Powering expeditionary operations: Weapons and Warfare

The U.S. Navy is sick of spending millions of dollars to take down drones that cost thousands

These cutting-edge hypervelocity projectiles could help. And they're calling it Golf Force One

We take a look at what's likely the most heavily armored golf cart in history

Hey, everyone, and welcome to Weapons and Warfare, a show made for folks who want to know more about the U.S. national defense

Our goal here is pretty simple. We want to help you have an informed conversation about what's happening with America's military

So for Straight Arrow News, I'm your host, Ryan Robertson, and we're starting this week with the U.S. Army and a mission you might not know that it has

Believe it or not, this is not a Navy vessel. It's an Army landing craft

You see, it says it right there, U.S. Army. And as Army leadership continues to reshape their force with an eye on a potential conflict in the Pacific

the importance of the Army's fleet of watercraft just continues to grow

Think of the U.S. Army in action, and it's likely tanks and helicopters are part of the picture

Identify! Fire! And while they're not as connected with the country's oldest branch of the military

watercraft play a crucial role in the Army's power projection, especially in places like the Indo-Pacific

It's responsible for moving supplies, equipment, and troops in deep ocean water, shallow coastal waters, inland waterways, even rivers

I liken it to having a bunch of different tools in the toolbox that we can employ in that dynamic distribution network that I just described

sea lines of communication, airlines of communication, and ground lines of communication

and watercraft will be a connector of many of those different other modes and bringing that to bear

Colonel William Arnold is the Chief of Transportation for the U.S. Army's Transportation Corps

At this year's AUSA Global Force Symposium in Alabama, he led a session focused on the future

of Army watercraft, acknowledging while the Army's current fleet of vessels is aging

it's still capable of meeting mission demands and at some point integrating with emerging tech

We're looking for help to understand how can we do littoral mapping without having to put mariners in the water to go figure out what beach gradients are

for example, to see if we can beach one of our watercraft. We're looking for capabilities that are out there to do that rapidly

be able to use AI to feed decisions back into the mariner populations

before we decide we're going to bring any vessel or any capabilities to a beach, for example

According to the Government Accountability Office, here's what the Army has at its disposal

and what's on the horizon. Eight logistics support vessels that are capable of delivering vehicles

and general cargo. 17 LCUs, that stands for Landing Craft Utility. Those are capable of

delivering 350 short tons of cargo or 320 combat-equipped personnel. Next up, nine LCMs, that's Landing Craft Mechanized

Those carry troops, cargo, and equipment. There are six small tugs for repositioning other watercraft

and 30 modular causeway systems for a total of 70 watercraft. Plus, the Army is expected to acquire 13 new maneuver support vessels by 2036

So that capability right there is really a new capability that we're bringing in that can maneuver in the tactical zone and maneuver forces very rapidly in and around the littoral areas

Brigadier General Shane Upton of the Army Futures Command tells us Army leadership is also looking to industry partners and embracing the opportunities autonomous vessels offer a force with a growing list of responsibilities while experiencing potentially tighter budgets

We're going to put autonomous boats in the water as the Army, and we're going to pair them with those mariners

and have them learn the collaborative behaviors, how to command and control them

give us an assessment and feedback from a soldier that does this

for the United States Army in a forward theater. Chief Warrant Officer Nicholas LaFerrety

with the Army's Combined Arms Support Command says it's about embracing the idea of doing a lot more with less

We're open to tiers of autonomy on our current craft, how we can just take one step up the ladder to potentially reduce that load and make those warfighters lives a little bit more focused, right? Let their focused energy be on the threat at its hand

For all that's different between the Army and Navy's fleets, there are parallels, especially in terms of maintenance

According to that GAO report we talked about earlier, the Army's watercraft fleet experienced a significant drop in its fully mission-capable rate

falling from 75% in 2020 to less than 40% in 2024. Major General Michael Layler of the Army's Tank Automotive and Armaments Command

is backing a push for 3D printing in the field to turn things around

The idea is fix forward, deliver forward, and this particular level of maintenance in watercraft is ripe for it

because no two watercraft is all you know out there, many of you who are near and dear to your heart

None of them are the same. They're snowflakes. And so there's all sorts of nonstandard parts that could be advanced manufactured

And honestly, it's a great it's a great ground for expansion of technology and solving problems

So what's next? How does the Army's fleet overcome its maintenance issues and stand ready for action in the Pacific

Should the call come? First, General Laylor says like the Navy, the Army is actively looking for allied partners to help bridge the gap

We are, next year, going to expand our ability to contract maintenance to other countries that we haven't used before

