Warrior Support Solutions, LLC works to see that the best EW and EMSO technologies get to our warfighters so they can complete their missions and come safely home.
G-d bless Our Warriors!
We hope you attended this year’s Kittyhawk Week and retrieved our first marketing giveaway: a tall beer glass! We were given the privilege of handing out these gems at the evening reception at Historic Carillon Park. (A complete report on the events of Kittyhawk Week can be found below)
Dishwasher alert: We just learned that these glasses will not withstand the dishwasher… Our apologies! We will be contacting DiscountMugs for an explanation.
AFA Air, Space & Cyber Conference
National Harbor, MD
16-18 Sept 2019
This event was very well attended; there were many more uniformed airmen in attendance than in recent years. There were two separate breakout areas for the keynote speakers and they were filled to overflowing. The event was oversold to the point where Gen. Goldfein (CSAF) said they may have to move to another venue for future events. Military personnel do not pay to attend, and it’s possible they didn’t have to preregister (hence the surprise at the number of attendees).
Industry reps appreciate the opportunity to meet with senior Air Force leaders at this event, but they are frustrated with the cost of attending. It costs over $1,200 to attend as a single person and there is no longer access to the cocktail receptions on the exhibit hall floor prior to the [expensive] banquets. Industry needs the opportunities to hear what senior AF leaders are saying, but it is costing quite a lot and going up every year. Just three years ago, this event was $1,050.
Tango’s Take: It is possible that next year this event will be too cost prohibitive for our small business to attend. It seems a strange paradox to us: industry is picking up the bill for government people to attend, but it is getting too challenging (expensive) for industry, especially small businesses, to attend. How will industry hear what senior AF leaders are saying? And better yet, how will the Air Force learn about what small business is doing? The DoD says that small business is a big part of the Future Force. We are scratching our heads at this business model and wonder if things will change in the near future.
Unfortunately, there was nothing mentioned about the EMS Superiority ECCT outcomes that were out briefed in January 2019 or the new HQ AF/A5L organization that was stood up as a result of that ECCT. Nor was there any mention of the activities underway at the 53rd EWG with SPECTRE, the reprogramming piece, or with AETC and the culture change piece. Tango’s Take: What this says to us is that senior AF leadership is not serious about EMS Superiority. The EW/EMS Superiority ECCT was done to satisfy a request. Now that it is done, the Air Force is choosing to focus on MDC2. We’ve been saying it time and again: without assured access to the spectrum, there will be no MDC2. We’ve developed – and continue to develop – a force dependent on networked capabilities without making an effort to ensure that network will function, or in developing capabilities to ensure access to the spectrum.
We were encouraged to see Brig. Gen. Gaedecke, the new USAF Director of EMS Superiority, in attendance for two of the three days. He was meeting with industry reps on the exhibit floor and he was accompanied by his senior staff and his three branch chiefs. This is good news because it indicates to us that he has taken hold of his new position and is interfacing with industry to move EMS Superiority forward. We believe industry partnership is essential to realize EMS Superiority.
What we did hear about at this year’s event was the Air Force’s new operating concept – Mosaic Warfare (MW). Current warfare design is based on trying to defeat individual kill chains with a kill chain of our own. The MW concept proposes defeating adversarial kill chains by having a thousand different possible attack vectors so there is no way the adversary could foresee from which vector we would attack. The operating concept was briefed by Lt. Gen. Deptula’s team at the Mitchell Institute and it was based on the work they did and the document they published.
Click here to download the document.
This is not just the Term Du Jour. Lt Gen Deptula led a panel discussion on the topic and Gen. Goldfein briefed it as the future operating concept of the USAF, so it is probably going to stick.
We know we are preaching to the choir, but we feel it needs to be mentioned:
Mosaic Warfare is very EMS dependent!
Assured access to the spectrum is a critical component!
Maintaining command and control (C2) is a critical capability of Mosaic Warfare!
One of Gen. Goldfein’s top three priorities is to Dominate Space. Space capabilities are critical to both MW and Multi-Domain Command and Control (MDC2), so developing resilient space capability is a high priority. Much of the capabilities we need are dependent on space because we must ensure communication with satellites to maintain the network. We will be fighting in and through space, so we need to start thinking about defending our systems there and find a graceful degradation if we lose access to our space assets. AF is responsible for space, and as it goes now has ownership of the domain.
