August 16, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Air Force scientists have announced that they had tested a robot kit that can turn virtually any plane into a self-piloting drone, through a program called ROBOpilot.
Why is that important? For starters, planes and drones are expensive. The drone shot down over Iran last month cost $220 million. For years the military has rushed to fund fabulous, exquisite drones of all shapes and sizes. Some, like the $15 million MQ-9 Reaper from General Atomics, are cheaper than manned military aircraft. But the big ones are more expensive than many types of civilian sport aircraft.
“Imagine being able to rapidly and affordably convert a general aviation aircraft, like a Cessna or Piper, into an unmanned aerial vehicle, having it fly a mission autonomously, and then returning it back to its original manned configuration,” said Dr. Alok Das, senior scientist with the Air Force Research Lab's, or AFRL's, Center for Rapid Innovation, in a statement. “All of this is achieved without making permanent modifications to the aircraft.” AFRL has partnered with DZYNE Technologies to produce the kit.
The system interacts with flight controls just like a human pilot, pushing all the correct buttons, flipping the switches, manipulating the yoke and throttle and watching the gages. “At the same time, the system uses sensors, like GPS and an Inertial Measurement Unit [essentially a way for a machine to locate itself in space without GPS] for situational awareness and information gathering. A computer analyzes these details to make decisions on how to best control the flight,” AFRL said in a statement. Once the flight is done, the kit can be pulled out and the plane reconverted to one requiring a human pilot.
On August 9, the system completed a two-hour test flight at Utah's Dugway Proving Ground.
In theory, the same or a similar technology could be applied to expensive fighter aircraft. And the military has said that the next, sixth-generation fighter will be optionally manned. But the military has expressed reservations about allowing autonomous software to undertake lethal actions, so don't expect to see ROBOpilot doing combat missions anytime soon.
September 1, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Même si les causes diffèrent, les parcs Rafale Marine et NH90 Caïman Marine doivent être renforcés le plus rapidement possible. Une addition supplémentaire à intégrer dans une longue liste de besoins de trois armées.
August 26, 2020 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
Nathan Strout WASHINGTON — SRC Inc. has won a $90 million contract to support the U.S. Air Force's counter-small unmanned aerial system efforts, the service announced Aug. 24. Under the indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, which is not to exceed the $90 million ceiling, the Air Force will purchase SRC's C-sUAS and related components. SRC will also provide upgrades, sustainment, installation support, and design and analysis support. Work on the sole-source acquisition is expected to be completed in August 2028. SRC will also provide sustainment for its products within the Multi-Environmental Domain Unmanned Systems Application. MEDUSA is a command-and-control system that ties together multiple C-sUAS and related components to detect and take down small drones. The comprehensive MEDUSA program was first installed at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, according to Capt. Brigitte Palacios, 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron operations section officer. “The c-sUAS mission is pretty unique because it's still pretty new to the Air Force overall,” Palacios said in a March statement. “Medusa [sic] is a system of advanced technologies used to defeat small drones. The goal is to design a model system that can be rapidly deployable to areas with a significant drone threat to military personnel or resources. ADAB is the test base for this capacity, and will continue to develop the blueprint for c-sUAS operations in the future.” SRC is the company behind the Fixed Site-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System, one of eight interim C-sUAS approved by the U.S. Army's Joint C-sUAS Office for investment and deployment across the armed services. MEDUSA was also approved by the office for use across the joint force. And on July 23, the Army awarded the company a $426 million contract for the development, production, deployment and support of FS-LIDS. https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/08/25/air-force-issues-90-million-contract-for-counter-drone-systems-and-support/
May 25, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Selon le général Lecointre, en 2030, les « tensions seront encore plus fortes qu'aujourd'hui avec des risques de dérapages supérieurs ». Il anticipe « une réorganisation de l'ordre du monde, structurée autour de la compétition entre les États-Unis et la Chine ». Dans cette compétition, « la France et les Européens doivent représenter une voie d'équilibre en s'appuyant sur des partenaires stratégiques ». Pour le général, « le prochain pas en avant de l'Europe passera par la défense ». Parmi les espaces de confrontation, le général François Lecointre cite notamment l'espace : « nos activités militaires ne peuvent pas se passer de l'espace pour les communications, l'observation ou le positionnement. Un enjeu majeur consistera à préserver notre liberté de manœuvre dans l'espace face aux développements chez certaines puissances, en particulier la Chine et la Russie, de capacités de perturbation, d'entrave voire de destruction de moyens spatiaux ». Le Figaro, 22 et 23 mai