top) and the virtual range with instructions displayed on a screen (bottom). (Giles Ebbutt)
The CAE-led partnership developing the Soldier Virtual Trainer (SVT) demonstrated its solution at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2023 in Orlando.

USN
The U.S. military’s Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense site in Poland is finally set to go operational after years of construction delays and other issues. The facility is ostensibly meant to help guard Europe against ballistic missile strikes from ‘rogue actors’ like Iran, but the security landscape in Poland and the rest of Europe has dramatically changed since the project started in 2009.
Navy Rear Adm.

A U.S. Army UH-60 flies over Gayana during a past training mission last July. Photo by Spc. Joshua Taeckens
The U.S. on Thursday announced joint military drills with Guyana as tensions mount with its South American neighbor to the west, Venezuela. That nation’s authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro has threatened to annex a large portion of Guyana in the latest flareup of a long-simmering border dispute. You can read our recent explainer on the brewing crisis here.
The exercise, billed as U.S.

The Space Force “T Minus 10 Miler” isn’t officially ‘mandatory fun’ but it looks pretty great anyway. Photo from Space Force Facebook.
They could have called it “The Space Race,” but somehow they came up with an even better name.
Instead, the Space Force’s official service-sponsored 10 mile race this weekend is called:
“T Minus 10 Miler.”
We love it and we want the t-shirt.
And the race’s route lives up to its moon-shot name, as does the swag you get for signing up.

Anduril founder Palmer Luckey described the Roadrunner-M as a “kamikaze ship” during a conference call with journalists ahead of the system’s official unveiling.

Autonomous technology manufacturer Anduril has launched a new high-speed UAS, Roadrunner, capable of intercepting and destroying enemy aircraft.

Presentation of the  Roadrunner – a new player on the aerial battlefield
The  Roadrunner, a dual-jet autonomous aerial vehicle, has been unveiled by Anduril.

The Space Development Agency is looking into ways it can begin offering alternative positioning, navigation and timing through its forthcoming Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture — including a collaborative effort between the agency and the Army, according to SDA Director Derek Tournear.
Speaking at a webinar hosted by the National Security Space Association on Thursday, Tournear said the agency wants some of the satellites in SDA’s Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 transport layer to be able to beam an Army-developed alt-PNT signal to users on the ground.

The first Department of Defense BRAVO hackathon to be hosted at a combatant command is slated for early next year in Hawaii, the Pentagon announced Thursday. And all U.S. citizens can apply to participate.
The “multi-classification” event, dubbed BRAVO 11 Bits2Effects, is scheduled to take place Feb. 5-9 in Oahu, where U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is headquartered.
The hackathon “is seeking to produce solutions to combatant command challenges utilizing Indo-Pacific operational theater data.

A grand jury indicted Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, a civilian working for the Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas on charges that she stole $100 million from a 4-H program for children from military families. Photo by Lori Bultman.
An Army employee bilked the Pentagon for $100 million in fraudulent grants meant for programs aimed at military children, according to a federal indictment handed down Wednesday.

(Photo by Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The White House on Thursday once again urged Congressional Republicans to end their hold on a proposed package that would provide tens of billions of dollars of desperately needed military aid to Ukraine.
“It’s stunning that we’ve gotten to this point and that Republicans in Congress are willing to give Putin a gift. The greatest gift that Putin could hope for,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

NATO tapped 44 organizations to address challenges related to undersea sensing and surveillance, secure information-sharing and energy resilience as part of the first cohort of the alliance’s Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) initiative.
DIANA was set up to boost cooperation on emerging technologies and foster a transatlantic innovation network.

(Task & Purpose composite image).
Last week, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a meticulous study that showed veterans have a higher likelihood of dying if they choose care in the community rather than Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals. As time slips by, the refusal of Congress and the VA to impose quality standards for contracted providers continues to contribute to needless veteran deaths.
Specifically, VA-enrolled older veterans’ 30-day mortality from stroke or heart failure was higher when hospitalized in non-VA compared to VA facilities.

The Iranian Ministry of Defense published a video of preparations for the creation and launch of a biological capsule into space by the Salman launch vehicle.
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Navy Seaman 1st Class James R. Ward, of Springfield, Ohio, was killed on Dec. 7, 1941 when he stayed aboard the sinking USS Oklahoma to help fellow crewmen escape. He will be buried Dec. 21 in Arlington National Cemetery.
One of 16 sailors awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor will be interred in Arlington National Cemetery this month, nearly 82 years after he died saving his fellow sailors.
Navy Seaman 1st Class James R. Ward, of Springfield, Ohio, was killed on Dec.

Damen
Work has begun on the construction of Germany’s next class of warships, the F126 project, described by the manufacturer as the “largest shipbuilding project in the history of the German Navy.” These vessels will be physically the biggest surface warships to join the German Navy since World War II and, although there remains a question over whether the German government will ever buy the full fleet of six that the navy wants, or just the four currently under contract.

Lawmakers stripped language from the annual defense policy bill that would have required an independent study to determine the feasibility of creating a separate cyber military service.

Image by Homoatrox

Reprinted with permission Mises Institute Connor O’Keeffe
Over the weekend, border-policy negotiations between Senate Democrats and Republicans fell apart. The talks were meant to firm up Republican support for the president’s massive $105 billion military support proposal ahead of Wednesday’s vote by including additional funds for border security in the spending package. Now, with no imminent approval of further aid to Ukraine, hawks in government and the media are trying to stoke panic about what will happen if Kyiv is cut off from US support.