Serbian Pantsir-S1 Missile Systems Overturned on The Highway

 

Serbian Pantsir-S1 missile systems rollover crash on the highway.

The Pantsir-S1 missile system is a self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems. The Pantsir-S1 (NATO reporting name SA-22 Greyhound) it is produced by KBP Instrument Design Bureau of Tula, Russia.

P.S. The KAMAZ-6560 has very big problem with gravity center.

New Chinese SHORAD

 New Chinese SHORAD (Short range air defense) system based on ZBL-08 APC. Details are unknown.

Judging by the color, it's intended for export.

Polish Army receive first unit of PILICA Anti-Aircraft Missile System

Polish Army receive first unit of PILICA Anti-Aircraft Missile System. The system have officially entered in service at the 3rd Air Defense Missile Brigade of Polish Army. This is the one of the six ordered system.

One system includes: 6 fire units with artillery tractors, command station, radar station, 2 transport vehicles and 2 ammunition vehicles. Each fire unit of the PILICA system consists of two 23 mm caliber cannons and two GROM / PIORUN anti-aircraft missile launchers. Each set has its own optoelectronic head with a thermal imaging camera and laser rangefinder.

This configuration gives the PILICA system the ability to conduct autonomous operations, but also to operate as part of an integrated, multi-layered anti-aircraft defense as a very short range system (VSHORAD).

Russia tests direct-ascent anti-satellite missile

Russia has conducted a test of a direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) missile.

P222 Nudol interceptor Mobile TELs on MZKT-792911 chassis from the patent on the SPU design.

“Russia publicly claims it is working to prevent the transformation of outer space into a battlefield, yet at the same time Moscow continues to weaponize space by developing and fielding on-orbit and ground-based capabilities that seek to exploit U.S. reliance on space-based systems,” said U.S. Army Gen. James Dickinson, U.S. Space Command commander.

“Russia’s persistent testing of these systems demonstrates threats to U.S. and allied space systems are rapidly advancing. The establishment of U.S. Space Command as the nation’s unified combatant command for space and U.S. Space Force as the primary branch of the U.S. Armed Forces that presents space combat and combat support capabilities to U.S. Space Command could not have been timelier. We stand ready and committed to deter aggression and defend our Nation and our allies from hostile acts in space.”

The United States is concerned by Russia’s continued development and deployment of several types of ground-based and space-based ASAT weapons. These actions are contrary to Russia’s diplomatic and public stance against the weaponization of space. Specifically, Russia has demonstrated two completely different types of space weapons.

The first type of kinetic weapon is a DA-ASAT system capable of destroying satellites in low Earth orbit, which they have tested multiple times. If this weapon is tested on an actual satellite or used operationally, it will cause a large debris field that could endanger commercial satellites and irrevocably pollute the space domain.

3D-render of the SPU P222 on the MZKT-792911 chassis 

The second type is a co-orbital ASAT, a space-based weapon system, which demonstrated an on-orbit kinetic weapon in 2017 and again in 2020. Furthermore, in March 2018, President Putin announced the development of a ground-based laser system for use by the Russian Space Forces, which the Russian military acknowledged as a “combat laser system.” This pattern of behavior would be considered potentially threatening in any other domain.

“Russia has made space a warfighting domain by testing space-based and ground-based weapons intended to target and destroy satellites," Dickinson added. "This fact is inconsistent with Moscow’s public claims that Russia seeks to prevent conflict in space. Space is critical to all nations. It is a shared interest to create the conditions for a safe, stable, and operationally sustainable space environment. The demands on the space systems continue in this time of crisis where global logistics, transportation, and communications are key to defeating the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

ASELSAN A.Ş. new facility opening ceremony exhibition in Gölbaşı

 ASELSAN A.Ş. new facility opening ceremony exhibition in Gölbaşı. Company univled the newest Tanks, IFVs, Air Defence, EW, Radars and surveillance systems.

First footage of turkish Korkut SPAAG action in Libya

 

On the video is the turkish Korkut SPAAG in Libya, which shooting to the enemy drones

In January 2020, along with the resolution to deploy troops to Libya at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, the Korkut system was deployed to the region in order to meet the low altitude air defense requirement of the strategic points of the capital Tripoli axis.

KORKUT Self Propelled Barrel Low Altitude Air Defense Weapon System

The KORKUT is a Turkish all-weather-capable 35 mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) developed by ASELSAN.

