Richard Yuse President; Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems and vice president of Raytheon Co. Education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Northeastern University. Background: Appointed president of Raytheon SAS in March 2010. Previously, he headed Raytheon Technical Services Co. Yuse joined Raytheon in 1976 and has also led the company’s air and missile defense programs.
T he tensions between Ukraine and Russia are expected to loom large in conversations and buying decisions at Eurosatory 2014 in Paris next month (June 16-20). Countries that have a common border with Russia may well be paying special attention to land-defense assets, such as tanks and missiles.
The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a multilateral treaty last year to keep conventional weapons from criminals and human rights abusers, but arms continue to flow into conflict zones such as Syria and the Horn of Africa.
The use of electronic warfare (EW) continues to evolve, with each advance paving the way for unprecedented capabilities and, of course, countermeasures. In air and naval operations these capabilities rapidly migrated from the strategic level to the tactical.
W hen the U.S. Navy identifies “electromagnetic maneuver warfare” (EMMW) as a central element of maritime warfare, it is updating an old principle: see the adversary first in order to engage from the most advantageous position. Rather than being wholly new, it marks a recognition that in relative terms the Navy may have lost ground in an area where it used to lead the world.
Rear Adm. Jonathan White Oceanographer and navigator of the U.S. Navy, Director, Task Force Climate Change Birthplace: Panama City, Fla. Education: Bachelor of Science, oceanographic technology, Florida Institute of Technology, 1981; Master of Arts, meteorology and oceanography, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
Fallout from the 2008-09 financial crisis continues to affect political decisions worldwide, leaving militaries to assess how best to plan and prioritize in an era of austerity. The British military, for one, has two goals as it restructures: to move from a decade of combat operations to a period of contingency; and to redesign a shrinking fighting force around a dramatically increased reliance on reservists. All three services are feeling the pinch of austerity pressures, but they are likely to impact the army acutely.
Israeli systems developed for special operations forces and cleared for export were tested earlier this year at the annual Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE) at Fort Benning, Ga. Equipment included sensors, ground-surveillance radar, a target-acquisition system and battle-management system.
Reports of the demise of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program may be exaggerated. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel directed the Navy this year to reduce the number of LCS vessels to 32 instead of the 52 planned. Hagel wants a more lethal and survivable “frigate-like” ship that can be put into production quickly—with cost as a priority.
The U.S. Navy’s Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and antisubmarine warfare (ASW) aircraft made the headlines in March when aircraft of patrol squadron VP-16, deployed to Kadena AB in Okinawa, supported the search for the vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. But although the P-8A is the largest and most costly aircraft ever built for ASW, its ability to detect submarines at long range is inferior to that of the P-3C Orion, which it is intended to replace.
U.S. Defense Department leaders think special operations forces (SOF) are uniquely suited for the most likely missions of the future—counter-terrorism and crisis response.
As if there aren't enough concerns about computer security, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics in Germany say laptops and other mobile devices are susceptible to hacking through the high-frequency audio signals they emit. According to an Inside Science report, an experiment by Michael Hanspach and Michael Goetz demonstrated that data on air-gapped computers—those not connected to the Internet—could be stolen or corrupted by “covert acoustical networking,” a concept some experts had dismissed.
Smartphones are convenient, but hardly secure. Hence, the need for U.S. defense and security personnel to have one with protected communication. Enter Boeing Black, a modular device that guards data, resists hacking and encrypts conversations. The phone's ultimate protection is a self-destruct mechanism triggered by tampering. Boeing doesn't disclose what this involves, but it's probably a technique for erasing data or destroying circuitry. The company isn't releasing much about the smartphone.
One of the rare women executives in the male-dominated business of missiles, Veronique Cham-Meilhac, vice president of ballistic missile defense at MBDA, sees her job primarily as protecting people. A frequent speaker at conferences and seminars, she explains this complex subject in straightforward terms, as she did recently for European Defense Editor Christina Mackenzie. Veronique Cham-Meilhac
Empowered by modern technology, artillery is regaining its fabled punch after being diminished by the evolution of aerial attack and missiles. The introduction of precision strike, driven by guided missiles, had threatened to eliminate artillery from the battlefield. However, advances in such areas as high-g-resistant electronics, durable guidance systems and miniature servos have endowed artillery with advanced capabilities.
Lmams follows the successful deployment of a small number of AeroVironment Switchblade unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in Afghanistan since 2012. The operational concept is similar.
Transparent displays are used in platforms from aircraft heads-up and helmet-mounted displays to automotive windshields, motorcycle helmet visors and eyeglasses. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say each system has limitations, mostly in viewing angles. A team led by MIT Profs.
Michael Fabey (Washington), Francis Tusa (London), Richard Fisher (London)
Ballistic missiles have often been a threat with a bigger bark than bite, mostly due to poor accuracy that renders them militarily ineffective unless armed with mass-destruction warheads. But, as reported last month (AW&ST Feb. 17, p. DT3), Israeli missile-defense expert Uzi Rubin expects a rapid proliferation of higher-precision weapons before 2020.
The British Army is evaluating a method of assuring that adequate fuel is available to aircraft during overseas operations near water. The technique involves the use of a towed flexible barge (TFB)—an established platform—to offload fuel from tankers, which is then transported to shore through waters too shallow for a vessel to enter. In trials last month in Cyprus, a team from 516 Royal Engineers conducted operations with a 69-meter (226-ft.) rubber tube.
The continuing debate over the Air-Sea Battle (ASB) concept is complicated by the fact that it involves three separate strands of discussion. First, it is about the future shape, size and equipment of the U.S.'s armed forces and allies, as more than a decade of land warfare against irregular adversaries begins to wind down.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Research Laboratory of Electronics have developed a technology that permits a laser rangefinder to gauge depth by using 1/100th the light of a conventional lidar system and produce images with a scant 1/900th of the light. The rangefinder does this by detecting single reflected photons, rather than the many photons required by conventional lidar.
