Space and the sea perhaps would seem at first blush to be very different and disparate operating environments. Army Gen. James H. Dickinson, the man in charge of U.S. Space Command, believes otherwise.

At a luncheon and then a media roundtable at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo at National Harbor, Maryland, on Aug. 3, Dickinson pointed out that both environments are the harshest in which to operate. Further, both the sea and space are becoming increasingly more contested by potential adversaries.

“We each share a vast area. In the maritime domain, it’s 10,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean,” Dickinson said. “For us, it’s out to the moon and beyond. Both are concerned with respective domains that are very vast, and very difficult, complex and unforgiving.” 

As the head of the nation’s newest unified combatant command, Dickinson’s job is to use the trained men and women sent to him by the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and newly created Space Force for operational reasons in the space domain. 

“They all bring their own capabilities to the command, which we use for daily operations,” Dickinson said. 

Success hinges upon an understanding of the specific challenges space poses, Dickinson said. Space debris, whether old junk or the remnants of a Chinese satellite they deliberately destroyed a little more than a decade ago, is a prime example. 

“There are still remnants of that in lower orbit, and we’ll have that effect for years to come,” Dickinson said. “What’s important about the low Earth orbit is that’s where we do things with human spaceflight. The International Space Station is in low Earth orbit. When you talk about risk to human life, you have it when you have that type of activity going on.”

Space Force Guardians under Dickinson’s command at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, have a primary mission of tracking and mitigating such debris. The command then provides relevant information to governmental agencies and public entities that share an interest in knowing about what threats their space assets are facing. Dickinson compares the mission to that of the Federal Aviation Administration, which tracks and manages the safety of thousands of flights each day. 

“It’s an exciting time to be in the space enterprise. There’s no lack of energy,” Dickinson said. “People want to come work for us.” 

In the immediate future, Dickinson will tackle the job Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III bestowed upon him with the July issuance of five tenets of responsible space behavior, which would apply to operations, fielding acquisition and every other related aspect: One, operate in, from, to and through space with due regard to others and in a professional manner; two, limit the generation of long-lived space debris; three, avoid the creation of harmful interference; four, maintain safe separation and safe trajectory; and, five, communicate and make notifications to enhance the safety and stability of the domain.

Noting that the directive is part of a government-wide effort to address conduct in space both in the U.S. and among partner nations, Dickinson expressed hope that an international agreement to support it. 

“In the meantime, just think about how much we can learn from our Navy teammates in this regard — how we assess behavior and respond when adversaries fall short of the standards,” Dickinson said, “with the power from a position of strength to compel seafaring operations to operate within those rules.”

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Navy expects to make a decision soon approving low-rate initial production of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range (AARGM-ER), built by Northrop Grumman, expects to make a decision approving low-rate initial production soon, a program official said.

The milestone to approve proceeding to LRIP is “expected within weeks,” said Mike Overs, the Navy’s deputy program manager for Direct and Time-Sensitive Strike, speaking Aug. 3 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Expo at National Harbor, Maryland.

The AGM-84G AARGM-ER is a development of the AGM-84E AARGM that has been in service since 2012 with the role of destruction of enemy ground-based air defenses. The ER missile is considerably different in planform and appearance than the basic AARGM. The ER version is slightly shorter — 160 inches versus 14 inches — than the basic AARGM but has a larger diameter (11.5 inches versus 10 inches) and is controlled by its tailfins rather than fins at the mid-body. The ER features a new rocket motor that takes up more of the length of the missile and is equipped with a new warhead.

The aerodynamic characteristics of the ER plus its larger motor give the missile “twice the tactical range in the same amount of time,” Overs said. 

The development of the AARGM-ER was in part in response to the need to accommodate the missile in the weapons bay of the Air Force F-35A and Navy F-35C Lightning II strike fighter. The Marine Corps F-35B, which has a smaller weapons bay, will be able to carry the AARGM-ER on a wing station.

The AARGM-ER completed on July 19 its first developmental test shot, of which Overs said, “met all objectives.”

A total of 15 to 17 developmental test shots are planned.

Initial Operational Capability of the AARGM-ER is planned on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter and EA-18G Growler by the end of fiscal 2023.

Italy, Australia and Germany are equipped with the AARGM and are potential customers for the AARGM-ER, as is any nation operating the F-35.

