Bundeswehr successfully concludes laser weapon trials at sea

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  June 3, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Security

  Air Force to dole out nearly $1 billion for ABMS development

  Nathan Strout The Air Force will dole out up to $950 million over the next five years to develop and enable its Joint All Domain Command and Control concept, according to a May 29 contract announcement. JADC2 is a new data architecture being pushed primarily by the Air Force for multidomain operations across the service branches. Under JADC2, the Department of Defense wants to connect any sensor to any shooters, regardless of domain. For instance, one aspect of JADC2 is ensuring that data collected by space-based sensors can be processed, transferred to a command-and-control node where it can be fused with other sensor data, and distributed to the appropriate shooter in near-real time. The Air Force has pursued this JADC2 vision by investing in the Advanced Battle Management System family of systems. ABMS seeks to bring the internet of things to the battlefield with an open architecture. The Air Force began testing ABMS last year and is set to conduct its next test in August or September. The Air Force contracts, with a ceiling of $950 million total, will provide maturation, demonstration and proliferation of JADC2-related capabilities across platforms and domains. Contractors will be expected to leverage open-system designs, modern software and algorithm developments to enable the JADC2 vision. Twenty-eight companies will compete for task orders under the new indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts. Several of the vendors selected are not traditional DoD contractors, highlighting the Air Force's desire to include novel commercial approaches to ABMS. “We want a wide variety of companies, and we definitely want fresh blood in the ABMS competition, so there is a lot that can be contributed from companies that are commercially focused, that know a lot about data, that know a lot about machine learning and [artificial intelligence] and know a lot about analytics. Those are going to be the most important parts of the Advanced Battle Management System,” Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Will Roper told reporters May 14. While the announcement didn't delineate what each of the vendors would bring to the table, multiple vendors on the contract have provided technologies that fit into the JADC2 concept as well. For example, Persistent Systems supports the Wave Relay Tactical Assault Kit program, which provides multidomain communications and situational awareness to Air Force convoys. In a news release, Silvus Technologies announced it would supply its StreamCaster Mobile Ad hoc Networking radio systems for ABMS under the contract. Silvus says its technology can provide a high-bandwidth, tactical-edge network that connects assets across domains. That technology fits into meshONE, a part of ABMS focused on battlefield networks. MeshONE was used in the December 2019 ABMS test, and the new contract will provide more equipment for future tests. No funds were issued at the time of the award. Work is expected to be completed May 26, 2025. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/06/02/air-force-to-dole-out-nearly-1-billion-for-abms-development/

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  April 29, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  De nouvelles règles éthiques pour encadrer les armes autonomes

  Le Comité d'éthique du ministère des Armées, présidé par le conseiller d'État Bernard Pêcheur et composé de dix-huit membres civils ou militaires, dont l'ancien chef d'état-major, le général Henri Bentégeat, a rendu son avis sur les armes autonomes. Le comité préconise le renoncement aux SALA (système d'armes létales autonome), qui « rompraient la chaîne de commandement » ; « iraient à l'encontre du principe constitutionnel de nécessaire libre disposition de la force armée » ; « n'apporteraient aucune assurance quant au respect des principes du droit international humanitaire » et « seraient contraire à l'éthique militaire ». « Dans un horizon assez proche, nous pensons que des systèmes autonomes seront mis en œuvre par des États ou tenteront de l'être par des groupes terroristes », prévient toutefois Bernard Pêcheur. « Le refus des SALA ne doit pas concerner les « systèmes d'armes létaux intégrant de l'autonomie » (SALIA) », recommande donc le comité. À la différence des SALA, les SALIA autorisent une reprise du contrôle humain en ultime recours, même si la machine, « dans un espace-temps limité et sous conditions », acquiert une « autonomie décisionnelle, dans certaines fonctions critiques, telles que l'identification, la classification, l'interception, l'engagement ». Le comité détaille les conditions garantissant leur bon emploi : « responsabilité du commandement », « analyse des risques », « conformité » au droit, « entraînement » des militaires, « qualification des matériels ». Il recommande aussi de poursuivre la recherche sur l'intelligence artificielle ou sur les SALA pour « connaître la menace » et « être en mesure de la neutraliser ».

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  February 18, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  US Air Force Could Struggle to Grow Its Fleet

  By Jon Harper The Air Force hopes to ramp up to 386 squadrons by 2030, but it could face challenges just to maintain its current size. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the service would need significantly more funding annually than it has received in recent decades simply to replace aging airframes. The Air Force has about 5,600 aircraft, many of which are nearing the end of their service life, the nonpartisan research group noted in a recent report, “The Cost of Replacing Today's Air Force Fleet.” CBO estimates that replacing the planes in the current fleet one-for-one would cost an average of $15 billion a year (in fiscal year 2018 dollars) in the 2020s. That figure would rise to $23 billion in the 2030s and then drop back down to $15 billion in the 2040s. In comparison, appropriations for procuring new aircraft averaged about $12 billion per year between 1980 and 2017, and just $9 billion between 2010 and 2017, the report noted. “In CBO's projection, the procurement costs of new aircraft ... would rise to and remain at levels considerably above historical averages,” it said. Fred Bartels, a defense budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation's Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, said the Air Force is at risk of shrinking due to fiscal constraints, especially as other services such as the Navy seek to beef up their own force structures in the coming years. Even if the Air Force doesn't decline in size, modernization and force level increases could be delayed, he noted. “I can see the growth being slowed down a little bit here and there.” To maintain force structure, the Air Force might have to resort to life-extension efforts, he said. But that creates its own set of problems. “Your aircraft cost even more to operate because you're ... [holding] together a 50-year-old airplane,” Bartels said. “You're just creating different challenges all the time and you're increasing your [operation and maintenance] costs, which in turn decreases the availability of resources that you have to procure a new platform. So you end up in that vicious cycle.” Delaying modernization also puts the U.S. military at risk of falling behind the technological curve as it faces advanced adversaries. “You can't expect the same aircraft to still represent air superiority 30 years from when it's first released,” he said. The Air Force has been conducting an assessment to determine its force structure and modernization needs for the 2020s. Officials have concluded that the service would need 386 squadrons by 2030 to fulfill the requirements of the latest national defense strategy, which was released last year. It currently has 312 squadrons. The final results of the study are expected to be delivered to Congress in March. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen “Seve” Wilson said the service will present a strategy-driven assessment, not a “budget-driven strategy.” “The force that we think we need for the war fight that we think we need to be prepared for, is that 386 [squadrons],” he said during an interview with National Defense at the Reagan National Defense Forum in December. “We're going to continue to ... have that dialogue with both the House and the Senate.” http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2019/2/14/air-force-could-struggle-to-grow-its-fleet