3.23.2010
3.12.2010
3.07.2010
3.01.2010
4.09.2009
The Wideband Global SATCOM Program
quoted from the Defence Industry Daily
The WGS program is actually a set of 13 kilowatt spacecraft based upon Boeing's model 702 commercial satellite. These satellites will support the USA's warfighting bandwidth requirements, supporting tactical C4ISR; battle management; and combat support needs. The program name has been changed for some reason from "Wideband Gapfiller Satellite" to "Wideband Global SATCOM," presumably to avoid correct suggestion that it fills an emerging gab. Readers should be aware that references to either title in documents, archives, or the media denote the same program.
Upon its first launch into geosynchronous orbit, WGS Flight 1 became the U.S. Department of Defense's highest capacity communication satellite. Each satellite can route 2.4 to 3.6 Gbps of data - providing more than 10 times the communications capacity of the predecessor DSCS 3 satellite. Indeed, One WGS satellite will provide more throughput than the entire Defense Service Communications Satellite(DSCS) constellation currently on station. Using reconfigurable antennas and a digital channelizer, WGS also offers added flexibility to tailor its coverage areas, and to connect X-band and Ka-band users anywhere within the satellite's field of view. Unlike programs like AEHF or T-SAT, however, WGS offers wideband communications that are "unprotected" against jamming and nuclear effects.
4.08.2009
Biden rebukes Cheney, guarantees we're 'safer today'
quoted from the CNN 08 April, 2009
Vice President Joe Biden brushed aside recent criticism by predecessor Dick Cheney that moves by the Obama administration had put the United States at risk, telling CNN on Tuesday that the former vice president was "dead wrong."
"I don't think Cheney is out of line, but he is dead wrong." he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "This administration - the last administration left us in a weaker posture than we've been anytime since World War 2: less regarded in the world, stretched more thinly than we ever have been in the past, two wars under way, virtually no respect in entire parts of the world.
"... I guarantee you we are safer today, our interests more secure today than they were anytime during the eight years" of the Bush administration.
In an interview with CNN's John King last month, Cheney said President Obama had been "making some choices that in my mind raise the risk to the American people of another attack."
Biden said former President Bush had not been fully aware of the country's position in the world.
"I remember President Bush saying to me on time in the Oval Office, and he was a great guy, enjoyed being with him. He said to me, he said, "Well, Joe," he said, "I'm a leader." and I said, "Mr. President, turn around and look behind you. No one's following. People are beginning to follow the United States again as a consequence of our administration."
"... I think the biggest thing we're doing is, I'm operating in concert with the president," he said, "There are not - there are - look, everybody talks about how powerful Cheney was. His power weakened America, in my view."
But he did not deny reports of disagreement within the Obama administration as well, over the president's plan to widen involvement in Afghanistan. A report last week said Biden had warned about the possibility getting into a quagmire, while military advisers pushed for more troops.
"Well, look. Without commenting specifically on who took what position, there was a healthy debate. There is a healthy debate within our administration."
The vice president said that he condemned a new Afghan law that would allow men to rape their wives, but that those issues were not the focus of the U.S. presence in that nation. "I am not prepared to send American troops to die for that." he said.
As the president made an unannounced visit to Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Biden said that he had no concerns that a recent uptick in violence in Iraq might affect plans to withdraw most U.S. troops from that country by the summer of 2010.
"I'm not worried about that at all. We will draw down along the timeline we suggested." the vice president said.
Also not a concern for Biden: the possibility of Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. The vice president said he was not worried that Israel's new government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would order such an attck.
"I don't believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill-advised to do that. And so my level of my concern is no different that it was a year ago."
A day after North Korea's rocket test sparked alarm from world leader, Biden called for a tougher response from Moscow and Beijing.
"What I'd like to see is a strong condemnation and a united effort on the part of the Chinese, Russians in the six-party talks to say, "enough is enough, there will be greater sanctions, we will squeeze down even harder on North Korea." he said.
He added that China could "do a great deal more," although he was uncertain it would. "I think this puts the onus on China and Russia and South Korea and Japan, et cetera, along with us, to be bolder in our condemnation."