Designed to replace to aging M42A1 Duster systems of the Turkish Armed Forces, each Korkut system compromises of 1 command and control vehicle and 3 weapons platforms. Each weapon platform carries a twin 2×35 mm Oerlikon KDC-02 cannon, manufactured under licence by MKEK. Each weapons system can fire up to 1100 rounds a minute up to a range of 4 km. The command and control vehicle has an effective radar range of 70 km. The Weapon System Vehicle and Command-and-Control Vehicle configurations designed under the Korkut Project are based on the FNSS ACV-30 and is fully amphibious and have the capability of propelling themselves in deep water and rivers.

Turkey's 1st live-fire test of S-400 SAM system (official video)

 Turkey's 1st live-fire test of S-400 SAM system over the Black Sea near the coastal city of Sinop.

A missile was fired into the sky on Friday on Turkey's Black Sea coast where the military was expected to test its Russian-made S-400 defence systems.

Army is one step closer to delivering laser DE-MSHORAD

The Army is one step closer to delivering laser weapons to Soldiers with the recent arrival of two Stryker vehicles in Huntsville, Ala. The government-industry team is integrating directed energy capabilities onto the platforms, in preparation for the RCCTO Directed Energy - Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (DE-MSHORAD) combat shoot-off next year. DE-MSHORAD will protect Divisions and Brigade Combat Teams from unmanned aerial systems, rotary-wing aircraft, and rocket, artillery and mortar threats.

Via Assistant Secretary of the Army - Acquisition, Logistics & Technology

This prototype will deliver 50 kilowatt (kW)-class lasers on a platoon of four Stryker vehicles in Fiscal Year 2022, supporting the Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) mission. The directed energy M-SHORAD capability is intended to protect maneuvering Brigade Combat Teams from unmanned aerial systems (UAS), rotary-wing aircraft, and rockets, artillery and mortar (RAM).

High energy lasers engage at the speed of light and provide a solution to a constantly evolving threat space, while reducing the logistics trail associated with conventional kinetic weapon systems. In May 2019, the Army approved a new strategy for accelerating the rapid prototyping and fielding of a variety of directed energy weapons to enable Army modernization.

As the first step in delivering prototypes with residual combat capability, the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) has selected two vendors to build the directed energy M-SHORAD mission prototypes in order to foster competition and stimulate the industrial base for directed energy capabilities. Those vendors, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, are subcontractors in an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement between the Army and Kord Technologies.

Under the OTA award action, issued on July 26 in the amount of $203 million, Kord has teamed with Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to develop the competing prototypes with support from General Dynamics Land Systems, which makes the Stryker, for integration work. Under the terms of the contract, the two laser vendors have approximately one year to produce the required laser subsystems, integrate them onto the Stryker platform, and complete a competitive performance checkout leading into a range demonstration against various threats.

After the Army evaluates the results, it plans to purchase three additional laser-equipped Strykers, for a total of four prototype vehicles that would be fielded to an operational M-SHORAD platoon in Fiscal Year 2022. The OTA award has the potential to increase to $490 million for the delivery of the four prototypes.

The directed energy M-SHORAD prototypes are part of the progression of an Army technology maturation initiative known as the Multi-Mission High Energy Laser (MMHEL).

"Both the Army and commercial industry have made substantial improvements in the efficiency of high energy lasers -- to the point where we can get militarily significant laser power onto a tactically relevant platform," said Dr. Craig Robin, RCCTO Senior Research Scientist for Directed Energy Applications. "Now, we are in position to quickly prototype, compete for the best solution, and deliver to a combat unit."

The Army is also welcoming participation from additional vendors who were not selected for the OTA awards, but desire to compete for the same M-SHORAD requirement and timeline using their own internal research and development funding.

In a related effort, the Army is also adapting its High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator (HEL-TVD) system into a prototype program order to increase its combat effectiveness and speed up its delivery to Soldiers.

The Army will adjust the current HEL-TVD, a 100 kW-class laser system integrated on a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles platform developed by Dynetics and subcontractor Lockheed Martin. Under the new directed energy strategy, the Army is leveraging progress made in that effort in order to merge the HEL-TVD with similar technologies in development by the Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

This partnership will allow the services to achieve a higher power system, of approximately 250-300 kW-class, that can protect sites from RAM and UAS as well as more stressing threats -- significantly increasing the warfighting capability being transitioned on the original timeline. The Army's goal is to deliver four such prototype lasers integrated on tactical vehicles, for a capability known as High Energy Laser-Indirect Fire Protection Capability (HEL-IFPC), to a platoon by Fiscal Year 2024.

