January 26, 2021 | International, Aerospace
By: Andrew Chuter
LONDON — A British initiative to develop an unmanned air vehicle known as a “loyal wingman” has received a boost with the announcement by the Ministry of Defence that a Spirit AeroSystems-led consortium is to build a full-scale test vehicle.
The Belfast, Northern Ireland-based arm of Spirit and partners, including Northrop Grumman UK, have been awarded a £30 million (U.S. $41 million) deal to lead a partnership, known as Team Mosquito, for building the demonstrator vehicle in time to start a test flight program by the end of 2023.
Work maturing the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft, or LANCA, will run for three years until the conclusion of the flight trials, an MoD official said.
Following completion of the demonstration phase, the Royal Air Force will analyze the data and use it to inform capability decisions, said the official.
The unmanned vehicle is part of the air force's push to produce a low-cost machine in a fraction of the time of normal combat jets.
The Spirit Mosquito team, previously known as Blackdawn and led by Callen-Lenz , secured the deal beating out proposals from partnerships led by Boeing and Blue Bear Systems.
Spirit acquired the Belfast-based aerostructures operations of Canadian commercial and business jet builder Bombardier last year.
Designing and building the airframe is a small but significant win for the company, which centers on building structures for the Airbus A220 airliner and other civil sector work.
Northrop Grumman UK, the key partner alongside Spirit in Team Mosquito, said in a statement it will be providing model-based systems engineering and agile engineering expertise.
The company said it will also integrate its advanced mission management (AMM) and airborne communication node technologies to enable seamless human-machine collaboration and cooperative mission management across distributed manned and unmanned assets.
The MoD said further companies in the new team will be announced later.
Work on LANCA has been underway since 2015, with the MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory taking the lead pursing innovative combat air technologies and concepts that offer radical reductions in cost and development time.
Defense Ministry officials previously said they want to produce a drone for 10 percent of the cost and in one-fifth of the time of a combat jet.
“If successful, Project Mosquito's findings could lead to the capability being deployed alongside RAF Typhoon and F-35 Lightning jets by the end of the decade,” said the MoD.
The drone is now a RAF Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO)-led project under the Future Combat Air System Technology Initiative (FCAS TI).
If the project is successful the Mosquito loyal wingman platform could eventually become the first unmanned platform in British service able to target and shoot down enemy aircraft.
The Mosquito effort is one of several future air combat initiatives being pursued by the British, including development of swarming drones and the Tempest next-generation manned and unmanned combat jet.
Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston said the British were “taking a revolutionary approach, looking at a game-changing mix of swarming drones and uncrewed fighter aircraft like Mosquito, alongside piloted fighters like Tempest, that will transform the combat battlespace in a way not seen since the advent of the jet age.”
The loyal wingman concept is generating increasing interest with militaries across the world, with similar work underway in the United States, Australia and Europe.
April 24, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
As France prepares to vote in the presidential election, the outcome, no matter the winner, will have reverberating ramifications on the future of European defense and capability development.
July 29, 2019 | International, Aerospace
For the first time, No. 36 Squadron (36SQN) has worked to get United States Air Force (USAF) C-17A Globemasters back into the air under a new cross-servicing arrangement. Technicians from 36SQN were able to assist the crews of two USAF C-17As on separate tasks in Australia. The work came following both countries agreeing to a C-17A Aircraft Repair and Maintenance Service - Implementing Arrangement (ARMS-IA), which allows RAAF and USAF technicians to work on each other's C-17As. On 4 July , ARMS-IA was enacted to help support a USAF C-17A at RAAF Base Richmond. Warrant Officer (WOFF) Pete Ranson, Warrant Officer Engineering at 36SQN, said the request for assistance came via the Boeing Defence Australia representatives at RAAF Base Amberley. “We supplied a co-pilot Multi-Function Control Panel for the cockpit, fitted it and carried out the associated operational checks to verify the replacement,” WOFF Ranson said. “After that rectification, another unserviceability appeared, and was successfully rectified.” This issue related to a Secondary Flight Control Computer, and saw 36SQN engage fellow RAAF technicians at 37SQN for tooling and consumables. Throughout the repair on the USAF C-17A, RAAF and USAF technicians worked side-by-side. “The issues with the affected aircraft were outside the expertise of the USAF maintenance personnel on that task,” WOFF Ranson said. “The USAF aviation technician trades are more specialised than the RAAF, where we stream to either Aircraft Technician or Avionics Technician.” “We carry a broader experience in a range of tasks, and 36SQN maintenance personnel were able to guide the USAF counterparts in rectifying the jet.” The fix at RAAF Base Richmond came just days after 36SQN technicians assisted another USAF C-17A with a suspected fuel leak fault at Rockhampton. “On that occasion, we sent maintenance personnel to troubleshoot the problem,” WOFF Ranson said. “We found it was a faulty valve and not a fuel leak from the tank, which gave confidence to the USAF crew that they could carry on to an appropriate location to replace the valve.” Group Captain (GPCAPT) Steve Pesce, Officer Commanding No. 86 Wing, said the work of 36SQN technicians had immediately validated the ARMS-IA. “The ARMS-IA recognised the close relationship between RAAF and USAF C-17A communities, and the reality that we operate this aircraft a long way from home,” GPCAPT Pesce said. “Both of these examples witnessed a C-17A getting back on a task much sooner than would have been otherwise possible, which is invaluable support.” “I am very proud of the 36SQN team for the assistance it's rendered to its USAF counterparts.” https://www.jber.jb.mil/News/News-Articles/Article/1917908/royal-australian-air-force-and-us-air-force-technicians-on-the-tools-together/source/GovD/
April 9, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Land
By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration's review of America's missile defense capabilities is now expected to be released in May. The Missile Defense Review, a strategy document designed to take a holistic view of America's missile defense posture, was expected to be released in February. But finally, it appears the document is nearing completion. Pentagon spokesman Tom Crosson, in response to an inquiry by Defense News, said that the review is “currently in development” and that “we expect to release the review sometime next month.” The review is expected to be unclassified. The review is part of a series of big-picture strategic documents that started with the December release of the National Security Strategy, followed by the January release of the National Defense Strategy, and continued with February's Nuclear Posture Review. Notably, the review was originally positioned as a “ballistic missile defense review,” but the term ballistic has since been dropped by the Trump administration ― something Tom Karako, a missile defense expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said was a wise choice. “The fact that the administration has dropped ‘ballistic' from the review's title indicates the document will probably employ a wider lens,” Karako wrote in a CSIS analysis Friday. “This could include a robust effort to better defend against Russian and Chinese cruise missiles, other maneuvering endo-atmospheric threats like hypersonic boost-glide vehicles (HGVs), and advanced short-range ballistic missiles.” Although no one has spelled out the direction of the review, there have been some hints given about where the administration intends to take missile defense. The FY19 budget request for the Missile Defense Agency, for instance, increased by $2 billion from previous funding levels, with an express focus on defeating a missile threat from North Korea. And Michael Griffin, the Pentagon's new head of research and engineering, has expressed support for investing in airborne missile defense capabilities. Jen Judson in Washington contributed to this report. https://www.defensenews.com/space/2018/04/06/missile-defense-review-expected-in-may