JIEDDO BECOMES COMBAT SUPPORT AGENCY TO COUNTER IED THREATS WORLDWIDE

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Combat Support Agency Counters Worldwide IED Threats
By Terri Moon Cronk
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2015 – The organization that has fought for a decade to defeat improvised explosive devices used by American enemies in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has become a combat support agency, its director said in a recent interview.

The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization -- known as JIEDDO -- was realigned under the defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics March 11 and is “here to stay,” Army Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson told DoD News.

Johnson said he wants to ensure every commander and warfighter is aware of the agency’s capabilities to support those in the field.

Johnson added that DoD’s senior leadership recognized that the global threat of IEDs is not going away, and that the agency’s new status means the capabilities it provides will be around a long time.

As a Defense Department function, the general said, the agency has better access to other DoD capabilities to “collaborate and to make sure we’re providing even better support to deployed service members.”

JIEDDO Established During Wars

Johnson said the need for JIEDDO became great when IEDs were killing and injuring large numbers of service members, and JIEDDO stood up as a joint organization from an Army task force in 2006 at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The military realized it needed an organization to work across the entire spectrum of the problem by analyzing IED threats and developing training and new equipment for warfighters, he added.

Today, “we track IEDs around the world, and in past 12 months, over 26,000 IED events caused 55,000 casualties,” the JIEDDO director pointed out.

“Gratefully, very few were Americans,” he added, “but it means that anywhere U.S. troops deploy, they are going to be at risk of IEDs.”

JIEDDO works to connect a variety of IED experts early within deploying units’ training cycles, Johnson said, so warfighters are knowledgeable of terrorist networks and the types of battlefield support the combat support agency will provide them.

Embedding Experts with Troops

JIEDDO experts range from intelligence analysts, operational experts, and combat advisers that offer training and adaptable solutions to warfighters and forces building allies’ capacities to improve counter-IED efforts, Johnson said.
These experts embed with U.S. forces from the start of deployment, regardless of assignment, from maritime crisis response forces, the Army’s regionally aligned forces or special operations, the general said.

Embedding experts helps troops and commanders understand what they’re seeing and how best to use the resources at their disposal to deal with threats, protect forces and defeat the enemy, he said.

JIEDDO a ‘Game Changer’ After Wars

JIEDDO brought a game changer to the table after its work during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, in which it provided a warfighter package of urgently needed training, analytical support and equipment to counter IED threats, the general said. Today, those capabilities reach across the globe, he added.

“We can apply the analysis to new training techniques, new tactics, equipment, and significantly enhance how our ground forces do business,” he said. “We help warfighters adapt.”

A key issue of IED proliferation by a variety of terrorist networks is that these homemade bombs use products such as fertilizer and cheap, commercial-grade explosives used in farming and mining, so the materials are available just about anywhere, Johnson pointed out.

Compounding the expanding IED global presence is that terrorist networks share information, he said.

“The enemies are very innovative, and they share their ideas and innovations. If we see IEDs that have success in one place, we can guarantee you we’re likely to see it elsewhere,” Johnson said.

And it’s that very type of information JIEDDO shares with forces deployed around the world so warfighters are better prepared and equipped to handle the problem, in addition to having reachback to national level resources, the director explained.

‘Global IED Threats to Continue’

There was some thought that JIEDDO might cease to exist following the end of the two wars, Johnson said, but that is not the case.

“The truth is, we’re going to face IEDs anywhere we go in the world,” he emphasized. “IEDs have proliferated around the world, and they challenge security forces across the globe. Now we’re back helping the Iraqis with the problems there, and our enemies are using IEDs in greater numbers all the time.”
Because of that global threat, JIEDDO’s business model is well entrenched for efforts in the Middle East, but also counters the IED threat in various other regions of the world such as Africa, South America, the Far East and the Pacific region, Johnson said.

JIEDDO’s mission is far-reaching, but has a central goal, he said.

