DOD SAYS MILITARY SALES PROMOTES COOPERATION

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
U.S. Foreign Military Sales Promote Security Cooperation
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2013 - Though 2012 was a banner fiscal year with $69.1 billion in foreign military sales, that program and others like it are not in the business of selling equipment, but rather are promoting military-to-military relationships with international partners, a Defense Security Cooperation Agency official said here yesterday.

Speaking at a ground robotics symposium hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association, Derek Gilman, DSCA's general counsel, said his agency promotes relationships by facilitating the purchase of defense equipment and services, financing, defense education and training and more.

"The idea," Gilman said, "is if partners have U.S. equipment and U.S. training and are following U.S. doctrine, our interoperability is greater with them."

Interoperability also can be leveraged through international acquisition and cross-servicing agreements for sharing such things as ammunition and spare parts, he added.

"That can lead, if you're sharing joint doctrine, to joint exercises and other types of military-to-military cooperation and ... to decades-long relationships -- core relationships -- with partners around the world," Gilman said.

The Foreign Military Sales program is a form of security assistance authorized by the Arms Export Control Act through which the United States may sell defense articles and services to foreign countries and international organizations. Under the program, the U.S. government and a foreign government enter into a sales agreement called a letter of offer and acceptance. The State Department determines which countries will have programs, and the Defense Department executes the program.

DSCA is the central agency that synchronizes global security cooperation programs, funding and efforts across the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the State Department, the combatant commands, the services and U.S. industry. The agency is responsible for the policy, processes, training and financial management needed to execute security cooperation within DOD.

The agency's mission areas cover a lot of ground, ranging from foreign military sales and foreign military financing to humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and mine action. DSCA also has programs for international military education and training and partnership capacity building.

DSCA has 12,881 active foreign military sales cases valued at $394 billion, 443 humanitarian projects worldwide, 768 security cooperation officers in 148 countries, 7,344 international students from 141 countries, and 7,090 participants in five regional centers around the world. DSCA does business with 227 countries and international organizations.

Foreign military sales represent the largest percentage of DSCA funds, with $69.1 billion in fiscal 2012, Gilman said, "but $29 billion of that is from the sale of 84 F-15s to Saudi Arabia, along with weapons and training and basing." He said that going forward, the agency expects about $30 billion a year, with about $25 billion in 2013 sales.

"But that's a significant increase over what we've had historically," he added.

Before fiscal 2006, DSCA foreign military sales hovered between $10 billion and $13 billion, Gilman said, adding that the agency has been doing more than twice that amount each year and expects that trend to continue because of an increased emphasis on foreign sales, interoperability and fighting in a coalition environment.

Other DSCA programs include:

-- Foreign Military Financing, $1.1 billion in fiscal 2012-2013: The bulk of this funding goes to Israel and Egypt, with the rest divided among several other countries. Funding amounts go out in grant letters so it is considered a conditional grant to the foreign country. "The money, however, does not go to the foreign country," Gilman said. "It stays in the FMF trust fund in the account for those countries and becomes new-year money. It's obligated upon apportionment, so it continues to be available for the purposes set forth in the current-year congressional budget justification."

-- International Military Education and Training program, $105.8 million in fiscal 2012: "IMET is a significant program whereby we provide education and training to folks from foreign militaries," Gilman said. "It has been a significant aid to the United States over the last 30 years in terms of helping build relationships with those who later go on to be senior members of partner militaries."

-- Special Defense Acquisition: "[This program] allows us to anticipate what the sales are going to be to foreign partners to buy defense articles in advance of those sales of high-demand sorts of items," Gilman explained, "and then to provide those items to our partners."

-- Excess Defense Articles: A major effort is going on now in this longstanding program with regard to Afghanistan, Gilman said, "and how we provide what we anticipate will be a large number of defense articles [there] to our foreign partners. It's a way to make sure we reduce the possibility of waste in terms of demilitarization on the ground in Afghanistan."

Looking ahead for DSCA, Gilman said building interoperability and sustainability and staying ahead of the competition are among the agency's key opportunities and challenges.

DSCA differs from what a customer might see in a direct commercial sale, such as in the Foreign Military Sales program, because the agency provides what Gilman described as a total-package approach. A partner in a direct commercial sale would have to go to several commercial vendors to determine its own commercial requirements, he explained.

"But DSCA will work with partners to say, 'This is the equipment you want to meet a certain need, these are the weapons you'll need to go with that equipment, this is the training you will need [and] these are the requirements you will need on your base,'" Gilman said. "And we can provide all that through letters of offer and acceptance as to an estimate of how much it will cost."

The agency also offers the advantage of the U.S. contracting process, he added, "so we can leverage our ability, especially if they're contracting for something that's already in the U.S. system, because we have an existing contract."

DSCA can leverage the fact that the agency is buying the item to keep the price down for the customer, Gilman said.

"Some customers have a less-than-transparent acquisition system [at home], and they like the transparency the U.S. acquisition system offers them, so there are a number of benefits," he added.

