Australian companies increasingly look to US following AUKUS pact

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  August 19, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  US Army-funded research project makes inroads on scaling quantum processors

  Andrew Eversden Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Sara Gamble, a program manager in quantum information science at the Army Research Office. WASHINGTON — A research project funded by the U.S. Army has developed a new approach to manufacturing quantum computer chips, representing a significant step forward toward making quantum processors at the scale needed to deliver rapid processing capabilities to the battlefield. The new approach could impact how the service builds quantum networks and distributed sensing capabilities. Quantum processors use a qubit to store information. The researchers were looking to increase the amount of qubits placed onto a photonic chip. Prior to the experiment, researchers were only able to get two or three qubits into one photonic chip, said Sara Gamble, a program manager in quantum information science at the Army Research Office, an element of the Army Research Laboratory at Combat Capabilities Development Command. “Currently we can exert control and successfully manipulate handfuls of qubits, like very countable numbers of them. But when it comes to the millions or billions of qubits that we need for applications of actual interest, how to get to those millions or billions of qubits is a major research challenge,” Gamble said in an interview with C4ISRNET. In this study, researchers succeeded in integrating 128 qubits onto a photonic chip by making small quantum “chiplets” and placing them onto a larger circuit. The chiplets were able to carry quantum information through artificial atoms created by scientists by exploiting defects in diamonds. The increase to 128 is a large jump, but well short of the thousands, millions or billions of qubits needed to successfully complete the applications the service sees as useful in the future. For example, qubits could be used for distributed sensing through networks of quantum systems on the battlefield to allow for greater situational awareness, though Gamble noted that quantum information science research is still in the early stage. “We know that a lot of these qubit types are also excellent sensors. So for things like electric and magnetic fields, these quantum sensors can sense those fields ... with a higher sensitivity than you can get out of classical sensor,” Gamble said. “And then if you network those quantum sensor systems together, that increase you can get in your signal goes up even more. “So we need those isolated qubit sensors. But then we also need a way for those qubit sensors to talk to each other over a quantum network.” Being able to process data at quantum speeds would benefit the military as it seeks to make decisions based on large sets of data coming in from the battlefield in near-real time, and as it moves toward multidomain operations. “It's a fundamentally different way to gather, process and share information,” Gamble said. The research was completed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Sandia National Laboratories. The new technology still needs to undergo tests to ensure the qubits in the chip can be controlled in a way that would help the Army. Gamble said the research team is also considering how to automate parts of the production process. “Thinking about how we can automate these processes to make them even more repeatable is going to be exciting,” Gamble said, “and something that's going to be necessary if you really want to do this for, you know, millions to billions of qubits instead of 128.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/08/17/us-army-funded-research-project-makes-inroads-on-scaling-quantum-processors/

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  August 1, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Integrated Hypersonic Plan Forms Amid Overlap Concerns

  WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana—The U.S. Defense Department says data from an upcoming four-year test campaign covering 40 flights and three basic vehicle concepts will lay the foundation for a comprehensive hypersonic weapon road map that should allay growing congressional concerns over potential overlaps in costly weapons development capability. To a quarter of the tests, representing as many as 10 flights, will be focused on air-breathing scramjet-powered vehicles, says Mike White, assistant director for hypersonics at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Speaking to Aerospace DAILY on the sidelines of the inaugural National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) hypersonics capability conference at Purdue University here, White says test results from both boosted glide vehicle flights and powered missiles will form the basis for the integrated development plan. The overarching road map also will include the integration of a counter hypersonic development strategy, the preliminary steps toward which have been proposed by both the recently formed Space Development Agency (SDA) and the Missile Defense Agency. The SDA is studying a space-based distributed satellite architecture, while the latter has proposed a Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking and Surveillance System (HBTSS). “Offensive and defensive coordination is my job,” White says. The bulk of the prototype tests will be conducted using the common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB). Developed by Sandia National Laboratories, the bi-conic re-entry vehicle has been adopted as the basis for near-term boosted glide weapons by the U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy, with only minor differences in each version planned to reflect the varying operational characteristics of each role. The Army, which plans to ground launch the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) from transporter erector vehicles, is meanwhile making the first moves toward industrializing production of what up to now has been small batch manufacturing runs of experimental vehicles. The service has issued a solicitation for transition of the design and production capability of the initial prototype LRHW C-HGB variant out of Sandia into industry. A contract award is expected to be issued this month. Other versions of the C-HGB are in development for the Navy's vertically launched Intermediate Range Conventional Strike Weapon (IR-CPS), and the Air Force's Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW). Underwater launch tests of the IR-CPS, which follows the successful Flight Experiment-1 test in October 2017, from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, are due to run through 2024. The Air Force is scheduled to complete critical design review of the HCSW in 2020 prior to launch tests from a B-52. At least five other flight-test campaigns make up the remainder of the hectic four-year plan, three of which will be focused on the DARPA-led Tactical Boost Glide (TBG) vehicle and two proposed follow-on air-launched rapid response weapon (ARRW) vehicles in competitive development by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. The balance are two air breathing vehicles, also in development by Lockheed/Aerojet Rocketdyne and Raytheon/Northrop Grumman, which will be evaluated under the Air Force's Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) program. Despite the ongoing efforts to refine the hypersonic road map, the proliferation of prototype vehicle programs continues to cause concern in Congress. Warning that not all programs will receive the funding requested in the fiscal 2020 budget, Peter Visclosky, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, says some reductions are planned. Commenting at the NDIA event, he says, “Justifications in the budget for this effort receive the same scrutiny as every other program in the department and unfortunately certain aspects of that 2020 budget request were lacking.” Without identifying particular initiatives, Visclosky adds, “There were cuts to those specific programs where the justifications did not lead to a review. Each of the services impacted have been made aware of the issues that the committee has raised and the need to better define the strategy for the investment in these systems.” Visclosky also cautions that hypersonics, which is provisionally funded with a budget of $2.3 billion for fiscal 2020 and $10.5 billion over the period to 2024, also faces broader threats at a time of increased spending on other high-profile defense programs. “I am concerned about affordability in the future because this is a competitive process,” he said. “We have a nuclear modernization process that is underway and there is going to be a bulge in the federal budget. There is a new submarine and there is going to be a bulge in the budget. It is the same for the new [B-21] bomber under development and, while the Army doesn't have that ‘one' new program, collectively for the modernization program there is going to be one. “We need to make sure there is a concerted effort for commonality and collaboration to a common technical standard and system architecture. I think this will drive better affordability into the sustainment of the system,” he adds. https://aviationweek.com/defense/integrated-hypersonic-plan-forms-amid-overlap-concerns

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  March 6, 2023 | International, Aerospace

  Boeing, Airbus pair up to bid for UK's helicopter contract

  U.S. planemaker Boeing Co and its European rival Airbus SE have teamed up to bid for a UK government contract that would provide helicopters for the Royal Air Force and British Army, the companies said on Monday.