March 13, 2024 | International, Land
For Germany’s Scholz, Taurus missiles are a bridge too far in Ukraine
Critics have portrayed the powerful cruise missile as a defining, but lacking, element of German military assistance to Kyiv.
June 29, 2018 | International, C4ISR
A Senate panel wants to spend an extra $400 million on microelectronics
By: Daniel Cebul
When the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defense released a summary of their spending priorities June 26, the bill included a significant increase for one emerging technology.
The panel recommended setting aside an additional $447 million for microelectronics. Specifically, the committee wanted to ensure the Department of Defense has access to trusted microelectronics and can develop manufacturing processes for next-generation microprocessor chips. To do so, the bill raised the fiscal year 2019 research, development, testing and evaluation budget for microelectronic technology from $169 million in the president's fiscal year 2019 budget request to $616 million.
Already, concern about the domestic production of microelectronics is expected to be part of a large defense industrial base review now underway.
But what exactly are microelectronics, and why is their development worth so much to DoD?
Microelectronic chips are essentially integrated electric circuits that regulate energy consumption, and perform complex computations that enable capabilities like global positioning systems, radar and command and control. Imagine all of the components that go into your computer ― memory, graphics processors, wifi modules, etc ― all on a single silicon chip, called a wafer.
eading-edge wafers typically are 300 mm in diameter and loaded with transistors, resistors, insulators and conductors that control the flow of electrons (read electrical energy) across the chip. The smaller and smaller these components are, specifically transistors, the more can be fit on a chip, enabling faster and more efficient processing.
Transistors themselves are measured in nanometers (nm), and are unfathomably small to most non-scientists and engineers. One nanometer equates to a billionth of meter! To put that into perspective, the average diameter of a human hair is 75,000 nm.
The most cutting-edge transistors used in microelectronics measure between 10 and 7 nm, and are expected to get smaller in coming years.
Smaller and smaller transistors will contribute to breakthroughs in “machine learning, data sorting for recognition of events, and countering electromagnetic threats,” according to a Defense Advance Research Project Agency backgrounder.
Because Pentagon leaders believe this technology is vital for current and future capabilities, technology officials say it is important DoD can trust microelectronics are reliable and secure from adversary attacks and sabotage.
For this reason, DARPA launched the five-year, up to $200 million Electronics Resurgence Initiative in September 2017 “to nurture research in advanced new materials, circuit design tools, and system architectures.” A key thrust of this initiative is partnership with top universities through the Joint University Microelectronics Program, or JUMP. The program enlists top researchers to work on proejcts like cognitive computing, secure cellular infrastructure to support autonomous vehicles and intelligent highways and other technologies enabled by microelectronics.
Under the Senate defense subcommittee's markup, ERI received an additional $30 million to help “reestablish U.S. primacy in assured microelectronics technology.”
On the same subject
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March 23, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
APAC Defense Budgets Least Affected By COVID-19 | Aviation Week Network
As a result of the relatively limited economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia-Pacific (APAC) compared to other regions around the world, Aviation Week analysts expect that defence budgets throughout the region will continue to expand at robust rates over the next five years, following a brief slowdown.
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March 26, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Open source platforms, flexible airframes for new drones
By: Kelsey D. Atherton Designing a drone body is about settling on the right compromise. Multirotor drones excel at vertical lift and hover, while fixed wing drones are great at both distance and wide-open spaces. In February, Auterion announced a two-pronged approach to the rotor- or fixed-wing drone market, with a pair of drones that use the same sensor packages and fuselage to operate as either the Scorpion Trirotor or the Vector fixed wing craft. “As we started to develop our tactical UAS Platform, our plan was only to develop a VTOL fixed wing solution (like our Vector),” said Dave Sharpin, CEO of Auterion Government Solutions. “During the development process we decided to build a Tri-Copter Platform as well, as a result of many discussions with law enforcement agencies and Search and Rescue Units.” Adapting the fixed-wing fuselage to the tri-copter attachments means the drone can now operate in narrow spaces and harsh conditions. Scorpion, with the rotors, can fly for about 45 minutes, with a cruising speed of zero to 33 mph. Put the fixed wings back on for Vector, and the flight time is now two hours, with a cruising speed of 33 to 44 mph. The parts snap into place without any need for special tooling, and Auterion recommends the drone for missions in rain or snow. Both platforms share a gimbal EO/IR with 10x optical zoom, 720p EO video, 480p IR video, laser illuminator, IR laser ranger. Common between modes is also a tactical mapping tool using a 21 megapixel Sony UMC R10C camera. For the scorpion, there's also the option of a gimbaled electro-optical camera with a 30x optical zoom. Both drones are designed to fit in rucksacks that a person can carry one at a time. While many features are common across Vector and Scorpion, the plan is not to include both rotors or wings in the same kit. Once a team packs into the field with a drone on its back, that's the mode the drone can be used in. Auterion intends to ship the drones by the fourth quarter of 2020, with preorders available. Designing a drone body is about settling on the right compromise. Vectr and Scorpion are built on top of open source code. This includes an operating system capable of programmable autopilot , as well as machine-vision collision prevention and obstacle detection and avoidance. Software for the ground station and cloud data management of the drone are also built on open source code. The Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit awarded the company a $2 million contract last year to work on the PX4 software to help drive compatibility standards in the drone industry. As militaries across the world look to the enterprise sector for capable drones at smaller profile than existing military models, transparency in code and flexibility in airframe could become more widely adopted trends. In the meantime, there is Vector, and there is Scorpion. https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/03/25/open-source-platforms-flexible-airframes-for-new-drones