Airbus A330 MRTT becomes world’s first tanker certified for automatic air-to-air refuelling operations - Skies Mag

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  February 3, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  India releases details of new defense budget

  By: Vivek Raghuvanshi NEW DELHI — India on Monday allocated $18.48 billion for weapons procurement in its 2021-2022 defense budget amid an ongoing military standoff with China and financial stress on the national economy due to the coronavirus pandemic. Excluding pensions, the new defense budget totals $49.6 billion, an increase of more than 3 percent from the previous year's $47.98 billion. New capital expenditure of $18.48 billion meant for arms procurement witnessed an increase of about 16 percent from the previous year's $15.91 billion. This is the highest-ever increase in capital outlay for defense in the last 15 years, according to Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. An additional $2.84 billion was spent on emergency arms purchases in the summer of 2020 to deal with the ongoing confrontation with China. The budget's revenue expenditure meant for maintenance of existing weapons, pay and allowances, and recurring expenses is set at $29.02 billion, compared to $28.75 billion in the previous defense budget. Officials in India point to the COVID-19 pandemic as disrupting the economy and thus affecting the government's income and driving spending decisions. Consequently, the defense budget might not be as high as it would've been were there not a pandemic, said Amit Cowshish, a former financial adviser for acquisition at the Ministry of Defence. Cowshish noted that the funds may be inadequate for all the planned acquisitions from abroad and at home to be signed during the upcoming financial year, which begins April 1. Capital expenditure is essentially defense funding meant for fresh arms procurement and existing liabilities from previously conducted defense contracts. Revenue expenditure is defense spending meant for the pay and allowances of military personnel as well as the maintenance of weapons and other existing inventory items. The Army will receive $4.9 billion in capital expenditure, which is an increase of 8.17 percent from the previous year's $4.53 billion. “The service could buy additional military vehicles and upgrade its drones fleet,” a senior Army official said. The service's revenue expenditure is set at $20.37 billion, compared to $20.11 billion in the previous budget. The Navy will receive $4.55 billion in capital expenditure, which is an increase of nearly 22 percent from previous year's $3.73 billion. This could pave the way for the service to buy 10 tactical MQ-9 Reaper drones from General Atomics through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, an Indian Navy official said. The revenue expenditure for the Navy is $3.19 billion, which is meant for the maintenance of warships and submarines, compared to $3.13 billion in the previous budget. The Air Force will receive $7.2 billion in capital expenditure, which is a hike of 19 percent from the previous year's $6.05 billion. According to a service official, this will go toward a new contract for 83 homemade LCA MK1A Tejas light combat aircraft, an existing commitment to pay for 36 Rafale fighters from France and five units of S-400 missile defense systems from Russia, among other efforts. The Air Force's revenue expenditure is $4.19 billion, compared to $4.1 billion in the previous budget. About $1.55 billion in capital expenditure will go toward the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation for new projects, compared to $1.47 billion in the previous budget. DRDO has also been given a revenue expenditure totaling $1.24 billion, compared to $1.2 billion last year. This year, existing liabilities could eat up to 90 percent of the new capital expenditure, which will impact several new weapons procurement efforts, an MoD official said. But if that high percentage is accurate, according to Cowshish, there must be a lot of equipment already on contract. The military will have to make do with whatever amount is left over for acquiring new systems, he noted. “Capability-building and self-reliance ... are long-term projects, which are not dependent entirely on the budgetary allocation in a particular year. Hopefully things will improve in the future.” https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2021/02/02/india-releases-details-of-new-defense-budget/

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  March 13, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Lockheed Martin Awarded Contract To Develop Prototype Protected Tactical Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Payload