Other countries have had experience with foreign military sales, he said, and they prefer the DSCA approach.

"At the end of the day, we don't care whether they use FMS or DSCA, but what we do care about is that they buy U.S. products in whatever way is most effective for them," he said.

The agency also is seeing more pressure from traditional competitors such as the United Kingdom, France and Russia, and emerging competitors in China, India, Brazil, the European Union and elsewhere, Gilman said.

"China is becoming more and more of a player in the international armaments sales arena, and South Korea is becoming a significant competitor in the international armaments sales arena," he said. "The United States wants to maintain its role as the preeminent competitor for the reasons of building relationships with our partners."

BOLD QUEST

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Bold Quest Promotes Coalition Interoperability
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2013 - Representatives from every U.S. military service and 11 other nations are taking part in a coalition capability demonstration designed to increase combat effectiveness and interoperability while minimizing the risk of fratricide.

Bold Quest 13.2, officially kicked off Sept. 2 at Camp Atterbury, Ind., with testing commencing earlier this week.

The Joint Staff-sponsored exercise includes about 800 participants from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and U.S. Special Operations Command, as well as Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, John Miller, joint operational manager for the exercise, told reporters yesterday.

In addition, members of NATO's Airborne Early Warning and Control program are taking part in the demonstration.

Bold Quest 13.2 is the latest in a unique problem-solving cooperative aimed at promoting interoperability and testing out systems and concepts to support the future force, Joint Force 2020. Warfighters, developers and analysts are working together at Camp Atterbury's Muscatuck Urban Training Complex, where they are testing not only their different technologies, but also their tactics, techniques and procedures to ensure they're interoperable, Miller explained.

Among the technologies being demonstrated are radios, tactical data links and network equipment used to support joint forces, joint terminal attack control, personnel recovery and other missions.

The demonstration provides a forum for participants to assess the integration of joint fires, maneuver and cyber in a live-virtual environment, Miller said. The lessons, he told reporters via teleconference, will help to enhance combat effectiveness, reduce fratricide and improve situational awareness.

"Our primary objective in Bold Quest 13.2 is to assess the interoperability and integration of integrated systems, both lethal and nonlethal," he said. "Bold Quest remains focused on the need to develop and assess tools that make warfighters more effective in engaging their targets within a coalition context."

The premise, Miller said, is that coalition members that operate together need to develop and test their capabilities together before they employ them in combat.

Bold Quest 13.2 is the eighth in the Bold Quest series, created in 2003 to provide realistic conditions for the services and international partners to test their combat identification systems and the techniques and procedures they use to engage them, he said.

Historically, Bold Quest has focused on ground-to-ground and air-to-ground initiatives. But Bold Quest 13.1, conducted in June, represented a new step in the demonstration's 10-year evolution. It focused for the first time on the air-to-air and surface-to-air combat domains, an effort to address gaps that could impact future operations, Miller said.

Miller said enthusiasm for the exercise, particularly during a period of budgetary constraints, reflects the effectiveness of Bold Quest as a collaborative technological test bed that informs all participating nations' acquisition processes.

"An event like this enables U.S. and coalition partners to collectively assess solutions and share information," he said. And because every service and participating nation brings its own aircraft, ground units, systems and other technologies to the exercise, they share the cost of the demonstration.

After Bold Quest 13.2 concludes Sept. 24, analysts will collect technical data on the systems and feedback from service members using them and compile it in a report to be released later this year.

UNITAS MARITIME EXERCIE

Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Rentz anchors in the harbor of Cartagena, Colombia, to prepare for the start of the annual Unitas multinational naval exercise. The Colombian navy is hosting the exercise, which began Sept 8 and runs through Sept. 15. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker 

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 
Unitas Maritime Exercise Promotes Unity, Interoperability
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2013 - Ships, aircraft and personnel from 15 nations launched the most enduring maritime exercise within U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility yesterday, with scenarios designed to increase their ability to work together to address regional challenges and threats.
Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly, the Southcom commander, joined Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon and other regional defense leaders in kicking off Unitas 2013 in Cartegena, Colombia.
Unitas, Latin for "unity," is a combined South American and U.S- sponsored exercise series focused on building cooperation, understanding and partnership among participating navies.
The Colombian navy is hosting this year's exercise, the 54th since the first in 1959.

"This is the oldest maritime security exercise in this part of the hemisphere," Kelly noted in his welcoming remarks. "For 54 years, we've been learning from one another and improving communications and interoperability between our sailors and Marines. Maritime security in this hemisphere is much stronger now, thanks to these exercises."

Operating in the Caribbean waters off Colombia through Sept. 15, the participants in Unitas 2013 will focuses on coalition building, multilateral security cooperation, tactical interoperability and mutual understanding among the participants, said Navy Rear Adm. Sinclair M. Harris, the U.S. 4th Fleet commander overseeing its execution.