Over said that there is a Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration of a surface-launched version of the AARGM-ER planned for 2022, with the idea for use by the Army, Marine Corps or surface Navy.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. government has approved a sale of 18 CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters to Israel, and the program hopes to get them to Israel by the mid-2020s, according to an official.

The U.S. State Department cleared the $3.4 billion sale just a few days ago. Col. Jack Perrin, program manager for H-53 helicopters (PMA-261), said Tuesday during the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo in National Harbor, Maryland, that while it depends on the eventual contract with Israel, “I believe it’ll be the 2025-26 timeframe before they actually get delivered to Israel.

“But again the schedule is in flux until we get on contract,” Perrin added. “We are actively working with Israel on defining that and getting us all to an agreeable place.”

The helicopters will replace some of Israel’s fleet of CH-53D Yasur aircraft, some of which are up to 50 years old. The contract covers 12 CH-53Ks with an option for six more.

Bill Falk, manager of the CH-53K helicopter program at Sikorsky, said he was “very excited” that Israel had selected the CH-53K.

Asked whether the country could buy more, Perrin said the buy was limited to 18, but Israel can always request more.

“If they would like more, we’d have to go back and talk to Congress about allowing them to purchase more,” Perrin said.

Some lawmakers have bristled at the sale of arms to Israel after the country’s bombardment of Gaza and settlements in the West Bank. Multiple Democrats tried unsuccessfully to block an arms sale to Israel back in May that included Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), which may have been used in strikes on targets in Gaza in May that resulted in the deaths of around 200 Palestinians over the course of a week, according to reports.

Israel’s fleet of CH-53Ds are used for long-range heavy assault and insertion of special operations teams, among other missions.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Navy has wrapped up initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) and expects the platform to be ready for fielding by the end of this summer, according to an official.

Capt. Godfrey Weekes, program manager for Littoral Combat Ship mission modules (PMS-420), said Tuesday at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo in National Harbor, Maryland, that initial operational capability (IOC) for the platform is the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, which ends Sept. 30, 2021.

The UISS platform is designed for the LCS’s mine countermeasures mission package (MCM). It “consists of a mine countermeasures unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and a towed minesweeping payload for influence sweeping of magnetic, acoustic and magnetic/acoustic combination mine types,” according to a Navy statement.

The UISS’s Minehunt USV is currently in contractor verification testing. Low-rate initial production of that platform should begin sometime in late fiscal 2022, Weekes said.

The MCM mission package itself is scheduled to achieve IOC in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.

IBM is leveraging hybrid cloud computing and AI — what it calls augmented intelligence — to create new technology systems, such as its Mayflower unmanned surface vehicle, capable of making its own decisions while far from port.

Ray Spicer, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral who is now vice president of defense and intelligence at IBM, says “hybrid cloud and AI is where the company is really focused these days, very heavily.”

Rather than concentrating data into one large cloud, IBM is able to work with various types of clouds, whether they are personal or public, small or massive.

“Having all those clouds being able to uplink together is the way to go,” Spicer said.

A hybrid cloud scenario allows the company to “containerize” apps that can pluck the data they need from a cloud where it resides, which “allows you to move the workloads to the data” rather than the other way around.

An example is the computing system Watson, which famously won on “Jeopardy!” in 2011. It has only gotten smarter since then and has been broken into component segments aimed at different markets, from financial operations to customer service to health care.

This sort of flexibility contributed to Mayflower, which leveraged technology from other industries. For example, software aimed at enabling rapid fraud detection can also be used to help Mayflower make rapid decisions on the high seas.

This sort of AI is helpful for things like collision regulations, or colregs, the rules of the sea, Spicer said. Sailors forget them from time to time and have to be retrained, but “you teach AI one time, and it doesn’t forget.”

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — In the three years that Navy Lt. j.g. Sarena Padilla and Eric Padilla have been married, they’ve lived in four different states. Sarena has changed her career from a nuclear officer to a meteorology and oceanography research officer, which necessitated the moves. But now that she’s ensconced at the U.S. National Ice Center in Suitland, Maryland, the couple is looking to settle down. And that means a more permanent job for Eric.

Eric, who has a physics and engineering background, took advantage of Sea-Air-Space’s inaugural Transition Connection hiring event on Tuesday. Military members, spouses and civilians had the opportunity to interact with more than a dozen companies, and were also able to upload their resumes and virtually chat with potential employers through the Transition Connection page on the Sea-Air-Space website.

