A first in Navy hypersonics and cuts in the Army budget | Defense News Weekly Full Episode, 6.12.21

Transcript

- DefenseNews is proudly sponsored by Navy Federal  Credit Union. If you're a member of our nation's   armed forces the Department of Defense, or if  your family is we'd be proud to serve you too. - On this episode of Defense News Weekly, 

a first for Navy hypersonics development   and to look into the deep cuts in the army's  budget proposed by the Biden administration. Plus   the story behind the action that earned a C-130  Super Hercules crew a series of medals and a Navy   unmanned vessel makes a long range voyage. Take a 

guess at how far it traveled. Finally, our team of   reporters and editors gives insight on some of the  biggest headlines of the week. It's the latest in   news and analysis from the Pentagon to the platoon  here on Defense News Weekly, don't go away.   Welcome back to Defense News Weekly.

I'm Andrea   Scott. There's a lot to get to this  week so let's jump in with the Navy.   Recently, the sea service conducted a first  ever live fire of a rocket in... Utah? It's   the evolving world of hypersonic strike missiles 

and Naval warfare reporter, Megan Eckstein is   here to bring us more on the advancements  to this field of next generation weapons. - The Navy went out to Utah recently along  with the army and its contractor team of   Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman and for  the hypersonic weapon that both services plan   to field in the coming years basically took 

the solid rocket motor that they intend to use   and they did a live fire event for the first time.  So they turned the rocket motor on, they let it   run for as long as it needed to. They gathered a  bunch of data about the rocket motor performance   and basically they report that it met all the  metrics that needed to for the time being and it   was a successful first run for the rocket motor. 

So the hypersonic weapon is basically a long range   very fast, greater than Mach-5, greater than  five times the speed of sound weapon basically   should be able to hit anywhere in the globe  within, you know, minutes, less than an hour.   And it's a deterrent that would be, you know  rather than only having a nuclear weapon that can   strike at that speed and that range, this would  be a non-nuclear option for that.

So obviously   it would take a very powerful motor to fire such a  large and such a fast weapon. So the military has   already tested the glide body which is the actual  form the missile will take place in. However,   this is the first time they've had the chance to 

work on the motor, which will power it. This is   a Northrop Grumman developed rocket motor which  is integrated into the whole system by Lockheed   Martin. This is the very first live test they've  done.

There'll have to be a series of upcoming   tests to test the rocket motor in increasingly  difficult circumstances. And eventually,   they'll get to the point where they can integrate  it into the glide body and do a full system test.   Now, the army is looking to have this ready  to go and start integrating with their ground   launchers by 2023.

So the rocket motor development  will all start happening in very rapid succession   to lead up to that date. The Navy will take a  little bit longer to integrate the full system   with its launchers. They'll be launching it from 

both surface ships and submarines, which takes a   little bit longer to engineer. So they're looking  at a 2025 date, but really between now and 2023,   it'll just be a rapid succession of rocket motor  tests combining that into the glide body and doing   full system testing. The Navy particularly has 

its eye on two mission sets for this hypersonic   missile. It'll be called the Conventional  Prompt Strike missile for the Navy side,   which is to say that it's a conventional option  to use instead of a nuclear missile. It's supposed   to provide the same level of deterrent in 

that the Navy would have these fielded on   its Zumwalt-class destroyers and it would have the  missile fielded on it's guided missile submarines   which are basically lurking anywhere in the  ocean. They could be anywhere in the globe.   So that sort of stealth nature of the submarines  combined with the high speed and the long range   of these missiles means that the Navy would be 

able to hit any target at any time and really is   meant to discourage any adversary from taking  drastic actions against the United States. So   the Navy is looking to integrate the same missile  with both the surface ships and the submarines.   They have sort of an idea of this all up to,  there's a canister that would hold it and would   integrate with a launcher, both on the submarine 

which would launch underwater, come up out of   the water and go through the air as normal. The  same launcher would also go on the Zumwalt class   destroyers for the time being and possibly  look to integrate onto other ships as well.   The army for its part is on a little  bit of a quicker timeline.