"By teaming with the other services and our industry partners, we will not only save resources, but exponentially increase the power level and get a better system to Soldiers faster," Thurgood said.

The Army RCCTO, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is chartered to develop rapid prototypes and field residual combat capabilities. Its current focus areas are hypersonics and directed energy.

Israel RAFAEL defense will modernised the Georgian Air Defence System

Georgian Ministry of Defence signed an important agreement with RAFAEL defense of Israel, according to which country's air defence systems will be fully modernized.

We have signed an important agreement with @RAFAELdefense of #Israel, according to which our air defence systems will be fully modernized. This agreement demonstrates our strong effort to develop Georgia's air defence capabilities for stronger resilience and deterrence. pic.twitter.com/xQpYpsqZMB

— Irakli Garibashvili (@GharibashviliGe) September 11, 2020

Photos of the Georgian Army's Air Defence System Spyder-SR at the Georgia Independens Day, 26 May of 2017 (Link 26 მაისის ღონისძიებაზე გამოტანილი ებრაული ჰსთ კომპლექსი Spyder-SR და ზცრს LAR-160)

155mm Artillery Projectile Downs Cruise Missile in 2nd ABMS Test

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. — Sept. 3, troops defended the American homeland against a simulated cruise missile attack using air- and ground-launched missiles as well as a high-velocity bullet.

U.S. Air Force personnel monitor computers in support of the Advanced Battle Management System test on Sept. 2, 2020, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Senior Airman Daniel Hernandez/U.S. Air Force)

But the success of the experiment ultimately rides on a makeshift control center set up at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, which Defense News and several other media outlets were invited to see on Wednesday. The control center displays a digital picture of the battlefield that seems to give an almost omniscient view of both American and adversarial capabilities.

In the movies, this is how command-and-control systems work: Troops toil on modern computers with stylish-looking graphic interfaces that, with a click of a button, pull up real-time maps of Russian missile sites or live data on the availability of fighter jets at U.S. Air Force bases in Alaska.

In practice, however, the military has been mired in the past, with operators manually watching data feeds, making phone calls to correlate information with other troops watching different data feeds, and producing endless PowerPoint slides to convey information from stovepiped systems to higher ups.

“It takes this huge staff to be able to come up with [a solution]. And if you’ve ever worked in a large organization or huge staff, decisions don’t happen quickly because it takes a long time to get that information together,” a U.S. Northern Command official who helped plan the experiment said on background. NORTHCOM did not authorize the planner to speak on the record.

The whole point of the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System is to speed up that cycle, allowing potentially life-saving decisions to be made more quickly.

The service conducted its first ABMS experiment in December, testing a total of 28 different capabilities, including connecting the SpaceX Starlink constellation to an AC-130 gunship, and testing a mechanism that allows F-35 and F-22 fighter jets to stealthily exchange data.

However, the Sept. 3 experiment was engineered to be more ambitious. The scenario begins with an unnamed peer nation taking hostile actions toward the United States, as American forces prepare to deter the adversary from taking further action. Instead, that adversary launches a series of offensive operations — first through a cyberattack, then assaulting U.S. assets in space and finally launching cruise missiles at the United States homeland.

The cruise missile attack was represented by six BQM-167 target drones at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, which simulated the flight characteristics of a cruise missile.

If all went well, a collection of networked sensors — some legacy systems that have been in place for years, some developmental and some never before seen — would be able to see the missile coming, and artificial intelligence embedded into the military’s command-and-control system would precisely identify the missile, track it and almost instantaneously present a menu of options to a commander who will chose how to defeat it.

“I think it’s really important on on-ramps that we have a healthy combination of successes and failures, and today really struck a balance,” Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper told reporters Sept. 3.

Roper declined to say whether all cruise missile threats were defeated, but one major success was the first-ever kill of a surrogate cruise missile threat by a high-velocity projectile fired by an Army M109 Paladin, a 155mm howitzer.

The HVP will use different sized sabots to keep it stable in the barrels of the railgun, five-inch guns, and 155mm howitzers.

“The fact that a very inexpensive, high-density round was able to do that forebodes wonderful things for point defense for the nation’s future base defense and national defense as well,” Roper said.

“But that wasn’t the star of the show. The star of the show was that the data that enabled its kill chain to take effect was enabled by data going into a cloud, being transported over 4G and 5G communications at machine speeds, to culminate in a kill chain that took seconds, not minutes or hours to complete,” he added.

