War Games Issue 1
Think lasers and networking, but sort of extreme.
Greetings Professor.
Welcome to the first edition of the War Games Newsletter, where I’ll be rounding up news and news-adjacent things that illustrate how technological advances in armed conflict are sounding more and more like something out of a 1983 Cold War science fiction teen movie: UAVs, remote-controlled pterodactyls, artificial intelligence, cyberterrorism, space armies, robot boats, global thermonuclear war, and whatever else pops up.
The links listed here are just that: links to other people’s stories, posts, press releases, and more. I’m no David Falken, so you won’t find much analysis here. But reach out if there are stories that should be on the list.
Let’s start off with something easy.
SOCIAL MEDIA GAMES.
Now for the bread and butter of the future: space lasers.
SPACE GAMES.
Feb. 25, 2021 — Neil deGrasse Tyson, pop-science astrophysicist and my parents’ favorite celebrity, interviewed Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond for the Air Force Association’s Aerospace Air Warfare Symposium. Describing the foreign threats posed in space and the subsequent need for an American space army, Raymond boiled it down well for the layman: think lasers.
“Today, China and Russia have directed energy weapons. Today, they have multiple systems, think lasers, that can blind or damage our satellite systems,” said Raymond.
A summary of the interview and a link to the video can be found here.
DRONE GAMES.
A FRENCH TOURIST WALKS INTO IRAN WITH A DRONE. IT GOES AS WELL AS EXPECTED. — “A French tourist detained in Iran ten months ago is facing two charges of "spying and propaganda against the system", according to his lawyer.” via BBC.
THE NAVY. A COYOTE. A CICADA. ROBOT BOATS. LIKE, COME ON. — This story on the Navy’s new endeavor to develop and use an “autonomous swarming drone” has everything: a cute animal nickname, imagery of a disgusting insect emerging from its cocoon to wreak havoc on a target, and ROBOT BOATS. Pasting the top of the story here, but do yourself a favor and read Kelsey Atherton’s full report for Popular Science.
“A drone emerges from a missile tube like a cicada rocketing out of a cocoon. Once in air, its wings spring into place, its tail rudders fold up, and it powers forward, like a missile impersonating a plane. This is the Coyote drone, and on February 26th, the US Navy announced a contract worth almost $33 million to turn some of them into an autonomous swarming weapon. For maximum effect, the Pentagon wants to make sure these swarms can launch from robot boats or submarines.
Made by defense giant Raytheon, the Coyote fits broadly into the family of weapons known as “loitering munitions.” Somewhere between missiles and drones, loitering munitions are as close as an airplane gets to being a landmine. With drone-style sensors and a human controller, this type of weapon can stay airborne for extended periods of time while looking for a target.”
KAMIKAZE DRONES: NOT JUST FOR ROBOT BOATS! — Calling back to the term “loitering munitions,” which you should learn, Defense News writes that “Loitering munitions are also referred to as kamikaze drones because they can be used as weapons by crashing into a target.” Because, obviously. It’s not just robot boats! Korean and Israeli firms are on their way to adding these to helicopters. Read more about it here.
THE DRONE RODEO — The U.S. Army literally had a “rodeo” to test the evaluate potential replacements for its current unmanned aircraft systems. There was far less bull riding and fewer fairground snacks than a regular rodeo, so it’s not the most exciting thing, but you can read about how it went here.
CYBER GAMES.
THE MICROSOFT HACK — Earlier in March, a giant cyber-attack compromised thousands of businesses and organizations. If you’re not sure if it affected you or your information, ask yourself if you’ve been online lately. You have?! It probably did, then. Axios’s Scott Rosenberg breaks down the attack and gives some context with the French Revolution and the American Civil War. In short, cyber wars are getting bigger and broader. Read his quick study guide on the situation here.
And now the boring bits.
MONEY GAMES.
The U.S. government is constantly awarding new contracts for development in all areas of defense — from UAVs to massive frozen pizza purchases to stock those DFACs around the world. Here are a few recent ones.
Textron Systems Corp has been awarded a $9,730,016 firm-fixed-price modification to an existing contract for the exercise of Option Period Three. It focuses on unmanned aerial system, intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance solution to perform operational, engineering and sustainment efforts necessary to effectively execute pre-deployment, deployment operations, post-deployment and engineering support activities. Work will be performed at Bagram, Afghanistan.
Assured Information Security Inc has been awarded a $49,904,181 cost-plus-fixed-fee completion contract for Dauntless Cyber Platform/Prototype. This effort is for research, development, integration, testing, evaluation and transition of new and emergent technologies that improve mission coordination, advance the capabilities of cyberspace operations in an array of environments, and better equip the warfighter. Work will be performed in Rome, New York.
Raytheon Missiles and Defense is awarded a $31,950,403 firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract to exercise options for encanistered missiles, fire control suite and launching mechanism for the Over-the-Horizon weapon system. Work will be performed all over.
More on “Over-the-Horizon” weapons here.
Serco Inc. is awarded a $15,326,863 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification under a previously-awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to exercise options for the development, integration, testing and evaluation of prototype systems into existing or emerging unmanned vehicles, unmanned weapons and unmanned weapons control systems related to mine warfare, amphibious warfare, surface warfare, diving and life support, coastal and underwater intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and other missions in the littoral and riverine environments. Location TBD.
United Launch Services LLC has been awarded $224,290,000 in firm-fixed-price task orders under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 contract. These task orders provide the basic launch services and mission integration to launch military satellites into space with SpaceX. Work will be performed in Centennial, Colorado; and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has been awarded two individual firm-fixed-price task orders totaling $159,721,445 under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 contract. These task orders provide the basic launch services and mission integration for USSF-36 and NROL-69 . Work will be performed in Hawthorne, California; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. is awarded an $81,992,887 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. This contract provides for sustainment, engineering, logistics, test, mission control, and operator training systems support for MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). This effort also includes procurement of field service representatives and technical support to ensure that the MQ-4C Triton UAS aircraft are mission-capable for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions supporting Triton’s early operational capability and initial operating capability. In addition, this effort supports reach-back engineering support for both the Navy and the government of Australia MQ-4C Triton UAS assets. Work will be performed in all over.
At this time, no information on whether DOD is negotiating any contracts for a War Operation Plan Response supercomputer is available. If news of any such contract is released, we’ll update readers immediately.
GOODBYE.