FRIDAY FOTO (July 30, 2021

Change of Pace.

(U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Daniel Herman) Click on photo to enlarge iamge.

Here at 4GWAR we think variety is the spice of life — especially when it comes to the Friday Foto. For the last three weeks, we’ve featured aircraft from Navy F/A-18 Hornets to an Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II and an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.

So, in the spirit of image diversity, this week’s FRIFO gets about as far away from airpower as one can get: Horsepower — literally.

Here we see the 1st Cavalry Division’s mounted honor guard at a transfer of command ceremony for new commander, Major General John B. Richardson IV, at Fort Hood, Texas on July 21, 2021.

Yes, the U.S. Army still has a cavalry division, but today it looks more like this. The last mounted troopers of the 1st CD traded in their horses for jeeps, trucks and tanks in February 1943 to prepare for action in the Pacific Theater during World War II, where it saw action in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the islands of Leyte and Luzon in the Philippines.

However, today’s the 1st Cav does have this Horse Cavalry Detachment — one of seven active duty mounted units in the Army — for parades and other ceremonial and public functions.

BALTIC 2 BLACK: Black Sea Exercise Ends; Poland buying Abrams tanks; Norway-German submarine deal

From the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, Russia’s Neighbors Are Nervous

In recent years, Baltic and Nordic nations have been rattled by Russia’s antagonistic behavior. There have been numerous reports of Russia probing Nordic defenses, from an underwater vehicle  entering Swedish waters, to Russian bomber flights violating Swedish and Finnish airspace. Estonia was hit by a massive cyber attack, believed to be Russian in origin, in 2007. Concerns about a resurgent Russia have grown in the Black Sea region since Russia attacked neighboring Georgia in 2008, seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has supported Ukrainian separatists fighting a bloody hybrid war in eastern Ukraine since 2018.

While the United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on Russia, the U.S. military has been upping its presence in the Baltic and Black seas — as well as the Barrents Sea in the Arctic — to deter Russian belligerence.

Sea Breeze 21, “Who’s Provoking Whom?

Sounding like a script from a Cold War era newscast, the United States and its allies accuse Russia of dangerous aggressive behavior during a recent multinational training exercise in the contested waters of the Black Sea.

Noting that Russian aircraft overflew U.S. Navy ships at dangerously low altitudes during the recently ended Exercise Sea Breeze 21, Admiral Robert Burke said the Russians were creating a tactical risk that could morph into a strategic issue. “And that’s a big concern with this increasing aggressiveness,” Burke said, adding “We’re not going to flinch and we’re not going to take the bait.”

The guided-missile destroyer USS Ross sails in formation during Exercise Sea Breeze 2021 in the Black Sea on July 9, 2021.  (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Damon Grosvenor))

Burke, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and Africa, said the latest bad behavior underscores Moscow’s increasingly provocative actions in the air and at sea, SEAPOWER reported in an article by your 4GWAR editor.

Russia’s embassy in Washington called for the exercises to be cancelled, and the Russian defense ministry said it would react to protect its own national security, Al Jazeera reported on June 28, the day Sea Breeze 21 began.

Upping the ante, Russian warplanes later practiced bombing simulations of enemy ships in the Black Sea during the U.S.-Ukrainian exercises, as the friction grew following an earlier incident with a British warship.

For nearly a decade, a resurgent Russia has mounted a huge military buildup in the North Atlantic, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Arctic and the Black Sea. “They want to be in control of those waters, for their own exclusive use,” Burke said, adding “We can’t cede that to the Russians.”

When officials notified Russian authorities about their plans three weeks before Sea Breeze 21 began, Moscow reacted by closing off half of the western part of the Black Sea and announcing their own ship bombing exercise. “If it wasn’t so threatening, it would be laughable,” Burke told a live-streamed edition of the United States Navy Memorial’s SITREP speakers series July 20.

(Black Sea region map Norman Einstein via wikipedia)

Sea Breeze, a long-standing exercise in the Black Sea to enhance interoperability and capability among participating forces in the region, has grown from eight participants in 1997 to 32 this year. The 2021 exercise included 5,000 personnel, 30 ships and 40 aircraft supplied by 17 NATO members, U.S. allies like Australia, and partner nations like Sweden and Senegal.

The admiral praised U.S. and allied commanders for their restraint. “When a strike aircraft overflies a destroyer at 100 feet altitude, right over top, our COs are making a judgment call of whether that strike fighter is on an attack profile or not,” Burke said. “It could be argued that they’re baiting us into shooting first. We’re not going to do that first without provocation, but I’m also not going to ask my commanding officers to take the first shot on the chin,” he added without elaboration.

