Space Futures Command could begin limited operations this year

The Space Force expects to begin early operations of its new Futures Command before the end of this year, according to the general in charge of establishing the organization.

Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton, the service’s chief strategy and resourcing officer, said he hopes to have a task force of 10 to 15 personnel in place by this summer. That team will lay the groundwork for the command with the goal of initial operations before the end of 2024.

“We’ll get the team, and they’ll start pulling it together and working through both the administrative [Defense Department] requirements to create a new organization as well as the much harder work of really getting after the tasks associated with it,” Bratton said Feb. 27 at the National Security Space Association’s Defense and Intelligence Space Conference in Virginia.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman announced the creation of the command Feb. 12 as part of organizational changes meant to position the Air Force and Space Force to better deter and counter threats from China. The Army has had a futures command to run modernization efforts since 2018.

The idea is that as the Space Force matures, it requires a more robust analysis backbone to not only understand what satellites, sensors and ground systems it needs, but also what structures it must have in place to support those capabilities. That includes the military construction, classified facilities, training and operational units that come with a new mission.

Space Futures Command will focus on three primary functions, which will be organized into centers. The Concepts and Technology Center will analyze the threat environment and consider what capabilities and forces the service needs to respond to those threats. A Wargaming Center will evaluate potential technologies through tabletop exercises and learning campaigns.

The third hub, the Space Warfighting Analysis Center, already exists within the Space Force and is focused on developing models for how the service can apply those capabilities in a future warfighting environment.

Bratton pointed to cislunar operations and on-orbit servicing and logistics as two mission areas Space Futures Command may explore in the near term.

Cislunar refers to the area between geostationary orbit — about 22,000 miles above Earth — and the moon. The service has been exploring concepts for future operations in that region, and Bratton said the new command could help refine how the service might operate in cislunar and what threats it may encounter.

Servicing, mobility and logistics is an emerging mission for the Space Force as it looks extend the life of its satellites and change the way it maneuvers them. While the service has demonstrations planned in the coming years, Bratton said there is some analytical work around how, for example, on-orbit refueling contributes to the Space Force’s role in future conflicts.

“We think there’s value there,” he said. “It’s sort of like going into court and proving there’s value. And that’s what futures command is going to have to do.”

Honeywell, PTDI ink deal for Indonesia’s Black Hawk helicopter program

SINGAPORE — American company Honeywell has signed an agreement with PT Dirgantara Indonesia to provide avionics and mechanical products to a planned Black Hawk helicopter program.

The memorandum of agreement, inked during the Singapore Airshow last week, includes the integration of Honeywell’s TPE331 turboprop engine into the Sikorsky S-70M Black Hawk GFA-type transport helicopters. PTDI will assemble the helicopters at Bandung under a manufacturing license for the Indonesian Defense Ministry.

In August, PTDI and Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, entered into an industrial arrangement for the ministry to procure the Black Hawks. PTDI did not disclose the number of helicopters under the deal with Sikorsky in August, but the ministry revealed during the air show that the contract covers 24 helicopters.

The agreement between PTDI and Honeywell also includes the localization of maintenance, repair and overhaul services for Honeywell’s avionics and mechanical systems as well as the manufacturing of a harness assembly.

While the helicopters have yet to be completed, Honeywell is working with PTDI to provide technologies to elevate and sustain the aircraft, according to Sathesh Ramiah, vice president for Honeywell’s defense and space business in the Asia-Pacific region.

PTDI wanted to minimize maintenance periods for the helicopters and ensure they meet the needs of the armed forces, Ramiah told Defense News. “That’s something we signed and continue to work with PTDI in terms of expanding other technologies from the sustainment side.”

The two companies have previously collaborated on the Indonesian Air Force’s CN-235 twin-engine transport aircraft and CN-212 medium cargo aircraft manufactured under license by PTDI.

France says any troops in Ukraine would be in non-combat roles

PARIS — France’s defense minister said any potential European military presence in Ukraine would be in non-combat roles, and not to fight Russians, following consternation among several NATO allies after French President Emmanuel Macron left open the option of putting troops on the ground.

“Let me be clear, because I can see the way things are going on social networks and in the media, it’s not about sending troops to wage war on Russia,” French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in a hearing of the National Assembly’s defense committee Tuesday night.