Gen. Goldfein said to expect big resource changes in FY 2020 POM and beyond. This means that the Air Force is going to change priorities on what it has been spending money, and this will probably influence current programs. This could manifest itself as ending long-standing programs in order to put the money elsewhere.
AFWIC, the Air Force Warfighter Integration Capability, had representation on many of the panels and Gen. Goldfein highlighted their work on the “AF We Need”. They are starting to get organized and mature as an organization. AFWIC was stood up to look across the AF MAJCOMS and across capabilities in order to prioritize what’s most important for the AF, not for each MAJCOM – to pick up cross-cutting capabilities like EMSO and prioritize investments into that capability area. They will be managing the POM process and therefore influencing where money goes above and beyond where the MAJCOMs say they want it. This is a big step for the Air Force because it breaks down legacy stovepipes of authority and spending. Expect to see a culture shift as a result of these changing investment priorities.
Audio and/or Video of all presentations at AFA’s 2019 Air, Space and Cyber Conference can be accessed at; https://www.afa.org/events/airspacecyber/recordings0
Tango’s take: We expect to see procurement opportunities from the Air Force in software development to enable a complete open architecture construct across every level of capability and technology. Additionally, we see the Air Force leaning toward not having a single platform doing a single mission anymore. To use a Lego concept: snap on whatever you need for that day. The mission of the aircraft will change minute to minute and the systems and capabilities need to change with that need. We believe the Air Force is moving toward multifunction systems; e.g. an antenna that does more than just UHF. Industry needs to be thinking about diversifying their capabilities to enable multi-function antennas, receivers, and transmitters across the entire spectrum.
3rd AOC Electromagnetic Maneuver Warfare Symposium
Dahlgren, VA
10-11 Sept 2019
Electromagnetic Maneuver Warfare (EMW) is an operating concept for the Navy, not a program of record. Although the Navy has a number of programs that support the operating concept, there was not a lot of discussion about program opportunities that industry might find valuable. Many presenters were from Dahlgren and most attendees were from Dahlgren, but this event did showcase a few speakers from outside the Navy such as the DoD’s EMSO CFT Chief of Staff, and CSBA’s Mosaic Warfare author. This event offered a good opportunity to hear about what’s going on at DoD senior levels that EMW needs to support. We didn’t hear anything about upcoming RFPs or procurement opportunities.
Tango’s Take: This event is primarily the Navy EMW group at Dahlgren talking to the Navy EMW community at Dahlgren. There was industry representation from all those who already work with Dahlgren, but I didn’t see a lot of new opportunities discussed (no hints on RFPs) that would allow for industry to establish a new relationship with Dahlgren if you don’t already have one.
The AOC’s EMW Conference is held every other year. The chapter leadership mentioned they might make it an annual event.
WSS Contract News & CSBA EMW Workshops
Recently, WSS participated in the writing of a report for Congress called “DoD Electronic Warfare and Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Assessment.” This report was in response to a task outlined in Section 255 of NDAA 2019. Congress asked that the JASON Group complete this report, but JASON wasn’t able to take on the work[1]. OSD R&E then contracted CSBA to complete this assessment. There were only 3 months left on the 12-month contract to complete the assessment, so CSBA subcontracted Warrior Support Solutions, LLC to provide its tacit experience and exclusive knowledge of DoD activities in EMSO to complete this short-notice task. WSS delivered to CSBA (on time) Appendix 1 – Assessment of U.S EW & EMSO Strategy, Order of Battle, Doctrine, and Programs, 60-page document reflecting the state of EW in the DoD.
The full report was delivered to the Congressional EW Working Group (Congressman Bacon) on 1 October 2019. The report is for official use only so we are not at liberty to distribute it freely. If you’d like specific details, please contact Steve: stourangeau@warriorss.com.
[1] https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/2019/04/12/pentagons-jason-group-is-not-worth-mourning/
EW Assessment Workshop #1 (https://csbaonline.org) | July 23-24, 2019 – CSBA, Washington DC (supporting OUSD R&E)
Changing the Role of Data in Military Systems Workshop (https://csbaonline.org) | July 30-31, 2019 – CSBA Washington DC (supporting OUSD A&S)
EW Assessment Workshop #2 (https://csbaonline.org), | Aug 20-21, 2019 – CSBA, Washington DC (supporting OSD R&E)
These workshops were held by CSBA to garner information for the report to OSD R&E and Congress.