A Marine, assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment  2d Marine Division, cuts through barbed wire during Exercise Sea Breeze 2021 in Oleshky Sands, Ukraine on July 2, 2021.  (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Trey Fowler)

In June, Russia said one of its warships fired warning shots and an aircraft dropped bombs near Britain’s Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Defender, to force it away from territorial waters, claimed by Russia, near Crimea — which Moscow seized in 2014. Russia denounced the Defender’s maneuver as a provocation and warned that the next time it might fire to hit intruding warships, according to the Associated Press.

The Royal Navy insisted the Defender wasn’t fired upon on and said it was sailing in Ukrainian waters when Russia sent its planes into the air and shots were heard during the showdown.

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Poland Buying M1 Abrams tanks

Poland’s defense minister announced July 14 that the NATO member will buy 250 M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 tanks from the United States, confirming previous reports of a planned acquistion, according to Defense News.

The Abrams M1A2 SEPv3 is an upgrade to the U.S. Army’s current main battle tank. The upgrade was designed to defeat or suppress enemy tanks, reconnaissance vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, anti-tank guns, guided missile launchers (ground and vehicle mounted), bunkers, dismounted infantry and helicopters.

A soldier provides ground guidance for an M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams Tank at Ware Range, Fort Benning, Georgia on July 20, 2021. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Staff Sergeant Austin Berner)

The announcement came just two months after Polish defense leaders said they were buying 24 armed drones from fellow NATO member Turkey.

The U.S. and allies in NATO have made reinforcing Poland and the nearby Baltic states a focal point since Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. Since then, U.S. tanks from units rotating overseas have been a consistent presence in Poland, according to the Stars and Stripes website.

Baltic Region (Map: CIA World Factbook)

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Norwegian-German Submarine Deal.

The military procurement agencies of Germany and Norway have reached an industrial agreement to buy new, common submarines from Germany’s Thyssekrupp Marine Systems, the Norwegian government announced July 8, 2021.

The identical submarines will be delivered starting in 2029, with operational service expected to last into the 2060s. The agreement on industrial cooperation will help open up the German market to the Norwegian defense industry, according to the announcement. A ceremony in Kiel, Germany this Fall will include the unveiling of a model of the new, common of the 212CD class submarines.

Norway will order four submarines from Thyssenkrupp for 45 billion crowns ($5.3 billion), while Germany will purchase another two, the defense ministries of both countries, said, Reuters reported.

As part of the deal, Norway and Germany also agreed to buy missiles jointly, and to finance the development of a new type of naval strike missile from Norway’s Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace.

In 2017, Norway and Germany, both NATO members, agreed in principle to build the submarines as part of a closer cooperation of their navies.

FRIDAY FOTO (July 23, 2021)

Looking for Trouble.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Sophia Simons)

Sailors conduct a foreign object debris (FOD) walk down on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on July 9, 2021. While the procedure is routine on aircraft carriers as well as civilian and military airfields, this is the first time your 4GWAR editor has seen a photo of a night FOD.

According to the Navy, the task is performed each day and night before flight operations to ensure the flight deck is clear of all foreign objects, which could be ingested by jet aircraft, damaging expensive equipment — or place flight deck personnel in danger.

The carrier, Carl Vinson, is currently underway conducting routine maritime operations in the U.S. 3rd Fleet in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

FRIDAY FOTO (July 16, 2021)

Not Your Father’s Warthog.

(Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot)

Paul Grigsby, a technician at the Air National Guard (ANG) Paint Facility in Sioux City, Iowa, cleans up stenciling on the nose of a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II on June 29, 2021.

Instead of the standard two-tone gray, this aircraft, from the 122nd Fighter Wing — known as the Blacksnakes –has been painted to look like a threatening snake, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of aviation in the Indiana National Guard.

The paint is a mixture of black and dark gray, with colors breaking along standard A-10 paint lines on the wings, engines and fuselage. The aircraft’s nose features a distinctive 122nd Fighter Wing (FW) green-eyed snake, complete with fangs, surrounding the 30 mm rotary cannon

Although the Air National Guard was not officially established as a separate service until 1946, some ANG units like the 122nd can trace their beginnings to the interwar period.

Following World War I, the War Department recognized the necessity of including aviation in national defense. The Indiana National Guard began its flying mission in 1921 with the establishment of the 137th Observation Squadron, which was initially based at Fagley Field in Kokomo, just north of Indianapolis.

