Program manager John LaFata said developing the ability for MRZR light vehicles to generate electricity to power radars, networks, weapons and the like “has been the Marine Corps’ No. 1 focus with us over the last year.”

To that end, Polaris created two products: a 1-kilowatt exportable power system that can be added onto existing vehicles by installing a kit, and a 5-kilowatt system that can be built into new vehicles on the production line.

Both use a DC-to-DC power converter that connects to the existing MRZR alternator to export 24-volt power. The system communicates with the engine on how much power is needed, and it only revs the engine to a higher speed if the plugged-in weapon or sensor demands more power, according to the company.

LaFata said the power export systems could allow Marines to use technology without having to haul around a separate generator to power them. For example, they could take advantage of the additional energy to power the Networking On-the-Move satellite communications system; the Common Aviation Command and Control System, which combines data from air- and ground-based radars and sensors; and the light version of the Marine Air Defense Integrated System.

He said one of the Marine Coprs’ requirements is for the power-export technology to not take up cargo space. As such, Polaris’ offering includes a DC-to-DC converter tucked between the two rear seats, a power distribution unit and fuse box in the pillar next to the rear passenger side seat, and a small switch installed on the dashboard.

LaFata, showing off the kit installed on a vehicle at the Modern Day Marine conference earlier this month, noting unit maintainers can install the 1-kilowatt version.

Polaris delivered several prototypes of the 5-kilowatt variant to the service this year, and those are now going through testing at the Nevada Automotive Test Center. LaFata said production is expected to begin on both variants in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

In parallel, Polaris is working with the Marine Corps and Special Operations Command to fund this effort as an engineering change proposal to their existing Ultra Light Tactical Vehicle and Lightweight Tactical All Terrain Vehicle contracts, respectively.

Separately, Polaris is working with both organizations to determine what need, if any, exists for an MRZR vehicle with six times the payload weight capacity.

The company took its two-seat MRZR Alpha, added a mid-drive axel and extended the deck to create a longer truck with greater payload space and weight capacity — 3,600 pounds, compared to the 600 pounds of cargo the traditional two- and four-seat Alphas can carry.

LaFata said a V-22 Osprey aircraft can still internally transport the vehicle, which he added has more than 90% parts commonality with the original Alphas.

A display vehicle at Modern Day Marine had an Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System rocket launcher installed on the bed of the truck. But LaFata said the importance is the space and weight capacity of the new Alpha variant.

“It just gives a number of capabilities. Again, sticking with the Alpha concept, which is modularity and the ability to be that Swiss Army knife of a vehicle, you can do a number of things back here: [casualty evacuation], logistics, lethality,” he said.

Polaris in January delivered several vehicles to the Corps and the command to experiment with. The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, for example, has conducted logistics exercises and precision-fires tests with the prototype, LaFata said, as the service considers what it could put on the back of the truck and if it fills a need.

LaFata said Polaris saw a gap in the vehicle inventory between the MRZR and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, and thought the firm could fill the gap by creating this heavy payload version of the MRZR. Now, they’re putting the prototype into the hands of operators to determine it indeed fills a gap.

“There’s no desire to over-militarize or create a theme of a contested battlespace in the Arctic,” Vice Adm. Douglas Perry, the commander of U.S. 2nd Fleet, said at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space conference Monday.

“Rather, the reverse is that we know that ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’ is an underlying need of free nations that value freedom in an area that will see more and more traffic and more and more competition for resources in the near future and throughout the future,” he added.

Perry, who is also the commander of NATO’s Joint Force Command Norfolk, also emphasized that sophisticated platforms, icebreakers, as well as the right tactics, techniques and procedures are paramount to keeping peace in the frigid north.

Vice Adm. Angus Topshee, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, echoed similar sentiments Monday and said the Arctic represents a significant portion of Russia’s gross domestic product, population, and defense infrastructure. As a result, he said it is logical that the Russians would feel the need to defend themselves there.

