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The Pentagon’s new innovation unit will be testing a high-tech headset to see whether it can make

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even better fighters, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday.

Carter said the controversial theory behind the experimental headset is that it “uses non-invasive electrical stimulation” to improve the brain’s learning skills, which could translate into more powerful operators

The “enhanced human operations” headset project, developed by Halo Neuroscience to improve the brain’s ability to adapt, was funded by the Defense Innovation Unit (Experimental), or DIUx, the Carter initiative intended to connect the Pentagon with cutting-edge technology and keep the U.S. ahead of competitor nations.

The company claims its new Halo Sport headset builds on research already conducted by the armed forces.

“The U.S. military accelerated pilot and sniper training by 50 percent with neurotechnology similar to Halo Sport,” its website states. “We’re bringing these gains to athletics.”

Carter spoke in Boston, where he opened the first East Coast DIUx branch and also announced that Jeff Bezos, the Amazon chief executive and owner of The Washington Post, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium in Manhattan, would be joining the Defense Innovation Advisory Board.

The board already includes Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Alphabet Inc.; Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn; and retired Adm. William McRaven, the former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command who organized the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

Carter launched DIUx last year at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, California, to improve outreach to Silicon Valley in what the Pentagon called a “ground-breaking effort to strengthen connections to the American innovation economy and speed technologies into the hands of the warfighter.”

The effort got off to a slow start and Carter reorganized it in May, putting it under his personal control and naming Rajiv Shah, an

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pilot in the Air Force

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who most recently was the senior director of strategy at computer firewall maker Palo Alto Networks, as head of DIUx.

“I am proud to announce that in its first 75 days, the new DIUx has made tremendous progress in rebuilding bridges to the technology community,” Shah said. “We’ve demonstrated that DoD can be just as nimble and innovative as the companies we want to do business with.”

Carter has asked for $30 million in the defense budget for DIUx, which he said will now be organized into three teams.

A Venture Team will identify emerging commercial technologies and explore their potential impact on the battlefield; a Foundry Team will identify technologies that aren’t yet fully developed for military applications; and an Engagement Team will introduce innovators to military problems and the military to entrepreneurs, Carter said.

The new East Coast office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, will put DIUx in a city that is “home to a tremendous legacy of service — one that will continue in a new way with DIUx,” Carter said. “It’s a testament to the fact that Boston has always been a place where great minds and great ideas come together to help advance the safety and security of our country.”

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Jura said:

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The US Air Force is considering two new procurements to boost their close air support mission, including an off-the-shelf option for permissive environments and a cheap, clean sheet design aircraft that would replace the Fairchild Republic A-10.

In a recent briefing, air force officials laid out their plan for the light-attack OA-X and the A-X2, a short-term replacement for the A-10. The service is looking at an initial order of about 20 aircraft for the OA-X mission a early as next year, with serious procurement launching in Fiscal 2018, Dan Goure, an analyst at the Lexington Institute, tells FlightGlobal. To meet that rapid need, the service is examining two fully developed aircraft, Beechcraft’s AT-6 and Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano, and are planning a “fly off” for this fall.

The air force has excluded Textron AirLand’s Scorpion, a dual light attack fighter and trainer aircraft still in its development phase, as an option for OA-X.

“They want them out the door as fast as possible,” Goure said. “They’ve got reasonable data on the cost of sustainment for A-29 and even AT-6, my understanding is they don’t have that kind of data when it comes to Scorpion.”

With the revelation of the two possible acquisitions, the USAF also quashed discussions of using the T-X trainer to fulfill a close air support role, according to Lexington Institute chief operating officer Loren Thompson. The service does not want to see the trainer program diluted to support other missions, he says.

“They clearly intend to buy these two planes in addition to the trainer,” he adds.

Rather than create an expensive platform to operate in an anti-access area denial environment, OA-X would fly a counter-terrorism mission in areas such as Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan. The service is looking for a medium-altitude aircraft with some level of precision strike capability, such as the BAE Systems Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System laser-guided rocket, Goure said.

The US Air Force is already delivering Super Tucanos, which are equipped with internal 50-cal guns and 250lb laser-guided bombs, for the Afghan Air Force.

The OA-X concept is not far off from an older USAF light-attack, reconnaissance aircraft, the OV-10 Bronco, which flew counter-insurgency missions in Vietnam. But whether an airspace exists today that is neither fully permissive nor requires a complex, 4th-generation aircraft is a question that still perplexes Goure.

“They weren’t clear on what that slice was,” Goure said. “Maybe it’s not counter-terrorism but it’s not fully integrated air defense. That’s a real question of where does it fit in terms of an operating concept.”

With AX-2, the air force is aiming for a faster, cheaper acquisition approach that could field an aircraft within five years, he said. The aircraft would be designed for a 20-year lifetime and would forego long-term costs such as a service-life extension programme.

But New Hampshire Sen Kelly Ayotte, a Republican serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has expressed skepticism over whether the A-10 replacement could be fielded in time for the legacy aircraft’s divestment. Although Ayotte does not hold an A-10 base in her state, she has pushed against the aircraft’s retirement alongside Republican Sen John McCain of Arizona, who chairs the committee.

“The Air Force should not expect support in Congress for the divestment of the A-10 until a replacement reaches full operational capability and the Air Force proves that the new aircraft can provide our soldiers, special operators, and [Joint Terminal Attack Controllers] equally effective close air support,” Ayotte’s office said in a 22 July email to FlightGlobal. “I will not support the premature divestment of the A-10 that will create a close air support capability gap and put the lives of our troops in additional danger.”