Sending troops to Ukraine was among topics discussed during a meeting of 27 countries in Paris, Macron said Feb. 26, adding there was no consensus, but nothing should be excluded. His comments triggered a flurry of denials by countries including Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. while Moscow warned of direct conflict with NATO should the alliance deploy troops to Ukraine.

The countries gathered in Paris discussed “how to do things differently” in terms of aid to Ukraine, and a number of ideas were put on the table, notably around mine clearing in Ukraine and local training of troops, Lecornu said during the hearing. There was no consensus on those two ideas in the meeting, he said.

Rather than training Ukrainian troops in Poland, one possibility discussed was training on Ukrainian territory, away from the frontline, according to the minister. Ukraine will face greater training needs for troops who will be conscripted “in the near future,” Lecornu said.

More than 20 NATO countries have been training Ukrainian troops in the U.K., the United States, Spain and elsewhere. The French armed forces have been training troops from Ukraine in France and in Poland.

Lecornu said there are “areas where things can still be done,” including around military advisers. Saying that he was “being careful” as the hearing was public, the minister noted other countries have previously had “major military advisors” in Ukraine, which is “not exactly” what France did there, but something it has done in other countries in the past through partnerships.

The French minister said Germany delivering Taurus cruise missiles would help Ukraine, but it’s up to the German government to make that decision. He said the British and French deliveries of Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles had not resulted in a “logic of escalation.”

“Deep strikes are an element of differentiation for the Ukrainians,” Lecornu said. “They make it possible to hit military command centers, logistics centers and Russian ammunition warehouses, so these are obviously valuable technologies. Would the Taurus be valuable? The answer is yes, because it offers the same capabilities as SCALP or Storm Shadow.”

“But once again, Germany is sovereign in the way it decides,” Lecornu said. “This is also why we intend to remain sovereign in the way we decide on our arms exports, so everyone will be able to understand it.’’

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the proposal of giving Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, arguing the weapons’ operation would make Berlin a more active participant in the war than its previous military aid donations, worth billions of euros, already have.

Meanwhile. Lecornu said Nexter, the French arm of KNDS, had boosted production of 155-millimeter artillery shells to 3,000 a month. He said the company is investing in machinery and reopening an additional production line, and the minister said he has “good hope” that France’s production will increase to 4,000 to 5,000 shells a month by the end of 2024.

Germany buys Rheinmetall’s Skyranger to reinstate mobile air defenses

BERLIN — Germany will purchase up to 49 Skyranger 30 air defense systems from Rheinmetall for a total of almost €600 billion, or $650 billion, the company announced in a press release this week.

The Skyranger 30 weapons stations will be mounted onto the Bundeswehr’s Boxer armored fighting vehicles. In the German setup, the system contains a sensor suite, a 30-millimeter cannon and Stinger surface-to-air missiles. It promises the ability to engage fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft as well as drones and cruise missiles. Additionally, the Bundesweh, Germany’s armed forces, will be able to network it with other air defense assets.

The order contains one prototype and 18 production vehicles, with an option for 30 further vehicles. Rheinmetall said it would deliver the Bundeswehr’s prototype by the end of the year.

The German acquisition, worth €595 million, is part of the military’s project to develop an integrated air defense system for close- and short-range protection. The Skyranger 30 platform is to play an integral role in this endeavor, the manufacturer said in a press release.

Just a month ago, on January 25, a consortium made up of Rheinmetall, Diehl and sensor manufacturer Hensoldt was tasked by the German government to develop this capability for the Bundeswehr for a total of €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion).

The contract was “aimed at implementing the necessary solutions for networking individual components, integrating the IRIS T-SLM air defense system, establishing interoperability and extending the interception range to the short range,” Diehl Defense said in a January statement. To this end, the Skyranger 30 system will be able to work both autonomously and in communication with other systems, according to the manufacturer.

Germany has put itself in a leading role on the continent when it comes to air defense thanks to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s European Sky Shield Initiative, announced in August 2022. The initiative now counts 21 countries following the recent announcement that Greece and Turkey intend to join. ESSI was launched in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the heavy use of drones and cruise missiles to damage critical civilian infrastructure in the conflict, which highlighted European vulnerabilities.

