A stealthy SOCOM submersible and more new defense tech | Defense News Weekly Full Episode, 9.23.23

- [Voiceover] Defense News is proudly sponsored by Navy Federal Credit Union. If you're a member of our Nation's Armed Forces the Department of Defense, or if your family is, we'd be proud to serve you too. - On this episode of Defense News Weekly, news from one of the biggest defense conferences on the globe. Check out some of the tech we scouted out on the show floor. And the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has some choice words during a recent event. Check out this unseen highl

ight from our recent Defense News conference. Finally, a look from inside a Chinese fighter cockpit as it rains down rockets on a target. Not a view you get to see very often. And it's Canada versus Slovenia in the latest NATO MRE ration swap. See who brought the beef goulash and a fish pate to the party. It's those stories and more in the latest in news and analysis from the Pentagon to the platoon, here on Defense News Weekly. Welcome back to Defense News Weekly, I'm Andrea Scott. The annual D

efense and Security Equipment International Conference better known as DSEI and held this year in London was a showcase of some of the latest and most advanced tech, large and small being offered to militaries around the globe. We were on the floor at the show to see some of the systems being rolled out and found some interesting items covering the full spectrum of military and defense needs. First up, a new submersible for special operations troops that aims to fill a gap between the Zodiac and

a submarine. We spoke to a representative from James Fisher Defense about the shadow seal. - So what we have here is our latest shadow seal, we call it. So it's for really insertion over in a denied environment. These are tactical diving vehicles, so we are working on helping cross the water gap in denied environment. So the beauty of these is they've got both over water capability and then they transitioned to both semi-submerged or fully submerged to be able to operate in denied environments

covertly and get operators to the shore. This can operate 80 nautical miles over the surface and 40 nautical miles underwater at about four to five knots. The beauty with this is you can see it's got a must have, a camera. It's also got navigation support from that so you can operate in the surf zone. So in like a 10 to 15 feet of water, two to three meters of water which allows you to comfortably travel covertly underwater over long distances using breathing air from the boat. So you can keep f

airly comfortable onto target. You can pop up and check with the mast in terms of positional accuracy, and also operating in that surf zone of water. It's kind of acoustically noisy, which means you can more or less hide, hide and be fairly undetected. - Up next, a cardboard drone. Defense News' Megan Eckstein brings us a report. - Behind me is Sypaq's Precision payload delivery system otherwise known as their cardboard drone. They have developed this back in 2018 originally meant to deliver sma

ll supplies to the field including blood bags, small bits of ammunition, radios, that type of thing to soldiers out in the field who may not be accessible for resupply by other means. But Australia gifted about 600 of these cardboard drones to Ukraine and they've been heavily used in operations in Ukraine with soldiers even punching holes in the bottom and stringing GoPros through them to use them as sort of ad hoc ISR systems. So behind me we have the cardboard drone unfolded for operations. It

has minimal avionics and a motor underneath. It has a pouch that opens up for the soldiers to retrieve the payload that's inside. This is what it looks like before it's unfolded. It comes, it's made of cardboard, it folds up like cardboard, and it's very easily transportable as such. So soldiers in the field would receive this. They could set it up as needed. They could throw whatever resupply system, whatever GoPro, whatever payload they want onto it and send it right on its way. It gets launc

hed by throwing it in the air or by using a catapult. And you can either pre-program it to come back to you and retrieve it, or because it's cardboard, it's disposable so if it goes on a one-way mission, you just send it out, it's cardboard, it's biodegradable, and so you can just count it as a loss and move on. - Thanks, Megan. Next up, a tank without good vision is just a big heavy target on the battlefield so defense developers are always looking to improve what tankers can see. At DSEI G&H,

the makers of the British Maine Battle Tank's next generation imaging system were on hand to show off the latest version of the eyes of the Challenger. We spoke with the company about its capabilities. - This is the embedded image periscope. It combines digital technology and sensor-based situational awareness with a reversionary capability. Its main selling point is that in the event that power goes down in a vehicle, the crew can switch to just a normal direct view piece of glass. So it's one

