Update: SOFIC 2021: SOCOM plans four demo flights for each Armed Overwatch candidate
20 May 2021
by Pat Host
US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) will have candidate platforms for its Armed Overwatch manned aircraft competition, where each fly four demonstration flights between 14 June and 23 July at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
During the annual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) on 17 May, James Smith, SOCOM acquisition executive, said that the command will evaluate if the contenders can meet the runway requirements for austere take-off and landing. SOCOM will also judge offerors on whether their aircraft have the required range and endurance. Inert weapons will be deployed on a range.
SOFIC 2021: SOCOM plans four demo flights for each Armed Overwatch candidate
19 May 2021
by Pat Host
US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) will have candidate platforms for its Armed Overwatch manned aircraft competition, where each fly four demonstration flights between 14 June and 23 July at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
During the annual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) on 17 May, James Smith, SOCOM acquisition executive, said that the command will evaluate if the contenders can meet the runway requirements for austere take-off and landing. SOCOM will also judge offerors on whether their aircraft have the required range and endurance. Inert weapons will be deployed on a range.
Shadow Warriors Pursuing Next-Gen Surveillance Tech SPECIAL OPERATIONS
5/7/2021
iStock illustration
U.S. Special Operations Command and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity are pursuing new technologies to identify and track threats.
Commandos rely on these types of capabilities when attacking terrorist groups and performing other critical missions.
“Intel drives ops,” SOCOM Commander Gen. Richard Clarke said at a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. “In order for us to compete more effectively in the future, we have to modernize both our precision strike and ISR … so that [special operators] can quickly see and sense the battlefield that they may have to be fighting in.”
Partnered Operations in SOF Acquisition SPECIAL OPERATIONS
4/30/2021
Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Barry Loo
It’s a simple enough principle we are better when we work together with a diverse set of partners to provide the capabilities required to enable Special Operations Forces. SOF acquisition strives to mirror the competencies of the operators we support. While they excel at partnering in the operational domain, we need to excel at partnering in the acquisition domain.
Partnering with industry and academia whether small or large businesses, commercial or defense members of the industrial base and drawing upon broader perspectives and new ideas, is essential to competing against different and more capable adversaries. Like the command we support, the strength of SOF acquisition is partnered operations. But sometimes we fall short.
SOCOM Shows Interest in Hybrid, AI-Enabled Vehicles SPECIAL OPERATIONS
3/9/2021
Defense Dept. photo
Special Operations Command is experimenting with emerging technologies as it works to bolster its ground vehicle fleet with new capabilities.
The command’s family of vehicles which features 3,000 platforms includes the Ground Mobility Vehicle 1.1, light tactical all-terrain vehicles, non-standard commercial vehicles and mine-resistant ambush protected platforms, said Navy Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a SOCOM spokesman.
Special Operations Command is currently investing its research, development, testing and evaluation dollars for vehicles in lightweight armor, hybrid-electric systems, advanced situational awareness and autonomy/semi-autonomy, Hawkins said in an email to National Defense. It is seeking technology that maximizes mobility, payload and protection.