eCrow Newsletter

AOC


LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER: 2nd Annual Electromagnetic Maneuver Warfare Systems Engineering and Acquisition Conference, September 26-28

Our adversaries are using ubiquitous and cheap technology to further develop cyber warfare as well as advance and proliferate electromagnetic spectrum capabilities. Electromagnetic Maneuver Warfare (EMW) is the Navy's warfighting approach to gain a decisive military advantage in the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) to enable freedom of action across all Navy mission areas. Success demands a holistic system of systems focus looking not only at the systems themselves but also the "interstitial" space which is the dimension of the systems. EMW will require coordination and simultaneous integration across all domains (land, sea, subsurface, air, space, and cyber). EMW, in essence, means leveraging the cyberspace domain and the full electromagnetic spectrum for both offensive and defensive effects.

You must pre-register for this conference. All attendees must register and submit their security clearance by Sept 18. We are unable to accept registrations beyond this date.


KEYNOTE SPEAKERS



Rear Admiral Tom Druggan
Commander, Naval Surface Warfare Center

Rear Admiral David J. Hahn
Chief of Naval Research, Director of Innovation, Technology Requirements and Test & Evaluation (OPNAV N94)    

Dr. William Conley, SES
Deputy Director, Office of the Under Secretary of) Defense for
Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (OUSD AT&L/A/) Tactical Warfare Systems



Mr. Jay Kistler, SES
Director, Electronic Warfare & Countermeasures Office, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering)

Mr. Bryan Clark
Senior Fellow, Center for  Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA)

Register Now!


 

ONE WEEK LEFT FOR EARLY BIRD PRICING: 54th Annual AOC International Symposium and Convention, November 28-30 in Washington, D.C.
"Innovation and Change in Electromagnetic Warfare"

Early Bird Pricing Ends September 19!

The electromagnetic environment is changing at an increasing pace, and thus the importance of electronic warfare (EW) system adaptability, flexibility, and innovation has also increased. Not only are innovative technologies greatly needed, but the Industry and EW Community itself needs to change organizationally to embrace innovative ideas, technologies, and tactics – and at a significantly faster pace. Innovation is more than just technology refresh, it is also culture refresh.

The 54th Annual AOC International Symposium and Convention will focus specifically on these ideas and provide Industry, Government, and Militaries a world-class forum to address how we should change and innovate as an EW community. The Symposium will highlight some of the most advanced and innovative technologies on the horizon and discuss how organizational change can be embraced to be more agile and engender more calculated risk taking. Talks will focus on what challenges are currently in the way and some stories of how change is currently being implemented.

Upgrades to our systems, as well as our acquisition cultures, is vital to maintain (and in some cases, regain) our electromagnetic warfare superiority.

Register Now

Hotel and Travel
Symposium Details



 
Congress returned from August recess last week with a daunting legislative calendar to the end of the year. There are only 48 session days left in the year for Congress to complete its legislative business with the 2018 election cycle looming next year.  The FY 18 budget, including both the defense authorization and appropriations are taking center stage, but a host of non-defense related legislative initiatives may affect or threaten consensus on an overall budget agreement.  

The first development on the budget front took place last week when a deal was reached for a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) that also included a limited increase in the debt ceiling and disaster relief funding. The measure passed with relative ease because the alternative was an intractable budget situation with the end of the current fiscal year looming on September 30.  Unfortunately, the "solution" arguably creates more problems than it solves.

The short-term CR keeps the government operating into FY 18 at FY 17 levels. As House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry noted in a statement opposing the CR package, "Continuing resolutions do enormous, lasting damage to the American military. We are witnessing an alarming increase in accidents, growing evidence of a force under stress, and an eroding technological position when compared with our adversaries. Not only does this bill fail to remedy those problems, it makes them worse." Specifically, according to Bloomberg Government, the CR prevents about $35 billion in new defense spending from going into effect. The immediate ripple effects remain unclear, but the CR continues a trend of governing by crisis that creates uncertainty for DoD and the defense industrial base. With this in mind, the AOC cosigned a Defense-related Associations (DRA) letter that calls on Congress to act quickly to the complete FY 2018 defense authorization and appropriations acts in a timely manner.