“I’ve had contract jobs during our marriage, but it’s been hard to find opportunities to further my career,” said Eric, who’s interested in space-oriented work. “It’s been great to be able to talk to potential employers about my career intentions.”

Employers said there has been plenty of interest in their companies. Gianna Lamanna of  Manassas, Virginia-based Hepburn and Sons said her company, which does advisory work for the maritime industry, received about 150 resumes through the Transition Connection portal prior to the hiring event. She and her Bill Lewis colleague conducted back-to-back job interviews throughout the day.

“We really appreciate the opportunity to meet with so many people,” Lamanna said. “To have a [show like Sea-Air-Space] with a connected hiring event is unique.”

Lamanna estimated that about 75% of the people who sent her resumes are either planning or thinking about transitioning out of the military to civilian life.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Collin Fox is one of those potential transitioners. Fox, who has served for 17 years, most recently in the Navy Foreign Area, comes from a military family. Both his father and grandfather served, and Fox is certainly open to continuing his career after he hits the 20-year mark. But Transition Connection gave him opportunity to evaluate civilian career options as well.

“I do a lot of writing, so I’m interested in jobs that involve analysis and concept development,” he said.

At the Amazon booth, one of the recruiters had firsthand experience in moving from military to civilian life. Madeleine Caballero served in the Army for two and a half years before retiring for medical reasons.

“I understand how hard the transition can be,” she said. “I had someone tell me today how anxious they are.”

Amazon is committed to hiring 100,000 military veterans and spouses by 2024, Caballero said. The company currently employs more than 43,000 veterans and spouses in areas such as operations, human resources, safety, onsite medical facilities and Amazon Web Services.

Not all of the job seekers at Transition Connection were military, however. Faisal Munshi, who works in marine engineering, moved to the United States from India four months ago. He found the Transition Connection event on LinkedIn and decided to attend with his wife, Afroz Indorewla, a health information management student at Northern Virginia Community College.

“This is the first job fair I’ve been to since I moved to the U.S.,” Munshi said. “I’ve found many opportunities in my industry.”

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — With a third and final Explosive Event of a Full Ship Shock Trial (FSST) to go, and after an analysis and repairs if needed, the U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), will be ready for operational tasking by 2022, according to a Program Executive Office – Carriers official.

Upon completion of the last Explosive Event later this summer, Ford will enter a planned incremental availability for six months of modernization, maintenance and repairs prior to its operational use.

The Ford, the first of a new super carrier class, currently cannot accommodate the Navy’s carrier-based F-35C Lightning II joint strike fighter without upgrades. The Navy plans to complete the upgrades for the F-35C before the carrier is scheduled to operate with the aircraft.

Last year, the Navy announced F-35C modifications to the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), the second Ford-class carrier, under a contract employing a single-phase acquisition strategy, instead of the originally planned two-phase strategy.

The Navy previously planned to build CVN 79 in two phases, putting the ship’s combat systems in “at the last minute to avoid obsolescence,” said Kevin Cormier, deputy program manager, PEO Aircraft Carriers told an exposition floor briefing at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Expo in National Harbor, Maryland, Aug. 3. 

After considering the combat systems’ delivery schedule, however, “the Navy made a decision that it was more prudent” to deliver a whole ship in 2024, Cormier said. “Right now, we are on track for 2024 delivery with the new Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) and new Joint Strike Fighter models.”

Cormier said the next Ford-class carrier, CVN 80, is about 10% complete with keel laying expected in February 2022. CVN 80, slated to be the future USS Enterprise, is part of a two-ship one buy Cormier said saved taxpayers $4 billion. The next Ford carrier, CVN 81, is “tracking for a 2032 delivery,” he said.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Intense and extended efforts by the command of naval aviation’s Fleet Readiness Centers have cut the time to get F/A-18 Hornet fighters out of maintenance and back to the flight line by half.

Those efforts are now are being used to do the same with other Navy aircraft, and to reduce the cost of those updates and maintenance, officials at the command said Aug. 3.

The series of reforms to accelerate the turn-around of aircraft were driven by the chronic shortfall of tactical planes, particularly fighter jets, a decade ago. The program also stemmed from the revised National Defense Strategy, which turned the military’s focus to the return of great power competition due to rising threats from China and Russia, Rear Adm. Joseph Hornbuckle, Fleet Readiness Centers commander, told a Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2021 briefing.

