At London arms fair, global war fears are good for business | Reuters

On the same subject

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  May 2, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Les budgets de la Défense ont atteint des records en 2021

  Selon la dernière étude du Sipri, l'Institut international de recherche pour la paix, basé à Stockholm, sur les dépenses militaires, les pays consacrent désormais 2,2% de leur PIB à leurs armées et les dépenses militaires mondiales ont atteint précisément 2 113 Md$ (1 966 Md€), une hausse de 0,7% par rapport à l'année précédente. A eux seuls, les Etats-Unis et la Chine concentrent plus de la moitié des dépenses militaires mondiales. Avec un budget de 801 Md$ (745 Md€), les Etats-Unis ont accru leur effort de recherche et développement de 24 % en termes réels depuis 2012, quand l'achat d'armes baissait de 6,4 %. De son côté, la Chine réalise la plus forte croissance du top 5 mondial, avec une progression de ses dépenses de 4,7% pour atteindre 293 Md$ (273 Md€). En se lançant dans un grand programme de modernisation de l'équipement de ses armées, la France grimpe de deux places dans ce classement pour atteindre le 6ème rang mondial. L'Europe a augmenté globalement ses dépenses d'armement de 3% par rapport à l'année précédente. L'objectif fixé par l'OTAN à ses membres de consacrer au moins 2% de leur PIB à la défense se concrétise peu à peu : huit d'entre eux respectent ou dépassent le seuil, contre trois en 2014. Ensemble de la presse du 26 avril

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  July 8, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Other Defence

  DARPA Funding Brings Machine Learning to BAE Systems’ Signals Intelligence Capabilities

  HUDSON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems has been awarded funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to integrate machine-learning (ML) technology into platforms that decipher radio frequency signals. Its Controllable Hardware Integration for Machine-learning Enabled Real-time Adaptivity (CHIMERA) solution provides a reconfigurable hardware platform for ML algorithm developers to make sense of radio frequency (RF) signals in increasingly crowded electromagnetic spectrum environments. The up to $4.7 million contract, dependent on successful completion of milestones, includes hardware delivery along with integration and demonstration support. CHIMERA's hardware platform will enable algorithm developers to decipher the ever-growing number of RF signals, providing commercial or military users with greater automated situational awareness of their operating environment. This contract is adjacent to the previously announced award for the development of data-driven ML algorithms under the same DARPA program (Radio Frequency Machine Learning Systems, or RFMLS). RFMLS requires a robust, adaptable hardware solution with a multitude of control surfaces to enable improved discrimination of signals in the evolving dense spectrum environments of the future. “CHIMERA brings the flexibility of a software solution to hardware,” said Dave Logan, vice president and general manager of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Systems at BAE Systems. “Machine-learning is on the verge of revolutionizing signals intelligence technology, just as it has in other industries.” In an evolving threat environment, CHIMERA will enable ML software development to adapt the hardware's RF configuration in real time to optimize mission performance. This capability has never before been available in a hardware solution. The system provides multiple control surfaces for the user, enabling on-the-fly performance trade-offs that can maximize its sensitivity, selectivity, and scalability depending on mission need. The system's open architecture interfaces allow for third party algorithm development, making the system future-proof and easily upgradable upon deployment. Other RF functions, including communications, radar, and electronic warfare, also can benefit from this agile hardware platform, which has a reconfigurable array, front-end, full transceiver and digital pre-processing stage. Work on these phases of the program will take place at BAE Systems' sites in Hudson and Merrimack, New Hampshire, and Dallas, Texas. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190708005199/en

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  February 28, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Germany picks its lead vendor for European tactical radio program

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany – The German defense ministry has designated radio specialist Rohde und Schwarz as the national lead toward the development of a tactical radio for European land forces. The designation follows German lawmakers' approval late last year to join the European Secure Software Defined Radio, or ESSOR. The project aims to unify radio equipment operated by land forces on the continent, eventually replacing national variants with a common system. Having hardware that allows multinational troops to communicate seamlessly on the battlefield is a key premise of the European Union's push for greater military prowess. The ESSOR program, founded in 2008, is managed by OCCAR, a pan-European defense-acquisition agency. Besides Germany, the other members of the radio program are Finland, France, Italy, Poland and Spain. Their national industry leads are, respectively, Bittium, Thales, Leonardo, Radmor and Indra. All companies are represented in the a4ESSOR joint venture. Rohde und Schwarz joins the effort as the “Operational Capability 1” phase, centered on a high data rate waveform, has been underway since 2017. That stage “defines the joint development and updating of an interoperable, trustworthy, robust and wideband radio waveform for connected armed forces,” the company said in a statement. The Munich-based company plans to bring its SOVERON D radio to the program, which is slated for delivery to the German armed forces sometime this year. The European radio program also has its feet in the pool of PESCO initiatives, designed to foster multinational defense projects within the bloc by ways of subsidies from the envisioned European Defence Fund. Under the EU umbrella, officials hope to develop additional waveforms, “for example for specific use cases for air-based operations,” reads the Rohde und Schwarz statement. The U.S. Joint Tactical Radio System's software communication architecture serves as the blueprint for ESSOR, according to the program management agency. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/2020/02/27/germany-picks-its-lead-vendor-for-european-tactical-radio-program