With this latest move, Germany hopes to strengthen its position as a “role model for ground-based air defense,” Rheinmetall said. The 2010 retirement of the country’s Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns for cost-cutting purposes left a gap in the German army’s capabilities which this new acquisition is meant to fill.

Just days earlier, the neighboring government in Vienna – another ESSI member – had been the first country to confirm it would acquire the new Skyranger 30 system, which is a quarter lighter than its predecessor, meaning it can be mounted on Austrian army vehicles. Austria will be acquiring 36 Skyrangers for their Pandur EVO armored vehicles for a total of €1.8 billion ($1.95 billion).

Rheinmetall said the company expected more orders to follow. Hungary tasked the German manufacturer with integrating the Skyranger system with its Lynx KF41 vehicles in December of last year, while Lithuania and Denmark are considering acquisitions of their own, according to the company.

France orders 3,000 camouflage nets for cloaking foxhole radio signals

MILAN — The French government’s military-procurement agency has placed an order for thousands of Saab multispectral camouflage nets designed to conceal troops formations’ electromagnetic signature on the battlefield.

The Direction Générale de l’Armement announced in a Feb. 27 release that it has ordered 3,000 multispectral Barracuda camouflage nets from the Stockholm-based defense company.

“Saab’s subcontractor, the French SME Solarmtex, based in Vierzon, France, will carry out their manufacturing and assembly,” the release said.

The order is valued at $21.6 million and the nets are expected to be delivered between 2024 and 2026 to the French Army and the Air and Space Force.

According to the DGA release, the mesh will enhance the discretion of brigade, combined arms and vehicle battle groups as well as other sensitive targets by masking their visible, infrared and radar signatures.

Detection by way of electromagnetic emissions, and subsequent targeting, is a constant danger faced by Ukrainian forces in their defense against Russian invaders.

Saab’s nets are the culmination of a two-year development program between the company, DGA and the Technical Section of the Army (STAT) to meet the French forces’ requirements.

In September, the Swedish company told Defense News that it had integrated its Barracuda camouflage net with a new feature that would change how troops communicate by allowing selected radio-frequencies to pass through the mesh.

“It is integrated with material that acts as a low-pass filter, allowing the selected radio-frequencies of their choice to pass either way through the camouflage screen while also protecting soldiers against higher ones of electromagnetic waves used by radar systems,” Johan Jersblad, senior development engineering at Saab told reporters then during online briefing.

At the time, the Ultra-Lightweight Camouflage Screen-Frequency Selected Surface (ULCAS-FSS) was not yet in service, as it was only unveiled at the 2023 DSEI defense exhibition in London. The intention was to eventually mass-produce it in Sweden.

Here are the winners and losers in US Army’s force structure change

The U.S. Army has unveiled a whitepaper detailing how the service plans to shrink the force in some places and grow it in other areas.

The document’s release on Tuesday comes as the Army continues transitioning from counterinsurgency missions to large-scale combat operations against technologically advanced adversaries, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth explained at a Feb. 27 event in Washington hosted by the Defense Writers Group.

Force structure changes are also necessary, she said, because the Army is working through a massive modernization effort involving a wide variety of new capabilities coming online now and over the next two decades.

“What we’ve done through the force structure changes is make room for some of the new formations,” she said, adding this equates to 7,500 new spaces for soldiers to go.

At the same time, the service’s recruiting challenges have left it with a “hollow force structure,” Wormuth said, “so we needed to basically reduce 32,000 spaces to both shrink over-structure and make room for that 7,500 [spaces] of new structure.”

The Army’s current authorized force structure is 445,000 active duty soldiers, but the service was designed for 494,000. The new force structure is meant to shore the gap, bringing troop levels to approximately 470,000 soldiers by fiscal 2029.

Wormuth told Defense News in an interview last fall that the Army was preparing to go to Capitol Hill to address some vital changes that would include both reductions from the counterinsurgency-related structure and high-tech additions to the force’s inventory. The planned force structure would focus more on operations at the corps and division levels, and less on brigade combat teams.

“By bringing force structure and end strength into closer alignment, the Army will ensure its formations are filled at the appropriate level to maintain a high state of readiness,” the Army’s whitepaper stated. “At the same time, the Army will continue to transform its recruiting efforts so that it can build back its end strength, which is needed to provide strategic flexibility, reduce strain on frequently deploying soldiers, and add new capabilities to the force.”