“Yes, it could also be a base for offensive operations,” Topshee said. “But let’s not assume that until we see something more about what the actual intent is there, though the data lately is not great.”

Former 2nd Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Andrew “Woody” Lewis, who has since retired, previously stressed the importance of presence in the Arctic to prevent the region from becoming a contested environment.

According to Lewis, failure to maintain presence in the Arctic would “cede the space to the Russians or somebody else,” he said in August 2021 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference.

At the time, Lewis described the region as cooperative, but that would only continue if the U.S. continued to facilitate partnerships with others – including the Russians.

“But if we aren’t present there, and if we aren’t continuing to build those partnerships, it will be a contested space,” Lewis said.

Navy leaders have cited a need for a strong military presence in the Arctic as global warming opens more waters in the freezing-cold territory to navigation. In response, the service conducts exercises like Snow Crab to allow sailors to become more adept at operating in the Arctic.

The Navy released its “Blue Arctic” strategy for the region in 2021, urging the Navy to “operate more assertively” there. It also warned that Russia is reopening old bases in the Arctic and “reinvigorating” regional exercises.

“This exciting partnership will see McLaren Racing bring their world-class expertise from the racetrack into a number of defence projects,” Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said in a news release. “By collaborating with industry we will continue to drive innovation through knowledge sharing, which will benefit Defence’s engineering and operations across the course of the partnership and beyond.”

The McLaren Racing team was established in 1963 and has won 20 Formula 1 world championships and 183 Formula 1 grands prix.

Under the arrangement, the motor-racing team will provide expertise gained from decades in elite-level motorsport and help the ministry on innovative defense projects, including electrifying armored vehicles through Project Lurcher.

To kick off the collaboration, McLaren Racing and the ministry showcased their respective vehicles — the all-electric off-road sports car NEOM McLaren Extreme E and the Project Lurcher armored vehicle — at BattleLab, a defense innovation hub in Dorset, England.

“This new partnership with the Ministry of Defence provides a great opportunity to stretch and apply our innovation and technological know-how and a high-performance culture with a view to improving operational efficiencies across a wide range of exciting projects,” Matt Dennington, the co-chief commercial officer for McLaren Racing, said in the release.

McLaren has a track record of developing scalable electric products, such as the 5G edge computing antenna for rail and integrated inverters. It has also launched vehicle models like the hybrid electric sports car McLaren Artura.

On the battlefield, electric vehicles provide more efficient fleets and reduce the need to resupply them with fuel, lessening the chance of putting humans in harm’s way.

The new multiyear partnership comes a year after the ministry awarded a one-year contract to the defense firm Babcock International to modify four in-service British Army Land Rovers from diesel to electric propulsion under Project Lurcher.

According to a 2022 Army report, the U.K. has a 15-year plan to make the majority of its land capabilities hybrid or fully electric by 2035. However, it’s unclear whether the service can go fully electric by its deadline, former chief of the General Staff for the British Army, Gen. Mark Carleton-Smith, told Defense News in 2021.

“We’re, industrially, still some way away from completely living without carbon engines in our principal war-fighting equipment,” Carleton-Smith said while still in his role.

The partnership also seeks to advance high-tech engineering know-how, potentially drawing in a larger pool of candidates for military jobs in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

There is no more valued attribute, as famed naval tactician Wayne Hughes declared, than “the number of ships … a fleet can have.” But ships must be sustained — something the naval officer Alfred Thayer Mahan recognized nearly a century earlier when he wrote: “Fuel stands first in importance of the resources necessary to a fleet.”

The U.S. Navy spent nearly $3.9 billion on operational fuel in fiscal 2022 alone, roughly the cost of two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. In terms of scale, the Department of Defense is the world’s largest institutional user of energy, consuming more than corporations like Amazon or developed nations like Sweden and Portugal.

Energy — specifically fuel — thus becomes a central planning consideration for any globally present maritime strategy. In the words of Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, refueling options are essential “to keep our ships out of ports and in the fight.” And as Mahan noted: “The distribution and storage of fuel is, therefore, eminently a strategic question.”