Predominantly, we've been west coast, east coast, Hawaii, Japan, Korea. Now we going to see us expand to Guam Singapore Philippines Australia you name it I been to most of them in the last six months trying to drum up some business and business will be good

As for adding watercraft, in March, then Deputy Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army Pacific, Major General Jeffrey Vanantwerp

told Stars and Stripes in a conference call, quote, that leased vessels provide a pretty phenomenal capability and a pretty high level of readiness

No word yet on how many, if any, vessels have been leased

All right. Joined now by super producer Brett Baker. Brett, when we were putting this story together, you know, we have talked about the Army using ships before

But really, when we, you know, start doing the research on it, it's really surprising how many boats the Army has

I will say, you know, we've learned a lot, I think, in the course since, you know, we started producing this show

And, yeah, I didn't really know that the Army even had boats or vessels

And, yeah, so I think it's a really interesting part of the puzzle, especially with how they're building things for the Indo-Pacific and where they think things are going to go

These things are going to play a very important role in whatever that becomes

so it's obviously important for the army to put a priority on that and kind of get where they need

to be which they're not right now right right and the idea of leasing uh some vessels i mean that

that could be a a good move in a pinch but when you lease a vessel you don't own the vessel

and i mean we did a story on you know the right to repair you know last week so it's like if

I just have kind of some qualms about it. When you lease it and don't own it, can the owner

refuse to let you use it for a time? I mean, it just kind of introduces a quagmire. So owning is

usually better when it comes to military equipment, in my opinion. Definitely an interesting work

around. I will say, obviously, though, you know, if you lease it, then maybe you've got more readily

access to it than what they've got right now. I mean, right now they're in a short fall

from the vessels they need. One thing I was thinking is, you know

they're replacing the landing craft mechanized with the MSRV lights, the maneuver support vehicle light

I can see a scenario where they keep both of those for a time

if they're in the need because they've already got them. Yes, they're supposed to be replaced and cycled out

But if you need the vessels, you've got vessels. so I could see a place where those just kind of stay in

The other thing I kind of found interesting is they make it a real point. They're not sailors

They're mariners. And so, like, yeah, I never thought an Army mariner is kind of an interesting thing

But, yeah, it's something the Army is going to have to work for, work hard for coming up in these next few years to try to get that fleet

you know, where they want it to be. Absolutely. And we have some more fleet news to talk about in our headline segments

So without further ado, Brett, let's get to it. Some interesting news coming out of a House Armed Services Committee hearing on U.S. Navy posture and capabilities this past June

In August of last year, the USS Jason Dunham tested BAE Systems hypervelocity projectiles during a composite training unit exercise as part of a Navy initiative to enhance low-cost air and missile defense against unmanned aerial systems

We've reported on this projectile before. I recently spoke with Tate Westbrook, the Senior Director for Naval Weapons at BAE Systems

He's a retired Navy captain and a Commodore with nearly three decades of service

And I talked to him about what this capability brings to the force. Despite Navy's efforts to date, we still cannot reload missiles at sea underway

They're working on it, but we're not there yet. So when you're out of missiles, you're out of missiles and you're out of the fight

The great news is with five inch projectiles, we can reload on a regular basis anywhere around the world

U.S. Navy and allies can replenish their five inch weapon, five inch bullets at sea anywhere in the world

The trials involved the Dunham testing HVP while the USS The Sullivans tested Lockheed Martin's Longbow Hellfire, Andrell's Roadrunner and Raytheon's Coyote

Those tests are part of a military effort to rapidly integrate new technologies for counter UAS operations

Some systems are already deployed on ships, including the Longbow Hellfire on the USS Indianapolis, which is in the Red Sea

uh and you know brett really this this hypervelocity projectile while it's the navy was

doing the testing on it um tate westbrook said that there's also a version where they can put

it in a 155 millimeter party round uh because it's it's an under caliber undersized caliber

round so they just put some sabos on it it'll fit on a 45 uh mark 45 deck gun which is what

the Navy's using it with, and, you know, you can throw it in a Paladin or any NATO standard 155

artillery launcher, and suddenly you have a hypervelocity projectile that can correct its

path in the air. Pretty cheap answer for a lot of these drones, cheap cruise missiles that are

filling the airs right on the battlefields. Absolutely, and it's something that has been

a big priority for the Pentagon is to get these more replicable, cheaper, faster kind

of products out to the folks who are having to do the job

And it's an interesting development. Obviously, there's, you know, obviously still work to be done, but putting these in the

hands of the operators is going to be a big deal when they can finally get that done. Yeah. And last final thing I want to say about this is just the speed of which this was developed

I remember when you and I first heard about it early last year at a Navy League expo in National Harbor