Now based at Fort Wayne, the 122nd FW has been flying single-seat fighter aircraft for most of its history. Today the Blacksnakes are equipped with the U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II, used primarily for close air support.

The 1970s-era tank buster, known affectionately as the Warthog, for its homely – some would say ugly – appearance as well as its sturdy, resilient airframe and fearsome armament. The A-10 packs a 30 mm GAU-8/A seven-barrel Gatling gun, located in front of, and below, the cockpit, like a cigar clenched in its “teeth.” (Click on this link to see it in action).

Master Sgt. William Hopper, 122nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs superintendent, said the 122nd adopted the Blacksnake moniker from Revolutionary War General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, the namesake of the city of Fort Wayne.

Native Americans who battled U.S. forces in Ohio the 1790s, gave Wayne the title “Black Snake.” Wayne was known for a methodical fighting style where he instructed his soldiers to lie in wait for the right moment to strike, similar to the actions of a North American Black Snake.

FRIDAY FOTO (July 9, 2021)

Nope, Not Mount Fuji This Time.

(U.S. Army photo by Captain Kyle Abraham, 16th Combat Aviation Brigade)

A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter assigned to  2nd Assault Battalion,158th Aviation Regiment of the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, conducts a reenlistment flight to Whidbey Island, Washington, on June 17, 2021.

The scenic trip was offered to soldiers from 1-2 Stryker Brigade as a reward for reenlisting in the Army. The flight passed by several scenic landmarks including Mount Rainier (above).

When we first saw this photo, we thought it was another lovely image of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji. We were doubly surprised to learn it was Mount Rainier, which is about 100 miles southeast of Whidbey Island. The one time your 4GWAR editor visited Whidbey Island, back in the early 1990s, it was so raining so hard — not only was Mount Rainier unseeable, we could barely see Whidbey Island.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case now as a record-shattering heat wave continues to grip the Pacific Northwest.

ROBOTS, DROIDS & DRONES: Counter Drone attacks in Iraq; Turkish UGV competition;

DEFENSE.

Drone Shot Down Near U.S. Embassy

An armed drone was shot down above the American embassy in Baghdad on July 5, just hours after a rocket attack on a base housing U.S. soldiers in the west of the country.

According to Agence France Presse reporters, U.S. defense systems fired rockets, taking down a drone laden with explosives.

The system was a counter-rocket, artillery and mortar system, known as C-RAM, said Army Colonel Wayne Marotto, a military spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition. Footage shared online overnight showed the system’s familiar stream of red tracers and exploding rounds arcing over part of Baghdad., the Stars and Stripes website reported.

Soldiers with B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery, from Fort Campbell, Ky., participate in a Counter — Rocket, Artillery and Mortar live-fire exercise, May 26, 2013, at Thompson Hill Range at Fort Sill, Okla. . (Photo: U.S. Army)

The systems can defend against unmanned aerial vehicles, but the cheap drones also can be flown to evade C-RAM fire. This has led to their adoption by Iran-backed militias that mount sporadic harassing attacks, sometimes with deadly effect, in an effort to oust U.S. forces deployed to Iraq to help battle the Islamic State group.

Since the start of the year, 47 attacks have targeted U.S. interests in the country, where 2,500 American troops are deployed as part of an international coalition to fight the jihadist Islamic State group.  Six of those attacks involved armed drones., according to AFP.

In April, a drone packed with explosives struck the coalition’s Iraq headquarters in the military part of the airport in Arbil, the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital. The next month, a drone packed with explosives hit the Ain Al-Asad airbase housing U.S. troops. On June 9, three explosives-laden drones targeted Baghdad airport, where US soldiers are also deployed. One was intercepted by the Iraqi army.

The attacks come as tension is on the rise between U.S. troops and Iran-backed fighters as Baghdad and Washington negotiate a timeline for foreign troop withdrawal from Iraq, according to the Associated Press. (via Stars and Stripes). Recently, the attacks have become more sophisticated, with militants using drones.

Late last month, U.S. warplanes hit facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups which the Pentagon said support drone strikes inside Iraq. Four Iraqi fighters were killed in the June 27 airstrikes, according to the AP.

“At President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a June 27 statement, reported by Military Times. “The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.”

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Turkey’s Military UGV Search

Four unmanned ground vehicles are competing to enter service with Turkey’s military under the force’s medium-class UGV project, Defense News reports.