A return to nuclear power could address many of these surface combatant endurance challenges. But such an approach is costly and unlikely.

Instead, four programmatic and policy choices can build energy resilience and maximize efficiencies in the fleet, which can yield innumerable benefits as the Navy designs, employs and sustains its force deep into this century.

1. Expand in-theater, at-sea refueling options to increase capacity and accelerate mobilization timelines. Beyond the Navy secretary, senior uniformed leaders at U.S. Transportation Command and in the Pacific have highlighted the need to expand capacity. Military Sealift Command currently operates 32 refueling ships — only a third of the requirement and a number that will remain stubbornly low, even as new oilers replace their aging predecessors. The Maritime Administration’s Tanker Security Program and Voluntary Tanker Agreement provide additional surge capacity in the event of a conflict or national emergency, but these reinforcements can seem like a drop in the proverbial ocean.

Partnering with industry can augment logistics force shortfalls. Military Sealift Command charters some niche support vessels, but identifying and contracting commercial, replenishment-capable ships that are underway could shorten supply lines. A government-developed containerized kit, which allows commercial tankers to pump fuel to Navy oilers in a process known as consolidated cargo replenishment at sea, is a disruptive capability that can rapidly expand at-sea refueling capacity and deserves investment.

Such approaches would require new — but solvable — procedures to vet crews and ships, communicate securely, and integrate these commercial units into existing military logistics constructs.

Additionally, public law mandates all military cargo to be carried aboard U.S.-flagged vessels. Congress should revisit this statutory requirement and authorize the use of tankers registered to treaty allies so we can leverage our trusted partners’ capacity and overcome domestic constraints.

2. Establish a single-fuel standard for ships and aircraft to increase operational flexibility. Combatants carry two different fuels on board in separate fuel systems because while shipboard gas turbine engines are capable of burning multiple types of fuel, their embarked helicopters only use a single high-grade variant called JP5 in the maritime environment.

Complicating matters, the managers who oversee surface and aviation fuel standards, purchasing, and distribution reside in different Navy systems commands and do not always reach consensus when evaluating engineering, supply chain and operational risk.

Economically, the U.S. Navy is one of the few consumers of JP5, which sends a weak demand signal to industry. A single naval fuel — whether JP5 or a different alternative entirely — would increase demand for specialized mixtures and lower artificially high prices through economies of scale. It would also align with the recently released National Defense Industrial Strategy’s priority of resilient supply chains by simplifying purchasing, transportation and distribution logistics.

Technologically, a single-fuel standard for ships would also result in a finer-grade fuel, which could enhance system performance, allow engineers to revisit underway maintenance periodicity assumptions and identify manpower efficiencies.

Thankfully, engineering problems beget solutions — and few fuels are unburnable. Additives can alter fuel properties to make it suitable for shipboard use without damaging tanks or systems. And improved purification methods, gasket materials and engine modifications can safeguard equipment during storage and operation. New mixtures are also becoming more ubiquitous — many with favorable properties — and they should be tested for shipboard use.

In short, we can transform vulnerabilities into strengths while preparing for a transition to biofuels and alternatives, which the International Maritime Organization and experts agree are the energy future — albeit one that will require time and platform design changes.

3. Retrofit energy-efficient systems aboard combatants to maximize operational endurance. To date, many programmatic efforts to field energy-efficient, shipboard systems have been focused on new production and forward fitting. But with a current force of 73 guided-missile destroyers, applying selected hull, mechanical and electrical improvements to today’s force can yield tens of millions of dollars in annual savings that can be redirected toward other priorities.

Apart from upgrades to shipboard generators and electrical distribution systems, additional gains can be realized by replacing large current-drawing appliances like heating, ventilation and air conditioning units — or even the dish-washing scullery. For example, the cruise industry found that a 30% enhancement in air conditioning efficiency leads to 5% annual fuel savings — a staggering $193 million if applied to the Navy. Similarly, the Air Force calculated that a 1% energy efficiency improvement fuels 8,000 additional sorties.