What’s in?

Some major elements of the new force structure will include building out the Army’s five theater-level multidomain task forces, or MDTF.

The Army has already established three MDTFs: two in the Indo-Pacific theater and one in the European theater. The service plans to set up another dedicated to the Pacific region, and yet another that is “service-retained” to likely focus on U.S. Central Command’s area of operation, Wormuth said at the Defense Writers Group event.

The MDTFs will consist of a headquarters and headquarters battalion, a multidomain effects battalion, a long-range fires battalion, an Indirect Fire Protection Capability battalion, and a brigade support battalion, the whitepaper noted.

“As discussions with allied countries progress over time, the Army will likely forward station elements of the MDTFs permanently, such as the multi domain effects and long range fires battalions, to strengthen deterrence,” the document stated.

The Army will also make “significant investments” in structure for integrated air and missile defense at both the corps and division levels to include four additional Indirect Fire Protection Capability battalions that offer defense against rockets, artillery, mortars, drones and cruise missiles at fixed and semi-fixed sites; and four additional Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense battalions.

The document noted that these new and additional formations are “only a representative sample of the Army’s full capability growth.”

What’s out?

Some of the structure that is coming out of the force are spaces authorized but not filled by soldiers. The Army won’t be asking current soldiers to leave, the paper explained.

“The Army looked carefully at each military occupational specialty, and examined each skill set and functional area for efficiencies,” the paper read. For instance, the Army will reallocate engineer assets at the brigade combat team level to the division echelon, “which allows the Army to reduce the overall number of engineer positions while giving division and corps commanders flexibility to concentrate assets as necessary during large scale combat operations.”

The Army reduced almost 10,000 spaces through efficiencies like reallocating engineer assets. The service also reduced 2,700 authorizations based on modeling, the paper stated, to include factors like “demand over time, capacity to meet National Defense Strategy requirements and past deployment stress.”

Some other Army-wide reductions will come from adjustments to close combat forces, according to the paper, to include inactivation of cavalry squadrons in continental U.S.-based Stryker brigade combat teams and infantry brigade combat teams, converting the latter’s weapons companies to platoons and eliminating some positions in the security force assistance brigades “representing a decrement to capacity at minimal risk.”

These reductions equate to another 10,000 reductions in space, the paper noted.

The Army also observed that its special operations forces had doubled in size over the past 20 years. “The Army conducted extensive analysis examining special operations requirements for large scale combat in multiple theaters and applied additional modeling to understand the requirements for special operators during the campaigning phase of great power competition,” the document stated.

The service concluded the structure there could be reduced by 3,000 spaces. “Specific reductions will be made based on an approach that ensures unique SOF capabilities are retained,” the paper added. “Positions and headquarters elements that are historically vacant or hard to fill will be prioritized for reduction.”

US Space Force to launch more integrated units to boost efficiency

With the U.S. Space Force seeing positive results from its unit-integration experiment, the service is now weeks away from announcing plans to expand the model beyond the pilot phase, according to the head of Space Operations Command.

“We’re having conversations about that with the service chief. He will decide what are the next candidates to do that,” Lt. Gen. David Miller told reporters in a Feb. 27 briefing.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman announced in September the service would pilot an integrated mission delta construct as a way to better align responsibility, authority and resources within mission areas. The concept is a departure from the service’s current unit structure, which separates operations, sustainment and acquisition into separate commands.

The Space Force chose positioning, navigation and timing, or PNT, as well as electronic warfare as the first two mission areas to test out the idea.

Miller said the service has been analyzing lessons from the first few months of the effort and made recommendations to Saltzman for which mission areas should be included in the next phase. He would not discuss his proposal with reporters and didn’t disclose the timing of an announcement, but said to expect more details “in the coming weeks.”

“You can imagine that my recommendations are pretty aggressive,” Miller said. “But we’re going to go with whatever the service chief and the [Air Force secretary] decide.”

Since implementing the construct, the PNT and electronic warfare integrated mission deltas have seen significant efficiency improvements, according to Miller — blowing past testing milestones and fielding capabilities in “record time.” For PNT, he said, the team demonstrated the ability to quickly address service outages now that its commander has authority for all of the system’s sustainment and maintenance, which would have previously resided in a separate command.