Turkey’s largest defense company, Aselsan, is participating in the competition with its Aslan UGV, while Havelsan is pitching its Barkan; Best Group is offering its Fedai; and Elektroland Defence is proposing its Hancer. All four UGVs are fitted with Aselsan’s SARP remote-controlled weapon system. To see photos of the vehicles and see the full story, click here.

According to a statement released by Turkey’s top defense procurement official, the indigenously produced UGVs have reached the final phase of the competition. The finalists carried out firing tests with their 7.62mm guns, and the contest is scheduled to conclude next month.

“We are determined to show our experience and success in unmanned systems in the air vehicles as well in the naval and land vehicles. Our prototype racing activities, which we started within the framework of our Medium Class 1st Level Unmanned Ground Vehicle Project, carry on.” Demir tweeted June 27.

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More from Turkey

Turkey’s first indigenous unmanned combat surface vessel, the ULAQ, conducted its first live-fire trial during a massive naval exercise in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, that ended June 6.

The ULAQ, Turkey’s first combat unmanned surface vessel. (Courtesy Turkey)

The combat USV’s live-fire trial was not part of the training exercise, Denizkurdu, which involved 132 surface vessels, 10 submarines, 43 winged aircraft, 28 helicopters and 14 drones, Defense News reported.

Developed by Turkish defense companies Ares Shipyard and Meteksan Defence, ULAQ was launched in January and completed sea trials in April. During the live-fire trials, conducted as the last phase of acceptance tests for the Navy, it launched a laser-guided Cirit missile twice.  The first one involved telemetry, and the second used a real warhead hitting its target in the Eastern Mediterranean. The ULAQ was controlled from a mobile coastal control station and illuminated the target with a laser designator before firing.

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ENVIRONMENT

Saildrone is set to conduct an Arctic research mission — for the seventh consecutive year — with its autonomous unmanned surface vessels (USVs) powered by wind and sun, SEAPOWER magazine reports.

Saildrone’s arctic fleet ready to deploy in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. (Courtesy Saildrone)

The company is conducting the missions with six of its smallest USV, the 23-foot-long Explorer. The six USVs are being launched from Dutch Harbor, a port in the Aleutian Islands. Four of the USVs will collect data in the Bering Sea and two others will collect data in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in the Arctic Ocean.

The voyages are being conducted to collect atmospheric, oceanographic and bathymetric data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA. The sensors on board the Saildrones will be collecting data on carbon dioxide dissolved in the water; bathymetry; climate and weather — including heat, radiation, carbon and atmospheric variables; wind speed and direction; and radiation and temperatures.

For maritime domain awareness, the Explorers also are fitted with 360-degree cameras that record visual information 24/7 using machine learning algorithms to spot anomalies, such as a passing vessel, imaging every five seconds.

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INDUSTRY

Autonomous Ground Effect Vessels

Flying Ship Technologies Corp. has signed a $100 million sales agreement with a European customer for the purchase of wing-in-ground-effect maritime vessels, according to the SEAPOWER website.

Flying Ship Technologies is developing autonomous ground effect vessels that fly just over the water, which the company says are: Ten times faster than boats, a quarter of the cost to maintain and operate compared to planes; provide tens of thousands of additional coastal access points, and are dramatically cleaner for the environment.

“These vessels will provide fast, low-cost delivery to a wide range of coastal locations around continental Europe and the surrounding islands. Flying Ships will improve the quality of life for consumers by enhancing existing trade routes and opening new routes to deliver fresh foods, medical supplies, and e-commerce, while being carbon-neutral and a fraction of the cost of air freight,” Flying Ship CEO Bill Peterson said in a July 8 statement.

FRIDAY FOTO (July 2, 2021) UPDATE

The Marines are looking for a few good …

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sergeant Andrew Jones) Please click on the photo to enlarge the image.

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U.S. Marines with Platoon 3241, Lima Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, stand in formation at Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD), San Diego, on May 6, 2021.

This company of Marines was the first gender integrated company made at MCRD San Diego, previously female recruits were trained in female-only companies at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina. The Marine Corps was the last U.S. armed service to cease training male and female recruits separately.

The Marine holding the red pennant is the guidon bearer, or guide. The Marine on the left in dress blues is the platoon honor graduate who will take possession the guidon near the end of the graduation and turn it over to one of the Lima Company drill instructors in a short ceremony before receiving her honor award from the battalion commander. One of the female drill instructors, sword in hand, is visible on the right.