Senate Focuses on NDAA
On the authorization front, the Senate is currently considering its version of the FY 18 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and should complete its work by the end of the week. A Conference Committee timeline to reconcile the House and Senate NDAAs remains uncertain, but a final agreement will likely arrive in December. Specifically, the Senate bill provides $610.9 billion for the Pentagon, including $60.2 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The base amount exceeds the House NDAA, but also includes less base funding in the OCO account.

Summary of Major Defense Budget Categories
Category
Budget Request
House NDAA
Senate NDAA
Total (base)
$574.6
$592.8
$610.9
Procurement 
$113.98
$127.9
$140.3
R&D $82.7
$84.1
$86
O&M $188.6 $187.1 $192.04
OCO
$65
$74.6 $60.2


Additionally, the Senate NDAA contains several provisions, "Items of Special Interest,"  relevant to the AOC community. Most notably is language that splits into two and reorganizes the current office of the Chief Information Officer into the Chief Management Officer (CMO) and the Chief Information Warfare Officer (CIWO). There are also several provisions relating to Directed Energy, including DE Weapon System Prototyping and Demonstration Program (p. 45) and a $200 million increase in the Defense Technology Offset account for DE initiatives (p. 74).

There are significant differences in policy, funding, and reform between the House and Senate versions of the NDAA. The one attribute they have in common is that they both significantly exceed the Budget Control Act Cap of $549 billion. While the BCA only has affect on appropriations, if the authorization exceeds that cap and no agreement is reached on appropriations, then the authorization us empty the Pentagon can only spend the money they receive, which right now is capped at $549 billion for FY 18. Where the authorization levels in the House and Senate bills are useful is showing the gap between what the military needs and the limits the current BCA establishes.

Appropriations Update
The House is continuing to move forward on the appropriations front. This week the reported another "minibus"-like appropriations bill, H.R. 3354, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, which will include the eight remaining appropriations measures that were not included in the previous minibus appropriations bill, H.R. 3219, which the House passed in July. However, the House will roll the two bills together into H.R. 3354, creating a single massive appropriations measure that funds the entire government. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) has reported eight (8) appropriations bills, but none have been brought to the floor for consideration by the full Senate. While the SAC must still consider Defense, Financial Services, Interior, and Homeland Security appropriations measures, reports indicate that the Senate defense appropriations bill will come in around $551 billion, just above or near the BCA cap. The House version was set at $584.2 billion, exceeding the BCA cap by $35 billion.

For more information on the congressional budget process, please contact Ken Miller, AOC Director of Advocacy and Outreach, at kmiller@crows.org.

 

 

VOTE TODAY: AOC Elections End September 30
The 2017 AOC Elections are fast approaching. You should have received an email from Elections Online with voting instructions.
Your unique Elections login information can only be used once, so only use it when you're ready to vote!

AOC  Members  can also visit the AOC homepage, www.crows.org, where they will see election information and a link to the voting site. Note: Your dues must be current as of August 20 in order to vote.

If you have questions or issues please contact Glorianne O'Neilin, oneilin@crows.org.

Vote Here!
View the Election Guide


 

REGISTER NOW: 6th Annual AOC Pacific Conference, October 17-19 in Honolulu

Non-Kinetic Fires (EW & IO) in the Multi-Domain Battle

USPACOM Approval Memo

The theme for the 2017 AOC Pacific Conference, "Non-Kinetic Fires (EW & IO) in the Multi-Domain Battle," will drive discussions that build upon those from the last two AOC Pacific Conferences, that examined the role of IO in countering/defeating Anti-Access and Area Denial (A2/AD) strategies (2016), IO in Hybrid Warfare (2015).