The goal, 4th Fleet officials said, is to develop and test participating navies' capabilities to respond as a unified force to a wide variety of maritime missions.

"While the overarching goal of the exercise is to develop and test command and control of forces at sea, training in this exercise will address the spectrum of maritime operations," Harris said. Scenarios are expected to include electronic, anti-air, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare as well as air defense and maritime interdiction operations.

The United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Peru and the United Kingdom are providing sea and air assets for this year's exercise. In addition, Belize, El Salvador, Germany, Jamaica, Panama and Mexico have sent observers or other staff.

USS Rentz, a guided-missile frigate with two SH-60 Seahawk helicopters and Coast Guard Cutter Forward are among the U.S. forces taking part in the exercise. Other U.S. participants include P-3C Orion fixed-wing aircraft from the Navy's Patrol Squadron 47, BQM-74 Chukar air drones and a drone team, a command element and a public affairs team. U.S. Navy Reserve augmentees are operating the Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System friendly force tracker.

INTERNATIONAL SENIOR MILITARY GATHER TO LEARN USE OF NONLETHAL WEAPONS TO PUT DOWN CIVIL UNREST

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 2013 - Senior military leaders from 22 nations, most in the Asia-Pacific region, are gathered in Mongolia this week to learn about nonlethal weapons and how their forces can more effectively use them, when circumstances require, such as to maintain order during low-intensity conflict or civil unrest.

The two-day leadership seminar, sponsored by U.S. Marine Forces Pacific, began yesterday with demonstrations of nonlethal tactics, techniques and procedures at a training area about 30 miles west of Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, Marine Corps Col. Brad Bartelt, the senior U.S. seminar representative, told American Forces Press Service.

The session continues through tomorrow in the capital city, with participants discussing how they might apply the principles demonstrated.

The leadership seminar is the second phase of a two-part program conducted to promote awareness of nonlethal weapons and increase interoperability among those that use them, Bartelt said.

The training kicked off Aug. 17 with a bilateral field training exercise between U.S. and Mongolian forces at Mongolia's Five Hills Training Area. Fifteen 15 nonlethal weapons instructors from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force's 3rd Law Enforcement Battalion conducted hands-on training for more than 150 members of the Mongolian armed forces and general police, Bartelt reported.

Together, they rehearsed nonlethal tactics and procedures such as control holds and pressure-point techniques. They also got hands-on training with various nonlethal weapons systems, including oleoresin capsicum, or "pepper spray," the X26 Taser, 40-millimeter sponge and "stingball" grenades and nonlethal shotgun rounds.

"The extensive, tactical-level training that took place during the FTX greatly increased the nonlethal proficiency of both the U.S. Marines who led the training, as well as the Mongolian personnel who might have been exposed to these nonlethal procedures for the first time," Bartelt said.

Marine Corps Sgt. Ben Eberle, a combat correspondent who witnessed the training, said he was impressed how quickly the Mongolians absorbed on the information covered. "Show them once, and they had it," he said. "And it's all even more impressive since everyone communicated with each other through interpreters."

Each experienced firsthand how it feels to be hit with a nonlethal weapon, designed to intimidate or inflict pain or discomfort rather than to kill. "No matter what language we speak, everyone runs through the [observer-controller] course in pain, and everyone takes a stun from a Taser the same way," Eberle said. "Just because it's nonlethal doesn't mean it's pain-free. I think whoever said friends are made through hardship hit the nail right on the head."

The training could prove valuable for the Mongolian armed forces, a major contributor to peacekeeping operations around the world, Bartelt said. The Mongolians have deployed in support of U.N. peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, Sierra Leon and the Balkans, and continue to augment the coalition in Afghanistan, he noted.

In many instances during these missions, nonlethal weapons can be valuable additions to ground commanders, he said.

"There are times when lethal force is not the best option," Bartelt said. "For example, the effective use of nonlethal weapons can prove extremely valuable during rescue missions, situations in which civilians are used to mask a military attack, as well as riots and cases of civil disturbance during humanitarian assistance-disaster relief operations."

Nonlethal weapons are designed to incapacitate equipment and people, minimizing fatalities and permanent injury and collateral property damage, Bartelt said. "Being able to use them effectively greatly increases the options a commander has while operating in the full spectrum of conflict," he said.

As the Defense Department's executive agent for nonlethal weapons and devices, the Marine Corps frequently leads related training, not only within the U.S. military, but also with partner nations.

Since 2002, Marine Corps Forces Pacific has sponsored the executive seminar series 12 times with partners throughout the region. This year's exercise is the third to be hosted by Mongolia, and New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia have hosted previous sessions.

The training, Bartelt said, promotes closer partnership across the region, a pillar of the U.S. military rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific as nations work together to confront common challenges.

Recognizing that nonlethal capabilities and procedures vary significantly across nations, Bartelt called the exercise an opportunity to increase interoperability with partners "in the event we ever find ourselves side by side in a situation where we need to put this training to use."