operations, such as “spoofing” —
an enemy seizing control of a UAS
during its mission — or jamming to
make its control and mission data
signals ineffective.
Col. Donald A. Hazelwood, the
Army’s UAS program manager, said
that counter-UAS “is something
the entire [unmanned systems]
community should be looking at.”
He was addressing an audience
at the Unmanned Systems Program
Review 2008 Feb. 28 in Washington, sponsored by the Association
for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
International.
While not going into detail,
Hazelwood noted there “are multiple types of counter-UAS [tech-niques], including jamming and
spoofing. I’m less concerned about
jamming than I am about spoofing.
Anybody can jam; it’s a lot more
difficult to spoof.”
Blore added that he thought the
better question would be, would
the C4ISR delay the ship from
being fully operational? To that, he
said, “We don’t anticipate that
being an issue.”
Bertholf, Blore said, will go into
acceptance trials in early April,
after which full testing will be done
on the C4ISR systems to make sure
they meet federal and Department
of Defense information security
standards. After that, he said, the
cutter is scheduled to be accepted
by the Coast Guard in May. Prior
Coast Guard estimates anticipated
a February acceptance.
USCG: Story of Cutter
Radio Woes is Incorrect
The Coast Guard vehemently
denied a March 11 report in the
Washington Times that said faulty
radios have delayed the delivery of
the first national security cutter,
Bertholf.
In a quickly convened conference call with reporters the same
day, Rear Adm. Gary T. Blore, assistant commandant for acquisition,
and Rear Adm. Ronald J. Rábago,
program executive officer, said that
while there have been delays in the
cutter program — foremost among
them from Hurricane Katrina damage to Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., where Bertholf was
built — the Times report citing
communications security issues
was inaccurate.
“Any modest delays we’ve experienced have largely been machinery
related or getting propulsion systems
finished,” said Blore. “It’s not the
C4ISR [command, control, communications, computers, intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance].”
CENTCOM’s Fallon
Resigns; Army’s Dempsey
To Be Acting Commander
Adm. William J. “Fox” Fallon, the
U.S. military’s commander with
responsibility over the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan, as well as
America’s security interests from
the Horn of Africa to Pakistan,
tendered his resignation March 11.
His request was accepted by
Defense Secretary Robert M.
Gates.
Fallon’s resignation, which will
take effect March 31, comes amid
press reports of differences with
the Bush administration over Iran
policy, with Fallon perceived as
strongly advocating diplomatic
solutions over military confrontation.
“Recent press reports suggesting
a disconnect between my views
and the president’s policy objectives have become a distraction,”
Fallon said in a statement, adding
“and although I don’t believe there
have ever been any differences
about the objectives of our policy
in the Central Command Area of
Responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult
for me to effectively serve America’s interests there.”
Gates, who has called Fallon
“one of the best strategic thinkers
in uniform today,” agreed with the
commander during a March 11
news conference.
“I believe it was the right thing
to do even though I do not believe
there are, in fact, significant differences between his views and
administration policy,” Gates said.
Army Lt. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey becomes acting Central Command commander March 31, and
will serve until a permanent
replacement can be nominated and
confirmed by Senate. ■
Reporting by Seapower Correspondent
Megan Scully. Managing Editor Richard
R. Burgess, Associate Editor Matt Hilburn
and Assistant Editor John C. Marcario
contributed to this report.
CORRECTIONS
■ The date of Lt. Cmdr. William E. Fiery’s graduation from the
U.S. Naval Academy was incorrect in the introduction to his “First
Person” article in the March issue. He graduated in 1988.
■ The March article “Scanning the Littoral” included an incorrect
title for Mike Randolph. He is the Navy’s Advanced Sensor
Technologies Program Office public affairs officer.
■ Due to an editing error, the Corporate Membership list in the
March print edition of Seapower contained a number of incorrect
and out-of-date entries. A corrected list, however, was included
with the digital edition.