Workshop #1 – 24-25 July 2019 – This 2-day classified workshop focused on the EMSO capabilities of Russia and China, but also Iran and other countries. Much of what was presented came from the Intel community and from experts from think tanks that have been studying China and Russia and how they intend to operate. Proceeds were published in Appendix 2 of the CSBA report (unclassified) and used in the net assessment (main body of the report) conducted by CSBA and provided to Congress.
Data for Military Systems Workshop – 30-31 July 2019 – CSBA hosted this workshop as part of an activity they are conducting for DARPA, and the theme was Cognitive EW. CSBA asked WSS to attend to collect information to support our portion of the report to Congress. This was a standard CSBA workshop with invitees from DoD, government, and primarily industry to talk about their research and developments in Cognitive EW. Much valuable information was provided. This event was classified. Tango’s Take: We are beginning to scratch the surface with Cognitive EW, which is great because it will be a key capability to defeat spectrum threats real-time.
Workshop #2 – 20-21 Aug 2019 – This classified event focused on U.S. EMSO capabilities. Each of the services and the JEWC provided overviews on their current capabilities, projected programs, and current activities to support future operating concepts by the services. Those who attended were a mix of government, DoD, and industry representatives who provided briefings and comments to be used by WSS to develop Appendix 1.
Wright Dialogue with Industry
Dayton Convention Center
Dayton, OH
16-18 July, 2019
This three-day event was made up of two days unclassified, third day classified and optional. Big news from the event: release of the Air Force S&T Strategy 2030 (unclassified). Head to our web page to obtain a copy: www.warriorss.com.
This event tends to be AFRL’s showcase. You’ll typically see presentations of what activities they are doing and planning on doing for the next year. It is intended to peak industry’s interest and give them a heads up for what to be looking for in RFPs.
The event was well attended; there was an exhibit area and the Dayton Convention Center is a good venue.
The big theme at this event was AF S&T 2030. It’s an overarching strategy outlining where the Air Force needs to go with technology pointing out high priority items such as hypersonics and directed energy. This is AFRL’s outlook for science and technology for the next five plus years, in order to enable field technologies by 2030.
Dr. Will Roper, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, is planning to cull part of the S&T budget out to do what he calls “Vanguard” programs: a.k.a. game-changing technologies. This was a bit disconcerting to industry because there was no definition of how that was going to work or which programs would be constituted in this group.
The S&T 2030 Strategy was informed by the new AFWIC Future Force design (https://breakingdefense.com/2018/12/beyond-386-squadrons-afwics-four-futures-for-the-air-force/). This means the Air Force is tying S&T activities to AF-stated capability developments – cross cutting ones, in fact (precisely what we need for EMS Superiority). The hope being this will help focus S&T activities on things that are more likely to transition to fielded capability.
And, speaking of tech transition, this remains a challenge for the entire Air Force. The Strategic Development Planning & Experimentation (SDPE) office is part of that process (https://www.wpafb.af.mil/Welcome/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/996738/air-force-strategic-development-planning-experimentation-office/) and is supposed to manage TRL 4-6 demonstrations. But, until we align requirements development with the S&T plan, we won’t see a real explosion of tech transition. By the way, the Air Force is still challenged with requirements writing. The new operating concepts that have come out in the last year or two still have still not been fleshed out enough for the MAJCOMS to write new requirements. The requirements development piece is going to have to come out of the maturity of AFWIC.
It was once again mentioned at this event that the AF needs 386 squadrons, but what does that mean? We haven’t seen the budget change to accommodate the new concepts and strategy. We don’t see anything moving yet other than the Air Force is writing new strategies. Gen. Goldfein said at AFA that in the FY2020 POM we are going to see resources moved. What really is changing and what will the new requirements be? This remains to be seen.
Next year’s Wright Dialogue with Industry is slated for
21-23 July 2020 at the Dayton Convention Center, so mark your calendars.
Tango’s Take: We think S&T 2030 will influence future AF procurement. If you’re developing technology, conducting R&D, or building prototypes that reflect the technologies in S&T 2030, then you are probably well-positioned to get some new business in the next five years. This strategic document is intended to help reduce risk in terms of where industry should be investing its dollars to develop capabilities for the Air Force (in the absence of the Air Force actually publishing something on FBO.gov). Be sure to get a copy if you’re making investments in DoD technologies. In addition, your investments and plans should reflect
Multi-function solutions, open hardware and software architectures and efficient technology transition to high TRL maturity.
