UK AOC Newsletter - July 2009

CONGRATULATIONS (1)

….. to Commander David Palmer OBE RN (Retd) for being recognised for his 50 years in the EW business. David will be presented with the HQ AOC Board of Directors Award during the forthcoming AOC Convention taking place in Washington DC on 19 October 2009.

David joined the Royal Navy in 1959 as a special radio intercept operator and by 1968 was the Chief Instructor at the RN EW School, then at HMS MERCURY. He was commissioned in 1972 and subsequently held a variety of EW staff, trials and training appointments until 1986 when he found himself on the staff of C-in-C Fleet as Fleet EW Officer and the senior officer of the RN professional EW Branch. Thereafter he moved to MOD for the next ten years where his job title - but rarely its EW content - changed several times, including time in the Directorate of Joint Warfare. During this period he was also the UK delegate to the NEWAC, NEDBAG and the NACSI special working group. He was presented with the AOC ‘International Achievement in EW’ Award in 1996.

Since his retirement from the Navy in 1997 David has continued to work as a Principal Defence Consultant, lecturer and writer, specialising in EW and associated areas and in Peace Support and Crisis Response Operations (PSO/CRO). He is EW advisor to several nations, both within and outside of NATO, and EW advisor to international organisations including NATO, ESDF and the Partnership for Peace (PfP). He is a Director, writer and lecturer to the NATO Staff Officers’ Joint EW Course (SOJEWC) on behalf of the NEWAC and is a regular presenter on EW and associated subjects at a range of NATO and national Staff Colleges and military training schools

CONGRATULATIONS (2)

….. to Squadron Leader Paul Richley RAF (otherwise known as Big Vern) for winning the AOC UK Chapter award for the best EW related thesis on the Royal Air Force Aerosystems Course. He was presented with an AOC certificate and a cheque for £200 by our Vice President, Chris Howe, during a ceremony at the RAF College Cranwell on 3 July.

His thesis was entitled Vulnerabilities of Unmanned Air Systems to Electronic Attack. With the dependency upon UAS in the battle-space seemingly ever growing, are we becoming too complacent about our use of UAS? Afghanistan and Iraq are the two theatres most commonly associated with Western nations’ UAS employment. However, both of these theatres are relatively benign to airborne platforms. The UK is not alone in investing a lot of time and resources in UAS, both in purchasing and R&D, and yet it is arguable that we are being lulled into a false sense of security. Just how vulnerable are UAS to attack and, if our next adversary is more formidable or tenacious in the airborne arena than our current one, will we still be able to enjoy the benefits that these systems undoubtedly bring or will we be able to exploit the weaknesses in their systems to deny or degrade their usefulness to the enemy?

CONGRATULATIONS (3)

….. to Squadron Leader Eddie Pritchard RAF for being presented with the AOC International Achievement in EW award. Eddie is an Air Electronics Officer with a long career in EW and is currently serving as the RAF exchange officer at the US Joint EW Centre, San Antonio, Texas.

CONGRATULATIONS (4)

….. to Laurence Dicken, Professor William Gosling, Peter Haynes, Kenneth Horne, Ian Pawson, Melvyn Pett and Anthony Wilson all of whom have been awarded their AOC 25-year membership pins. We much appreciate your continued interest in EW: long may you all enjoy being Old Crows.

A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

 

How time flies! It is nearly four months since our last newsletter – the reason is largely down to IT, web-hosting and related issues which I won’t bore you with but suffice to say they are (hopefully) sorted now – thanks to great work by our VP Chris Howe and his staff and nifty virtual (for which read online) activity by several of the Board. What has this got to do with the UK Chapter of the AOC? Well, two things. First, the internet and our Chapter web-site specifically has become the principal means of contacting members, making arrangements and receiving feedback. This should make us nimbler, more proactive and all better informed. This only works if all of us use it and interact with each other. The second interesting point is the way we have quickly become increasingly dependant on the internet for routine business. We will need to maintain the site, update it, make sure it is legal, ensure protection against malware, enable continuity, and so on. Does this then make us all cyber warriors? I think not – but then again I am not in the USAF!

As I said, time flies. It seems ages since the AOC/Shephard EW 2009 Conference in May in London. I hope many of you were able to attend. The impression I had, supported by much feedback, was that the programme was excellent with some really superb and edgy presentations, particularly from the UK Y Sqn Royal Marines and the US Army. The greater exhibition space was appreciated by many as was the range of exhibitors there, plenty of whom had good results. The hotel and conference area were not ideal but sponsors provided excellent refreshment and plenty of lubricant which encouraged networking among the 450 delegates from 38 countries. Several senior leaders attended and stayed much longer than expected. One particular bonus was that the UK Chapter was able to facilitate follow-on exchanges and briefings between key leaders such as CINCAIR and several of the top operational presenters with the aim of continuing to develop Land/Air EW operations.

Over now to the Red Baron Roost for EW 2010 in Berlin on 11-12 May. On a personal note, I have been engaged as programme consultant by Shephard’s to support EW 2010; please feel free to contact me with ideas for speakers, topics, etc.

Well time has flown and I must stop writing. One final thought though. How does time fly for our men and women deployed in operational theatres? No doubt there are many periods when seconds and minutes stretch slowly, mingled with frantic times when the hours fly by. It will come as no surprise to many of you that EW is playing a key role not only in keeping our forces as safe as possible but also in making their operations effective. For all of those involved in supporting our men and women in EW, often unsung, the country owes you a huge thank you, just as we owe our operational forces a debt of gratitude. 

Yours,  John

John Clifford OBE

President AOC UK Chapter

PS I have just submitted our case for “Chapter of the Year” to HQ AOC - time will tell how we get on!

VISITS AND EVENTS

The following visits and events are being arranged and details will be published as they become available:

·             Visit to Chemring Countermeasures, Salisbury, 5 August.

·             Classified visit to BAE Systems, Warton, 23 September (application attached).

·             Joint AOC/DEHS EW Symposium, Shrivenham 14 October (flyer attached).

·             AOC 46th Annual Convention, Washington DC, 18-21 October

·             Joint AOC/Defence Academy classified Symposium, Shrivenham, 2-3 December.

·             AOC UK Chapter Christmas Dinner, London, Friday 11 December.

·             Visit to Dstl, Farnborough.

·             Visit to Selex Galileo, Lincoln.

·             Visit to the Defence Intelligence & Security Centre, Chicksands, Bedfordshire.

POLITE REMINDER

All new applications to join the AOC and membership renewals should be processed direct with HQ AOC in the USA and not through the UK Chapter. HQ AOC sends membership renewal reminders direct to members who should respond accordingly

Website: www.ukaoc.org

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