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I'm getting lost quickly ... for like a decade, the spin has been F-35 is for CAS, hasn't it? ... and now

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Jura said:

Yesterday at 9:13 AM

I'm getting lost quickly ...

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“Where would we get the money? Not at all clear to me.”

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While some Air Force officials have begun thinking about replacing the A-10 Warthog, including a new proposal that would involve buying two aircraft types, the service's top civilian leader on Tuesday questioned the affordability of such an endeavor.

During a Defense One event Tuesday morning, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said she had not been briefed on any potential options or an acquisition strategy related to a new close air support (CAS) aircraft, dubbed A-X. One of the options the service is perusing is the purchase of two CAS aircraft meant to augment and eventually replace the A-10.

"So far I have read about this in the news. I have not actually seen a proposal on any of this that has come forward to me. So it sure is pre-decisional. It hasn't been decided on,” she said. “Where would we get the money? Not at all clear to me.”

The Air Force met with aviation experts last Wednesday to discuss a proposal that would involve buying two close air support aircraft, Aviation Week first reported last week.

The first, called OA-X, would support the A-10 in near-term operations, not replace it outright. The service would likely use an existing, off-the-shelf design like the Beechcraft AT-6 or Embraer A-29 Super Tucano to cheaply carry out CAS missions in low-threat environments. A second aircraft, called A-X2, would then be fielded to replace the Warthog and operate in medium-threat environments.

Neither of those proposals have yet been funded through the budget process because the service is still going through its requirements-generation process, a fact reiterated by James.

“I'm just going to wait to see whether this proposal is to come forward. Of course the money is the important thing,” she added, pointing out that the Air Force already has aircraft — from the purpose-built A-10 to fighters like the F-16 — that are able to perform the close-air support mission.

James also pushed back on industry claims that the Air Force plans to expand use of its new T-X trainer for close-air support missions.

Lt. Gen. Mike Holmes, the deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, said earlier this year that the service was pushing T-X competitors to include additional power, cooling and payload capacity in the hopes of creating more flexible trainers that could possibly be adapted for the CAS mission. However, James said that she was not aware of any proposal to use the trainers as an A-10 replacement and that no decision had been made.

In recent months, the service’s top uniformed leaders, such as Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein and his predecessor Mark Welsh, have been bullish on a potential A-X aircraft. At the same time, they acknowledge that it would be difficult to buy a new CAS platform and still have money left for all of the service's other acquisition priorities, including the F-35, KC-46 tanker, B-21 bomber and an intercontinental ballistic missile replacement.

Extending the life of the A-10 is one of the options under consideration, Air Combat Command head Lt. Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle said July 7. However, given the age of the 1970s-era aircraft and the cost of making improvements to it, buying a new aircraft is currently the more appealing possibility.

“I can't say we've ruled that out,” he told reporters at the Royal International Air Tattoo in England. “But I can say right now for us, an A-X looks more attractive than trying to keep the A-10 for infinitely longer just because of the service life extension programs, engines, avionics, everything that you'd have to do."

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Jura said:

“Where would we get the money? Not at all clear to me.”

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...
Air Force Boss Wary of Proposal for New Close-Air Support Jets

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FORBIN said:

Less F-35 as i have say the new replace some for CAS missions.

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Air Force Brat said:

This idea floats around in the heads of people who daydream and draw pictures of light turbo-props dropping bomb and strafing with machine guns. It has been around since at least the 1960s, when people began dreaming of dropping a turbo-prop into a P-51 Mustang, and using those for close air support. Some goof head even bought the A-29 Super Tucano for the Afghan Air Force, another totally ignorant idea, which will prolly see ISIS or the Taalliiibaann taking them over and using them against innocent civilians?? stoooopid, stooopid!

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The F-35 is going to replace the A-10, it will have to, because there is simply not money to play around with a Turbo-Prop light close Air Support Aircraft, although that is probably the most important--(even if unfulfilled Popular Science Magazine wet dream!). Insane, Maniacal Laughter here! HEH,HEH, HEH! crazy!

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Air Force Brat said:

This idea floats around in the heads of people who daydream and draw pictures of light turbo-props dropping bomb and strafing with machine guns. It has been around since at least the 1960s, when people began dreaming of dropping a turbo-prop into a P-51 Mustang, and using those for close air support. Some goof head even bought the A-29 Super Tucano for the Afghan Air Force, another totally ignorant idea, which will prolly see ISIS or the Taalliiibaann taking them over and using them against innocent civilians?? stoooopid, stooopid!

The F-35 is going to replace the A-10, it will have to, because there is simply not money to play around with a Turbo-Prop light close Air Support Aircraft, although that is probably the most important--(even if unfulfilled Popular Science Magazine wet dream!). Insane, Maniacal Laughter here! HEH,HEH, HEH! crazy!

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

They both lack the logistics to use them.
There are some gaps where a new lighter craft would be fine. to supplement F35 and take some of the Job of A10 but really the Job of A10 is dead.

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FORBIN said:

Less F-35 as i have say the new replace some for CAS missions.

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

They both lack the logistics to use them.
There are some gaps where a new lighter craft would be fine. to supplement F35 and take some of the Job of A10 but really the Job of A10 is dead.

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Jura said:

... for like a decade, the spin has been F-35 is for CAS, hasn't it? ...

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“I would say we executed similarly to how the F-16 performed two years ago,” Watkins said. And this is before the F-35 can use the full range of CAS weapons, most importantly the Small Diameter Bomb II:

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In training, the aircraft’s stealth was so effective that pilots had to turn on their FAA emitters to tell the SAM threats they were around so they knew the aircraft were targets and the F-35As could attack. “We basically told them where we were at so we could shoot at them,” Watkins said.

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