Boeing demonstrates MQ-25'€²s utility as surveillance drone

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  December 9, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Aérospatial : l'Onera, une pépite oubliée ?

  L'organisme de recherche sur lequel repose en grande partie la dissuasion nucléaire, la surveillance spatiale ou le renseignement des armées, se débat avec un budget contraint et des injonctions contradictoires. Par Anne Bauer Publié le 9 déc. 2019 à 8h00 L'Office national d'études et de recherches aéronautiques (Onera) est-il négligé ? Après une audition de son président, Bruno Sainjon, le Sénat a appelé le ministère des Armées à doter les finances de ce spécialiste de la recherche aéronautique de moyens à la hauteur des ambitions. Les « appels répétés pour doter enfin l'Onera de moyens au niveau de son excellence scientifique et technologique n'ont toujours pas été entendus par le gouvernement », s'indigne la Commission des affaires étrangères et de la défense. La querelle n'est pas nouvelle mais elle prend un mauvais tour. Dans le monde aéronautique, spatial et de défense, l'Onera (1910 salariés dont 291 doctorants) est jugé comme un outil stratégique. Les pales du nouvel hélicoptère léger des armées (le Guépard d'Airbus) sont issues de sa recherche. La France lui doit aussi son système de surveillance de l'espace (Graves). Quant à la dissuasion nucléaire, elle ne serait pas crédible sans les recherches menées par l'Onera sur les statoréacteurs et désormais les superstatoréacteurs (vitesse supérieure à Mach 6). Dans le renseignement enfin, les armées exploitent les techniques radars de l'Onera pour voir par tous les temps et au-delà de la ligne d'horizon. Budget bloqué Pourtant malgré ce palmarès, la subvention (106 millions d'euros prévus en 2020) versée à l'établissement par le Ministère des Armées, n'a quasiment pas varié depuis 2015. En outre, l'établissement, qui a fêté ses 70 ans, voit ses effectifs et ses salaires plafonner à un niveau inférieur à 2015, ce qui le met en danger pour garder ses chercheurs de haut niveau. Alors que l'enveloppe budgétaire consacrée à la recherche est en nette hausse dans le projet de budget 2020, la mise à l'écart de l'Onera est surprenante. Sa recherche étant duale : militaire et civile, l'Office est mal défendu au sein de la Défense, qui souhaiterait que les industriels (Safran, Thales, Airbus, etc.) mettent davantage au pot. En 2019, l'Onera a décroché 120 millions d'euros de contrats en sus de sa subvention, portant ainsi son budget à 235 millions d'euros. Revoir le contrat d'objectifs « L'Onera est une pépite technologique de niveau mondial mais cela ne pourra durer si nous continuons à le sous-doter alors que nos partenaires et concurrents accélèrent leur effort », avertit Christian Cambon, président de la Commission Affaires étrangères et défense au Sénat. De fait, la multiplication des projets prévus par le ministère des Armées plaide pour une renégociation du contrat d'objectifs de l'Onera, qui remonte à 2016. Avant que le gouvernement ne décide de renforcer sa lutte anti drone , ne crée un commandement militaire de l'espace ou ne décide de réaliser en coopération avec l'Allemagne le système de combat aérien du futur (programme Scaf). C'était aussi avant que l'Agence spatiale européenne ne décide d'aider la réalisation de petits lanceurs, alors que l'Onera a fait voler cet été un démonstrateur de système de lancement aéroporté de petits satellites, le système Ataïr. Le projet est gelé alors qu'il est essentiel pour l'avenir. Enfin, l'Onera attend avec impatience de savoir quel rôle jouer pour le Scaf, sachant que son homologue, le DLR, a déjà contractualisé avec l'armée allemande ses recherches sur le sujet. https://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/air-defense/aerospatial-lonera-une-pepite-oubliee-1154727

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  December 20, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  DARPA Awards Six Teams During Final Spectrum Collaboration Challenge Qualifier

