AI’s dogfight triumph a step toward human-machine teaming

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  January 13, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Rolls-Royce développe un démarreur électrique pour le futur chasseur de la Royal Air Force

  Depuis 2014, Rolls-Royce développe un démarreur électrique qui devrait être intégré au moteur du Tempest, le futur avion de combat de la Royal Air Force britannique. Le tout devrait prendre moins de place et générer de l'énergie de manière plus intelligente, ce qui permettra à l'appareil d'optimiser ses consommations, tout en étant moins gros que l'actuel Eurofighter Typhoon. Le Tempest, futur avion de combat de la Royal Air Force britannique devrait comporter nettement plus d'éléments électriques que son prédécesseur, l'Eurofighter Typhoon. Dans cette optique, Rolls-Royce a confirmé être en train de développer, pour l'appareil, un nouveau système de démarrage des turboréacteurs, électrique et intégré. Le constructeur planche sur le projet depuis plus de cinq ans. Dès 2014, il met au point un générateur de démarrage électrique, entièrement intégré au cœur d'un moteur à turbine à gaz. Le programme du démonstrateur est baptisé "Embedded Electrical Starter Generator", ou E2SG. Moins de place pour un appareil moins gros "Le générateur électrique embarqué permettra de gagner de la place et fournira une importante quantité d'énergie aux futurs chasseurs", explique dans un communiqué Conrad Banks, ingénieur en chef du programme chez Rolls-Royce. Les générateurs actuels génèrent de l'énergique à l'aide d'une boîte de vitesses située sous le moteur. Un élément qui requiert un certain espace. N'en ayant plus besoin, le Tempest pourra être plus petit et donc plus furtif. En 2017, le projet est entré dans sa deuxième phase. Un second générateur électrique a été intégré à l'autre partie du turboréacteur. Le réseau électrique de l'appareil est désormais capable de stocker de l'énergie et une fonction intelligente gère l'alimentation de tous les systèmes. Baptisé Power Manager, il "utilise des algorithmes et prend des décisions intelligentes en temps réel pour répondre à la demande électrique de l'avion, tout en optimisant d'autres facteurs, comme la consommation de carburant ou la température du moteur, pour prolonger la durée de vie des composants", détaille le communiqué. Une troisième phase devrait bientôt voir le jour, avec l'intégration d'un nouveau système de gestion thermique et l'électrification d'autres composants. Rolls-Royce prévoit également la présentation prochaine d'un démonstrateur taille réelle qui comprendra toutes les innovations susmentionnées. https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/rolls-royce-developpe-un-demarreur-electrique-pour-le-futur-chasseur-de-la-royal-air-force.N919119

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  August 9, 2018 | International, Land

  Former NFL star leading the charge for the Army’s new helmet system

  By: J.D. Simkins and Todd South A company founded by a former Washington Redskins all-pro has been tasked with designing next-level padding technology to protect troops from impacts and blasts that can cause brain trauma. The Army recently announced a $600,000 contract award for a new combat helmet padding system to Windpact, an impact technology company founded by former Redskins cornerback Shawn Springs. The contract falls under the Army's Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center program to improve soldier equipment. With the contract, Windpact aims to replace existing combat helmet impact systems with its patented Crash Cloud technology, an impact pad that uses a combination of foam and controlled air flow to provide enhanced protection at varying impact rates, according to a release. “I'm excited, because obviously when you're talking about the military, you're wanting to do something better for these soldiers who are suffering from traumatic brain injuries, concussions and any other forceful impacts ranging from bomb blasts to Humvee accidents,” Springs told Military Times. Full Article: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/08/08/former-nfl-star-leading-the-charge-for-the-armys-new-helmet-system/

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  November 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  The US Air Force is in no hurry to commit to a next-gen fighter design

  By: Sebastian Sprenger BERLIN — The U.S. Air Force is taking its time to settle on a next-generation fighter design, awaiting instead lessons learned from the F-35 jet and playing the field with promising technologies, according to a senior service official. Options being kicked around are still in the conceptual stage, as America's newest fighter, the fifth-generation F-35, is only now “coming off the line,” according to Lt. Gen. David Nahom, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for plans and programs. “We're not in a hurry,” Nahom told Defense News on the sidelines of the International Fighter Conference, an air power-themed confab of industry and government officials held in Berlin, Germany. He noted that expected deliveries of the F-35 and the relatively young age of the F-22 fleet enables the service to be picky about moving forward with the envisioned Next Generation Air Dominance weapon. In short, the Air Force wants to keep its options open for as long as possible for a weapon whose combat punch will lie not in a single aircraft but rather in the amalgamation of hardware and software, an airborne concerto of data clouds, artificial intelligence, and boundless interconnectivity. “We don't want to get too stuck into a platform,” Nahom said. “It's a very different way to approach it.” Still, the service plans to lay the groundwork for boosting the domain of information and data — organizing it, analyzing it, sharing it — as a key element for future aerial warfare. To that end, officials will include a “significant investment in the digital backbone” in the next budget request, Nahom said. As the Air Force studies its options, service analysts have shied away from the term “sixth-generation” aircraft as a successor to the F-35 because it's unclear what breakthrough technology will be created next. “What are the characteristics of sixth-generation? I don't know,” Nahom said. “Stealth is important,” he added, referring to one of the advertised features of the F-35. “But speed is important, too.” The service aims to develop a new capability quickly once the theoretical legwork is done. That is why there is a renewed emphasis now on engineering processes and algorithm development that Nahom said will have to unfold much faster than under previous aircraft programs. Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper has put down a marker to develop an aircraft within five years. “Based on what industry thinks they can do and what my team will tell me, we will need to set a cadence of how fast we think we build a new airplane from scratch. Right now, my estimate is five years. I may be wrong,” he told Defense News in an interview in September. The service's information-heavy tack on future aerial warfare echoes two European projects aimed at building a next-generation weapon: the British-led Tempest and the Franco-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System. Both programs also lean on the the premise that data clouds, driven by artificial intelligence, can turn flying pieces of metal into breakthrough weaponry. In the case of the continental program, an envisioned “combat cloud” will be “the ocean between the islands of the platforms,” French Maj. Gen. Jean-Pascal Breton said at the conference. But Nahom noted a difference in the American way of thinking when it comes to piercing contested airspace — a key skill required of all future warplanes. While the Europeans seem to perceive the task as popping dispersed bubbles of ever-improving air defense systems, the U.S. view is that any airspace may be contested at any given time. That means a next-generation aircraft will be constantly engaged in the mission of punching its way through enemy defenses, like finding the holes in a never-ending series of Swiss cheese, Nahom said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/11/18/the-us-air-force-is-in-no-hurry-to-commit-to-a-next-gen-fighter-design/