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Updating this post to clarify that: While the Marine Corps has begun forming training companies with both all female and all male platoons, there are no gender-integrated platoons of recruits. This update also corrects that there are no male Marines in the photo of this graduating female platoon.

ARCTIC NATION: Dynamic Mongoose; Russian Military Drills; Canadian Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel

Dynamic Mongoose Anti-Submarine Exercise.

Sailors and airmen from seven NATO nations (Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States) are participating in NATO’s anti-submarine warfare exercise Dynamic Mongoose off the coast of Norway.

The exercise, which began June 28 and runs until July 9, includes two submarines, six surface ships and eight maritime patrol aircraft.

Dynamic Mongoose is an exercise held in the High North every summer. It is hosted alternately by Norway and Iceland. Dynamic Mongoose provides the opportunity for personnel from participating nations to engage in realistic maritime training to build experience, teamwork and knowledge that strengthens interoperability, according to MARCOM (Allied Maritime Command), the central command of all NATO maritime forces .

During the exercise submarines will take turns hunting and being hunted, closely coordinating their efforts with the air and surface participants. Airbases in the UK, Iceland and Norway are also involved.

Aviation units from Canada, Germany, the U.K., Norway, the U.S. and the Netherlands are participating. Rotary winged aircraft will operate from the ships, and land-based maritime patrol aircraft will operate from Lossiemouth, U.K., Keflavik, Iceland, and Andoya, Norway, according to Seapower magazine.

Briefing reporters on the exercise June 28, French Vice Admiral Didier Piaton, the MARCOM deputy commander was asked if the exercise was an attempt to send a message to Russia. Piaton said Dynamic Mongoose — like all NATO exercises — is conducted in a transparent and unprovocative manner with a declared defensive posture. “NATO’s daily mission is deterrence. We’re here to train our crews and make sure our deterrence is credible,” he said, Seapower reported.

Chief of the Royal Norwegian Navy, Rear Admiral Rune Andersen noted the annual exercise has been taking place for many years, and is occurring within Norway’s EEZ. “It’s quite far from Russia, actually,” he said.

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Russian Arctic Military Drills.

Meanwhile, Russia says it will conduct strategic military drills in the Arctic this autumn.

Russia’s new Trefoil Military Base on Franz Josef Land a Russian archipelago in the Arctic sea. (Photo copyright Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation via Wikipedia)

Russia’s Northern Fleet command announced the “strategic military exercise” on June 1 to check the “readiness of the forces and troops” serving in and around the Arctic, according to Radio Free Europe/RadioLiberty.

Northern Fleet command added that the exercises will also “ensure the safety” of the Northern Sea Route. The growing accessibility of natural resources and navigation routes in the Arctic as climate change makes it more accessible has attracted global competition. Russia has invested heavily to develop the route, which cuts the journey to Asian ports by 15 days compared with using the traditional Suez Canal route.

As Moscow seeks to assert its influence in the Arctic, military disputes have intensified in recent years, with both Russian and NATO forces carrying out maneuvers to display their ambitions.

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Canadian Arctic Patrol Vessel.

On June 26 Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Harry DeWolf, the Royal Canadian Navy’s lead ship in its class of Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels, was commissioned in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

HMCS Harry Dewolf sails under the Confederation Bridge between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick on November 25, 2020.
(Photo by Corporal David Veldman, Canadian Armed Forces)

The Harry DeWolf is the first ship completed as part of the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy and was built at Irving Shipbuilding’s Halifax Shipyard. The ship is named after Vice Adm. Harry DeWolf, a former head of the Royal Canadian Navy. This is the first time a class of ships will be named after a prominent Canadian navy figure in the RCN’s 108-year history, according to Seapower magazine.

The Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) will significantly enhance the Canadian Armed Forces capabilities and presence in the Arctic, better enabling the Navy to assert and uphold Arctic sovereignty. The AOPS will also augment Canada’s presence offshore, and will be capable of conducting a wide variety of operations abroad.

The Harry DeWolf will help to assert Canadian sovereignty in Arctic and coastal Canadian waters in addition to supporting international operations as required. It will deploy for its first mission in August.

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Nuclear submatine USS Toledo (SSN-769) in the Arctic Ocean 2020. (U.S. Navy Photo by MC1 Michael B. Zingaro)

ARCTIC NATION is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military and environmental developments in the Far North. The 2013 U.S. “National Strategy for the Arctic Region” described the United States as “an Arctic Nation with broad and fundamental interests” in the region. “Those interests include national security protecting the environment, responsibly managing resources, considering the needs of indigenous communities, support for scientific research, and strengthening international cooperation