The initial effort was focused on the F/A-18, the key to the carrier air wings’ strike capabilities. By applying industry best practices, largely copied from the airlines, FRCs were able to cut the typical 120 to 150 day average turnaround time in half, said Roy Harris, the command’s executive director.

The command established an operations center that looked at all elements of FRC’s operations and prioritized allocation of resources, Harris said. A key element of the reforms was setting targets for the centers to meet important milestones in the repair and maintenance process and pushing the centers to meet those goals, Hornbuckle said.

One of its early achievements was meeting the chief of naval operations’ goal of putting 341 mission-capable Hornets on the flight line. The effort then turned to the EF-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft and now is extending to other Navy aircraft, including E-2C Hawkeyes and H-60 helicopters.

The reform efforts now are focusing not only on producing “mission-capable aircraft quicker, but also at the lowest possible cost,” Hornbuckle said. 

FRC operates nine readiness centers and 25 other tenant sites and employs nearly 22,000 individuals, Navy, civilians and contractors, Hornbuckle said. It annually works on 300 aircraft and 150,000 aviation components.

As with most naval systems, a major problem for FRC is fighting corrosion, which “can eat our lunch,” Harris said. They are working to collect data on the problem to find the most effective and efficient solutions.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — First sought to extend the reach of Coast Guard cutters in the Pacific Ocean, the service is exploring the use of unmanned aerial, surface, and undersea systems in the harsh and distant environs of the Arctic.

“Numerous types of platforms could be extremely valuable in the Arctic,” U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Thom Remmers told a, exposition floor briefing Aug. 2 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo in National Harbor, Maryland.

Remmers, the Unmanned Cross-Functional team lead for the Coast Guard’s Directorate for Capabilities (CG-7), said underwater vehicles could “very easily and capably look for environmental spills.”

The Coast Guard partnered with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts to operate a 250-lb. long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV), Polaris, developed by the institute for just purpose, he said. “It demonstrated a search for oil spills under the ice in the Arctic,” he added.

Remmers said the Coast Guard has also deployed unmanned aerial vehicles on some icebreakers, like the Coast Guard Cutter Healy, “primarily by tactical commanders to look for ice floes,” he added.

“Those types of needs are not unique to the Arctic,” Remmers said, “but they’re much more valuable when you start looking at access in that region.” Unmanned systems could also provide “a long-range persistent MDA [maritime domain awareness] type of capability that we need up there,” he said.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The challenge for naval expeditionary forces in the emerging threat environment is how to integrate all the elements operating in a distributed role when they may not be able to control the communications domain, a panel of experts said Tuesday. All the challenges of mobility, survivability and combat effectiveness in distributed expeditionary operations are aggravated by the threat of cyberspace interference, the panel told a Navy League Sea-Air-Space forum.

“We’ve been talking about distributed ops for a long time,” but doing that in a large geographic area “introduces serious challenges to our architecture on how we knit that together, particularly in a distributed environment where we may not control the spectrum. … We may not control the cyberspace environment,” said Gregory Breazile, a retired Marine colonel, now CEO of Breazile Cyber & C4I Solutions. “We want to dominate, but we have to work through that competitive space,” and it becomes more complicated, Breazile said.

But industry is working to bring capabilities, including artificial intelligence, that can help overcome those challenges, Breazile said. The good news, he said, “is that AI is making it able to bring things together. … All these AI capabilities are there.”

Navy Capt. Jeff Morganthaler, Maritime Operations Center director at the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC), and Col. David Odom, director Expeditionary Warfare on the Navy staff, also cited the emerging capabilities, including artificial intelligence and unmanned systems, that can ensure the integrated, multi-domain operations they are working to achieve.

Morganthaler listed the ability to supply integrated information and communications systems among the capabilities that NECC brings to the integrated expeditionary operations. In talking about assured command and control, “I’m confident of what we have today.”  But for the future, “I don’t need it bigger. I need it smaller and more capable.” He described a proposed communications and intelligence system that could be flown in on a MV-22 Osprey and mounted on an unmanned vehicle.

Among the other advances the expeditionary forces need, Odom mentioned bringing the fifth-generation F-35 capabilities to the big-deck amphibious ships, the less expensive but capable LPD Flight II amphibs and the proposed light amphibious ships. The challenge for the smaller amphibs, he said, is to make them “affordable, so we can get as many as possible. We are working with industry to bring what we need.”