Counter-IED Evolution - Navy's Joint CREW looks for next generation of improvised explosive device defenses

http://www.navyleague.org/sea_power/

The Navy-led team tasked with finding ways to defeat roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan is entering a critical stage this year: identifying the future technologies that could counter attacks against U.S. forces anywhere in the world...JCREW personnel have been using jammers to block the radio frequency triggers used to remotely detonate IEDs. ...But this year, the JCREW team, led by Navy Capt. Mark Kavanaugh, is looking for a globally deployable system and the appropriate and flexible software architecture to protect troops — whether the Soldiers or Marines are on foot, traveling in a vehicle or within the confines of a base.  “This is the continuing evolution of where we are today,” Kavanaugh said of JCREW’s upcoming effort, known as spiral 3.3. “It’s an ongoing process. Electronic warfare does not stop. It’s a constant, cyclical kind of evolution. Our objective is to stay ahead of the threat.” 

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JCREW 3.3 is looking for further improvements to interoperability. “We are interested in understanding the interplay between jammers,” Kavanaugh said. “I do not necessarily care about the platform, but about the synergy of all our systems.”  To do that in an unknown scenario, “we have to have a system robust enough to be in the position to effectively deny” the enemy’s constantly evolving technology, he said.  To that end, the JCREW office will release draft requests for proposals during the next several months...The 3.3 spiral and subsequent follow-ons are etched into the Navy’s Program Objective Memorandum process and will be funded out of the Navy’s baseline budget. Funding the program out of the regular budget is an acknowledgement that it is a program that will stay forward-looking rather than just reactive, Kavanaugh said. “I think one of the problems we have to realize and overcome [is] that any electronic warfare device has counter-electronic warfare solutions,” said David Rockwell, an electronic warfare analyst with the Teal Group, a consulting firm in Fairfax, Va. “We are fighting an intelligent and capable enemy.” 

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Kavanaugh said JCREW 3.3 will be developed during the next five years.  “It will be a fast-pace developmental program using state-of-the-art hardware and software,” he said. “We are starting with ‘open’ concepts in both software and system architecture, which will assist the program in our acquisition concept for a full and open competition.”  On the technology side, Kavanaugh anticipates spiral 3.3 will feature “more powerful hardware,” with constant improvements to the product that will continue in subsequent increments. Systems will require man-portable, vehicle-based and fixed-site systems. 

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