And seemingly insignificant actions can make a sizable and compounding impact: When United Airlines moved to a lighter-weight paper for its inflight magazine, a 1 ounce difference amounted to 170,000 gallons and $290,000 dollars in annual savings.

4. Improve data capture and analysis to guide operations more efficiently. The surface force still relies on manual processes to collect and submit fuel data, interpret predictive graphical curves, and estimate fuel percentages. But reporting methods, proficiency and even units of measurement can vary.

A better option would be to digitize these analog-intensive processes, apply machine-learning algorithms and mirror the Air Force’s Operational Energy Data Collection Strategy that has saved the service $31 million per year. Meanwhile, the Defense Logistics Agency should continue investigating options to securely automate fuel sensing and collection to standardize application across the Department of Defense.

Additionally, while stakeholders across the enterprise incorporate energy data into policies and plans, coordination can be streamlined. For instance, operations researchers at the Naval Postgraduate School have occasionally delved into these issues, and the Navy sends a few supply officers each year to the University of Kansas business school’s petroleum management program. However, no formal link exists between academia and organizations like the Office of Naval Research. Much like the Naval War College’s advanced research programs, such connections could help guide research questions, create unity of effort and align intellectual capital with operational requirements.

In times of strained capacity, and given American supply chains that span the Earth’s surface, new sustainment approaches can extend the surface force’s operational staying power.

As Mahan noted: “Without ammunition, a ship may run away, hoping to fight another day, but without fuel she can neither run, nor reach her station, nor remain on it, if remote, nor fight.”

Cmdr. Douglas Robb commanded the U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyer Spruance and is currently a U.S. Navy fellow at the University of Oxford, where Ensign James Potticary earned a Master of Science degree in energy systems and wrote a dissertation exploring the feasibility of alternative fuel sources for U.S. Navy ships. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the U.S. Defense Department, the Department of the Navy nor the U.S. government.

This is the fifth commentary in a multipart series exploring ways to strengthen the U.S. Navy’s fleet. The first part is here, the second here, the third here and the fourth here.

Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commander of the Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division, spoke with reporters Monday about the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center training exercise that took place from Feb. 8 through Feb. 22 across the state.

It’s been three years since the Army started its Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center rotations in Alaska, and Eifler said this was the largest and most complex version of the training so far.

A Mongolian Armed Forces infantry company and 600 Canadian troops, 350 from the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, 165 from the Royal Canadian Air Force and 100 from various support forces, participated alongside U.S. forces. Other partner nations such as Sweden, Finland and South Korea sent forces to work with staff sections of U.S. units.

Another 18 nations sent observers to the exercise, Eifler said of the growing exercise.

The Army released its Arctic Strategy in 2021. In June 2022, the service reactivated the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska to oversee and grow Arctic-focused forces and training to counter increasing militarization of the region by Russian and Chinese military forces.

The 1st Brigade, 11th Airborne Division, served as the “blue force” fighting over the two weeks against two battalions of the 2nd Brigade, 11th Airborne Division, which served as the enemy force.

Both units ran their field operations but were joined by simulated brigades. Eifler and his team were able to fight an entire division in the exercise using simulated forces alongside real soldiers, he said.

The 2nd Brigade was given about five times the number of rockets, artillery and ammunition to battle 1st Brigade. The “enemy” brigade also had air defense, communication jamming and electronic warfare tools.

That extra firepower meant that blue force fire units had to pick their targets wisely, shoot quickly and move rapidly to avoid enemy counterfires, Eifler said.

The enemy air defense challenged the blue force to create attack windows and push realistic approaches to a near-peer adversary that controlled the sky.

A standard airborne or air assault mission would easily be detected in that scenario, he said. Which meant division aviators had to strike first.

“We did a 150-mile deep attach with our Apache division while avoiding air defense emitters that we put out,” Eifler said. “They had to duck and weave over those 150 miles close to the terrain to get to the target and destroy it and get back safely.”

