WASHINGTON: After decades of US neglect of electronic warfare – while Russia and China pulled ahead – Army soldiers are just months away from getting their hands on two new and long-awaited long-range jammers.

Two contractors, Lockheed Martin and Boeing DRT, are now converting 8×8 Stryker armored vehicles into prototypes of the Terrestrial Layer System (TLS). Both company’s prototypes will be given to troops for field tests next year, starting with Operational Demonstration 1 in January. Meanwhile, Lockheed is putting together the first Engineering & Manufacturing Demonstration (EMD) prototype of an EW pod for the Grey Eagle drone, called Multi-Function Electronic Warfare – Air – Large (MFEW), which will be assessed by soldiers in April-June next year.

Both the ground-based TLS and the aerial MFEW are supposed to enter service in fall 2022. But that’s just the start. Each system will evolve into a whole family of smaller and larger variants, all built to common hardware and software standards, all sharing data wirelessly with one another, Army commanders, and artillery units. The objective is a diverse digital arsenal that can detect the enemy’s transmissions, crack their codes, locate their units for precision strikes, and disrupt their networks with jamming and hacking, ideally in ways too subtle for the enemy to even detect the deception.

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army this month will distribute its World War II-inspired green service uniforms to drill sergeants at installations hosting basic training as it begins its second round of the phased introduction, service officials said Tuesday.

By March, nearly all soldiers stationed worldwide should have the option to purchase the Army Green Service Uniform, said Army Col. Stephen Thomas, a project manager who led the Army’s development of the uniforms for Program Executive Officer Soldier. The Army greens — modeled after the popular “pinks and greens” uniform worn by officers during World War II — will slowly replace the blue Army Service Uniform as soldiers’ daily business wear, Thomas said. It will become mandatory in 2027.

Recruiting students Recruiting and Retention College in Fort Knox, Ky., received the uniform last month, and hundreds of soldiers with the Army Band and its 3rd Infantry Regiment, the ceremonial unit based in Arlington, Va., known as the Old Guard, have also received it. Some high-profile general officers and senior enlisted soldiers have been donning the new look around the Pentagon, during hearings on Capitol Hill and in other public appearances — including those conducted virtually — for several months.

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As November approaches and a new general election is on the minds of most Americans, preserving the security of that election is on the minds of cyber experts at U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency. Officials there say that unlike in 2016, where Russia was the biggest threat to election security, there are now new threats that pose a risk.

“We’re looking at the spectrum of all of our adversaries, Russia, China, Iran, and ransomware actors,” said Dave Imbordino, the election security lead with the National Security Agency, during a panel discussion Friday that was part of the 2020 DEF CON convention.

For the 2020 election, Imbordino said, there are more threats to consider, and it’s easier for those threats to get involved.

“There’s more people in the game,” Imbordino said. “They’re learning from each other. Influence is a cheap game to get into now with social media. It doesn’t cost a lot of money. You can try to launder your narratives online through different media outlets. That’s something we’re laser-focused on as well.”

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An Air Force UH-1N Huey helicopter was forced to conduct an emergency landing at a local airport in Manassas, Virginia, Monday after being shot from the ground.

A crew member received a minor injury, and was treated and then released at a local hospital, a spokesman for Joint Base Andrews said in an email. The helicopter — which was on a routine training mission and is assigned to the 1st Helicopter Squadron at Andrews — was damaged.

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