aim in life is to make sure that the crew are protected and they can get out of a situation when they need to. On a day-to-day basis, it runs from a thermal camera, a day camera with an overlay on top, and it provides situational awareness and can be connected to reversing cameras and any other cameras on the vehicle. The reversionary aspect of it has been mandated by the UK MOD, and it is a flagship product. It will for Challenger three include a biocular viewer which you can also also see and

that provides eye relief and a more wider view for the driver. For the EIP for Challenger is a driver's vision system aid. The product doesn't have to be in the driver's position. We have another opportunity currently in central Europe where the system actually has two of the periscopes, one in the commander's position and one in the driver's position. So, but in Challenger, it's a driver's aid. This is actually called a Specter camera unit. It can also be standalone with some adjustments for un

manned vehicles. But this particular camera pack has a long wave infrared and a day camera. It can be configured to also have short wave infrared. It can have all three and it feeds into obviously the unit. - And now who could refuse this little guy? On display, a DSEI was the Taha 1200. A delivery and evacuation vehicle designed to cover some very challenging terrain. Technically called the Taha Amphibious All Terrain Combat Vehicle, this mighty mouse is designed to carry supplies to troops in

the field or evacuate them from difficult areas when the need arises. It can transit a range of wet and watery terrain, including arctic areas where its maker said it has the ability to climb out of a hole in the ice if it ever breaks through. Made by Ukrainian manufacturers, the Taha has 71 inch tires and a maximum cruising speed of 25 miles per hour. For more of our coverage from DSEI, head to defensenews.com/digitalshowdailies/dsei. And don't go anywhere. When we return, the House Armed Servi

ces Committee chairman has some choice words at a recent defense conference. Welcome back. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith is a man of strong opinions. A longtime lead of the house's military and defense focus committee, he has a lot of vision on a range of topics across the Pentagon and service branches. During the recent Defense News conference, Smith fielded questions from reporter Bryant Harris and members of the audience with some fiery results. Here's some of what he had

to say. - And turning to the appropriations process for a bit, we see Speaker McCarthy shift down demands from Leader McConell and senators on both sides of the aisle for a defense spending supplemental to bypass the $886 billion budget caps in the debt ceiling agreement, that's a 3.3% increase over this fiscal year but you've learned about massive defense top line increases in the past, so I'm wondering who would you agree with here, Speaker McCarthy or Leader McConnell when it comes to additi

onal defense spending via supplemental? - Well there's a complete different topics here. I agree with the price and its budget. I agree I guess in this context with Speaker McCarthy, I think we should stick to the current defense budget. Now over the course of my entire time in Congress, there have always been supplementals for a wide variety of purposes. Frequently disasters, natural disasters sorry, hurricanes, floods, different things. But also, you know right now we have to fentanyl crisis b

eing something that has come up. We obviously had a lot of supplementals post 9/11, we had supplementals when we were dealing with the Iraq in the Afghanistan war. Most recently we had a number of supplementals to deal with Covid. It was worth pointing out that in the roughly, I have to go back into the math, I think it's right around $6 trillion in supplementals that we did over the course of two and a half years for the pandemic. None of that money went to defense and that's fine because that'

s where the need was. The one area where I support a supplemental is in continuing to supply and help Ukraine defend itself. We need to pass the supplemental for that. Adding to the base law defense budget to a supplemental is not something that I would support this point. I think President Biden's budget is more than adequate at a number that he picked. - Right, and speaking of... Pardon me, speaking of Ukraine, one thing that the Whitehouse said it opposes in the house NDA is a provision for C

ongressman Gates to create a special inspector general for Ukraine. This kinda slipped though the radar in committee markup, it was added as part of the block of bipartisan amendment that are usually considered noncontroversial. So I'm wondering if you could give us some of the backstory of why Democrats agreed to allow the Gates amendment to create a special Ukraninan Inspector General and do you think a Ukrainian inspector general is necessary? - First of all, general block amendmentS they're