Contact Tango for assistance with your EW and EMSO planning, strategizing, and investing, Tango: stourangeau@warriorss.com
GTRI-sponsored EW Technical Interchange Meeting (EW TIM)
Atlanta, GA
9-11 July, 2019
This Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) is by invitation only and is primarily focused on government and DoD EW capabilities and the work of the support contractors. The purpose of this TIM is to exchange information within the government EW community. Industry is invited, and only to present, when they have a specific technology or capability that GTRI assesses to be valuable to the discussions.
CSBA was invited to attend, and two members from EW Assessment report writing team represented CSBA. WSS was invited to attend on account of its participation with the EW Assessment Report. WSS’s prime AF customer (AFLCMC/XZA) also requested that Tango attend to gather pertinent information.
This event was three days, and it was classified. It was very valuable because there were no industry attendees in the room. The DoD therefore spoke with non-attribution and shared valuable information about cross-service capabilities and activities. It started with some threat briefings from Intel community to set the stage, and then specific discussions from all the services, the JEWC, and the DoD’s EMSO Cross Functional Team (CFT). This was a very valuable opportunity to discuss where we want to go from a joint and coalition perspective, to satisfy the JEMSO doctrine and strategy.
Kittyhawk Week
University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI)
Dayton, OH
25-26 Sept, 2019
We thought the new venue was great – the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) facility, formally the NCR plant. There were two rooms for this event: a classified theatre and an unclassified meeting area large enough for vendors to have booths set up for the entire show. This layout provided EMSO industry sponsors and partners the opportunity to speak to customers throughout the entire event. WSS had a booth! It was fun seeing all of our colleagues at our booth and thanks for your show of support.
The new design of the sessions was better, too. Advanced technical discussions were limited to poster sessions which allowed industry attendees who were there for business development to stick to that business. We felt the poster sessions were too short though; we would have preferred more time with the presenters.
This technical symposium is both AF R&D-centric and EMS-centric, with EW priority (traditional EA-EP-ES). Some presentations talked a little about MDC2 and how AFRL is looking at technology to support that. There were briefings given by AFWIC and the new HAF/A5L – the EMS Superiority Directorate stood up as a result of the ECCT.
KH Week designed its speakers and briefing lineup to help promote the S&T 2030 Strategy. The government needs industry to support S&T 2030 and needs it to seriously consider making R&D investments to support the technologies outlined in S&T 2030. AFRL needs industry to do the research and development work to support its activities. They need industry to understand where they are going because industry would have a heads up when AFRL drops a BAA/RFP.
What we didn’t see this year were AFRL’s CTC briefs – Core Technical Competency briefs. Therefore, we didn’t get a broad description of what AFRL is doing at this event. Historically, each CTC briefed the projects in their portfolio. It is possible these topics had already been briefed at Wright Dialogue with Industry, held just two months prior, in mid-June. Or it may be because the design of AFRL is changing with the new S&T 2030 Strategy. Also, we know Steve Hary, this year’s conference chair was working hard to get some outside presenters to bring the bigger perspective into KH Week. This larger participation elucidated the concepts AFRL should be supporting.
We also didn’t hear anything about upcoming RFPs, although we know this was presented at Wright Dialogue w/ Industry. Next year, if things go back to the usual schedule, Kittyhawk Week should happen first. Industry should attend KH Week as a precursor to Wright Dialogue with Industry to get familiar with the community and the messages.
Tango’s Take:
- KH Week has graduated with new venue and broader presentations from outside AFRL – Nice going!
- It is worth attending if you’re looking for opportunities in S&T/AFRL, not AFLCMC
- S&T 2030 will influence future procurement, given the caveat that Gen. Goldfein said (at the AFA Symposium) there would be significant reprioritization in the FY2020 POM.
If you didn’t make it to Kittyhawk Week and would like additional information, contact
Melinda Tourangeau at mtourangeau@warriorss.com.
SAVE THE DATE: Next year’s Kittyhwk Week is 23-25 June, 2020
Tango’s musings:
Just recently, Melinda and I completed a report for Congress assessing U.S. EW capabilities. In it we reported that all of the services are moving toward an information warfare (IW) construct. Each service is “including” the EW/EMSO as part of that IW design. My concern is that the electromagnetic spectrum enables all other capabilities under IW, so by including it under IW it will get relegated to just SIGINT and/or Jamming. We’ve seen this happen already in the AF when in the mid 80’s EW was put underneath the Joint Info Operations Center along with other capability areas and we lost the focus on EW. Placing EMS under IW will not bring focus to assured access to the spectrum, and that’s what is necessary to enable all aspects of Information Operations and IW. If we don’t prioritize assured spectrum access, we are never going to be able to do the other things in IW. And, I feel it bears repeating: Electronic Warfare is not just aircraft self-protection or SIGINT – it is assuring access to the spectrum while denying the adversary access to the same. This above all else.