By 2023,   they're looking to have the hypersonic missile  which they're calling Long-Range Hypersonic   Weapon and that will take the common glide body  and rocket motor and integrate the weapon into a   ground launcher which they'll then be able to  use from various locations around the globe.   Rather than the Navy at sea kind of having  a mobile version of this hypersonic weapon,   the army would have a fixed ground-based version 

of it. So with this recent rocket motor test, the   Navy, army and industry team will look to continue  pushing the limits of the rocket motor better,   understand it and begin to integrate it with the  rest of the glide body of the weapon. From there,   the army is on a pretty quick path to field the 

weapon in 2023. There's already images of soldiers   working with the canisters, kind of practicing,  working with a weapon of the magnitude of this   very large containers to have to haul around. So  the army is already getting a head start on just   learning to operate around a weapon of this size. 

The Navy is looking at a 2025 date to field on the   Zumwalt class destroyers and the submarines will  be a little bit later date down the road but the   Zumwalt class destroyer is the priority for the  Navy. What we saw last week is the next step in   what is one of the Navy and Army's top priorities  right now, which is to achieve a hypersonic weapon   that can be shot from the ground 

and from Navy ships and submarines.   In budget submissions, this has consistently  been a top priority. It's receiving top priority   funding because it's so important to the way they  want to operate in the future against, you know,   high end adversaries possibly against, across  very long distances.

And so this rocket motor   test really gets them on the path to integrating  the complete system and having it fielded with   the army within the next two years. And we'll  be covering future developments as they happen. - And in other Defense News this week, 

the army recently saw some significant   red ink in the budget proposal  by the Biden administration.   For that story and other headlines, Defense  News land warfare reporter, Jen Judson has more. - The recently released fiscal year 2022  president's budget request showed the army   was the only service to take a cut to its total 

budget, with hits to its critical procurement and   research and development accounts. Some are saying  to services the bill pear in order to boost Navy   and air force budgets but the army is pushing  back on that opinion. The two star in charge of   the army budget, Major General Paul Chamberlain 

said the surfaces top-line did drop but the   majority of that reduction could be attributed to  changes in US Central Command Area of Operation.   The US is preparing to withdraw troops from  Afghanistan by September 11th this year.   The army does appear to be able to keep a portion  of the savings brought on by an Afghanistan exit   and it's asking for direct and enduring war cost  to cover its operations.

The Pentagon is expecting   to save $11.8 billion in costs as a result of the  withdrawal. Overall, the Army's budget protected   its major modernization priorities as a service  undergoes a transformational change by 2030 it   hasn't seen in 40 years. The army is buying less 

aircraft and combat vehicles in the legacy fleet   in order to preserve future weapons systems. And  this is likely the last year it will be able to   avoid cutting into its protective programs should  budgets continue to drop. Army Chief of Staff,   General James McConville sent a wishlist to 

Capitol Hill on June 1st. The list asked for   $5.5 billion in additional money that would help  reduce risk to operational readiness and protect   critical modernization efforts. This wishlist,  which helps Congress understand where the service   could use more funding if available included 

a $1 billion placeholder for unforecasted war   costs in Homeland contingency operations as this  fiscal year marks the first year wartime funding   is included in the base budget and not separated  out since its inception. Lawmakers are already   expressing concern that it will be hard to figure  out where to prioritize adding funding back into   the military budget without seeing its five-year 

budgeting plan which it publicly shares each year,   but did not this year and will not unveil  until the fiscal year 2023 budget request   rolls out next year. The US army now knows who is  building its turreted autocannon for the Stryker.   Oshkosh Defense will build a system for roughly  91 vehicles with the medium caliber weapon system   in a deal worth $130 million.

The army  could build up to six Stryker brigades   with the system making a potential contract  where some $942 million over six years.   Oshkosh beat out two other teams. And  while the army would not name competitors,   sources familiar with the process have told 

Defense News it was a General Dynamics Land   Systems and Kongsberg Defense team and a team from  Leonardo DRS and Moog. Learjet scored a nearly   half billion dollar contract with the US Air Force  for its Bombardier global 6,000 business jets.   The aircraft will be modified into the E11A  which is used to share data between platforms   that usually aren't able to share information. 

