November 3, 2020 | International, Naval
By: Sam LaGrone
November 2, 2020 6:52 PM
The Navy's next attack submarine will feature technology in the Columbia-class program and be significantly larger than the current class of the Virginia-class attack submarines, the chief executive of BWX Technologies said on Monday as part of the company's third-quarter earnings call.
The head of the company that builds the nuclear reactors for the Navy's aircraft carriers and submarines said the follow-on to the Virginia SSN would be significantly larger than the current crop of attack boats.
“We do expect it will be a larger type of submarine, probably in the size class of the Columbia, but there's not much more to tell than that. But we're working with our Navy customer in what that would look like and how we could take that into production,” Rex Geveden said.
“It has the moniker SSN(X) until it gets a class name, and there's some thought, discussion and analysis. It would be the follow-on to the Virginia fast-attack submarine, and it would feather in sometime in the late 2030s.”
USNI News understands that Geveden was referring to the submarine's diameter rather than its underwater displacement. The Columbia class is planned to displace about 20,000 tons – about 2,000 more than the current Ohio ballistic missile submarines. The current Virginias displace about 8,000 tons. The Columbia-class hulls are about 42-feet in diameter, while the Virginias are 36-feet wide.
A wider hull for submarines can improve characteristics like stealth, allowing ship designers to build in more sound-deadening technology and allow room to develop systems to increase a boat's speed, but it is more expansive to build.
The comments are in line with remarks from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday, who called for the development of a more aggressive attack submarine as a lynchpin of future fleet build-up.
“The advantage we have in the undersea is an advantage that we need to not only maintain, but we need to expand. I want to own the undersea for forever because I know that I can be really lethal from the undersea,” he said last month.
“When you think attack boat, you're thinking, that can move around the timing and tempo of an operational commander's need to deliver ordinance on target in a timely fashion. And so it's got to be a fast sub as well.”
After the Cold War, the U.S. submarine fleet pivoted from the deep-diving, heavily armed Seawolf-class of attack submarines to the Virginia-class, which was optimized to perform signals intelligence and special operations missions in the littorals.
“Specifically, the Navy indicates that the next-generation attack submarine should be faster, stealthier, and able to carry more torpedoes than the Virginia class—similar to the Seawolf-class submarine,” the CBO said in late 2018.
The return to a more heavily armed, faster submarine is in line with the latest National Security Strategy that places Russia and China at the top of the threat list.
Geveden was optimistic on BWXT's outlook for work to build reactors for the Navy's carriers and submarines well into the future.
“The nuclear operations groups has really ramped up on the first Columbia, and we are having expectational performance on that program for the Navy customer, and we anticipate another order in the next multi-year pricing agreement,” he said.
“We also had an exceptional year of performance on aircraft carriers benefitting from the acceleration of the Ford-class and believe this program will continue for decades as the U.S.'s main force projection asset.”
While the company is bullish on the outlook for submarine work, it remains unclear at what rate the Navy will be buying them.
Like General Dynamics Electric Boat, which briefed investors last week, BWXT has not received a clear signal from the Navy that it would need to build submarines at the rate of three a year, in line with a call from Secretary of Defense Mark Esper as part of his Battle Force 2045 plan.
“In the previous shipbuilding plan, there were 48 fast attack submarines. In the current one, it went to 66. Esper said he was looking at something like 70 to 80 fast attack submarines in the fleet,” Geveden said.
“When we last discussed any capital needs around that, what we said was if there was a single year of a third Virginia, we could probably accommodate that without any additional buildout. We haven't evaluated a permanent three-Virginia tempo, and we haven't discussed any capital needs around that, but we would have to invest in that case.”
November 19, 2021 | International, Aerospace
To fulfil this agreement, GAL signed another contract with a separate Edge subsidiary, AMMROC, to perform the maintenance at the latter's Al Ain facility, which was first unveiled at the 2019 Dubai Airshow.
November 25, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Burak Ege Bekdil ANKARA, Turkey — A privately owned Turkish company says it has developed an artificial intelligence-based software for swarm drones. MilSOFT announced Nov. 19 it developed the software after four years of research, and the the technology could be used in both fixed- and rotary-wing drone platforms. A government aerospace official said swarm drones would be used in Turkey's future unmanned aerial combat concept due to their low hardware costs and stealth technology. “These drones could be ideal in asymmetrical warfare. They are quick, cost-effective and easy to operate,” the official said. “Most importantly, they are assets designed to minimize human loss in asymmetrical warfare.” The Turkish military has been operating a big fleet of tactical and armed drones primarily in combat against Kurdish militants in Turkey's southeast provinces but also in cross-border operations in northern Syria and Iraq. Turkish drones have also been used in Libya's civil war and, most recently, in conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Many countries have yet to try drone swarm technology in a simulated, controlled environment. Turkey is among those that have the technology and the ability to test it in the field during operations. Turkey's top procurement office, the Presidency for Defense Industries, launched its Swarm UAV Technology Development and Demonstration program with a view to develop algorithms and software for the use of unmanned platforms with a swarm capability. The program is also meant to involve micro-scale companies as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. MilSOFT has specialized in software solutions since 1998, and it is one of the participants of the government-run program. It has been offering products to the Turkish military for tasks including identifying detection by automatic moving target technology using AI, and machine-learning techniques with image-processing algorithms. The company said with the integration of intelligence and image evaluation products, drone swarms can be updated with additional capabilities such as reconnaissance, detection, recognition, search and rescue, and vehicle tracking. MilSOFT's software-based solution will allow drone swarms to be launched from aerial, land and naval platforms, and the images they obtain will enter a central command system. In the meantime, the drone flocks will transfer images between different military units with a relay function. AI technology can help catch elements that cannot be caught by the human eye and enable multiple attack capabilities by arming vehicles in operation. MilSOFT's AI-based software is also expected to enable swarm drones to perform frontal attacks on command from helicopters and provide operational support to other friendly platforms. The drones can reportedly operate autonomously from the beginning to the end of a mission, and can be instantly monitored and controlled via intelligence applications. The UAVs have a flight time of more than half an hour and a payload capacity of 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds). The vehicles work with landing gear that can land on rough terrain. While five UAVs are currently used in a herd in the field, this number can reach up to 25 in a controlled environment. MilSOFT aims to make a drone swarm of 50 operational vehicles. Communication between the drones is also provided by MilSOFT's own technology. Vehicles can communicate with each other from up to 500 meters. There is also a 10-kilometer network solution for data transfers. MilSOFT plans to integrate its technology for underwater and surface platforms as well as land vehicles. https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/11/24/turkish-firm-develops-ai-powered-software-for-drone-swarms/
July 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
Air & Cosmos consacre un article aux performances du nouveau radar à balayage électronique Captor E-Scan. Airbus Defence and Space a récemment remporté un contrat pour le développement, la fourniture et l'intégration de 115 radars Eurofighter E-Scan destinés à la flotte allemande et espagnole d'Eurofighter. Ce radar, opérant en bande X, améliore « la portée efficaces des missiles air-air de l'avion et permet une détection et un suivi plus rapides et précis de plusieurs aéronefs en même temps », rappelle le magazine. « Le contrat pour le radar Captor E-Scan est une réalisation majeure pour équiper l'Eurofighter de capteurs qui assurent aujourd'hui la domination de l'avion », a déclaré Dirk Hoke, CEO d'Airbus Defence and Space. Air & Cosmos du 3 juillet