While the model has worked well for those two mission areas and Miller expects the same in other areas, he noted that the integrated approach may not be the right fit for all capability sets. Some, for example, may not be designed to present combat forces and so would function better under a single delta with a more focused responsibility scope.

“I don’t think that in every case and every situation that you’ll see an IMD, or Integrated Mission Delta, be a requirement,” he said. “Some of those deltas don’t need that.”

UK opens bidding for new helicopter, to award contract in 2025

Britain has opened up bids for its New Medium Helicopter program as the nation’s modernization program moves into a major new phase, the Defence Ministry announced Tuesday.

The U.K. expects to award a contract in 2025 to build the new helicopters, the ministry said. According to a March 2022 government document about major defense projects, the deal could be worth nearly £1.2 billion (U.S. $1.5 billion).

“The New Medium Helicopter will provide essential support to our military operations, and we’re pleased to have reached this next important stage of the program,” Defence Procurement Minister James Cartlidge said in the news release. “The program’s competition includes essential criteria that are key to securing vital rotary wing operational independence, allowing us to respond swiftly to emerging threats in a highly contested world.”

This program is expected to deliver up to 44 medium-lift support helicopters that can operate in all environments and perform up to five different jobs that were previously covered by different types of aircraft, the ministry said, including carrying out both combat and humanitarian missions. This is expected to streamline the U.K.’s vertical lift capabilities, providing more efficiency and operational flexibility, the ministry added.

The U.K. branches of Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo Helicopters and Lockheed Martin are expected to submit bids now that the British military has released its invitation to negotiate.

The potential to export these helicopters to other countries will be an important element the U.K. will consider as it evaluates bids, the ministry said. Other issues to undergo consideration include the helicopters’ design, production and manufacturing process.

“The New Medium Helicopter contract will secure the vital operational independence we require, as well as investing in U.K. skills for the long term, and demonstrates the U.K. government’s commitment to the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy,” the ministry said in its release.

The winner of this contract will replace the Army’s Puma helicopters, as well as the country’s aging Bell 412, Bell 212 and Airbus Dauphin helicopters.

Lockheed and its subsidiary Sikorsky plan to submit the Black Hawk helicopter for the New Medium Helicopter program. Sikorsky president Paul Lemmo said at the Paris Air Show in June 2023 that it was considering setting up a Black Hawk final assembly line in the U.K. to strengthen its bid for the program. A final assembly line on the European continent — likely Poland — is also an option, Lemmo added.

Airbus has teamed up with Boeing to pitch the H175M for the program, which it would build in Wales. The H175M would be a militarized version of Airbus’ commercial H175 helicopter.

Italian firm Leonardo is eyeing its AW149 helicopter for its own bid, saying the construction style allows for the aircraft to better survive small-arms fire.

NASSCO readying for one program’s end, downturn in repair workload

SAN DIEGO — General Dynamics’ NASSCO shipyard is nearing the end of its Expeditionary Sea Base shipbuilding program, which has been extended multiple times due to high demand.

It’s also eyeing a potential 2030 timeframe for a push to reinvigorate the sealift fleet.

Now, the California shipyard must determine how to best fill its order books between now and then.

The yard here is unique: it is the only one in the nation that builds new U.S. Navy and commercial ships and conducts repairs on both. This flexibility offers options as it seeks new work, NASSCO President David Carver said in a recent interview.

But after a couple years of turbulent labor and supply chain conditions, the yard is pursuing stability — something it thinks is achievable with a few key programs.

The San Diego shipyard just delivered its fourth Lewis B. Puller-class Expeditionary Sea Base this month and has two more under construction. After that sixth ESB delivers, the yard will need to fill its graving dock with another ship type.

“We’re looking at the [next-generation] sub tender program. We’re looking at commercial possibilities. So we fully intend to fill the graving dock, our build position, with another ship class,” Carver said Feb. 13 from his office overlooking the assembly area.

Or, it could use that space to accelerate the John Lewis-class oiler program.

The first nine oilers are on contract, with two delivered to the Navy and the next four in various phases of construction.