not always non-controversial amendments. Frequently there amendments that we don't see the value in having a prolonged debate over. There are issues that we resolve in conference when we get in with the Senate. So just because something is in unblock doesn't mean that it's unanimously agreed to. I mean that's true on the Republican side as it is on the democratic side. We'll accept a couple lawyers, they accept a couple bars. You know it's a complicated process to get those unblocks going forwar

d. Now, I don't think we need a special inspector general for Afghanistan. We are doing very aggressive oversight on Afghanistan, we have inspector generals and the GAO are doing regular, you know, monitoring of the money and weapons that we are sending to Ukraine. And occasionally, they found things that were worrisome, and we fixed them. And so oversight being done, I don't think we need a special inspector General and it is worth noting that Congressman Gates, he doesn't support Ukraine. So h

e's not legitimately interested in trying to make sure that, you know, the money is well spent. He wants to do everything he can to undermine support for Ukraine so that basically Russia can have their way in Ukraine. So this isn't about, you know, oversight or making sure that the money is spent wisely. It's about trying to gut the policy. No I don't think an Afghan, sorry, a Ukraine special inspector general is necessary. - The tourism trade is expanding and growing everyday all over the world

. Beside that the Ukraine issue and then the Wagner war by the Russian foreign policy and they're achieving everything. And in such critical situation, and also you mentioned about the threats from cartels in Mexico and drug lords and everything all over the world. We are talking about LGBT here, I think outside US it's going to be taken in a very different way, if we're talking about this one compared to other priorities, more priorities than this security sector which is going to grow and beco

me a big challenge in the next couple years and few years all over the world for US. - So I'm not hundred percent clear on what you're asking. It sounds to me like you're saying that we... The priorities around diversity, equity, inclusion in the US are misplaced given the global threat, but before I dive into a long answer though I wanna be hundred percent sure that that's what you're saying. - Yes sir, my specific question- - That's a yes or no, sorry. Is that what you're saying? - Yes sir. -

Okay. Well I think you're wrong. Because one the things that is most important about our military is to be able to recruit and retain the best people we possibly can to serve. We have an all volunteer military. To do that, we have to be able to reach out to the entire population. Historically, we have not done a great that, you know, we have not recruited very well amongst gay and trans people. We have had problems recruiting women. We have had problems recruiting people of color. We have had a

history of discrimination in this country. Now I think we're doing a lot better. I think the military by and large has done better than society as a whole. I think there are a lot of positives there. What we're doing is we're trying to make sure that gay, trans, women, people of color feel comfortable joining the military. We wanna recruit them, we wanna find them, we want them to serve because we want the best possible force we can have. And if you take some large percentage of the population a

nd say we're not gonna recruit you, they're trying to ban trans people from serving in the military. But what if we have a trans person who's an IT genius who could really help us solve some of our information problems? That's just stupid. So we can absolutely do both. I disagree with one aspect of your assessment of the global picture. I agree, it's complicated, it's difficult. It requires US involvement and attention. I don't believe that everything is working out perfectly for the larger grou

p for instance. You know, for one thing their leaders just got blown up in an airplane for another thing, they just got slaughtered and backmoved for the better part of those six months. So they have their challenges as well, but I don't agree that ignoring recruiting from everybody is gonna help us deal with those threats. I think we can absolutely do both and we need to. - I would say follow up on the group but unfortunately we were out of time. Thank you very much Congressman Smith for joinin

g us and can we all thank the Congressman as well. - Thank you for the opportunity, I appreciate. - Take care. - And in military headlines, officials located the crash site of a missing marine corps F-35B in South Carolina, two days after the pilot was forced to eject and the jet disappeared. Debris from the stealth fighter was found north of joint base Charleston. Aerial video showed scorched earth and downed trees in the countryside near the base. The cause of the mishap is not yet known and t

he crash triggered a two day stand down in marine aviation operations while officials investigated and checked the safety of other units. The pilot ejected before the crash and parachuted to safety in a north Charleston neighborhood. This was the third class A mishap involving a marine aircraft system in just six weeks. The Marine Corps has suffered two fatal crashes since August. One involving an MV-22B Osprey and the other an FA-18 Hornet. For more coverage of the story, head to marinecorpstim

