Tag: target acquisition

Australian-based Marines ready to support Manila in sea-territory skirmish

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Australian-based Marines ready to support Manila in sea-territory skirmish

“We were given a warning order to support the Philippines defense forces in resupplying of the Second Thomas Shoal,” Marine Rotational Force — Darwin commander Col. Brian Mulvihill told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday at an Outback training camp in the Northern Territory.

…

The Marines have been monitoring events at the shoal over a drone feed, Mulvihill said.

“We were ready to support the Philippine defense forces,” he said, noting that Marines across the Pacific are also ready to back the U.S. ally.

The rotational force can airlift food and water by pushing pallets out of helicopters, he added.

“We can control airspace and aircraft from many nations,” he said. “We provide a range of options if a host nation, through the embassy, requires assistance.”

…

Darwin is an excellent platform for launching forces into Southeast Asia, according to Grant Newsham, a retired Marine colonel and senior researcher with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo. 

“It’s good to see Darwin and Northern Territory being used this way … rather than just as a training area for Marines, Air Force, and Australian and other forces,” he said by email Thursday.

The Marines can offer the Philippines fire support coordination. They can help with logistics and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and guard locations that support Philippine forces operating towards the disputed shoal, he said.

“Of course, Marines can deploy aboard Philippine resupply boats alongside [Philippine] personnel,” he said.

Marine engineers could repair the Sierra Madre at the shoal and Marine helicopters could resupply it, Newsham added.

“A U.S. amphibious ship or two with Marines and their aircraft and other hardware aboard deployed to Second Thomas Shoal would be a serious force — and also sending a clear message,” he said. “Deploying Marines in the Philippines with their aviation, long-range rockets, and other hardware has a political significance in itself.”

Related:

Japan Forum for Strategic Studies

South China Sea: Philippines says to solely run Second Thomas Shoal resupply missions

SeaLight, formerly Project Myoushu

South China Sea: Philippines’ anti-ship missile base puts Scarborough Shoal in cross hairs (more information)

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

What the article left out is; to shoot far, the Philippine military needs to see far. However, the Philippines don’t have any over-the-horizon (OTH) radar, military satellites, AWACS planes or other long-range ISR capabilities, to make use of the full range of the BrahMos missile. Without it the missile is limited to the range of its available ISR assets, which are measured in just dozens of kilometers.

However, if a BrahMos missile is ever launched against a long-range Chinese target, it will be easy to guess who would have supplied the essential Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) information and target identification to the Philippine military.

StarBoySAR

South China Sea: Philippines’ anti-ship missile base puts Scarborough Shoal in cross hairs

Even if the Philippines lacks the advanced communications, intelligence, and targeting systems needed to maximise the BrahMos’ capabilities, it could still leverage US support in these areas, Koh said, citing the sinking of Russia’s Moskva warship by Ukraine in 2022, which he said was achieved thanks to “targeting support provided by Kyiv’s allies, chiefly the Americans”.

The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva became the largest warship lost in combat since the second world war when it was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles in April 2022. US officials later told the media that the Pentagon had provided intelligence that led to the ship’s sinking.

For the Philippines, the BrahMos missiles are “significant game changers” [🙄], according to security strategist Chester Cabalza, president of the International Development and Security Cooperation think tank in Manila.

…

However, Don McLain Gill, an international-studies lecturer at De La Salle University in the Philippines, questioned whether the BrahMos purchase alone would deliver robust deterrence against China.

“It will be crucial for the BrahMos to be supplemented by efficient intelligence, surveillance, target-acquisition and reconnaissance, which is critical to track targets and ensure they can be used by command,” he said, warning Manila must invest further to maximise the missiles’ deterrent value.

Previously:

Philippines Builds First BrahMos Anti-Ship Missile Base Facing South China Sea

Littoral Combat Ship Still Fighting to Prove Its Worth

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Littoral Combat Ship was meant to start the Navy’s operational renaissance. But a chorus of naysayers and critics have put service leaders on the defensive, insisting that the troubled program has turned a corner.

Littoral Combat Ship Still Fighting to Prove Its Worth

They’ve increased the crew size and have been training them to maintain the ships themselves rather than relying on the original contractors. 

Related:

The Littoral Combat Ship: How We Got Here, and Why (PDF)

Littoral Combat Ship: Actions Needed to Address Significant Operational Challenges and Implement Planned Sustainment Approach

USNI Proceedings Podcast – Littoral Combat Ships: How the Navy is Employing Them (Ted LeClair, Marc Crawford, Mark Haney)

Previously:

The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”

The Navy just launched a brand new ship it doesn’t even want

Former Google CEO Wants to Build AI Drone Army for Ukraine

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Former Google CEO Wants to Build AI Drone Army for Ukraine (odysee)

Related:

Why Russia is Winning the Drone War in Ukraine

FPV Drones & Artificial Intelligence: How Russia is Transforming Drone Warfare (odysee)

SCSP and ASPI Launch a New Project on Artificial Intelligence, Human-Machine Teaming, and the Future of Intelligence Analysis

Funded by Schmidt’s SCSP: ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker – Sensors & Biotech updates

U.S. Deployed Air Targeting Team to Israel, Document Suggests

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

TARGETING INTELLIGENCE — THE information used to conduct airstrikes and fire long-range artillery weapons — has played a central role in Israel’s siege of Gaza. A document obtained through the Freedom of Information Act suggests that the U.S. Air Force sent officers specializing in this exact form of intelligence to Israel in late November.

U.S. Deployed Air Targeting Team to Israel, Document Suggests (archived)

If true, this is disturbing! The Hague Invasion Act doesn’t cover the ICJ, from what I can tell. /s

Lift off: Use of high-altitude platforms gain traction in US Army

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has for years experimented with high-altitude balloons and long-endurance, fixed-wing, solar-powered platforms capable of operating in the stratosphere. Now the service is pursuing prototyping efforts that could lead to programs of record, including one able to deploy launched effects.

Lift off: Use of high-altitude platforms gain traction in US Army

Related:

What The U.S. Army Plans For High-Altitude Balloons, Solar Aircraft

SMDC’s Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence actively works across the Pentagon to find high-altitude platforms, payloads and command-and-control capabilities for the service. This includes small, tactical balloons for payloads such as extended-range communications up to large, stratospheric balloons, according to a command fact sheet. In April 2022, for example, U.S. Army soldiers launched a Thunderhead High-Altitude Balloon System during exercise Balikatan 22 in the Philippines.*

*Flynn for balloons. Guess there is a different standard for the US gov?

House Republicans Propose The Study Of An Oil Naval Blockade Of China

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The House of Representatives is discussing a move that would effectively amount to an act of war if carried out: a naval blockade on China.

House Republicans Propose The Study Of An Oil Naval Blockade Of China

The following is outdated, especially considering the problems with the US Navy’s LCS ships, but I thought that the bold quote was interesting. I highly doubt that Russia would ever submit to the US!

Related:

[2013] Stranglehold: The Context, Conduct and Consequences of an American Naval Blockade of China

In short, Russia would not only be China’s best hope of overcoming an American blockade, but it would also be the United States’ key to closing China’s transit route through Central Asia and preventing China’s two neighboring oil producers from supplying it with petroleum. In an American blockade of China, Russia’s importance as a swing state cannot be overstated, as is borne out by the observation that “no blockade of China in history has succeeded without Russian acquiescence.”