America’s current and potential adversaries in the Pacific regard EW and cyber as critical components of both peacetime hybrid warfare and A2/AD. An example of offensive cyber used as part of hybrid warfare is seen in the recent "Wanna Cry" computer attack, launched by North Korea’s 6,700-strong "hacking Army" which is based worldwide. The importance of effective electronic protect computer network defense was reinforced by MG Patricia Frost, who stated simply "Without the network, there is no Multi-Domain Battle." Our adversaries will make this difficult, as they seek to overmatch our EP and CND capabilities. It is a real concern among defense experts that adversaries and threat actors are employing automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities at rates that exceeding that of the U.S.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS



Gen Robert B. Brown (invited)
Commanding General, U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC)    

LTG Bryan Fenton, USA
(invited)
Deputy Commander, U.S. PACOM     

MG Patricia Frost, USA

Director of Cyber, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Army G-3/5/7



BGen Brian W. Cavanaugh, USMC (invited)
Deputy Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific    

Mr. Jay Kistler, SES
Director, Electronic Warfare & Countermeasures Office, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering)



Col. William McClane, USMC

Commander, Marine Corps IO Center

Mr. Travis Slocumb
VP, Electronic Warfare Systems, Raytheon SAS


Register Now!


 

REGISTER NOW: 3rd Annual Cyber Electromagnetic Activity (CEMA) Conference, October 16-19

October 16-19, 2017 | Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
"The Multi-Domain Battle: A Combined Arms Approach to Enabling Maneuver through CEMA Operations"

This conference has been approved by the Department of the Army.

Click here for a copy of the approval memo.

Agenda Now Available: Click here to view

This year's focus will be on the emerging Joint Army/USMC Multi-Domain Battle concept and the implications with respect to CEMA. The MDB entails a combined arms approach for ground combat operations against a sophisticated peer enemy threat in the 2025-2040 timeframe. Building on current service and joint doctrine, the MDB requires flexible and resilient ground formations that project combat power into the land, air, maritime, space, and cyberspace domains. It is a continued evolution of the combined arms methodology to include not only those capabilities of the physical domains, but places even greater emphasis on space, cyberspace, and other contested areas such as the EMS, the information environment, and the cognitive dimension of warfare. As for the role of CEMA in the MDB, it's about creating and exploiting exploit temporary windows of advantage in and presenting adversaries with multiple dilemmas in the spectrum across time/space with an intensity and duration of our choosing. Acknowledging that the world is very different now with more capable near-peer adversaries who are able to contest all physical domains as well as cyberspace, we need to recognize that and challenge the CEMA community of interest for novel, adaptive and innovative capability solutions in EW, Cyber, SIGINT and other related technology areas. This is just the nature of the current environment.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS


Lieutenant General Rhett A. Hernandez, (Ret)
Former commander of the United States Army Cyber Command

Mr. Michael Wynne
Former 21st United States Secretary of the Air Force

MG John B. Morrison

Commanding Officer, US Cyber Center of Excellence



MG Randy Taylor
Commanding General, CECOM & APG

Dr. William Conley, SES
Deputy Director, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (OUSD AT&L/A/) Tactical Warfare Systems

Dr. Paul G. Zablocky, SES

Division Director, Complex Hybrid Warfare Sciences Division, Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism Science and Technology Department, Office of Naval Research

Register Now!


 

AOC VIRTUAL SERIES: Demonstrating Radar and EW - Without Breaking the Bank, September 21

Thursday, September 21, 2017 | 14:00-15:00 EDT

Understanding of complex technologies only really comes after one has had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with that technology. Radar and EW systems are particularly problematic in this context because of their extremely high cost and the large spaces required to test them. While educational systems do exist, they are generally based on simplified implementations, are usually limited to CW radars, and remain expensive.

This webinar will discuss and demonstrate the possibility of using audio sonar to teach basic radar and EW principles at almost no cost. Examples of the use of this concept in applications ranging from demonstrations to schoolchildren through to postgraduate engineering courses will be shown. A live demonstration of an existing audio sonar system will be performed to show just how simple such systems are to set up and use, and how useful the results can be in learning challenging abstract concepts.

Register Now

Gold Sponsors







Bronze Sponsor





 

REGISTER NOW FOR FALL COURSES – Convention Courses Now Available!