On the domestic front, Biden said that the administration's economic plan would prevent up to 4 million jobs from being lost and stabilize the economy, but that "it will take at least another year before you start to see employment," and in the meantime, jobs will continue to disapear.
"There will be an additional job loss. ... You're not going to see reports this calendar year saying there was no job losses the remainder of this year. The question is will they continually go down before they begin to rebound, and employment - we go down to zero job loss and back to employment."
He said it was "too premature" to begin discussing another stimulus package, though he has no ruled one out.
Vice President Joe Biden brushed aside recent criticism by predecessor Dick Cheney that moves by the Obama administration had put the United States at risk, telling CNN on Tuesday that the former vice president was "dead wrong."
"I don't think Cheney is out of line, but he is dead wrong." he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "This administration - the last administration left us in a weaker posture than we've been anytime since World War 2: less regarded in the world, stretched more thinly than we ever have been in the past, two wars under way, virtually no respect in entire parts of the world.
"... I guarantee you we are safer today, our interests more secure today than they were anytime during the eight years" of the Bush administration.
In an interview with CNN's John King last month, Cheney said President Obama had been "making some choices that in my mind raise the risk to the American people of another attack."
Biden said former President Bush had not been fully aware of the country's position in the world.
"I remember President Bush saying to me on time in the Oval Office, and he was a great guy, enjoyed being with him. He said to me, he said, "Well, Joe," he said, "I'm a leader." and I said, "Mr. President, turn around and look behind you. No one's following. People are beginning to follow the United States again as a consequence of our administration.""... I think the biggest thing we're doing is, I'm operating in concert with the president," he said, "There are not - there are - look, everybody talks about how powerful Cheney was. His power weakened America, in my view."
But he did not deny reports of disagreement within the Obama administration as well, over the president's plan to widen involvement in Afghanistan. A report last week said Biden had warned about the possibility getting into a quagmire, while military advisers pushed for more troops.
"Well, look. Without commenting specifically on who took what position, there was a healthy debate. There is a healthy debate within our administration."
The vice president said that he condemned a new Afghan law that would allow men to rape their wives, but that those issues were not the focus of the U.S. presence in that nation. "I am not prepared to send American troops to die for that." he said.
As the president made an unannounced visit to Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Biden said that he had no concerns that a recent uptick in violence in Iraq might affect plans to withdraw most U.S. troops from that country by the summer of 2010.
"I'm not worried about that at all. We will draw down along the timeline we suggested." the vice president said.
Also not a concern for Biden: the possibility of Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. The vice president said he was not worried that Israel's new government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would order such an attck.
"I don't believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill-advised to do that. And so my level of my concern is no different that it was a year ago."
A day after North Korea's rocket test sparked alarm from world leader, Biden called for a tougher response from Moscow and Beijing.
"What I'd like to see is a strong condemnation and a united effort on the part of the Chinese, Russians in the six-party talks to say, "enough is enough, there will be greater sanctions, we will squeeze down even harder on North Korea." he said.
He added that China could "do a great deal more," although he was uncertain it would. "I think this puts the onus on China and Russia and South Korea and Japan, et cetera, along with us, to be bolder in our condemnation."
On the domestic front, Biden said that the administration's economic plan would prevent up to 4 million jobs from being lost and stabilize the economy, but that "it will take at least another year before you start to see employment," and in the meantime, jobs will continue to disapear.
"There will be an additional job loss. ... You're not going to see reports this calendar year saying there was no job losses the remainder of this year. The question is will they continually go down before they begin to rebound, and employment - we go down to zero job loss and back to employment."
He said it was "too premature" to begin discussing another stimulus package, though he has no ruled one out.
3.26.2009
Dutch to Rent Israeli UAVs for Afghanistan
quoted from the Defense Industry Daily
Afghanistan has forced a number of participating countries to upgrade their UAV fleets through purchase or rental, and Dutch forces are no exception. They have bought Aladin and Raven mini UAVs, and a recent announcement indicates that they're about to retire their old, limited Sperwer-A UAVs as of March 1/09.
