Page 8 - Leverage and Learn

Leverage Allied Investments and Combat Learning Experience in Modernizing the U.S. Military

UUVs equipped with SAMDIS can have a key role in helping the U.S. Coast Guard to conduct its missions in this
vital economic, security and defense area of interest.

As Admiral Paul Zukunft, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant, explained: “It would make sense for UUVs to be part
of the Coast Guard’s future, and we would start with the Arctic as a key area for such operations, to gain
enhanced situational awareness in the region.”

A True Breakthrough
SAMDIS represents a true breakthrough in mine countermeasures, a sector that previously was the exclusive
preserve of specialized minecraft with hull-mounted sonars and dedicated mine-hunting helicopters.

The system provides a new approach to undersea warfare, particularly MCM, permitting a variety of platforms to
employ SAMDIS to give an almost holistic picture of the seabed area.

This could be particularly significant in coastal areas, where there are seafloor wrecks and other objects that could
confuse other acoustic systems.

The Advanced Acoustics/Thales team looks to have an affordable, effective solution for defeating our
adversaries’ mines in some future crisis or conflict.

U.S. Navy demonstrations and tests have confirmed SAMDIS operational capabilities, while four allied navies
have also reported meeting operational requirements.

“A mine is a terrible thing that waits,” Dr. Truver reminds us. With SAMDIS the U.S. Navy needs to wait no longer
for cost-effective and proven underwater sensors for mine countermeasures and other important undersea warfare
tasks.

http://www.sldinfo.com/new-underwater-effectiveness-the-samdis-solution/
In a recent interview, a senior US Naval officer underscored that the US acquisition process is so slow that the
training process was crucial to ensuring that the US had a combat advantage. It is hard to train on what you
do not have; by leveraging operating foreign navy solutions and training on them, the US Navy could
enhance its combat advantage, rather than waiting for the Slo Mo US defense acquisition process.
Second is the question of getting on with regard to the weapons revolution. Rebuilding the stockpile of current
weapons is a key priority but while doing so allied weapons could be adopted as the “new investments” to
the inventory while the DoD sorts through how to get on with longer range weapons and higher speed
weapons to enhance the high intensity Warfighting capabilities of the US and allied forces.
One example is the Joint Strike Missile which is designed for attack on surface ships flying off of an F-35 and
will be used initially by the Norwegians (who have developed it) and the Japanese and Australians. As it
already will be launched on an F-35A, the US can simply by it as part of the inventory upgrade effort.

Another example is provided by the MBDA missiles coming on line for the F-35 . Weapons such as Meteor for
air-to-air or Spear 3 for ground attack from an F-35 are in the works and could be included as well in any
inventory build up.

The key role of allies in F-35 can simply miss the point that the global enterprise provides a unique
mobilization opportunity for US and allied forces.

Second Line of Defense

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