The contract immediately obligated $70 million   to pay for the first aircraft out of a potential  total of six planes. That aircraft will become an   E11A once it is modified with Northrop Grumann's  battlefield airborne communications node payload.   The payload provides relay bridging and data  translation for platforms that are not able to   communicate either because they use different 

voice and data link systems or separated by   mountains or other terrain. Currently, the air  force retained seven aircraft with the payload.   The US Air Force has wrapped up the first phase  of its Golden Horde demonstration effort putting   the service one step closer to developing swarming  smart munitions that behave semi-autonomously and   use algorithms to seek high priority targets. 

But a top general says the technology isn't on   its way to becoming a program just yet. General  Arnold Bunch who leads Air Force Materiel Command   told reporters that the service intends to conduct  virtual experiments with collaborative munitions,   as it decides what elements of  Golden Horde to further develop.   During a recent event at White Sands Missile 

Range, two F-16 jets launched six collaborative   small diameter bombs which are modified  versions of Boeing small diameter bomb.   The air force plans to build the Colosseum which  will be a virtual world to test these types of   collaborative weapons. That's it from the defense  world this week.

When we come back, the story of   the action that ended with one airman wounded and  a set of medals for a crew on a dangerous mission. -   Welcome back. The Department of Defense  continued its work on autonomous Naval   vessels with another successful long range test 

voyage. The Nomad, part of the ghostly overlord   group of unmanned surface ships was developed  by the DOD strategic capabilities office.   Nomad transited the Panama Canal and traveled  4,421 miles almost entirely in autonomous mode.   It's the second ghost fleet vessel to do  so.

Ranger made a similar transit in 2020.   Two more overlord USB prototypes  are currently in construction.   Also this week, Secretary of State, Antony Blinken  faced lawmakers with questions about how the US   is going to take care of Afghan interpreters as  the military prepares to leave the country in the   coming months. Lincoln talked about how the state 

department is planning to handle the process. - We only have too months before the DOD  is completely out of the Afghanistan,   leaving these people behind. Is the department  considering a process to get them out of country   while these claims are being processed? And I've 

been told could take up to a year or two possibly. - Two things quickly, we're  considering every option,   yes. Second, I don't think that the  fact that our forces are withdrawing,   one, we're not withdrawing.

We're staying,  the embassy is staying, our programs are   staying. We're working to make sure that other  partners stay. We're building all of that up.   And whatever happens in Afghanistan, if there is 

a significant deterioration in security that could   well happen. We discussed this before. I don't  think it's going to be something that happens from   a Friday to a Monday. So I wouldn't necessarily 

equate the departure of our forces in July,   August, or by early September with some kind  of immediate deterioration in the situation. - And finally, when a C-130J Super  Hercules crew out of Little Rock, Arkansas   took off over the skies of Afghanistan, it was  to act in support of a quick reaction force.   But what happened next would earn the crew 

a set of medals after the plane took fire   and one of the crew members was wounded.  Air Force Times' Rachel Cohen has more. -   Last September, there was a C-130J crew out of   Little Rock Air Force base in Arkansas. They  were supporting the army in Afghanistan.

They   were flying to an undisclosed location and they  came under enemy fire on their way, trying to   land at the airfield of the base that they were  heading toward. Didn't say who the enemy was but   there was a shot that was fired that broke  the window of the aircraft.

There was a load   master standing at that window keeping watch.  Her name is Staff Sergeant Jade Morin. So she   was hit in the head by shrapnel from the shot  that was fired. And they said, you know, "Hey,   this isn't safe.

Let's let's turn around."  And so the pilots decided to fly back Bagram.   On the way back they radioed in, they said,  "This isn't going well for us. Let's try and   get some replacement crew members spun up." So  when they landed at Bagram there was another   Super Hercules plane waiting for them 

with some new crew members. You know,   Sergeant Warren went to the hospital so  obviously she wasn't on the second flight,   but some of the crew members from the first flight  popped back on the second airplane with some of   their new crew and took off again to go try and  finish the mission.

