The Watch

THE WATCH STAFF Despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall says the priority threat facing the United States remains “China, China, China.” Kendall, speaking at the Air Force Association’s Warfare Symposium on March 3, 2022, in Orlando, Florida, repeated a view he has made since becoming secretary: The U.S. must modernize its military or fall behind in its ability to counter the advancements made by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The PRC with “both regional and global ambitions, the resources to pursue them, and a repressive authoritarian system of government, will be our greatest strategic national…

THE WATCH STAFF Arctic Edge, the biennial defense exercise for U.S. Northern Command and the Canadian Armed Forces, is taking place February 28-March 17, 2022, throughout Alaska. “Arctic operations and exercises such as Arctic Edge demonstrate the capabilities utilized to defend our homeland and our interests,” Lt. Gen. David A. Krumm, commander of Alaskan Command, said in a news release. “To deter day-to-day, deescalate in crisis, and if required defeat in conflict, we must be able to operate and thrive in the Arctic.” About 1,000 U.S. military personnel will participate in the multinational, multiservice exercise. IMAGE CREDIT: U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS…

THE WATCH STAFF U.S. Green Berets recently participated in Operation Nanook, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) annual multinational exercise. Operation Nanook is the CAF’s signature Arctic operation and took place February 14-28, 2022. The series of joint activities is designed to assert Canada’s sovereignty over its northern territories and bolster its combat and emergency readiness. Special Forces Operations Detachment Alpha (SFOD-A) from the Utah National Guard’s 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) trained alongside a Canadian Ranger Patrol Group (CRPG). “Operation Nanook presented an opportunity for 19th Special Forces Group (19th SFG) to exercise the Department of Defense’s current Arctic strategy by…

REUTERS The European Commission on February 22, 2022, outlined a 6 billion-euro (U.S. $6.8 billion) satellite communications plan as part of a push to reduce the European Union’s dependence on foreign companies and protect key communications services and surveillance data. The move comes amid growing concerns over Russian and Chinese military advances in outer space and a surge in satellite launches. (Pictured: A Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite provides a nighttime view of Europe.) Commercial operators such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its Starlink network, which aim to launch tens of thousands of satellites to supply global space-based Wi-Fi, have…

U.S. STRATEGIC COMMAND Climate change presents a potentially significant threat to global security. Experts say the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere is gradually increasing due to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons and other human-made pollutants. This phenomenon affects the Arctic. As temperatures rise, the Arctic ice recedes. As the ice withdraws, nations have greater access to the region’s vast resources, such as oil, natural gas and a variety of minerals and ores, potentially worth over U.S. $30 trillion. The Russian government and its military have taken note and are establishing a presence in the…

THE WATCH STAFF A recent conference looked at ways the U.S. Army can learn to deploy its cyber capabilities more effectively to protect the country’s critical infrastructure. The event, held February 24-25, 2022, at The Citadel military college in Charleston, South Carolina, was part of the Jack Voltaic Conference Series (JVCS) developed by the Army Cyber Institute (ACI) think tank at the U.S. Military Academy. The project seeks to analyze weaknesses through a “bottom-up approach … focusing on cities and municipalities where critical infrastructure and populations are substantial,” according to ACI. Dr. Shankar Banik, director of The Citadel Department of Defense…

THE WATCH STAFF The U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) has awarded the defense contractor Northrop Grumman U.S. $341 million to develop a Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) in support of its mission to provide space-domain awareness. Northrop Grumman said DARC, pictured, will field more resilient ground-based radar that enhances space-domain awareness for geostationary orbit, according to a February 23, 2022, news release. “While current ground-based systems operate at night and can be impacted by weather conditions, DARC will provide an all-weather, 24-7 capability to monitor the … geosynchronous orbital environment,” according to the news release. The initial contract…

THE WATCH STAFF The ability of the U.S. military and its allies to operate in extreme conditions is again being put to the test in the biennial exercise Arctic Edge. Arctic Edge 22 (AE22) is hosted by Alaskan Command (ALCOM) and is taking place February 28 to March 17. The exercise is conducted under the authority of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), which is responsible for homeland defense. It is designed to provide realistic training using locations throughout Alaska. “Arctic operations and exercises such as Arctic Edge demonstrate the capabilities utilized to defend our homeland and our interests,” said U.S. Air…

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A helicopter flew unmanned around Fort Campbell in what is the United States Army’s first automated fight of an empty Black Hawk, officials said. The 14,000-pound helicopter successfully navigated around the post on the Kentucky-Tennessee border as if it was flying through downtown Manhattan, engineers told reporters in early February 2022. The UH-60 aircraft was retrofitted with technology developed by the Defense Department’s research arm, reported WPLN-FM in Nashville, Tennessee. The flight was the first time the system, known as ALIAS, flew completely by itself. The system is being tested with 14 different military aircraft. (Pictured: A…

U.S. STRATEGIC COMMAND A team of Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black Brant XII four-stage sounding rocket on January 25, 1995, from the Andøya Rocket Range off the coast of Norway to study the aurora borealis. Even though information about the launch was shared with other countries, including Russia, the information never reached the appropriate authorities. As soon as the rocket launched, Russian early warning radar picked it up and followed it to an altitude of over 1,450 kilometers. The radar image resembled a U.S. Navy Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). Russia’s military, suspicious of NATO intentions, sent an…