- 3 months ago
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:01Unavailable and outdated.
00:03What a government watchdog has to say about combat vehicles in the American arsenal.
00:08Plus, more potential problems in the Pacific.
00:11Why America's near-peer adversaries are teaming up for a confrontation.
00:16And a drone swarm swatted.
00:19See how an American company is paving the way forward in counter-drone defense.
00:24Hello and welcome to Weapons and Warfare, a show made for people who want to know more about our national defense.
00:34Our mission is to arm you with information about America's warfighters and what they're doing to keep you safe.
00:41For Straight Arrow News, I'm your host, Ryan Robertson.
00:44And we start this week with a look inside the Air Force's Air Mobility Command
00:49and how its leadership is navigating budget constraints, aging aircraft, and an ever-changing list of potential threats.
01:01Fresh off several successful efforts in the Middle East, AMC's commander, General John LeMontagne,
01:07met with the media in a roundtable session at the AFA's Air, Space, and Cyber 2025 event.
01:14Despite those wins, though, he made it clear he's under no illusion about what it will take to build on that success going forward.
01:23If you look at what we just did, whether it was facilitating the B2s going out to Yemen
01:28or the B2s hitting Iran, a relatively safe environment, all things being equal.
01:35But that's not what we're going to be expected to do in the future.
01:39So we've got to be able to go into much higher threat environments.
01:42A little more than a year ago, LeMontagne took command of AMC's nearly 600 aircraft.
01:47It is my pleasure to introduce the 16th commander of Air Mobility Command, General Johnny LeMontagne.
01:55Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is great to be back in Air Mobility Command.
02:01Primarily responsible for carrying out the DOD's needs for airlift and air refueling.
02:07On the airlift side of the equation, the general says he wants AMC in a position to transition seamlessly from the C5 and C17 to the next generation of heavy lifters.
02:20The C17 and C5 have served us well for decades, but they're not going to fly forever.
02:26And so we'd like to recapitalize those on our timeline.
02:30You know, we've got a competition already going, a source selection, driving that towards the mid-2040 timeline.
02:37It's basically a two-for-one to replace both the C17 and the C5.
02:42LeMontagne envisions a new airlifter that has the right defensive systems, is tactically agile and easier to service.
02:50We're obviously a lot of risk on the ground, sitting on the ground somewhere, so don't want to sit on the ground for three hours if we could refuel in a lot faster timeline than that.
03:00Not that it takes three hours to refuel a C17, but, you know, three minutes would be better than 30 minutes.
03:09Speaking of fueling, AMC got a dose of good news this past July when Chief of Staff General David Alvin announced the plan to buy an additional 75 KC-46 Pegasus aerial refuelers from Boeing.
03:23That would eliminate the need for a bridge tanker to replace the aging KC-135 fleet, but they will not be saying goodbye to the strato tanker anytime soon.
03:34We will be flying the KC-135 into the 2050s, and so that is a long time to maintain a legacy platform.
03:43Of course, it's not the same KC-135 that came into the inventory in the 1950s, and, you know, as we sit here today, we don't want it to be the same platform in the 2050s or 2060s, however long we're going to need to fly it.
03:58Of course, time is a commodity, something General Alvin made clear in his keynote address to the troops.
04:05Last time I checked, our mission says fly, fight, and win air power anytime, anywhere.
04:11So if you want to know what the pace is, that's the pace.
04:15We have to move out the pace to win. If we're not getting there, then we need to find another gear.
04:19When we asked General LaMontagne if these plans fit within that mindset, he pointed to two hurdles AMC needs to navigate to deliver on that mission statement.
04:30Equipping his fleet with cutting edge sensors to operate in a contested environment and the ability to defend against potential threats.
04:39The first step is being able to sense and make sense of the environment.
04:43If you can't make sense of the threat environment, you got no chance.
04:46That's what we're trying to do on connectivity and that money is starting to flow.
04:50And then the next step is having defensive systems or an ability to actually defend the team.
04:55For that, the General says there are two options.
04:58Having someone else provide those defensive capabilities like a fighter escort or an onboard solution so his crews can defend themselves.
05:08We're trying to get to a place where we don't need somebody else to do it for us.
05:12And we can bring a lot more capability to the joint force in a deep, much deeper threat environment.
05:19As for how they'll get that done, LaMontagne says all options are on the table.
05:25All right, I'm joined now by senior producer and Air Force veteran Brett Baker for some headlines you may have missed.
05:32And Brett, here's a headline.
05:33We have a lot of content that we're working on right now kind of in the background.
05:37Should we give folks kind of a sneak peek of that?
05:40I'll defer to you on that one.
05:43I mean, they know we were in Ukraine, so obviously we're going to be bringing some stories back from there.
05:48But yeah, I'll defer to you on that one.