Among the suite of technologies that facilitated the rapid sharing of data were five contenders for what the Air Force calls OmniaONE, which provides a single picture of the battlefield using multiple feeds that are merged through a system called FuseONE. Another technology, SmartONE, is layered over the top of that picture and uses artificial intelligence to cue the user to potentially helpful information, like a major reduction in the number of bombers that can be observed at an adversary’s installation.

But one of the most critical leaps since December was the introduction of CommandONE, developed to send commands over the Link 16 network to tactical users in the field, another of the NORTHCOM planners said on background. NORTHCOM did not authorize this planner to speak on the record either.

Not all systems performed perfectly.

“We did have things go down on the range — different links — as we were connecting all of the different centers that were participating,” Roper said. “There’s a silver lining to that because that forces us to show we can reestablish those points.”

One NORTHCOM planner acknowledged that the system experienced challenges with bandwidth in the days leading up to the exercise.

“What you’re doing is you’re trying to take things that were designed for an unclassified, optimal, cutting-edge technology, and then you’re cutting it in through SIPR [Secret Internet Protocol Router Network] feeds,” he said, using an acronym to describe the military’s network used to send classified information at the secret level.

“SIPR is designed to be optimized for security. Those two things don’t match up very well,” he added. “We were having five minutes of latency in some cases with the feeds that were coming into here.”

Roper also added that the artificial intelligence software, though very promising, needs more work before it is mature enough for fielding. But NORTHCOM head Gen. Glen VanHerck said he is impressed by the AI capability and that it helped provide commanders formulate potential responses to the incoming cruise missile threat.

“With regards to the artificial intelligence and machine-to-machine capabilities, I think it’s important to point out you can be skeptical of those capabilities,” he said. “I’m not a skeptic after watching today.”

“What we saw as it took a look at the threat over and over, it digested more of what that threat capability looked like and gave us a higher percentage of competence,” he added. “And so as a combatant commander, that is very appealing to me to get a system like that — that will learn and provide an additional capability.”

All told, about 1,500 military personnel and 60 industry teams took part in the event, which was led by NORTHCOM and U.S. Space Command. The experiment included platforms from all of the military services — everything from F-16 fighters, MQ-9 Reaper drones, a Navy destroyer and a Coast Guard cutter, as well as experimental technologies like expeditionary 5G towers and robot security dogs made by Ghost Robotics.

Some industry teams embedded software developers with officers operating the control center, and were on call to modify and patch code when users discovered software bugs.

“When we did our dry run, some things weren’t working,” the first NORTHCOM planner said. “They would literally run over, they break open the code. They then repackage it, they push a patch out and then the thing would work. And that would happen over the course of about a minute to be able to do that.”

Anduril Industries offered two technologies used in the experiment. It developed a set of sensor towers used to find and track the cruise missile threats, which will continue to undergo testing by NORTHCOM over the next few months, said Chris Brose, the company’s head of strategy.

Its Lattice software also provided battlefield awareness and AI for the control center. It is one of the technologies that could be a contender for products like OmniaONE, SmartONE and CommandONE.

“You’re taking cognitive burden off of the operator when it comes to understanding the environment, ruling out false positives and finding objects that the user has said that they care about. So in the case of this exercise, it’s cruise missiles,” Brose said of Lattice. “It’s the ability to fuse those [indicators] into objects, classify them as such, and then provide that alert to a human being so that they can make a decision about it.”

“I think, you know, ultimately where we’re going with Lattice is really automating that decision support to the user to say: ‘Considering what’s available, here’s what I would recommend you use, based on an optimal target/weapons pairing.’ And that’s capability that we’re building right now,” he added.

Parsons Corp. also participated in the experiment, said Jay Lennon, its vice president of multidomain solutions, who spoke to Defense News during a Sept. 4 interview. Lennon declined to comment on the exact nature of the technologies offered by Parsons for the event.

The Air Force could be getting close to more broadly fielding some of the capabilities featured in the ABMS experiments, such as the cloud-computing environment — CloudONE — and OmniaONE, Roper said. But it will be up to VanHerck and other combatant commanders to make the call on what is ready and of most use to operators.

“I’m very confident that multiple ... things that we demonstrated today will be transitioned to [combatant commands] in future,” Roper said. “We had five combatant commands sharing the same cloud environments, seeing the same picture, collaborating with the same tools, which is so much better than what we have today.”

Via C4ISRNET