Deep strike

That was the first and longest such deep strike of that distance since the rotations began, Eifler said.

Once the strike had its effect, the blue force brigade flew a more than 80-mile air assault using 15 aircraft, including Chinooks and Black Hawks, he said.

On the ground, soldiers used the five new cold-weather, all-terrain vehicles, or CATV, during the exercise, which Eifler said performed well and allowed soldiers to maneuver over various snow, mud and water-logged terrain. Temperatures fluctuated from -40 degrees Fahrenheit to 40 F

BAE Systems won the $278 million contract to produce the cold-weather, all-terrain vehicle for the Army in 2022. At the time the service planned to purchase 163 of them to replace its decades-old small unit support vehicle.

The cold-weather, all-terrain vehicle is a tracked vehicle that can carry nine soldiers and equipment.

At the same time, 1st Brigade dispatched soldier teams on snowmobiles armed with Javelin missile launchers to navigate off-road and knock out enemy tanks and vehicles.

“One of our standing orders is to stay off the road when you’re fighting in harsh weather because the roads and trails are like the enemy’s engagement areas,” Eifler said. “We’re always saying ‘if your traveling is easy, you’re running into danger. And if it’s very hard and difficult to move you’re winning.’”

In the airwaves, the enemy force jammed digital communications that, at times, forced commanders to dispatch those same CATVs and snowmobiles to hand-deliver orders to battalions and other units.

The unforgiving cold

Eifler stressed that soldiers operating in the Arctic need to simultaneously keep their high-tech gear running but be ready to go “manual or mechanical” to get the job done.

The unforgiving cold can paralyze some systems and drain batteries in minutes, not hours.

As part of the exercise, soldiers used a C-130 cargo plane to fly a high mobility artillery rocket system more than 500 miles to Utqiagvik, Alaska ― a city on the northernmost reaches of the state and above the Arctic Circle.

Eifler’s blue force also had to contend with smaller, but still challenging threats.

The enemy force used small drone swarms of a dozen or fewer drones used to detect unit positions. They even “armed” some of the small drones with tennis balls and Nerf footballs to drop onto locations, showing soldiers they could be hit by ordnance they weren’t tracking.

During the two-week exercise, Eifler said soldiers tested 40 different types of equipment, from communications gear and vehicles to tents, skis and boots.

The two-star said that in the future the force likely will need more snowmobiles for the types of missions used in this exercise as well as casualty evacuation and basic mobility.

Early observations include a need for a better tent system that can fit into a rucksack and improved ski bindings to withstand the extreme cold temperatures, he said.

Beta Technologies said in a Monday release that its Alia aircraft took part in a casualty evacuation scenario with the 41st Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia this month. It was the first such simulated mission conducted with an electric aircraft, the company added, and served as a proof-of-concept exercise to show such an operation can work.

Beta Technologies is one of more than a dozen businesses with contracts under the Air Force’s Agility Prime program, which seeks to speed up industry’s work to create and field electric aircraft.

The Air Force is looking for ways it can fold electric aircraft into its fleet and has considered a variety of uses for them. This could include everything from rapidly moving cargo and passengers around a base to search and rescue missions in combat, given electric aircraft are quieter than traditional ones.

The Air Force’s first electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft, made by Joby Aviation, arrived at Edwards Air Force Base in California in late September. A month later, Beta’s Alia arrived at Duke Field, which is on Eglin Air Force Base, to begin a three-month experimental operations and training deployment with the 413th Flight Test Squadron and AFWERX, the Air Force’s innovation cell.

This Alia was a conventional takeoff-and-landing aircraft that operated more like a traditional fixed-wing plane.

Beta said this deployment, which fell under Agility Prime, was part of the Air Force’s larger developmental test and evaluation effort to gauge how well electric aircraft might work for the military’s missions. It also included a simulator used to train and practice emergency procedures.