es.com. When we return, our personal finance expert gives you tips on getting your finances ready for a military move. Welcome back on this edition of Money Minute, Navy Federal Credit Union personal finance expert, Jeanette Mack gives you tips on how to prepare for a permanent change of station move. - A big part of military life is moving and when PCS season rolls around, many military families struggle between the decision to rent or buy a home at their new duty station. The answer depends on

your needs and of course your budget. So do your homework, research the area, and get a feel for the cost of living there. Not just how much rent will cost you. Think about your commute, gas mileage, surrounding schools and of course the current real estate market. All of these factors can help determine where you'll wanna live and whether you should rent or buy. Also, look up your basic housing allowance for the area and compare that to your specific family needs like house size, location, and

affordability. Many military families aren't able to visit their new duty station before moving, so get with a local realtor who can be your boots on the ground in your preferred locations. Also, make sure to contact your financial institution to see what resources they have available to help you and your family prepare and be ready for your move. Your next PCS always comes around before you know it. So don't procrastinate. Do what you can to know way before you go, find your perfect place and

be ahead of the game. - Thanks Jeanette. We'll see you next week. To get more coverage of military and defense topics, flip back the hood of that Ghillie suit and check out Army, Navy, air Force and Marine Corps times.com, as well as DefenseNews.com. And to be the most well-read ranger on the jump tower, sign up for our early bird brief newsletter. Compiled each morning to bring you the latest headlines. And it's also an audio, check out the podcast version out each weekday, wherever you get you

r podcasts. If social media is where you get your open source intelligence, follow us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter. And a stick around. When we come back, a look at the inside of a Chinese fighter jet cockpit as it bears down on a target, don't go away. Welcome back to Defense News Weekly, I'm Andrea Scott. The opportunity to see a pilot's eye view from the inside of a Chinese fighter jet is a rare thing, but video from the People's Liberation Army Air Force p

rovided just that. Official Chinese defense ministry outlets published the video recently showing pilots in J11B fighters using air to surface rockets to hit ground targets. The footage showed male and female fighter pilots loading up their jets and heading for the practice range before firing on ground targets. And it's time for the latest head-to-head matchup of different country's MREs courtesy of NATO's multimedia division. This time it's Canada versus Slovenia. And this one gets a little sp

icy. Have a look. - This is first time. - First time? - Yeah, trying Tabasco. - Oh . - Hi. - Hey. - I have a gift for you. - Oh, me too. I have a 24 hour Slovenian ration for you. - I have one ration or one meal. - Is it good? - It's fantastic. Yeah, I think you're gonna like it. So the favorite thing to eat is the matches. We always start off eating the match. It's bad joke. So we have- - I was like, what? - For the main course, we have... Drum roll. - Ta-da. - We have beef ravioli. - Okay. - Y

es. - Sounds good. The main dish here is beef goulash with pasta. See? - Yum. - And this is for lunch, you first. - Okay. - Okay. - Wow. - Do you like it? - It's good. - A little spicy, maybe. - A little spicy. - Yeah. - Oh yeah. You don't like spice, right? - Not too much. - So now you have to try the tabasco. - A little. - A little? - Yeah. This is first time. - First time? - Yeah, trying Tabasco, so. - Oh really? - Yeah. I don't like tabasco. Oh, . - Some water here. - Oh. No Tabasco? - No Ta

basco. And which one's this again? - This is a fish pate. It's better than it looks like. - It's better than it looks, okay. Alright. - Okay. - No? - Maybe I need the biscuit. It is better with the biscuit. - Okay. - It needs the biscuit. Do you ever eat it without the biscuit? - No. - No, okay. The honey on my side of the world tastes different. - It's a Slovenian honey. - Slovenian honey, so. - Okay, it's still good but it has a different taste to it than I'm used to. - Better, or? - I'm used

to my honey. - Oh, okay. - But it is good. Like if I had this, I'd still eat all the honey. You know, for years, the rations, I give it a nine or a 10. - Out of 10? - 10 out of 10. - Oh nice. - Yes. - For your ration, I would give a nine because of a Tabasco. - The Tabasco would... - Yeah. - And that's all we have time for in this episode. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next week.