November 28, 2018 | International, Naval
By: Andrew Chuter
LONDON – BAE Systems hopes to begin operational trials of an augmented-reality system onboard a Royal Navy warship next year as part of a £20 million ($27 million) investment the defense contractor is making in advanced combat systems technology.
Company officials said at a briefing in London Nov. 22 that they planned tests of augmented reality for a bridge watch officer role early in 2019 and expected the technology to be tried operationally during the second half of the year.
“We have taken the navy through this and they are really excited. What they want to do is to take the technology into operation as soon as next year if they can,” said Frank Cotton, head of combat systems technology at BAE.
The augmented-reality glasses would allow the officer of the watch to blend real-world visuals with data generated by sensors, like radars and sonars, laid over the top in a similar fashion to digital helmet displays used by combat jet pilots.
Cotton said BAE is using technology from its new Striker II pilot's helmet to help develop the system for the Royal Navy.
Microsoft's commercially available HoloLens augmented-reality headset, meanwhile, is set to feature in the Information Warrior 2019 exercise between March 25 and April 11.
HoloLens, though, is better suited to gamers and software developers than for military use.
Affordable, lightweight glasses, more suitable for the military environment are being developed by BAE, and the company hopes to take these to sea for operational testing in the second half of the year.
Cotton said the Royal Navy is expected to use a Type 23 frigate for the sea trials.
Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/11/26/bae-rolls-out-augmented-reality-suite-for-the-royal-navy
July 15, 2022 | International, C4ISR
Berlin placed the order for an undisclosed number of receivers in 2020 as a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) fulfilled through U.S. Space Systems Command (SSC).
November 13, 2019 | International, Aerospace
By: Sebastian Sprenger BERLIN — Airbus expects an updated industry solicitation for Germany's multibillion-dollar Tornado replacement program, for which the company will offer an electronic attack-capable Eurofighter. Wolfgang Gammel, the head of combat aircraft business development, said he learned about the impending update during conversations with Defence Ministry officials. A ministerial spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the official line that an announcement about the acquisition program is expected in the first quarter of 2020 and that Berlin is looking to quickly replace its aging Tornado fleet. The requirement for an electronic attack capability was absent from the original request for information when competitors placed their bids in the spring of 2018, Gammel told reporters Tuesday at the International Fighter Conference, a gathering of senior air force and industry leaders in Berlin. After Lockheed Martin and its F-35 were eliminated early this year, that left only the Eurofighter and Boeing's F-18 Growler in the race. An updated RFI presumably would reopen the competition between the remaining bidders as the acquisition process plays out anew on the question of electronic attack capabilities. Such a move would all but certainly result in a sizable delay, as German officials have been trying to be especially thorough in seeing the program through. Airbus said introducing so-called escort jammer pods to the Eurofighter fleet, to be carried under the belly or the wings of the aircraft, would require little effort because the proposed integration strategy is meant to piggyback on upgrade efforts already on the books. Complicating a pick between the Eurofighter and the F-18 is the requirement that Germany must keep a contingent of aircraft capable of carrying U.S. nuclear bombs under NATO's nuclear doctrine. That seemed to give Boeing's offering an advantage, German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung claimed in a report last month. For its part, the F-18 is known for its ability to counter enemy air defenses, an area where Airbus now seeks to lay down its own marker. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2019/11/12/airbus-expects-updated-industry-call-for-germanys-tornado-replacement-contest/
August 18, 2024 | International, Aerospace