And then fast forward you know eight months and they testing it at sea So just the rapid development of this new type of weapon was really kind of phenomenal in my mind All right let get to the next one

Sticking with the Navy, the newly confirmed Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Darrell Cottle

has expressed openness to early retirement of the USS Boise due to prolonged maintenance delays

It's a big admission considering the Navy is short 17 attack submarines from their formal requirement of 66

The sub was originally launched in 1991. It conducted a few operations, more than a few

It was conducting operations for 25 years, but it has been unable to dive since 2017 due to a maintenance of, or excuse me

a series of maintenance delays that denied it a timely availability at one of the nation's four

public shipyards, which are primarily responsible for the maintenance of nuclear-powered subs and

aircraft carriers. Brett, USS Boise, it's a Los Angeles-class submarine. These were

slated to be replaced by Virginia-class submarines, but still not great if you're down one for

it's over you know what I mean for Cottle being a submarine guy himself

it is a big admission that maybe it's time to just kind of cut bait

one of the things that we learned in writing this story up was that

not only is it docked and they're working on it but they've had to

keep it staffed for all of these years because it's still a nuclear powered submarine

so you still have to have folks there manning that you got to have security

around it. So it's kind of like a manpower energy, you know, train that's not really going anywhere

right now. So that's a big admission to say, maybe it's time to write it off

And you wonder how much money has been spent over the years doing security, keeping the nuclear

material in a stable condition, like all of the things that you have to do. You can't just kind

of park it out back and say, all right, it's, it's good or sink it in a sink X exercise and

you know, make a coral reef out of it. Like a lot of, a lot of maintenance and upkeep is required

on these nuclear powered vessels. Uh, so yeah, uh, it's interesting. We'll see how it goes

Uh, and speaking of interesting, this next story, uh, definitely some, some interest

So during his recent trip to Scotland, president Donald Trump hit the links for a round of golf

a few rounds of golf nothing unusual about that but this time he was followed by an armored

Polaris Ranger X utility vehicle designed to provide ballistic protection uh the war zone

is reporting the vehicle now dubbed Gulf Force One by the press is part of the presidential fleet

of specialty vehicles according to a White House spokesperson uh Brett I was kind of looking into

it like hey if i wanted one of these things um how do i get it so polaris makes the the base unit but

the the ballistic kit uh those are third party like polaris doesn't necessarily make that

um but they could cost upwards of two hundred thousand dollars which maybe makes it the most

expensive golf cart of all time i'm not sure about a golf cart aficionado uh but i mean it it came out

eight months after some guy tried to take a shot at president Trump at a golf course. So

kind of a good idea. I think my first thought was like, move over Popemobile

We've got a new radical vehicle in the, uh, protection market for, you know, world leaders

Right. Um, but yeah, uh, if, if the man's going to be out golfing, uh, and folks are going to have

bad intentions, it's probably a good idea to have something like this. Even as funny as it is saying

Golf Force 1. But it is a pretty serious little piece of equipment

I have to imagine they did some suspension modifications once they got it

all armored up. Yeah, standard kitted out Razor is not going to be able to

Polaris is not going to be able to carry that much. But like we did on our recent story, Polaris makes one

that can carry 3,600 pounds with the short axle on there. So, you know, I don't

think all that all that ballistic uh armor is going to weigh that much but it's going to be

going to be uh able to able to carry now is this going to travel with i mean obviously it was in

scotland with them so my mind goes to okay so the logistics of packing golf force one or do they have

multiple golf force ones well you know what they call his car the beast and i know that they take

the beast with them wherever they go. I have, I have a feeling it's probably not that big a deal

If they've got room in the 747 to slide in Gulf force one as well

We'll see. Well, uh, I guess, uh, when they come out with the new air force one, if there's like a

a toy hatch on the back of it that we can see this thing rolling out of, that'd be pretty cool

That'd be awesome. All right. Hey, Brett, thanks for joining us again. You got it

If there's a word that best describes what American military leadership is looking for in today's weapon systems, it's versatility

They want systems that can serve multiple purposes across multiple platforms. It's a description that certainly fits the joint air-to-ground missile, the Jagam, and that's why it's our Weapon of the Week

Officially known as the AGM-179 and built by Lockheed Martin, the Jagam was designed to

replace the aging Hellfire and TOW missiles on rotary wing and unmanned aircraft

In use since 2022, the Jagam represents a progression in air-to-ground missile technology

offering a more versatile, precise, lethal, and adaptable weapon system that can take on

a wide array of battlefield challenges. So the missile is effective against air threats, ground threats, and maritime threats