  On December 12, DARPA held the second preliminary event of the Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) – the world's first collaborative machine-intelligence competition to overcome spectrum scarcity. Fifteen teams represented by members from across the academic, commercial and defense landscapes gathered at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to pit their intelligent radio designs against each other in a head-to-head competition. At the event's conclusion, six of the eight top-scoring teams walked away with $750,000 each in prize money. While not all competitors received interim prizes, all 15 teams have an opportunity to move on to the next stage and compete in the 2019 Spectrum Collaboration Challenge grand finale, which will be held in conjunction with MWC19 Los Angeles, in partnership with CTIA, on October 23, 2019. The six prize-winning teams from the second preliminary event are: Zylinium, a team of independent researchers MarmotE from Vanderbilt University Sprite from Northeastern University Erebus, a team of independent researchers Gator Wings from University of Florida SCATTER from IDLab, an imec research group at Ghent University and University of Antwerp, and Rutgers University "During the second preliminary event we witnessed a technological shift," said Paul Tilghman, the DARPA program manager leading SC2. "For the first time, we saw autonomous collaboration outperform the status quo for spectrum management." Starting in early December, each team's radio participated in 105 matches against competitors in the Colosseum, a massive RF testbed that was developed specifically for SC2. The matches were held in a round-robin fashion where each radio network – working in groups of threes, fours or fives – had multiple opportunities to compete against every other radio design in the competition. Roughly 400 matches were held in total to determine the final team rankings and the prize recipients. During the PE2 matches, teams were put through six different RF scenarios designed to mimic the challenges that collaborative, autonomous radios will face in the real world. These scenarios challenged the radios to collaboratively mitigate interfering with an incumbent radio system, sense and adapt to the spectrum demands of high-traffic environments, handle the data demands of the connected soldier of the future, and beyond. Each scenario was designed to pressure test various elements of the teams' approaches and, in particular, their ability to successfully collaborate with the other radios operating within the same environment. “The six different scenarios were closely aligned to actual situations that our defense and commercial systems face in the field. The Wildfire scenario, for example, replicates the complex communications environment that surrounds an emergency response situation, while the Alleys of Austin scenario was designed to mimic what's needed to help dismounted soldiers navigate and communicate as they sweep through an urban environment. This real-world relevance was critical for us as we want to ensure these technologies can continue to develop after the event and can transition to commercial and/or military applications,” said Tilghman. The sixth scenario of the competition was used to determine the six prize winning teams. This scenario explored the essential question of the SC2 competition: can the top teams' collaborative SC2 radios outperform the status quo of static allocation? Each of the six teams that received awards at PE2 demonstrated that their radio was capable of carrying more wireless applications without the aid of a handcrafted spectrum plan, while simultaneously ensuring four other radio networks operating in the same area had improved performance. In short, each of these six radio networks demonstrated the autonomous future of the spectrum. To aid with decision making, teams applied AI and machine learning technologies in various ways. Some leveraged the current generation of AI technologies like deep learning, while others used more conventional optimization approaches. There were also a few teams that used first wave, rule-based AI technologies. “We're very encouraged by the results we saw at PE2. The teams' radios faced new and unexpected scenarios but were still able to demonstrate smart, collaborative decision making. PE2 showed us that AI and machine learning's application to wireless spectrum management creates a very real opportunity to rethink our current century-old approach,” said Tilghman. The competition now enters its third year and moves closer to the finale, which will be held at one of the country's largest annual technology and telecommunications shows – MWC19 Los Angeles. More than 22,000 attendees from the broad mobile ecosystem and adjacent industry sectors will convene at this three-day event to discuss the current opportunities and future trends shaping the industry. The SC2 championship event will be held on the keynote stage of MWC19 Los Angeles on October 23, 2019. At the conclusion of SC2's finale, three teams will be awarded $2 million, $1 million and $750,000, respectively, for first, second and third place. The real prize, however, will be the promise of a more efficient wireless paradigm in which radio networks autonomously collaborate to determine how the spectrum should be used moment-to-moment, helping to usher in an era of spectrum abundance. For more information about DARPA's Spectrum Collaboration Challenge, please visit: https://spectrumcollaborationchallenge.com/ https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2018-12-19

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  March 22, 2021 | International, Naval

  MBDA to supply new TESEO MK2/E anti-ship system to Italian Navy

  This new generation system builds on the legacy Teseo family, known worldwide as OTOMAT, and will bring a substantial improvement in anti-ship capabilities.