Instead of buying replacements, they will join the rent-a-UAV trend.
The concept of renting front-line military equipment would have seemed outlandish a very short time ago. Now, UAVs like Boeing's ScanEagle are rented and operated by contractors on the front lines battle, Britain has rented Elbit Systems' mid-size Hermes 450 UAVs for use in Afghanistan. P.W. Singer's recent book Wired for War even discusses examples of human rights groups inquiring about renting or buying U
AVs to monitor key conflict zones. Private surveillance UAVs are already operating along the US-Mexican border, and additional examples around the globe seem to be just a matter of time. The times, they are a' changing.
The Dutch have picked Aeronautics Defense System' Aerostar UAV, and that firm has just confirmed the contract ...
The Sperwers have been taken out of service by Canada and Denmark, so their retirement by the Dutch is not a surprise. According to background materials released by the Dut
ch MvD, the MvD had initially identified a need for 2 'air-ground reconnaissance capacities', one at the tactical level for commanders on the ground, and another at the "operational level" for theater command intelligence. At first, both types of UAV requirements were handled and evaluated separately, and were estimated at less than EUR 25 million each.
Further investigation led to a Novemver 2008 decision that both requirements could be fulfilled in a single platform, under a EUR 25 - 50 million program, if the high-echelon requirements were relaxed slightly. In truth, finding a system that could meet all of the MvD's needs is not challenging. Finding a solution that would meet most of these needs provide enough UAVs to supply adequate coverage, and fit within the budget was the challenge.
After issuing an international solicitation through the EU's European Defense Agency online marketplace, the Dutch concluded that the Israeli firm Aeronautics Defense System Ltd. in Yavneh, Israel was the only option that could fit their requirments, which include operating and maintaining the UAVs on the Netherlands' behalf. This is considered an urgent operational buy, and the MvD intends to sign a contract by the end of January 2009, so that it can begin deployment in March 2009.
Afghanistan has forced a number of participating countries to upgrade their UAV fleets through purchase or rental, and Dutch forces are no exception. They have bought Aladin and Raven mini UAVs, and a recent announcement indicates that they're about to retire their old, limited Sperwer-A UAVs as of March 1/09.
Instead of buying replacements, they will join the rent-a-UAV trend.
The concept of renting front-line military equipment would have seemed outlandish a very short time ago. Now, UAVs like Boeing's ScanEagle are rented and operated by contractors on the front lines battle, Britain has rented Elbit Systems' mid-size Hermes 450 UAVs for use in Afghanistan. P.W. Singer's recent book Wired for War even discusses examples of human rights groups inquiring about renting or buying U
AVs to monitor key conflict zones. Private surveillance UAVs are already operating along the US-Mexican border, and additional examples around the globe seem to be just a matter of time. The times, they are a' changing.The Dutch have picked Aeronautics Defense System' Aerostar UAV, and that firm has just confirmed the contract ...
The Sperwers have been taken out of service by Canada and Denmark, so their retirement by the Dutch is not a surprise. According to background materials released by the Dut
ch MvD, the MvD had initially identified a need for 2 'air-ground reconnaissance capacities', one at the tactical level for commanders on the ground, and another at the "operational level" for theater command intelligence. At first, both types of UAV requirements were handled and evaluated separately, and were estimated at less than EUR 25 million each.Further investigation led to a Novemver 2008 decision that both requirements could be fulfilled in a single platform, under a EUR 25 - 50 million program, if the high-echelon requirements were relaxed slightly. In truth, finding a system that could meet all of the MvD's needs is not challenging. Finding a solution that would meet most of these needs provide enough UAVs to supply adequate coverage, and fit within the budget was the challenge.
After issuing an international solicitation through the EU's European Defense Agency online marketplace, the Dutch concluded that the Israeli firm Aeronautics Defense System Ltd. in Yavneh, Israel was the only option that could fit their requirments, which include operating and maintaining the UAVs on the Netherlands' behalf. This is considered an urgent operational buy, and the MvD intends to sign a contract by the end of January 2009, so that it can begin deployment in March 2009.
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