Investments: We’ve begun to see the DoD focus some near-term investments on Directed Energy and Cognitive EW. Additionally, we are seeing investments for the new JEMSO cells within the COCOMs. We are seeing the Army, Navy, and Marines continue to advance their EMBM capabilities. The JEWC is also pushing hard on that with support from the DoD CIO.
We see industry, academia, and government being able to help advance US EMSO capabilities in three areas (basically, these are the results from our EW assessment to Congress).
1) We need a joint, overarching EMBM capability to provide the JEMSOCs the tools they need to do their jobs for the COCOMs. Each service is working its own EMBM capability, and this solution would not be a replacement for any programs currently being worked. Rather, it would be a capability that integrates what each service is doing so that one tool provides a complete situational awareness picture, like WAYZ.
2) We need a realistic test and training capability for EMSO. We need a contested and congested environment in which to test and train. Given the sensitivity and the geographic space necessary to create a real scenario, we have to move to a Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) environment. The new term floating around the DoD now is “Live and Synthetic.” We need to have the threats modeled accurately and simulated within an environment. We need to have the spectrum contested and congested. That can only happen in a virtual environment, so that our operators/warfighters can train like they will fight in the real world. We need a way to tie the models in a virtual environment with aircraft really flying – people flying on the ranges to make this happen. Industry partners: if you have the means to develop this technology and build systems for LVC, we say place your investment dollars there! And along those lines it would behoove everyone to abandon proprietary protocols and algorithms. We must support and advance the open architecture construct for both hardware and software so that we can upgrade our capabilities as rapidly as our adversary can change the threat. This needs to be pushed hard. No more vendor lock. And finally,
3) The DoD must reform their acquisition core. As many of you know, there are rapid acquisition processes available, but we have to educate the broader acquisition community to figure out how to use them. This includes the mid-tier acquisition processes as well as the 804s and the OTAs. Everybody who understands DoD5000 says you don’t have to follow every step in DoD5000; it specifically says it is tailorable. We need to leverage those terms and think: RAPID. I can’t really blame the government acquisition community for not embracing these modifications. After all, in the last 15 years it seems like nearly every large (and medium) program award was protested. The community has become too risk averse, but it will need to re-adapt. Plea to our Government: look for ways to do this better (faster!) and start assuming risk. Just to remind, you wouldn’t be alone: Industry is assuming a lot of risk by dumping its own money into their technology development in advance of programs. Let’s bring mutual trust and risk to our contract negotiations.
Where will WSS Be in Q3 2019?
October 2019:
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Systems and Technology Workshop
MIT/LL Facility
Hanscom AFB, MA
1-3 Oct, 2019
5th Annual Cyber Electromagnetic Activity (CEMA) Conference
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
8-10 Oct, 2019
Airlift Tanker (A/TA) Convention 2019
Orlando, FL
23-26 Oct, 2019
56th Annual AOC International Symposium & Convention
Washington, D.C.
28-30 Oct, 2019
November 2019:
A2/AD Systems and Technology Workshop
MIT/LL Facility
Hanscom AFB, MA
We hope to see you at one of these distinguished EW events!
If you would like additional information on any of these topics, visit our website: www.warriorss.com, or contact us directly: Steve Tourangeau, stourangeau@warriorss.com.
Warrior Support Solutions, LLC FUN NEWS:
Tango and Charlie enjoying summer, 2019 in Meredith, NH, with Lynne and Dennis Blankenbecker. Lynne is running for U.S. Congress as a representative from District 2, New Hampshire. Go LYNNE!
Melinda was recently chosen to serve on the Georgia Tech Advisory Board (GTAB – https://warriorss.com/georgia-institute-of-technology-selects-warrior-support-solutions-llcs-president-and-ceo-for-gt-advisory-board/). As such, we paid a couple of visits to GT during Q3 2019. Check out Melinda with her other favorite character (other than me!), Buzz, and the Ramblin’ Wreck!