The casualty evacuation mission at Moody included a simulated patient, ground forces, a simulated quick-reaction force, an Air Force HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter, and the Alia aircraft, Beta said.

During the exercise, the HH-60 first transported the simulated casualty from a forward-operating base to a location in friendly territory. The Alia aircraft then transported the patient to a simulated established medical location that would be able to provide a higher level of care.

Beta said a C-130 would normally transport a patient in that scenario, requiring a crew of at least three and about $1,600 in fuel. The Alia required a crew of two and about $5 in electricity, the company said.

Also during its deployment, the Alia carried out a simulated maintenance support mission. The aircraft flew to Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida to pick up a spare part for an F-35, and then brought it back to Duke Field to repair the fighter.

Using the electric aircraft was faster and cheaper than driving a truck, Beta said, and could allow maintenance to take place on a jet more quickly.

The Air Force also experimented with using Alia for several other missions, including flight operations, maintenance support and infrared signature characterization, Beta said.

Beta finished building a high-speed charger at Duke Field before Alia’s arrival last October, which was the first electric aircraft charging station at a military installation.

Antarctic temperatures. Blistering desert heat. Simulated winds battering planes with sand, dust, freezing rain, salt spray and snow, all to make sure they won’t fail when conditions get rough.

And on Dec. 15, one of the Air Force’s newest jet trainers arrived at the McKinley lab to be put to the test.

The T-7A Red Hawk is the next jet the Air Force plans to use to train new pilots how to fly advanced fighters and bombers, and it is designed to emulate fifth-generation jets such as the F-22 Raptor and F-35.

The service plans to buy a fleet of 351 Boeing-made T-7s to replace its older 504 T-38 Talon trainers, which will be retired. The Air Force’s first T-7 in November flew to Edwards Air Force Base in California for further flight testing.

The service said Dec. 20 it plans to subject this T-7 now at the McKinley lab, the second Boeing has so far delivered to the Air Force, to sustained temperatures ranging from -25 degrees to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Those tests are called cold soaking and solar loading, and testers will then see how well the T-7′s propulsion, hydraulic, fuel, electrical, secondary power, environmental control and other systems hold up under the punishing conditions.

“The Red Hawk must withstand a range of environments from sitting on the ground in the Texas heat to flying at altitude,” Troy Hoeger, the T-7′s chief developmental tester at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, said in the statement. “The climatic lab helps us do this in a deliberate and methodical way and will give us confidence that our new aircraft meets requirements.”

The Air Force and Boeing said earlier this year the climate testing would likely last about six weeks.

The military began running tests at the McKinley lab in 1947 to make sure its vehicles and equipment could survive anywhere on the globe. It has been upgraded and expanded several times over the decades, and now has five chambers and other systems. Aircraft, weapons and equipment tested there have included the World War II-era B-29 Superfortress, P-51 Mustang, and P-47 Thunderbolt, as well as tanks, missile launchers, shelters, jet engines, vehicles and tires.

Its main chamber — the largest environmental chamber in the world — is an insulated, 70-foot-high hangar big enough to test entire aircraft, weapons, and other support systems, according to an Air Force fact sheet. The main chamber is even big enough to test a massive C-5M Super Galaxy, although a 2007 release on a C-5 test showed it was a tight fit.

That chamber’s two air makeup unit systems — essentially some of the most intense HVAC systems in the world — produce temperatures from -65 degrees to 165 degrees. The South Pole often records temperatures of -76 degrees in wintertime, according to the United States Antarctic Program.

And it can produce multiple humidity conditions, and simulate the pounding of solar radiation an aircraft might absorb while parked long periods of time under the Texas sun.

Other chambers at McKinley can create salt fog to quickly simulate the highly corrosive conditions aircraft might encounter over years of exposure in coastal areas, or bombard an aircraft with wind, rain, or simulated sand and dust storms like they might encounter in the Middle East.

Yet another chamber can create a variety of pressures an aircraft might face at up to 80,000 feet, and test how an aircraft might handle rapid decompression.