05:51Yeah, so we have some Ukraine stories, both from the Defense Expo that we went to.
05:57And we also went around Lviv and gathered some stuff, but we're putting together some stuff for Straight Arrow.
06:02So if you're a fan of the show, also be a fan of Straight Arrow News as our, you know, umbrella organization, because we have some good content coming that way.
06:11But we also were at the AFA's Airspace and Cyber event.
06:15We're getting ready to head to AUSA.
06:17So over the next couple of weeks, folks, we might do a little bit of a pullback on some of the content we're putting out.
06:24But that's just because we're working on some really great content in the background that we, you know, want you to see.
06:30So, all right, that's enough of the behind the scenes stuff.
06:33Let's go ahead and take a look at those headlines.
06:37So there's this government watchdog saying 80% of the Army and Marines combat vehicles aren't actually ready for combat.
06:46The Government Accountability Office revealed in a new report some significant readiness issues in the motor pool.
06:53Get this, Brett, of the 18 Army combat and support vehicles that were analyzed, 16 were non-mission capable because of either part shortages or a decline in qualified maintainers.
07:06The Marine Corps is facing similar challenges with five of its seven vehicles tested showing decreased readiness.
07:13The investigation lasted from 2015 to 2024 and showed as maintenance demands were going up, repairs and overhauls were going down,
07:22impacting operational availability.
07:25Brett, you go to war with the force that you have, not the force that you want.
07:29And imagine this is good news for the Indo-PACOM commanders.
07:34Certainly it is not.
07:36It would seem to be the worst version of the perfect storm when you can't get the parts you need.
07:42And even if you were to get those parts, you might not have enough maintainers to put them to good use and get those vehicles back up and rolling.
07:51But it's just kind of another sign of where I think the DOD is in a lot of places with budget constraints and manning.
08:03It could, you know, I hope it's a one off.
08:06I don't think it's a one off.
08:07But you would you would like to think that this is not a trend of things to come.
08:12Absolutely, because if I mean, if this is a trend and more more of your vehicles don't work than do work, how battle effective can you really be?
08:24So, yeah, to your point, hope it's hope it's a one off.
08:28Doesn't sound like it is, but hopefully the Department of Defense can figure it all out.
08:33All right.
08:35So speaking of the Pacific, a recent article in Defense News details how some British analysts found evidence that Russia is supplying military equipment and technology to China, potentially aiding preparations for an invasion of Taiwan.
08:51The Royal United Services Institute based its findings on some leaked Russian documents that outlined contracts and equipment, including high altitude parachute systems and some other amphibious assault vehicles.
09:05Those analysts believe that this support could enhance China's airborne capabilities by 10 to 15 years and improve its command training for parachute forces.
09:16And while the contracts may be in place, Brett, my question is, will the Kremlin be able to keep up with those contract demands given the war with Ukraine is draining a lot of resources for Moscow?
09:28Yeah, I think my initial reaction to reading this story was they have stuff to to give away or to deal away and barter with.
09:36Yeah, it's interesting given the pinch that Russia is in and that China is not in.
09:42They've got all the money in the world.
09:45They've got all the manpower in the world.
09:47So it is an interesting arrangement.
09:49I certainly think that, you know, there's part of it that just to, you know, yank Uncle Sam's chain and get him talking about it.
09:58But it doesn't seem like this would be a sustainable thing for the Russians, given their current situation in Ukraine.
10:05Yeah, I mean, we did a story a few months ago.
10:07Now, at this point, Russia was using donkeys to supply their front lines, which, you know, some terrains that might be better than, you know, getting your vehicle stuck in the mud.
10:18But no army wants to go to war with donkeys in their logistics line.
10:23I kind of think that this might be more like Russia might be giving some pieces of equipment as like demonstrators.
10:29You know, like here's here's an amphibious assault vehicle.
10:33China, copy it, go build a bunch and give us some money so that we can, you know, keep fighting Ukraine.
10:39That's kind of how I see this.
10:40Not really sure how it's all going to play out to your point.
10:43And finally, a piece of video you have to watch a couple of times to really appreciate what's happening.
10:51At first glance, it looks like it's on pause, but it's not.
10:55It's an eight second clip of 49 drones dying simultaneously and falling right out of the sky.
11:02The clip is from our friends over at Epirus showing the results of a recent live fire demonstration where their Leonidas platform was 100 percent successful against a 49 drone swarm consisting of two different drone types,
11:15all with one instant and low collateral pulse of electromagnetic interference.
11:21And in honor of Leonidas, which is named after the Spartan king, let me just say this is awesome.
11:32Nicely done.
11:33Nicely done.
11:34No, the first time I saw the clip, our editor shared it in our Slack channel.
11:38And I'm like, what am I what am I looking at?
11:40It looked like it was on pause.
11:42But then all of a sudden you see 49 drones just drop out of the sky.