Carver said the program got off to a slow start, was abruptly accelerated in 2018 when a shipyard accident halted the ESB program and forced NASSCO to move those employees to the oiler program to avoid laying them off, and then slowed again when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Now, though, the oiler program “is really starting to hit its stride. We are seeing significant ship-over-ship learning, much like we did on our T-AKE program some years back.”

Carver said NASSCO and the Navy have discussed the pace of future oiler construction. He believes building two a year “is probably aggressive” — unless the yard can’t win a contract for the submarine tender or a commercial tanker program to replace the expeditionary sea base program, in which case it could use that graving dock to build more oilers. But, he said, the ideal rate might be alternating between one and two every year in what’s known as a sawtooth profile.

General Dynamics in December finished a capital improvement project to expand the block assembly line. Now, Carver said, production should be able to ramp up such that, by the end of the year, NASSCO is producing one additional block, or segment of a ship hull, each week.

“Seems minor, but one extra block [per week over the course of one year] is a quarter of a T-AO. So we’ll be able to build a quarter of a ship more every year by the end of the year,” he said, noting this would help the yard get to the 1-2-1-2 sawtooth pattern while also being able to pursue the submarine tender or commercial work.

Sealift, sooner or later

Carver is confident there will be a boon in sealift ship spending down the road, perhaps around 2030. A sealift fleet, along with the Air Force’s fleet of cargo aircraft, would carry the ground force and all its supplies to a fight overseas.

“We believe it’s going to happen, it’s just when,” he said. “Our nation’s in trouble in terms of that sealift capability — everyone understands it, but it’s just not a priority to be funded” yet.

Sealift has historically been a challenge because the Navy must buy them, even though the Army would be perhaps the biggest beneficiary of a strong sealift fleet. Because sealift ships don’t fill a Navy operational need, the ships don’t fare well when budgets get tight.

The Navy and the U.S. Maritime Administration have bought used sealift ships in recent years, but the ships have been more expensive than anticipated and required modifications to meet Defense Department sealift requirements.

“It’s a stopgap, but they’re going to have to build new sooner or later,” Carver said, adding that NASSCO has already drafted designs and shared them with the Navy.

The Navy took a stab at a multi-purpose sealift ship called the Common Hull Auxiliary Multi-Mission Platform, or CHAMP, awarding contracts to NASSCO and three other companies in an industry studies phase in 2019. This common hull would have performed five separate missions: sealift, aviation logistics support, hospital, repair tender, and command and control. The cost, though, ballooned to more than $1 billion dollars per ship, leading the Navy to cancel the effort.

Carver said NASSCO’s design costs “a quarter of that price,” and the company continues to make its pitch to the Navy and lawmakers about the need to buy inexpensive sealift ships to reinvigorate the fleet and support the shipbuilding sector.

Repair workload continues to shrink

The shipyard has seen relative stability on the construction side compared to its the ship repair business.

“Ship repair … has dropped for the third year in a row,” with 2024′s workload down one-third compared to three years ago, Carver said.

The Navy has designated some of the work as small business set-asides, leaving companies like NASSCO and its next-door neighbor in San Diego, BAE Systems, ineligible, while other availabilities have been shortened or canceled due to extended deployments or funding shortfalls.

Carver said the ship repair industry overall is in a down cycle and that many other companies have had to lay off employees. NASSCO has avoided this, since it can move employees to the construction side — but Carver said the shipyard has struggled with the growing cost of repair work due to increases in the cost of labor, supplies and overhead related to reforms made after several shipboard fires.

The yard is hopeful the workload will increase beginning in 2025, especially as the Navy moves deeper into its DDG Mod 2.0 effort to upgrade all 25 Flight IIA Arleigh Burke destroyers.

8,000+ soldiers tested in large-scale combat in the Arctic

More than 8,000 soldiers in Alaska recently concluded a large-scale exercise that included a 150-mile helicopter deep strike, flying a rocket launcher 500 miles to operate above the Arctic Circle and snowmobile hunter-killer teams armed with shoulder-fired rockets.

Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commander of the Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division, spoke with reporters Monday about the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center training exercise that took place from Feb. 8 through Feb. 22 across the state.

It’s been three years since the Army started its Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center rotations in Alaska, and Eifler said this was the largest and most complex version of the training so far.