  Denver, Colorado, March 10, 2020 – The U.S. Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) at Los Angeles Air Force Base awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a $240 million contract to develop a prototype payload for its new Protected Tactical SATCOM (PTS) system. PTS is a next-generation capability connecting warfighters with more agile and jam-resistant satellite communications (SATCOM). The complete system will deploy a constellation of dedicated geostationary satellites, commercially hosted payloads, and coalition partner satellites integrated through a ground control network to provide U.S. and coalition forces protected communications in a data hungry battlespace. SMC's acquisition begins with a rapid prototyping phase for a new mission payload hosting the Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW). The fully-processed payloads will ensure adaptive, anti-jamming communications channels are available to allied forces in a contested environment. SMC is leveraging Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contracting mechanisms rather than a traditional Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based acquisition for prototyping to provide agile development, “E.P.I.C. Speed,” and an avenue for non-traditional participation. E.P.I.C. Speed is SMC's acronym for Enterprise, Partnership, Innovation, Culture and Speed. Lockheed Martin is excited to be in a position to rapidly develop protected SATCOM payload technologies that will benefit the warfighter. “Teaming with non-traditional hardware and software developers has enabled the Lockheed Martin team to leapfrog communications payload capabilities,” said Erik Daehler, Lockheed Martin's director of Strategic Communications Architectures. “We are able to ‘Go Fast,' both in technology deployment and contracting structure, due to the nature of the OTA acquisition. Our partnership with the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) has made these non-traditional acquisitions possible.” “Lockheed Martin understands how important protected communications are to our tactical warfighters deployed downrange. We also know that our SATCOM systems have to evolve to stay ahead of the threats, because a space system that can't survive Day 1 of a conflict can't achieve the mission,” said Mike Cacheiro, Lockheed Martin's vice president for Protected Military SATCOM. “Having delivered the nation's essential satellite communications systems, we are uniquely positioned to partner with the U.S. Space Force to develop the next generation's innovative, resilient and modular protected tactical SATCOM architecture.” Lockheed Martin launched the first commercial protected communications payload on Hellas Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1 (HS-4/SGS-1) in 2019, featuring the most advanced digital signal processor and protected communications algorithms available. These technologies along with mission expertise and a partnership with the Space Force will dramatically accelerate PTS to the warfighter. PTS continues Lockheed Martin's legacy of developing resilient protected communications for the military that includes both the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) and the MILSTAR systems. In 2015, the Air Force awarded the company a contract for Combined Orbital Operations Logistics Sustainment (COOLS), which cost-effectively consolidated the sustainment of the AEHF, MILSTAR and DSCS III constellations in one ground system. In 2019, the COOL\R contract extended that sustainment emphasizing additional resiliency, cyber and mission planning enhancements. Lockheed Martin has developed and built more than 300 payloads for a variety of missions. The company has more than 50 years of experience as a payload integrator, developing cutting-edge technologies supporting our nation's critical missions. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 110,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. View source version on Lockheed Martin: https://news.lockheedmartin.com/news-releases?item=128909

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  March 12, 2019 | International, C4ISR

  The Army hopes a new satellite will help alleviate congestion

  By: Adam Stone The U.S. Air Force is expected to launch the next satellite in its Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) program as early as March 13, a move that will bolster the military's foundational communication network. The addition comes at a time when the military is under increasing pressure to build up its communication capacity as tactical battlefield sensors and other data feeds create the need for added throughput. “The more data we use, the more congested it gets. Having more satellites gives us greater capability to deliver more information in a hurry,” said Army's Lt. Col. Anthony Whitfield, Product Manager, Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems (PdM WESS). WGS is the military's fundamental communications network and has an estimated cost of about $4 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office. The system of 10 satellites, built by Boeing, provides bandwidth and communications for tactical C2, C4ISR, battle management and combat support information. While WGS-10 was originally slated to complete the constellation, it now seems likely more satellites may come. In the most recent omnibus spending bill, Congress appropriated funding for two additional WGS satellites, although SpaceNews reported there are questions about funding the launch of those payloads. Should those future satellites come to fruition, Army leaders would have no complaints. In addition to fielding the ground control units that operate the constellation, “the Army is also one of the biggest users of WGS, and anything that can help us to deliver information across the globe for our senior leaders to make decisions -- we would welcome that,” Whitfield said. In fact, the Army has taken steps lately to bolster its own operation capacity around WGS. In 2018 the Army's Cyber Center of Excellence unveiled a wideband training and certification system (WTCS), for students enrolled in the school's Satellite Systems Network Coordinator Course. Soldiers training to staff the Army's wideband satellite communications operations centers (WSOC) located at five military installations worldwide, can use the system to leverage classroom learning against simulations generated from real-world events. “By using [that training system] to ‘train how we fight,' WSOC operators will be better prepared to deliver their 24/7, no-fail mission to enable satellite communications for our Warfighters. It is all about operational readiness, the Army's number one priority,” said Col. Enrique Costas, the Program Manager for Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems, in announcing the new training tool. The Army's focus on supporting WGS falls in line with an overall military emphasis on the importance of satellite communications. “We must continue to build a robust SATCOM network that includes our allies and partners and leverages commercial SATCOM industries to integrate, synchronize, and share global SATCOM resources,” Air Force Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, told the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee in 2018. “Our protected wideband communications are essential for allowing the warfighter to communicate in contested environments.” New capacity WGS-10 also will bring with it a more sophisticated payload, with more robust communications capabilities. “It provides the bandwidth to transfer your data ― that hasn't changed ― but we are always looking to move that data faster,” Whitfield said. “When we originally built WGS 1, 2 and 3 they were built to certain specs, they provided a certain capacity. Over time it has gotten better. We moved forward, we have continued to build additional capacity.” For security reasons, Army leaders have not disclosed the exact nature of the latest enhancements. In addition to supporting American forces, the enhanced networking capability will be leveraged by a coalition of allied forces that support the WGS constellation, including Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and New Zealand. Looking ahead, SATCOM analysts have said that the congressional nod toward WGS 11 and 12 could shift the dynamic away from commercial satellite providers, who have long been angling for a bigger piece of the military space market. It remains to be seen, though, whether and how the Pentagon will decide to pursue future WGS acquisitions. “There has been an analysis of alternatives for what's next. That analysis has been conducted and we are awaiting further guidance. Right now, we don't know what is next,” Whitfield said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/satellites/2019/03/08/the-army-hopes-a-new-satellite-will-help-alleviate-congestion