11:48This isn't new.
11:50We've seen Leonidas work in ones and twos and threes and fours.
11:54But at this scale at 49, that's a different ballgame.
11:59So definitely is an impressive test, to be sure.
12:02And I think one that, you know, troops who are on the ground have to appreciate that, hey, we're heading in the right direction on this.
12:10Absolutely.
12:11On the ground and at sea.
12:12We know that Leonidas has some maritime applications as well.
12:15It's a software defined pulse is what they call it.
12:22So they can do, you know, swarms at a time, but they could also kind of narrow it down and do certain frequencies or kind of point it at certain drones.
12:31So that, you know, when you do a giant swath pulse, you're going to knock down your own stuff, too.
12:38Right.
12:39So if you can put your frequency stuff at a little bit different frequency than your enemy stuff, then the idea is, you know, potentially your stuff can keep flying while their stuff falls down.
12:48So, yeah, good job to the folks at Epirus, for sure.
12:53Anytime I get to make a Spartans 300 quote, I think it's a good story.
13:00Well, you're welcome, because I picked that one.
13:05Unmanned aerial vehicles have really kind of changed the game on the battlefield, but the new iteration of those are going to be bombers.
13:12Right.
13:12So to hear and talk to me a little bit more about that is Danilo Pavlichenko.
13:16Did I say that right?
13:17Yes.
13:18Awesome.
13:18And you're with a company called Jet.
13:20So talk to me about this bomber that we have right here.
13:22The bomber is our new initiative that we have created ourselves because we have our own R&D.
13:28It is a solution that provides up to 20 kilograms of payload capacity.
13:37It can fly technically up to 60 kilometers without the payload.
13:42With the payload, it is oriented for 15 kilometers one way and back.
13:47And it's something that is well used on the battlefield.
13:51And it's a game changer, basically.
13:53It's something that is very reliable in usage.
13:57Is it remote control?
13:58Is there any AI component to it?
14:00No AI component.
14:01It's remote controlled.
14:02We have our ground control stations that come with it.
14:07We use SINELINK and other modules for the connection.
14:16And it's fully controlled.
14:17The whole station has to be controlled by two people for its usage.
14:23Okay.
14:23You also have some other products behind you here, some more FPV drones.
14:26One of them that caught my eye is this one right here with the fiber optic cable on the back of it.
14:31Fiber optic is unjammable, and everyone's kind of saying this is the wave of the future.
14:35What do you think?
14:37It definitely is.
14:38And if you look at the battlefields of Ukraine, everything is filled with fiber optic.
14:42It's obviously for a reason, because with the electronic warfare that we have to fight, this is definitely the way to go.
14:50What we represent, we have fiber optic on a frame of 10 inch and 13 inch flying 15 to 20 kilometers.
14:58We're also representing, starting to create other modifications in the future to make it go in further.
15:06We also have represented Jet 10 LR, which is for long range.
15:12It can fly for 40 kilometers plus, carrying up to one kilogram of payload.
15:18And what are you hoping to get from this show, right?
15:23Because I know that you don't necessarily have contracts yet.
15:25You're hoping to sign some?
15:26We do have contracts.
15:28Okay, great.
15:28We work directly with the different military units, a lot of organizations.
15:34It's just a way to show up a portion of us, our heart and what we do, get new relationships going, collaborations with other companies, and to progress and put roots into other places as well.
15:52All right.
15:53Thank you so much for joining us today.
15:54Really appreciate it.
15:55All right, folks, for Comms Check this week, we are checking in with the good folks at JobsOhio.
16:02And here to talk a little bit more about that is J.P. Nassif with JobsOhio.
16:06Thank you so much for joining us today, J.P.
16:07Oh, thank you for having me.
16:08So the last time we talked to you, the big news was Arsenal.
16:11One had just been announced by Anduril.
16:13Obviously, that is not the last thing that JobsOhio has brought into your state.
16:18So kind of talk a little bit more about some of those projects.
16:20Well, we're really focused on advanced aerospace and defense industry.
16:24That's why we're here at the Air Force Association.
16:26It's really turned into quite a trade show.
16:29The environment is changing very, very fast.
16:32And how the Department of War, Department of Defense acquires weapon systems, Anduril, and the Arsenal program is a great example of that.
16:40And so with our heritage in Ohio of aviation, dating back to the Wright brothers and our heritage in space, you know, Neil Armstrong's from here.
16:48We have NASA Glenn and NASA Armstrong.
16:51We're really focused on this sector.
16:53It's a trillion, multi-trillion dollar economic opportunity.
16:57And we've got the workforce and the facilities and the diversity of our industry sectors to build a base here, basis for that in Ohio.
17:06And that's what we're doing.
17:08So Anduril is busy implementing their factory, massive factory in central Ohio.