The decision will move forward the suspended construction at a time Okinawa’s strategic importance is becoming key for the Japan-U.S. military alliance in the face of growing tensions with China. Japan also rapidly seeks to buildup its military in the southwestern region.

The ruling by the Fukuoka High Court Naha branch allows the Land and Transport Ministry to order the modification work designed to reinforce extremely soft ground at the designated relocation site for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, overriding Gov. Denny Tamaki’s disapproval. The ruling ordered Tamaki to issue the approval within three working days.

Tamaki said it was unjust that the will of the residents is crushed by the central government.

Tamaki, noting the spirit of local government autonomy and democracy, said in a statement that the ruling that allows the government’s forcible execution of its planned construction of a new military base is “absolutely unacceptable.”

If completed, the new site will serve a key Marine Corps facility for the region and will be also home to MV-22 Ospreys that are currently deployed at Futenma.

Tamaki can still appeal to the Supreme Court, but the local government at this point has no power to stop the work unless the top court overturns the decision.

Okinawa and the central government have long tussled over the relocation of the Futenma base.

The Japanese and U.S. governments initially agreed in 1996 to close the Futenma air station a year after the rape of a schoolgirl by three U.S. military personnel led to a massive anti-base movement. But persistent protests and lawsuits between Okinawa and Tokyo have held up the plan for nearly 30 years.

Japan’s central government began the reclamation work off Henoko Bay on the eastern coast of Okinawa in 2018 to pave the way for the relocation of the Futenma base from its crowded neighborhood on the island.

The central government later found out that large areas of the designated reclamation site are on soft ground, which some experts described “as soft as mayonnaise,” and submitted a revision to the original plan with additional land improvement. But Okinawa’s prefectural government rejected the revision plan and suspended the reclamation work.

The ground improvement plan requires tens of thousands of pillars and massive amounts of soil, which opponents say would damage the environment. It is expected to cost 930 billion yen ($6.5 billion), 2.5 times the initial estimate, and take 12 years to finish, according to the Defense Ministry.

The Supreme Court in September turned down Okinawa’s appeal in another lawsuit that ordered the prefecture to withdraw its rejection of the modified landfill plan.

Tamaki has called for a significant reduction of the U.S. military on the island, which is home to more than half of 50,000 American troops based in Japan under the bilateral security pact. Tamaki also has demanded the immediate closure of Futenma base and the scrapping of the base construction at Henoko. Okinawa accounts for just 0.6% of Japanese land.

Tokyo and Washington say the relocation within Okinawa, instead of moving it elsewhere as demanded by many Okinawans, is the only solution.

“We believe that action should be taken promptly in line with this ruling,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said. He pledged that the government will continue to make effort for the return of the Futenma air station as soon as possible to reduce the burden from the base.

The Defence Ministry will mount cameras, radar systems and automatic identification system trackers on drilling platforms and offshore wind turbines, as well as buy satellite capacity to observe ship movements, Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren and State Defence Secretary Christophe van der Maat wrote in a Dec. 19 letter to lawmakers.

The Netherlands also plans to buy two vessels with underwater monitoring technology.

“This capability helps deter potential perpetrators of sabotage and espionage,” Ollongren and Van der Maat wrote. “Improving the protection of the vital infrastructure on the North Sea has the full attention of the cabinet.”

Seabed warfare has become a hot topic for European nations ever since last year’s attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea. On the Dutch continental shelf, there are about 2,796 miles of pipeline and 3,728 miles of cable. The government considers offshore infrastructure essential to the Dutch economy and national security.

The current threats are primarily surface vessels carrying out “undesirable underwater activities,” according to the two officials. The government has assessed that there are presently no unmanned underwater vessels that can conduct sabotage operations in the Dutch-controlled area of the North Sea without the support of a surface vessel.

The ministry plans to buy commercial satellite capacity to track ship movements, including so-called dark vessels that turn off their automatic identification system transponders, until the Netherlands can build up its own satellite assets starting in 2027. The military will also monitor sea areas adjacent to the country’s area of responsibility in the North Sea to detect vessels that may pose a threat.

