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May 8, 2019 | International, Aerospace

Airbus eyes opportunities in future U.S. military LEO constellations

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Airbus is ramping up satellite production in Florida and hopes to attract Pentagon buyers.

WASHINGTON — The first project of the newly created Space Development Agency will be to design a large constellation of commercially produced satellites in low Earth orbit to serve as a communications layer and take over military space missions ranging from missile tracking to navigation.

Airbus is preparing to start cranking out 32 satellites every three weeks for the broadband venture OneWeb. It built an assembly line on Florida's Space Coast to manufacture up to 648 satellites for OneWeb but also hopes to ramp production to fill orders for the Defense Department, intelligence community and other U.S. government buyers, Nicolas Chamussy, the outgoing head of Airbus Space Systems told SpaceNews on Monday at the Satellite 2019 conference.

The company received a $2.9 million contract last fall from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to produce satellite buses for DARPA's Blackjack program, an experiment intended to show the military utility of LEO constellations and mesh networks. DARPA will marry up commercial satellite buses with military sensors and payloads. Former DARPA official Fred Kennedy conceived the Blackjack project and is now head of the Space Development Agency. He said the SDA will tap into the commercial industry's mass satellite production capabilities in order to build a military constellation in LEO.

Airbus' main satellite manufacturing plant is in Toulouse, France. It now has U.S.-based design teams staffed with U.S. citizens as well as the Florida production facility, Chamussy said. “It's an opportunity for the U.S. government” to take advantage of these capabilities, he said. The U.S. plant only builds commercial satellites but it could be expanded to produce classified spacecraft, he said.

The contract with DARPA has been valuable to Airbus to learn about U.S. defense programs and as a stepping stone to possibly other projects, Chamussy said. “With DARPA, we are learning how to work together, we are trying to understand if our platform is a valuable asset for the U.S. government.”

The company is focused now on making satellites and installing OneWeb payloads, but “we can install whatever you want,” he said. For the military, the same satellites could carry positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), electronic warfare, Earth observation or weather payloads. “This is the beauty of have a design team and dedicated facility in U.S.,” said Chamussy.

Airbus is hoping to be chosen as the satellite supplier to Canadian satellite operator Telesat, which also received a DARPA Blackjack contract to study the use of commercial buses in LEO-based military systems.

Airbus is competing against a Maxar Technologies-Thales Alenia Space team for a contract worth an estimated $3 billion to build Telesat's megaconstellation. Chamussy told reporters at a news conference on Monday that the company expects to submit a proposal in the coming months. “We are still waiting for the request for proposals,” he said.

Chamussy insisted that the Telesat concept is very different than OneWeb because the Canadian operator is asking for a full “end to end” system that includes not just the satellites but also ground systems and managed services.

Airbus announced last month that Chamussy will be stepping down as executive vice president of Airbus Space Systems under Airbus Defence and Space. He will be replaced by Airbus Defence and Space executive Jean-Marc Nasr. Chamussy declined to comment on whether he will stay at Airbus or in what capacity.

https://spacenews.com/airbus-eyes-opportunities-in-future-u-s-military-leo-constellations/

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  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 22, 2019

    May 23, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 22, 2019

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    February 24, 2023 | International, Aerospace

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  • BAE teams up with Elbit on combat vehicle tech

    October 22, 2020 | International, Land, C4ISR

    BAE teams up with Elbit on combat vehicle tech

    Jen Judson BAE Systems is teaming up with Elbit Systems of America to develop combat vehicle technology, according to an Oct. 21 BAE statement. “The arrangement is focused on validating and integrating new technologies on combat vehicle systems to deliver advanced warfighting capabilities,” the statement reads. On the eve of the start of the Army's second attempt to hold a competition to replace its Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle with an Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV), the announcement could signal BAE's plans to take a shot in the new effort. BAE Systems — Bradley's manufacturer — opted out of the previous OMFV competitive effort because the company felt the requirements and timeline to design, develop and field a new vehicle wasn't realistic. And the Army ended up withdrawing its first solicitation in that competition because just one competitor was able to deliver a physical bid sample within the required timeline. BAE has been quiet about whether it plans to invest its time and money into the new OMFV competition, but a partnership with Elbit, which is a leader in advanced turret solutions, could be a sign that it will participate this time around. “The teaming arrangement will explore crew automation, vehicle protection systems and other defensive and offensive systems for integration into turrets of various cannon calibers and supporting weapon systems for combat vehicles,” according to the statement. “BAE Systems and Elbit America are investing in transformational combat vehicle technologies and turret solutions that will greatly enhance the lethality and survivability of next-generation combat vehicles for the U.S. and international militaries,” Jim Miller, director of business development at BAE Systems, said. “Our relationship demonstrates a commitment to provide our customers with solutions for future battlefields based on our collective combat vehicle expertise.” The day before the announcement, Rheinmetall put out a statement saying it was teaming with Textron Systems to pitch its Lynx41 vehicle for the OMFV competition. Rheinmetall made an unsuccessful attempt last year to enter the OMFV competition with Raytheon as a US-based partner, but said it was unable to get its single Lynx vehicle in existence to the United States by the Army's due date to deliver a physical bid sample. General Dynamics Land Systems is also expected to compete in the OMFV competition. It was the only company to deliver physical bid sample in the last go-around. The Army is not requiring a bid sample in the new OMFV competition. The Army put out a draft solicitation in July and plans to release its request for proposals to industry in December. The service plans to request whitepapers and then choose five prime contractor teams to design rough digital prototypes. The service will then award up to three contracts for a detailed design and prototype phase that will include options for low-rate initial production. One vendor will be selected to go into production. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/10/21/bae-teams-up-with-elbit-on-combat-vehicle-tech/

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