Airborne Triton drone key to Navy’s signal goals, Clapperton says

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  February 12, 2020 | International, Land

  Thales and MKU to co-develop the Elfie Night Vision Device for India and the world

  Lucknow, February 7, 2020 - Taking the association a step ahead, Thales and MKU today announced the co-development of the ELFIE Night Vision Device (NVD) for the armed forces in India and across the world on the sidelines of DefExpo 2020. With this, both companies have further solidified the MoU signed in 2018 for strategic co-operation on developing optronic devices. This co-operation involves co-development of these devices at MKU's facility in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. A lightweight monocular with the widest field of view, ELFIE provides unprecedented mobility and night combat capability. Whether hands-free (on a face mask or helmet mount) or weapon-mounted, ELFIE is suitable for left or right eye use and provides stereoscopic vision in binocular configuration. ELFIE is ideal for vehicle-driving and for paratroopers and special forces operators. When mounted on a weapon, it provides a red dot sight or laser pointer to the user. The integration of the first pre-series of ELFIE at MKU's facility in Kanpur is expected to be completed in the first trimester of 2020. A true model of the “Made in India” ELFIE night vision device is expected to be available in the first trimester of 2021. “We are enthusiastic about taking our strategic association forward with MKU with the co-development of ELFIE. This embodies the Government's ‘Make in India' initiative. Coming up in the Defence Industrial Corridor of Uttar Pradesh, this versatile night vision device will be offered to the armed forces in India as well as across the world. Together with MKU, we look forward to strengthening the industrial ecosystem while also contributing towards job creation in the country,” said Pascale Sourisse, Senior Executive Vice President – International Development, Thales. Neeraj Gupta, Managing Director, MKU Limited, said, “We are delighted about this partnership with a global technology leader like Thales. This association will combine Thales' expertise with the manufacturing abilities of MKU and boost local manufacturing for the defence industry. We will develop the entire supply chain and the devices will be manufactured to exacting international standards.' For more details on Thales' presence at DefExpo India 2020, please click here. About MKU Limited: MKU Limited is a leading defence company for soldier systems in India with a customer base in over 100 countries. Known for its capabilities of providing innovative protection and surveillance solutions, It has state-of-the-art manufacturing and test facilities for Electro-Optics in India that complies to JSS 55555 & MIL 810G standards. The company is already supplying night vision devices to Special Forces, CAPFs and State Police Forces in India and is participating in various tenders from the tri-services under MoD and CAPFs under MHA. MKU is a Global leader in the development and manufacture of Ballistic solutions for Personnel and Platforms. Its products are trusted and used by over 230 forces in the world. The company is currently executing an Indian MoD contract for 158,279 Ballistic Helmets for the Indian Army and Navy. About Thales Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global technology leader shaping the world of tomorrow today. The Group provides solutions, services and products to customers in the aeronautics, space, transport, digital identity and security, and defence markets. With 80,000 employees in 68 countries, Thales generated sales of €19 billion in 2018 (on a pro forma basis including Gemalto). Thales is investing in particular in digital innovations — connectivity, Big Data, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity — technologies that support businesses, organizations and governments in their decisive moments. About Thales in India Present in India since 1953, Thales is headquartered in New Delhi and has other operational offices and sites spread across Noida, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai, among others. Over 1600 employees are working with Thales and its joint ventures in India. Since the beginning, Thales has been playing an essential role in India's growth story by sharing its technologies and expertise in Defence, Transport, Aerospace and Digital Identity and Security markets. Thales has two engineering competence centers in India - one in Delhi NCR focused on digital identity and security business, while the one in Bengaluru focuses on hardware, software and systems engineering capabilities for both the civil and defence sectors, serving global needs. View source version on Thales: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/india/press_release/thales-and-mku-co-develop-elfie-night-vision-device-india-world

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  February 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  The Federal Aviation Administration selects Thales Secondary Radar Technology for the Mode S Beacon Replacement System Contract