The air force hasn't said,   you know what that mission was, if they actually  got it done the second time but there was kind of   that handoff to try it again. Earlier this spring,  four of the airmen earned commendations for the   incident. The pilot onboard the C-13OJ earned the 

Distinguished Flying Cross which is one of the   top awards for heroism in flight. And three other  people earned Air Medals, including Staff Sergeant   Morin, the junior load master on board and the  other pilot that was onboard. I talked to Staff   Sergeant Morin via Facebook and she praised the 

other airmen, the crew that was onboard the C-130J   that day for helping get her back to safety. She  said that she's still not back up for flying.   She's had a few surgeries since the incident  but she hopes to be back up in the air soon.   The war in Afghanistan is not  over, was not over as of September,   will not be entirely over into the future. 

The air force is still going to be flying   there. People will still be flying into danger  and dangerous situations when they're there.   And we'll probably still continue  to hear about incidents like this. -   Thanks, Rachel.

When we come back, Navy  Federal Credit Union personal finance expert,   Jeanette Mack gives tips on how  to choose a rewards credit card.   Welcome back It's time for your latest money  minute. This week, personal finance expert,   Jeanette Mack gives you tips on how to choose 

the rewards credit card that works best for you. - The last time you checked your mail you may  have seen a credit card offer or two in your   pile of envelopes. There are a lot of cards out  there.

So how do you pick the one that's right   for you? It's easy as one, two, three. One,  decide to get rewards or not to get rewards.   It makes sense to get valuable perks or cash back  for the things you're going to be buying anyway.   They really do add up. So rewards are definitely 

a go. Two, know how you spend. Is it on gas,   dining out or groceries. Look for cards that  reward you for those kinds of purchases, the   ones you make the most.

Three, if you've already  got a card make sure it's giving you the most   for your money. Switch or transfer your balance  to a card that will reward the way you spend,   otherwise you're leaving money or perks on  the table.

Bottom line, your credit card   should boost your bottom line. It's definitely  worth it to take your time. Do the research,   then reap the rewards that having the  right credit card can get for you.

- Thanks, Jeanette. To get more of  our coverage, be sure to check out   our headlines online at army, navy, airforce  and marinecorptimes.com and DefenseNews.com.   To get a list of our top stories in  your inbox every weekday subscribed   to our Early Bird Brief and make sure to 

follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.   We also do live virtual events. Head over to  DefenseNews.com/events for more. And when we   come back Military Times reporters and editors  break down more of this week's top stories.   Welcome back.

It's never a doll moment in military  news and our team of reporters and editors is   here to provide insight. Capitol Hill Bureau  Chief, Leo Shane is here to lead the discussion. - Welcome to the Military Times Reporters Round 

Table, where each week we bring you the inside   stories behind the headlines. I'm Leo Shane,  Capitol Hill Bureau chief for Military Times.   With me here again are Meghann Myers, our Pentagon  Bureau Chief and Howard Altman, our managing   editor. Good to see you both back here.

Meghann,  you've been tracking the issue of extremism in the   military for a while now. Pentagon leaders have  been focused on this since news broke, that a   number of the writers involved on the January 6th  assault on the Capitol had links to the military.   But well, before that you were reporting on 

cases about neo-Nazis and white supremacists   slipping through the recruiting background  checks and getting into the ranks. Now,   the folks at DOD are talking about  developing some new penalties for   service members who were found with links to  these groups.

What do we know about that so far? - So there's a handful of projects that they're  working on all through as special DOD working   group. And part of that working group is to  sort of consolidate and do some surveys and do   some data pulling of cases from the past, cases  that are currently ongoing because in the past,   you know, if something was going on in 

the army the army was handling it, the   Marine Corps was handling it. Now DOD wants more  visibility on those things from a broader scale.   But they're also working on just coming up with  a definition that they can use for extremism that   they can, that commanders can consult you know,  when they think a case is in their rank, so when   they know there's a case and they would like to 

open an investigation or figure out the right   entity to open that investigation. So that work  is ongoing. In July, this working group is due to   provide a progress support to the defense  secretary and then give some more recommendations   on near and longer-term projects that they can 

work on. Some of that will include a lot of   upgrading of background checks and some ongoing  screening while troops are serving to make sure   that if someone is becoming radicalized while  they're in uniform, that also gets picked up. - And I know that's going to be a major 