A Mongolian Armed Forces infantry company and 600 Canadian troops, 350 from the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, 165 from the Royal Canadian Air Force and 100 from various support forces, participated alongside U.S. forces. Other partner nations such as Sweden, Finland and South Korea sent forces to work with staff sections of U.S. units.

Another 18 nations sent observers to the exercise, Eifler said of the growing exercise.

Army sketches out plan for an Arctic brigade combat team

The Army released its Arctic Strategy in 2021. In June 2022, the service reactivated the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska to oversee and grow Arctic-focused forces and training to counter increasing militarization of the region by Russian and Chinese military forces.

The 1st Brigade, 11th Airborne Division, served as the “blue force” fighting over the two weeks against two battalions of the 2nd Brigade, 11th Airborne Division, which served as the enemy force.

Both units ran their field operations but were joined by simulated brigades. Eifler and his team were able to fight an entire division in the exercise using simulated forces alongside real soldiers, he said.

The 2nd Brigade was given about five times the number of rockets, artillery and ammunition to battle 1st Brigade. The “enemy” brigade also had air defense, communication jamming and electronic warfare tools.

That extra firepower meant that blue force fire units had to pick their targets wisely, shoot quickly and move rapidly to avoid enemy counterfires, Eifler said.

The enemy air defense challenged the blue force to create attack windows and push realistic approaches to a near-peer adversary that controlled the sky.

A standard airborne or air assault mission would easily be detected in that scenario, he said. Which meant division aviators had to strike first.

“We did a 150-mile deep attach with our Apache division while avoiding air defense emitters that we put out,” Eifler said. “They had to duck and weave over those 150 miles close to the terrain to get to the target and destroy it and get back safely.”

Deep strike

That was the first and longest such deep strike of that distance since the rotations began, Eifler said.

Once the strike had its effect, the blue force brigade flew a more than 80-mile air assault using 15 aircraft, including Chinooks and Black Hawks, he said.

On the ground, soldiers used the five new cold-weather, all-terrain vehicles, or CATV, during the exercise, which Eifler said performed well and allowed soldiers to maneuver over various snow, mud and water-logged terrain. Temperatures fluctuated from -40 degrees Fahrenheit to 40 F

BAE Systems won the $278 million contract to produce the cold-weather, all-terrain vehicle for the Army in 2022. At the time the service planned to purchase 163 of them to replace its decades-old small unit support vehicle.

The cold-weather, all-terrain vehicle is a tracked vehicle that can carry nine soldiers and equipment.

At the same time, 1st Brigade dispatched soldier teams on snowmobiles armed with Javelin missile launchers to navigate off-road and knock out enemy tanks and vehicles.

“One of our standing orders is to stay off the road when you’re fighting in harsh weather because the roads and trails are like the enemy’s engagement areas,” Eifler said. “We’re always saying ‘if your traveling is easy, you’re running into danger. And if it’s very hard and difficult to move you’re winning.’”

In the airwaves, the enemy force jammed digital communications that, at times, forced commanders to dispatch those same CATVs and snowmobiles to hand-deliver orders to battalions and other units.

The unforgiving cold

Eifler stressed that soldiers operating in the Arctic need to simultaneously keep their high-tech gear running but be ready to go “manual or mechanical” to get the job done.

The unforgiving cold can paralyze some systems and drain batteries in minutes, not hours.

As part of the exercise, soldiers used a C-130 cargo plane to fly a high mobility artillery rocket system more than 500 miles to Utqiagvik, Alaska ― a city on the northernmost reaches of the state and above the Arctic Circle.

Eifler’s blue force also had to contend with smaller, but still challenging threats.

The enemy force used small drone swarms of a dozen or fewer drones used to detect unit positions. They even “armed” some of the small drones with tennis balls and Nerf footballs to drop onto locations, showing soldiers they could be hit by ordnance they weren’t tracking.

During the two-week exercise, Eifler said soldiers tested 40 different types of equipment, from communications gear and vehicles to tents, skis and boots.

The two-star said that in the future the force likely will need more snowmobiles for the types of missions used in this exercise as well as casualty evacuation and basic mobility.

Early observations include a need for a better tent system that can fit into a rucksack and improved ski bindings to withstand the extreme cold temperatures, he said.