17:13We've got Joby Aviation building eVTOLs and comm systems close to Wright-Patterson in Dayton, Ohio.
17:22Sierra Nevada modifying aviation and airframe systems and doing maintenance on an airport, an airfield in Dayton, Ohio near Wright-Patterson.
17:31And I think what we're finding is the intersection of where the customer, this large customer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base intersects with this amazing heavyweight manufacturing capability, number three in the nation, the number one most productive workforce and labor force in the Midwest.
17:50And the confluence of those things, and then when you combine affordability of the workforce, higher education institutions that can upskill and train and produce the workforce, the confluence of all those things becomes a very powerful value proposition.
18:05And it all goes to what's important for the country and making sure that America has the systems it needs to deter aggression from our adversaries and make sure the men and women that serve and their families have the best they can have at an efficient and effective cost basis for the American taxpayer.
18:26And that's what Ohio has to offer.
18:28You bet.
18:29A lot of states in the Midwest are experiencing called, you know, the brain drain right now.
18:32Does Ohio have that, or because of all of these industries, are you able to kind of counteract that where other states' brain drain is your brain gain kind of thing?
18:41Well, it's an interesting phenomenon, right?
18:43You know, back in the World War II era, the Midwest, Ohio, was the center of the industrial age.
18:49And then after World War II, transportation technologies, the interstate highway system, air conditioning gets invented, people migrate south and west, trade agreements take our industry base south of the border, over oceans.
19:03You know, we all know what happened and what's happening now, and you can see it, those great states on the coast, which I used to live in California, had a place in New York for quite a while.
19:14Those are wonderful states, but they've become a victim of their success and everything they have that's great.
19:19And people are actually fleeing those states now.
19:21So, you know, after decades of out-migration of population and brain drain, as you call it, we've got the first net positive population in migration to our state since the 80s.
19:33Between 2019 and 2024, we had significant population in migration.
19:3985% of the people that came back or came to Ohio were coming seeking one of those new jobs.
19:44And so, you know, we're not back to where we want to be, but we're definitely on our path.
19:51And leadership in this sector is so important to our heritage, important to the country, the people in Ohio care about it, and we've got capability that these industries need.
19:59We're on our way to leadership in this sector, for sure.
20:04JP, thank you so much for joining us today.
20:06Really appreciate your time.
20:06Thank you for your time.
20:07Thank you very much.
20:11All opinions expressed in this segment are solely the opinions of the contributors.
20:15All right, folks, for my wrap this week, I'm going to talk about something I know is going to make some of you mad.
20:22The U.S. government deploying the National Guard and other troops to American cities.
20:26But before you get angry and go off on me in the comment section, please hear me out first.
20:31Since taking office, President Trump deployed the Guard to several American cities with the mission of protecting federal workers and facilities.
20:41That is within his scope of power as the head of our nation's executive branch.
20:45Just like it's within the scope of power for federal district judges to put temporary holds on presidential orders to make sure there isn't an abuse of power.
20:56If you've been paying attention, you know over the course of the last several weeks,
21:02President Trump and his administration toyed with the idea of expanding the troop deployments even further.
21:08The Minnesota Star Tribune reported Anthony Salisbury, a top deputy to White House official Stephen Miller,
21:15was even caught using the signal messaging app in public to talk about sending the 82nd Airborne to Portland.
21:24President Trump himself talked about using American cities as training grounds for the U.S. military.
21:29When a Trump-appointed judge put a hold on the president's plan to federalize the Oregon National Guard and send it to Portland,
21:38the president tried to go around the order by sending in Guard members from California and Texas.
21:44A move which Judge Karen Emmergut also blocked.
21:48But the judge's decisions do not represent a legal insurrection, as White House aide Stephen Miller put it.
21:56They represent our separate but equal branches of government performing their constitutionally mandated duties.
22:02And this all comes after another district judge in California ruled that the June deployment of Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles was, in fact, illegal.
22:14The judge said the administration's actions represented a clear and willful violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
22:21because the military was being used to perform law enforcement duties.
22:27I hope we can all agree, as Americans, that ours is a nation of laws.
22:34That upholding those laws and abiding by them are important.
22:39Because that's what holds our society together.
22:41That's what keeps our republic intact.
22:44And that's going to do it for us this week on Weapons and Warfare.
22:48As always, if you like what you saw and or heard, please like and subscribe to our social media feeds and download the Straight Arrow News app today.
22:57Like Brett and I were saying earlier, we have a pretty big backlog of content to roll out from Ukraine and a couple of defense expos in D.C.
23:05So keep an eye out for all of those stories headed your way.
23:09In the meantime, for senior producer Brett Baker, video editor Brian Spencer and motion artist Dakota Patio,
23:15I'm Ryan Robertson for Straight Arrow News signing off.
Comments