point on Capitol Hill. This is connected   to the budget request too? Are they're gonna  ask for some money to get this work done? - Yeah. So the budget request includes  about $30 million to look into, you know,   upgraded manpower and technology for doing some of 

these background checks but also as you noticed,   a team to develop some sort of putative  regulation that they can use to actually   charge people with extremism. Right now they  don't. There's many kinds of misconduct that you   could charge someone under but straight up white 

nationalism, white supremacy or even affiliation   with some of these groups is not  illegal right now. And so they are   really trying to home in on what that  looks like and what they can do about it. - Let's jump to another hot topic on 

Capitol Hill in recent years. And that's   the military draft and including women in  it. This week, the Supreme Court opted not   to hear a legal case asking for women  to be added to future possible drafts.   This has been a change that lawmakers 

have talked about for years and I,   but they haven't pulled the trigger on it.  Howard, what's the impetus behind all of this? - Well, the Supreme Court kicked it back to  Congress to make a decision. The advocates   for having this rule constitutional say they're  supportive of that for two reasons.

One is that,   with only men who are subject to selective service  they're also subjected to the penalties that   exists for not registered for selective service.  In addition, they talk about that this sends a   bad message that women can't serve. The last  time this came up in the Supreme Court in 1981   Judge William Rehnquist argued that the all male 

selective service was not unconstitutional because   it was, the selective service was a precursor  to the draft for combat troops and women were   not allowed to serve in combat. That all change  in 2013 where the Pentagon opened up combat arms   to women. So that reason no longer exists.

There's  been a number of actions in Congress, a number of   bills floated. There was a recent commission  that found that there was no reason not to   change this. And I imagine that Congress 

will continue to take it up and they may   pull the trigger sometime. Now the Supreme Court  has decided they don't want to take this out. - Howard, One more for you too before we get  going here.

A lot of the media this week has   been reporting on a DOD report that's due later  this month on unidentified aerial phenomena in   the United States, better known as UFO's to me. A  defense official said in recent days, this won't   be an alien unmasking or, you know, investigation  to outer space invaders but instead of to look at   some unexplained flying objects that may be 

drones or surveillance aircraft from other   countries. But my question to you, Howard, is when  are we going to get the space force report that   gives up the goods on the aliens living among  us. That's why we have the space force, right? - That is why we have a space force, 

to find out the truth is out there   and we want them to know the answers to these  questions so people can live long and prosper. - Meghann, which floor of the Pentagon  are the alien secrets hidden on? Is that   the basement level or basement seven,  basement eight? How far down is it? - Incorrigible.

You know, there actually is  a room hat says like "Alien Experiment Room"   on the outside. That's just a joke, I believe.  But actually I want to correct you, Leo because   you've made a mistake that I think a lot of the  American public has made.

It's not a DOD report,   it's a DNI report. It's a Director of National  Intelligence report. So what that means is that,   you know we have these videos that some  naval aviators took a few years ago of   lights showing up, disappearing.

They sent those  over to DNI and they were like, "I don't know,   you look at them." And what we know about what's  in the report is there's nothing conclusive that   says that this is alien life. And there's  also nothing conclusive that says that this   is some sort of, you know top secret Russian or 

Chinese drone program that they accidentally took   footage of. So whatever ends up being  in the report and whatever also,   whatever gets publicly released because this  is a report that's going to Congress. And then   we'll see what portion of that lawmakers 

choose to share. The Pentagon doesn't have any,   doesn't have any plans to have a big rollout  of what's in the report. So it's, people are   probably going to be a little let down but I guess  that's just more fodder for conspiracy theories.

- Meghann, why you got to take away our fun? Why  can we have some fun here? Look, thanks for-- - Somebody has to be the voice of reason. Thanks  to both of you. Appreciate you coming on.

If we   do find aliens, or if we get more info on these  other big stories you can read all about it on   militarytimes.com. Thanks to all of you for  watching and we'll see you again next time. - Thanks, everyone.

That's all we have time for  this week. Please visit us on militarytimes.com   and DefenseNews.com for more coverage. Thank  you for joining us and we'll see you next week.