Electronic Countermeasures — Theory and Design
October 16-November 1
Online Webcourse
Instructor: Kyle Davidson
Details

AOC Convention Course: Introduction to EW Modeling and Simulation
December 1-4
Washington, D.C.
Instructor: Dave Adamy
Details

AOC Convention Course: Electronic Warfare Systems Engineering
December 1-4
Washington, D.C.
Instructor: Kyle Davidson
Details

AOC Convention Course: Hands-on Introduction to Radar and EW Course
December 1-4
Washington, D.C.
Instructor: Dr. Warren du Plessis
Details

Electronic Warfare in the New Threat Environment (EW 104)
February 5-28
Online Webcourse
Instructor: Dave Adamy
Details

The Association of Old Crows is excited to increase the convenience of your learning opportunities through our on-demand professional development library! The AOC is making some of our most popular courses available anytime and anywhere you're connected to the internet! On-demand course offerings currently include Dave Adamy's Fundamentals and Advanced Principles of EW, Kyle Davidson's ELINT - Principles and Practice and Warren du Plessis’ Introduction to RF & Microwave Front Ends.


 

AOC VIRTUAL SERIES WEBINAR: A Systems Approach to Information Warfare, October 5

Thursday, October 05, 2017  |14:00-15:00 EDT

The free flow of information within and between nation states is essential to business, international relations and social cohesion, as much as information is essential to a military force’s ability to fight. Communications today leans heavily on the internet, or via communications using various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum through terrestrial and satellite communications networks. We live in a highly connected world, but it doesn’t take much to tip us over into instability or even chaos. Information warfare combines electronic warfare, cyberwarfare and psychological operations into a single fighting stance with the aim of paralysing decision making, and this stance will be central to all warfare in the future; we also know it as ‘hybrid warfare’.

This webinar will explore, using a systems approach, the anatomy of information warfare and its possible impact on military operations and the cohesion of government organisations in times of conflict. Participants in the webinar will have a clearer understanding of how to recognise the ‘tell-tale’ signs of an information attack in order to mitigate damage.

Register Now

Gold Sponsor



Bronze Sponsor





 
MAPLE LEAF CHAPTER: The Embassy of Canada to Host EW Industry Day October 20
On October 20, 2017 the Embassy of Canada will host a "Electronic Warfare Industry Day" Symposium which will highlight Canadian companies with niche EW technology. The event will kick off in the morning with a keynote from Brigadier General Robert Mazzolin, USCYBERCOM and will conclude with a networking luncheon in the afternoon. This initiative is supported by the Canadian Association of Old Crows, Maple Leaf Chapter and its headquarter the Association of Old Crows in Washington DC. The event is FREE, but by invitation ONLY. Please provide Ms. Corina Greig (corina.greig@international.gc.ca) with your details (name/company/organization/address/phone/email) to receive an invitation. Space is limited, so please act soon. Deadline is October 13!!



 
VISIT THE AOC JOB VACANCIES PAGE: Post Your Jobs
Employers can post on the Job Vacancies page for free. Follow the guide located HERE to provide information on posting a job listing. Submitted listings will remain live for 30 days. The AOC will not format or edit submitted postings, and will not respond to any questions from candidates concerning postings. We are hoping members and sponsors will take advantage of this free AOC service. Complete the guide linked above and submit to Tim Hutchison at hutchison@crows.org.

Job Vacancies Page


 
INDUSTRY NEWS: Army Wargames Russian Electronic Warfare & Cyber Attacks

 

 
INDUSTRY NEWS: In The News: Maj.-Gen. Patricia A. Frost, Director of Cyber, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. Army G-3/5/7

 

 
INDUSTRY NEWS: L3 Picks Gulfstream 550 For U.S. Air Force EC-X Compass Call

 

 
INDUSTRY NEWS: How the NSA Built a Secret Surveillance Network for Ethiopia

 

 
INDUSTRY NEWS: DSEI 2017: SIGINT Centre Making Waves

 

 
INDUSTRY NEWS: Why the U.S. Isn't Building Smaller Aircraft Carriers

 

 
INDUSTRY NEWS: Britain’s Sentinel Recon Aircraft Gets an Upgrade

 

Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a0005'

Invalid procedure call or argument: 'instr'

/cs4/CS4print.asp, line 351