The costs of boosting the Dutch ISR capability in the North Sea will be between €50 million and €250 million, according to the letter.

The government in June announced a plan to develop its independent military satellite capacity through a constellation of satellites, within a spending bracket of €100 million to €250 million.

The Netherlands’ plan to acquire two “relatively simple” ships for a small crew would help monitor underwater activities, according to the ministers. Those ships will also serve as anti-air missile carriers for Dutch air defense frigates.

The Netherlands has 4.7 gigawatts of installed offshore wind power, enough to supply about 16% of the country’s current electricity demand. The government anticipates offshore wind will become the largest source of sustainable energy for Europe. Nine European countries, including the Netherlands, in April declared their aim of turning the North Sea into “Europe’s green power plant,” with combined targets for at least 120 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030.

“We’re ready to get working on that program,” Brig. Gen. Luke Peterson said in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference. “It’ll be a prototyping effort, and we will learn from that to help inform a fully developed capabilities development document.”

The Army already approved an abbreviated capabilities development document for the eLRV, and Peterson’s office has partnered with the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Moore, Georgia, to develop requirements.

Using some funding in FY22 to get started, the program office conducted market research that included purchasing some commercial electric vehicles in order to test them against an operational mission profile, Peterson explained.

“We took these platforms up to Grayling, Michigan, where we have test facilities, and we put them through their paces,” he said. “The intent of that was to identify what are going to be the operational and/or technical gaps that we need to think about as we solidify this requirement and initiate this program.”

The Army evaluated General Motors’ Hummer EV, a Canoo platform and a Lordstown Motors truck, Peterson explained, describing them as “three disparate vehicles offering different technical solutions.”

The evaluation team is now in the process of preparing a test report, which will feed into the prototyping effort, Peterson added.

At this point, vehicle solutions that could be chosen for the prototyping effort might include both hybrid and all-electric options. “I think we all believe that full electric and today’s battlefield is probably a stretch given the … charging capabilities that would be required,” Peterson said, “but we want to see what industry can do.”

Should the Army choose an all-electric platform, the eLRV would likely be the first to enter the force with that capability.

As part of the Army’s climate strategy it released in February 2022, the service has a goal to modernize its current platforms by adding mature electrification technologies, and field purpose-built, hybrid-drive tactical vehicles by 2035, then move to fully electric tactical vehicles by 2050 to include a charging capability to meet the all-electric fleet’s needs.

Meanwhile, the Army is waiting for an FY24 budget in order to initiate efforts to work on converting some Humvees and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles to hybrid power.

“The president’s budget request reflected funding in order to initiate those efforts,” Peterson said. “From a requirements perspective, our analysis shows that getting after increased fuel efficiency fits within the threshold and objective of the requirements for both of those platforms.”

The Army is engaged in prototyping efforts to hybridize both the Humvee and JLTV through its Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, or RCCTO. Those vehicles “are in an integration phase right now,” Peterson added. “We hope to get those into testing here sometime next year.”

Those tests will help inform what could be the final potential design for converting the vehicles, according to Peterson.

Beyond that “we are looking at different acquisition strategies, leveraging what we’re going to learn from RCCTO,” he said, plus how it could be matured to a manufacturing readiness level in order to cut hybrid capability into the production line of the vehicles.

Converting the vehicles, Peterson acknowledged, will take significant investment up front.

“JLTV and Humvee, as they stand today, were not purpose-built to be hybrid vehicles. So when you’re adding on capability, how do you integrate that effectively without taking away any of the capabilities for the warfighter? That is the analysis that we are learning from the RCCTO,” he said.

“We’re very excited for our soldiers to get some of those capabilities that will only help increase their operational warfighting capability, their force protection,” he said, “but at the same time we have to make sure they have the power when they need it, so we think a hybrid approach at this phase is probably the right level of maturity to be going after.”