And regardless of what platform I operate the missile from, whether from aircraft, from

ships or from ground systems the missile is capable against those threats The Jagum comes in two variants The MR for medium range targets and the F for the fighter fixed wing fast mover crowd You can increase the range of mission sets for the Jagum by throwing it in a quad launcher too which can then be mounted on a vehicle or a vessel at sea making it a very capable piece of any unit arsenal

With our concept, the ship can maintain on station and provide a reload by drawing missiles out of the magazine, sourcing the launcher

And then as you draw missiles from the magazine, should you need more, I can bring missiles out to the ship, refill the magazine so the ship can stay on station for much longer periods of time

One of the biggest problems the Jagum addresses that previous systems like the Hellfire had issues with is its ability to see the target no matter what's clouding the picture on the battlefield

Mark Mahaffey, a retired marine helicopter pilot and now a senior business development manager for Lockheed Martin, says the guidance capability of the Jagum makes it a difference maker

It's got a dual-mode seeker. It's got both a semi-active laser seeker and an active millimeter wave sensor, which gives the missile a true fire-and-forget capability

Because of that capability, other services, other platforms are looking at it as an affordable option to address the emergent threats on the battlefield today

The U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps are the primary users of the JAGEM

But Uncle Sam said it's okay to sell them to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands

And the Texas of Europe, Poland, is also planning to acquire the missile

I'm allowed to make that joke, Texas. I was born there, and I remember a world with Furs Cafeteria

Alright folks, for this week's Comps Check, we have an update on a staff favorite here at Weapons in Warfare, the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray

For those of you new to the program, first, thank you for joining

but you should also know the MQ-25 is a carrier-based unmanned aircraft system

a.k.a. a drone. Stingrays will refuel and extend the range of the carrier air wing

as well as relieve manned aircraft like the F-A-18 from having to carry out tanker duties

The nearly decade-old project has had some mixed news of late. Some good, some not so good

On the bright side, during a recent quarterly earnings call, Boeing's president and CEO, Kelly Ortberg, had an update on the Stingray

On MQ-25, the team began ground testing and successfully worked through the production move

to our new facility, bringing the program closer to first flight for the U.S. Navy

Unfortunately, the news isn't all sunshine. A new budget document from the Secretary of the

Navy's office reveals the expected operational date for the project was pushed to the third

quarter of 2027. That's after already being pushed to 2024 and then 2026. The Navy plans to

eventually acquire about 76 stingrays and wants enough funding in its 2026 budget

for three production units. Each unit carries a current cost of around $161 million

All opinions expressed in this segment are solely the opinions of the contributors

All right, folks, that's going to just about do it for this week's episode. Like we said at the top of the show, our mission at Weapons and Warfare is to help regular people understand more about the U.S. military and why taxpayers are being asked to spend a trillion dollars a year on it

If you want to help us in that mission, you can download the Straight Arrow News app and start sharing our content on your social feeds

For my wrap this week, I'm going to share some of my thoughts on a story I saw on my social feeds

This one right here. It's about a city councilman in Danville, Virginia

It's a small town, so he still needs a day job to support his wife and kids

That's where he was when another man, Shotzi Michael Buck Hayes, came into his office and dumped gasoline on Vogler

The two went outside and Buckley Hayes lit Vogler on fire. Buck Hayes later told police he wanted Vogler to die

He didn't. He just received severe burns to 60% of his body and will likely require years of treatment to recover

Instead of expressing concern for their fellow humans, though, or dismay that we're now at a point in society where we're lighting each other on fire in frickin' parking lots

comment section was full of people wondering what sort of city councilman Vogler was

Was he a Republican or a Democrat? because the answer to that question somehow determines the level of compassion

that we will show someone who was the obvious victim of a horrible crime

a crime which stemmed from a personal argument and had nothing to do with the fact Vogler was on the city council

In moments like this, I often think back to the words of Congresswoman Barbara Lee

She was a Democrat from California, and after the 9-11 attacks in 2001

She was the only person to speak out against the authorization to use military force, which gave President Bush and all successive presidents the ability to use the military without congressional approval

It was a time of raw emotion in our country. We were hurt and we wanted someone to pay for it

So when she said, as we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore, for some of us, myself included, that was hard to hear

We wanted retribution and she was telling us to use our heads

24 years later, tens of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars

Turns out Barbara Lee was probably right. So, in our current climate of political division and economic hardships

when many of us are feeling hurt, betrayed, and abandoned, remember, as we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore

For senior producer Brett Baker, video editor Brian Spencer, and motion designer Dakota Patio

I'm Ryan Robertson, Straight Arrow News, signing off