“We provide counter-IED capabilities that allow [service members] to adapt and be that No. 1 weapon on the battlefield,” said Johnson, who described service members as “the most trained, most capable weapon.”

PRESIDENT'S BUDGET SUPPORTS MODERNIZING COMBAT AVIATION PROGRAM

FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Navy, Air Force Advocate for Modernizing Combat Aviation
By Terri Moon Cronk
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2015 – Top Navy and Air Force officials today told the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces the president’s budget request for fiscal year 2016 will support modernizing combat aviation programs.

Navy Vice Adm. Paul A. Grosklags, principal military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisitions; Air Force Lt. Gen. James M. “Mike” Holmes, deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, Air Force headquarters; and Air Force Maj. Gen. Timothy M. Ray, director, global power programs, office of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, all testified on the need for a modern force.

Navy and Marine Corps aviation allows “sea-based and expeditionary naval forces to bring simultaneous influence over vast stretches of the maritime environment across the shoreline and deep inland,” Grosklags said.

Aviation Must Stay Ready, Poised

It is therefore critical that U.S. aviation forces remain “always ready and poised to engage at a moment’s notice with required capacity and capability to influence events, and if necessary, to fight and win,” he said.

As global threats and demands increase, the Navy’s budget grows more challenging, Grosklags said, adding that the Navy and Marine Corps depend on today’s modernization and readiness efforts.

“Across the department, the strategies for our development, procurement and sustainment of [existing] and future weapons systems are critically dependent upon stable, and predictable funding at a level commensurate with [the president’s 2016 budget request],” he said.

“The alternative has been made clear by our secretaries and service chiefs,” the admiral emphasized. “A smaller force, a force less forward deployed; a force slower to respond in a crisis, is a force, which, when it does respond, will be less capable and more vulnerable.”

Budget Would Help Balance Air Force Needs

The National Defense Strategy is increasingly at risk, Holmes said, and the proposed budget takes steps to balance the many challenges the Air Force faces.
“The Air Force continues every day to deliver global vigilance,” he said.

“However, [after] more than 25 years of sustained combat operations and years of constrained budgets, it is becoming more difficult to achieve our mission.”

The first of many difficult capacity decisions before the Air Force is whether to divest itself of the A-10 fighter jet, he said.

“There’s no question the A-10 has been a steady and stellar performer in recent conflicts,” Holmes told the panel. “Nevertheless, our force structure is simply unaffordable in today’s fiscal environment.”

Divesting the entire A-10 fleet would free up $4.7 billion for the Air Force’s future defense program, which would pay for priority capacity, capability and readiness needs, he said.

But overall, the Air Force fighter jet fleet is facing an average age of 30 years, the oldest in the service’s history, Holmes said.

“The fourth-generation F-15s and F-16s, that are the majority of our fighter fleet, require upgrades to extend their life span and provide the combat capability required to prevail in today’s increasingly contested environments,” he emphasized.

Similarly, the advanced capabilities of the fifth-generation fighters -- F-22s and F-35s -- are critical to ensure the service’s ability to fight and win in contested environments, he added.

“The Air Force continues to be the world’s finest across the spectrum of conflict, but the gap is closing,” Holmes noted. “A return to sequestration-level funding would result in a less-ready, less-capable, less-viable Air Force that’s unable to fully execute the National Defense Strategy.”

Sequestration is a provision of current budget law that mandates major across-the-board spending cuts in fiscal 2016, which begins Oct. 1.

Global Security Complex

Today’s global security environment is more complex than ever before, Ray told subcommittee members, and the Air Force “must continue to invest in science and technology to modernize our capabilities.”

The budget proposal continues to focus on modernizing Air Force capabilities while exploring game-changing technologies for the future, Ray added.
“Adversaries are developing technologies and capabilities to shape and deter our nation,” he pointed out.

“[We] must continue to institute servicewide efficiencies that will capitalize on innovative concepts, keep weapons systems on track and build affordability into new systems,” Ray said, adding that the president’s FY 16 budget proposal “reflects Air Force priorities in these areas.”