  February 19, 2020 - The FAA selected Thales secondary radar technology to support the Mode S Beacon Replacement System contract, being delivered with Leidos. Under the contract, Thales will supply up to 142 secondary surveillance radars to support Air Traffic Control management. The number of aircraft flying is on track to double by 2036, which is leading to an increase in complexity. Reliable, strong performing radars, capable of detecting, measuring precisely the position of an aircraft and allowing rapid and secure exchange of data is crucial. The Thales secondary surveillance radar is capable of providing surveillance and specific aircraft information necessary to support Air Traffic Control (ATC) automation in all traffic environments. The modern Mode S radar system will help the FAA increase operational availability and performance of the system, support common and consistent interface requirements, and provide a modern system that complies with current FAA Security Standards. Relying on Thales's expertise in air surveillance, with 700 Air Traffic Control (ATC) radars in more than 70 countries worldwide, the FAA will deploy a state-of-the-art radar meeting strict technical requirements. Under the MSBRS contract, Leidos and Thales will perform program management, systems engineering, design and development, system test and evaluation, training, production and site implementation. “Thales has been a great collaborator and we are thrilled to execute the FAA's MSBRS Program alongside their team,” said Fran Hill, Senior Vice-President and Operations Manager of Transportation Solutions with Leidos. “Leidos and Thales have formed an outstanding working relationship, and we look forward to building upon that relationship and delivering the latest technology to the FAA.” “This award is the result of strong team dedication and involvement between Leidos and Thales in the US and France. With our trusted and reliable solution, the FAA will benefit from secondary radar adapted to its critical needs.” Serge Adrian, Senior Vice-President Surface Radars, Thales. Documents • PR_20200220_The Federal Aviation Administration selects Thales Secondary Radar Technology for the Mode S Beacon Replacement System contract • CP_200220_La FAA sélectionne les radars secondaires de Thales pour amélio Contact Maria Mellouli, Media relations, Defence and Civil Aerospace Tel.:+33(0)1 57 77 84 57 maria.mellouli@thalesgroup.com View source version on Thales: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/group/journalist/press-release/federal-aviation-administration-selects-thales-secondary-radar

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  October 29, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  KC-135s and C-130Js are the next aircraft to enter the Air Force’s data-driven maintenance program

  By: Jeff Martin The KC-135 refueling tanker and the C-130J airlifter will be the next two aircraft to be part of the Air Force's predictive maintenance program, part of the service's effort to do maintenance before airplanes break--and improve mission capable and availability rates, according to Air Mobility Command's logistics director. "The bottom line is to get to where we are scheduling all of our maintenance, rather than reacting to the maintenance,' said Brig. Gen. Steven Blaymaier, who oversees Air Mobility Command's logistics, engineering and force protection, in an interview at the 2018 Airlift Tanker Association symposium outside Dallas, Texas. “We want our units to achieve their mission-capable rates on a sustained basis.” According to the latest available data, from FY2017, the KC-135 fleet had, on average, a 74 percent mission capable rate, and the C-130J fleet had a 77 percent mission capable rate. As for the rest of the mobility fleet, by that same data, the C-5M fleet stood at 60 percent, the C-130H fleet was at 73 percent, and the C-17 fleet was at 84 percent mission capable. The concept, known as conditions based maintenance, has already been rolled out to the C-5 fleet within AMC, and the B-1 fleet in Air Force Global Strike Command. It uses algorithms based on reams of data to create models to predict when a part might break, rather than waiting for it to fail. Its a standard practice in the commercial aviation industry, and is now making its way into the Air Force. Blaymaier says the KC-135 fleet will join the program in spring of 2019, and the C-130J fleet will follow in the summer. Blaymaier also added that the other aircraft in AMC's fleet would be joining the program eventually, like the C-17 and KC-10. “They're all in work at their program offices right now,” he said. “What we learn from C-5 will be incorporated into the other aircraft.” Blaymaier also said the Air Force was modelling their effort after Delta Airlines's Tech Ops division's procedures, and that the service was at the beginning or “crawl stage” of the process. He also noted that Delta took “eight years” to get achieve the results they were looking for, and that the Air Force was working on that path. In September, Lt. Gen. Robert McMurray, commander of the Air Force Sustainment Center, told Defense News that the conditions-based maintenance program was critical to increasing the readiness of the Air Force's aircraft. "Given the aging fleet situation that we have, we probably need to be using data better to take care of it — which is a drive toward what most everyone right now is saying is the right way to manage fleet sustainment, which is through condition-based maintenance and data analytics,” he said at the time. Another benefit Blaymaier described was that the service will be able to track maintenance needs by individual aircraft, rather than by a general fleet-wide standard. That could reduce time in depots and increase mission capable rates, a top priority of senior Pentagon leaders. “As we move forward with conditions based maintenance plus (CBM+) and predictive analytics, we'll be able to know by tail number which parts are going to fail on certain aircraft," he said."It'll be much more surgical [and] operational." Blaymaier added that while the transition to conditions based maintenance might be a long journey, it would lead to huge benefits for the Air Force. “Ultimately we want to achieve those aircraft availability standards that we established for each of our fleets that are required to meet our wartime taskings,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/airlift-tanker-annual/2018/10/27/kc-135s-and-c-130js-are-the-next-aircraft-to-enter-the-air-forces-data-driven-maintenance-program