April 29, 2020 | International, Security
Kyle Rempfer
Researchers made adjustments to the digital thermal sensors on their Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS goggles, so the devices can now detect a fever, service officials said this week.
A version of the IVAS goggles are now being used at Fort Benning, Georgia, on hundreds of soldiers arriving each day to train at the post, which hosts basic combat training, Airborne School and Ranger School.
Five seconds was all it took for the goggles to detect the forehead and inner eye temperature of troops as they filed in through a processing center. The temperature of a soldier is registered through the goggle-wearer's heads-up display. Those who registered a fever were moved to a medical station for further evaluation.
The goggle screening system cleared a group of about 300 soldiers in roughly 30 minutes, according to the Army. The process could also be more sanitary than traditional screening measures, which require closer contact between medical personnel and patients.
“We've always planned for an agile software system and a digital platform that can be upgraded and adapted to use against emerging threats in the future. No one anticipated the next threat to emerge would be a virus, but that's the enemy we face today,” said Tom Bowman, director of the IVAS Science and Technology Special Project Office, who helped orchestrate the thermal tweaks to the devices.
However, even though fevers are a known symptom of coronavirus, it's far from an absolute predictor. Up to 25 percent of people with the virus may never show symptoms, Centers for Disease Control director Dr. Robert Redfield has previously warned publicly, meaning symptoms could be a less effective gauge of troop health than originally hoped.
IVAS goggles — which combine night vision, a rifle-linked targeting scope and navigational markers within a soldier's field of view — are still undergoing field tests, including one at Fort Pickett, in Virginia, in late October and early November.
The version of the goggles used to screen troops at Fort Benning are an earlier iteration of “non-ruggedized” goggles. They can't be used outdoors, instead requiring a stable room temperature so the goggles can be accurately calibrated. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, an instructional unit for the Army Infantry School, were trained to use the devices to scan others.
“That's the genius of this system; we can use this technology today to fight the virus, even as we shape it into the combat system our soldiers need tomorrow. This shows the extensibility of the IVAS technology and the system,” said Brig. Gen. Tony Potts, who directs the modernization of infantry equipment.
IVAS goggles are the signature technology coming out of the Army's Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team. The devices are designed in partnership with Microsoft using the company's HoloLens.
Brig. Gen. Dave Hodne, the Army's chief of infantry who has a major role in testing the new technology, told reporters on April 17 that the Army still plans to field the devices in the final quarter of fiscal year 2021, even if a second wave of coronavirus hits during the fall testing period.
“It would come at a cost of a two-week isolation period in advance of beginning the test,” said Hodne, adding that students trying to vie for a Ranger tab at the moment are already doing two-week isolation periods.
“We've got 8,000 infantry trainees on Sand Hill who are executing a 22-week one-station unit training, you got an Airborne class that just graduated on Wednesday jumping out of airplanes,” Honde said. “The Army has frameworks for operating in biological hazards. It just requires us to make adjustments.”
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/04/28/army-tweaks-new-goggles-to-scan-for-fevers/
March 5, 2021 | International, C4ISR, Security
Cybersecurity requirements in weapon system contracts still aren't clear, but the Pentagon has made progress in the last three years, the Government Accountability Office found.
June 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace
France, Germany and Spain on Monday unveiled a next-generation combat jet for European air forces, an ambitious project aimed at bringing together the continent's disparate military forces while offering an alternative to American planes. The stealth jet is part of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), which will also include drones, missiles and so-called "remote carriers" that can be used to deliver munitions, scramble communication networks or divert the attention of enemy defences. French President Emmanuel Macron attended the unwrapping of a full-scale model of the sleek delta-wing aircraft at the opening of the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, just north of the French capital. The official cooperation accord launching the project was then signed by the French, German and Spanish defence ministers: Florence Parly, Ursula Von der Leyen and Margarita Robles. "This project now has a resolutely European dimension: Spain has officially joined the programme this morning," Parly said. Spain announced its participation earlier this year, but so far no other EU nations have signed on, though officials in Macron's office say talks are underway to bring other nations on board. Airbus and France's Dassault Aviation are leading the plane's development, aiming to have it operational by 2040, when it will replace the current generation of Rafale and Eurofighter jets. France's Safran is also developing a new motor for the plane that may include hybrid electric technologies, making the plane quieter while also lowering its heat signature, making it harder to detect. But Paris and Berlin have still to award an expected 150-million euro ($169-million) contract to begin work on a test plane that could start flying in 2026. Parly told journalists the contract is expected to be finalised by the end of this year. The new plane is a crucial test for Europe's ability to forge a joint operational command that could ensure its military sovereignty at a time of growing tensions with the US under President Donald Trump, who has put the solidity of the NATO alliance into question. Officials will have to win over several EU countries which are longstanding clients of American jets, and which may be tempted by Lockheed Martin's new F-35 stealth fighter. And the new European jet already has a rival on home turf—Britain's Tempest stealth fighter project, which has already garnered the support of Italy and the Netherlands. https://phys.org/news/2019-06-europe-future-combat-jet.html
November 11, 2019 | International, Aerospace
By: Aaron Mehta and Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has cleared the United Arab Emirates to purchase 10 CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters, with an estimated price tag of $830.3 million. The potential deal was announced Thursday on the website of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, or DSCA. Such notifications are not guarantees of final sale; should the request be approved by Congress, quantities and dollar figures can change during negotiations. This request represents the 10th Foreign Military Sales request from the UAE since the start of fiscal 2017, for a total approximate worth of $10.5 billion. It is also the first Foreign Military Financing request cleared by the DSCA since the Trump administration declared a regional emergency in order to get several weapons packages pushed through Congress despite opposition on Capitol Hill, leading to bipartisan criticism of the move. The UAE bought its first lot of CH-47Fs — 16 aircraft for estimated total of $2 billion — in 2009. Boeing said earlier this year that it was relying on foreign military sales, including “30 helicopters or less” to the UAE, to shore up a delta between the production of its Block I version of the F-model and its Block II version. The company needs FMS deals like the one with the UAE even more now that the U.S. Army is planning not to buy the Block II version for the active force. The service still plans to produce Block II aircraft for Army special operators. Top Army officials have said they are working hard to mint FMS deals to help make up for the huge production gap left open following the service's decision to not buy Block II F-models for the active force. But Boeing told Defense News that it expected FMS deals would not lessen the blow and, so far, none of the anticipated sales are for Block II versions. The UAE's order, according to Boeing, was not for Block II, and the only other possible F-model sale to the United Kingdom is for extended range versions of the Block I version. It is unclear which countries might actually be interested in Block II aircraft, but the service won't be ready to offer those to foreign customers until after the variant's qualification testing is completed in 2021. The proposed sale “will expand the UAE's helicopter fleet,” per the DSCA announcement. “Further, it will enhance the UAE's operational and defensive capabilities to better defend U.S. and UAE national security interests in the region, and increase the UAE's contributions to any future joint or coalition efforts requiring helicopter support.” In addition to the helicopters themselves, the proposed package would include 26 T55-GA-714A engines; 24 embedded global positioning systems with inertial navigation system; 20 M134D-H mini-guns; and 20 M240H machine guns, as well as various transmitters and other equipment. Up to 10 U.S. government or contractor representatives will be needed in the UAE to help prepare the Chinooks for operations. Primary work will be done at Boeing's Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, facility, Honeywell Engine's Phoenix, Arizona, location, and Science and Engineering Services in Huntsville, Alabama. https://www.defensenews.com/global/mideast-africa/2019/11/08/uae-cleared-for-ch-47f-chinook-buy/