Centaurium UAS and Thales join forces to open Swiss skies to long-range drone operations

On the same subject

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  September 16, 2021 | International, Security

  Les Etats-Unis, le Royaume-Uni et l'Australie s'engagent dans un pacte de sécurité

  Les Etats-Unis, le Royaume-Uni et l'Australie annoncent la création d'AUKUS (Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States), une alliance dans le domaine de la défense. Londres et Washington aideront l'Australie à s'équiper de sous-marins à propulsion nucléaire. L'Australie a annulé un contrat conclu il y a six ans avec la France pour l'achat de 12 sous-marins à propulsion diesel-électrique sur la base du modèle Barracuda de la Marine française. Le ministre de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères, Jean-Yves Le Drian, et la ministre des Armées, Florence Parly, ont indiqué « prendre acte » de cette décision « regrettable » et « contraire à la lettre et à l'esprit de la coopération » entre la France et l'Australie, « au moment où nous faisons face à des défis sans précédent dans la région Indopacifique ». Ensemble de la presse du 16 septembre

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  August 28, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Astroscale US Targets DoD Sat Servicing Market

  By THERESA HITCHENS WASHINGTON: Japanese start-up Astroscale thinks its space junk technology can be used by the Pentagon for on-orbit satellite servicing, to build a foundation for its ultimate goal of building a space debris removal business, says Ron Lopez, president and managing director of the company's new US unit. “Debris removal is the immediate focus for the company, but there is a lot of [technology] applicability to adjacent areas of the market that end up leading to capabilities that the military needs,” Lopez explained in an interview. “DoD is a customer like any other, with a future need for servicing its own satellites to extend mission life.” For example, Astroscale's sensor and guidance technology that allows it to precisely rendezvous with a piece of debris could also be used by the Air Force to do the same with an active satellite, he said, to inspect it or to make repairs. Likewise, the firm's docking technology is applicable to many types of servicing missions, such as re-fueling, that are of interest to DoD. Astroscale US thus is seeking American partners to help it break into the military space marketplace — starting small with component and tech demos. “We are still in early stage of discussions, and trying to understand what the requirements are,” Lopez said. “We've been busy building partnerships with a lot of small- and mid-sized companies,” he added, to bring together “a very innovative set of technologies and capabilities” that can bring “value-added to the commercial marketplace and DoD as well.” Astroscale launched its US subsidiary in April, opening an office near Denver and is slowly building a staff (currently number four full time employees.) The US subsidiary expands the company from the Japanese headquarters, and branches in Singapore and the United Kingdom. It recently garnered another $30 million to its Series D funding that brings the total amount of capital raised in the round to $132 million, according to the corporate website. The company, founded by Japanese tycoon Nobu Okada in 2013, is fully aware that it is cannot make a business case for orbital debris removal today. There simply isn't a country or a customer ready to pay to fully develop the technology required at the moment; nor is it clear that even if the technology is there customers would be incentivized to pay someone to take out their trash if there is no legal requirement to do so. Indeed, there may even be legal obstacles since the 1967 Outer Space Treaty deems debris the property of the launching state, meaning that a garbage collector would need permission of the owner to do so. Therefore, on-orbiting servicing is a nearer-term mission that will allow the company to continue to thrive and grow. “On-orbit servicing can enable space debris removal,” Lopez summed up. “We are working with customers who have an interest in adjacent missions; those interests help us develop our core techology.” The Air Force actively has been exploring on-orbit servicing technologies through a series of small business and tech demo projects. For example, in July, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) updated its request for information (RFI) designed to help the service get a grip on the available industrial base for autonomous Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) and “InspectorSat capabilities,” as well as the limits of current commercial technologies. Responses were due Aug. 9. Further, the space industry is lobbying hard for the Commerce Department to issue new US government rules to ease development of on-orbit servicing technologies and spur the market via more coherent licensing obligations. Licensing for satellites that can perform proximity operations — that is, can safely maneuver around another satellite or a piece of debris, dock with that object, and perform some function such as re-fueling — currently falls between agency cracks. Meanwhile, the CONFERS consortium, led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working to develop industry-created best practices for such tricky space operations. Despite the hurdles for a non-US company to get its subsidiary fully credentialed to compete for DoD contracts, Lopez says being a wholly-owned Japanese company is a help, not a hindrance, because of the high level placed on cooperation in space by Tokyo and Washington. While bilateral and multilateral collaboration is often equated with simply “trying to fulfill political objectives,” Lopez stressed that it also helps the countries involved to reduce schedule and cost risks. “When we have real and evolving threats, the need is urgent and we have an environment where our tax dollars are constrained,” he said, “what that translates into is that collaboration is a way to reduce risks.” https://breakingdefense.com/2019/08/astroscale-us-targets-dod-sat-servicing-market/

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  June 4, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - June 03, 2020

  ARMY Skanska Koch Inc., Carteret, New Jersey, was awarded a $43,865,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of physical security/safety improvements in the New York City area. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in New York, New York, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 3, 2022. Fiscal 2018 civil construction funds in the amount of $43,865,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, New York, is the contracting activity (W912DS-20-C-0013). National Security Innovations Inc.,* Boston, Massachusetts, was awarded a $7,815,789 firm-fixed-price contract to conduct research using eight gray zone research topic areas. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Boston, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of June 2, 2025. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation, defense-wide funds in the amount of $7,815,789 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alexandria, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W5J9CQ-20-C-0004). Weeks Marine Inc., Covington, Louisiana, was awarded a $7,130,000 firm-fixed-price contract to furnish a fully crewed and equipped hydraulic pipeline cutterhead dredge on a rental basis. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Plaquemines, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 27, 2020. Fiscal 2020 civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,130,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-C-0027). Raytheon Lockheed Martin Javelin JV, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $7,060,279 modification (P00048) to contract W31P4Q-19-C-0038 for engineering services for Lightweight Command Launch Unit system qualification build initiation. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Army) funds in the amount of $7,060,279 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Honeywell Aerospace, Phoenix, Arizona, has been awarded a $41,632,751 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the compact strategic grade gyroscope. Work will be performed in Phoenix, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 28, 2025. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $5,103,247 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9453-20-C-0013). NAVY Lockheed Martin Corp., a Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded an $18,670,070 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-20-C-0052) for the procurement of maintenance and sustainment operations support for the Norway Italy Reprogramming Laboratory systems and consumables in support of the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the governments of Norway and Italy. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be complete by December 2022. Non-Department of Defense participant funds in the amount of $13,648,950 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 41 U.S. Code 253(c)(4). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Branscome Inc., Williamsburg, Virginia, is awarded a $16,920,452 firm-fixed-price contract (N40085-20-C-0031) for a design-bid-build, repair LP area runway and instrument landing system (ILS) installation located at Naval Station, Norfolk, Virginia. Work will be performed at Norfolk, Virginia. The work to be performed includes, but is not limited to: repair of LP Area Runway 10-28, which includes asphalt and concrete pavement maintenance and repairs, runway markings, runway rubber removal, partial reconstruction of runway pavement, demolition of paved no-taxi islands and incidental related work. For the ILS installation support, work includes the demolition of existing ILS equipment and their supporting concrete foundations, installation of antenna foundations and equipment pads including micro piling, grading and drainage improvements, access road construction and reinstallation of existing generators and transformers. This project will also include additional utility work consisting of underground electrical and communication systems and incidental related work. Work is expected to be complete by March 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $16,920,452 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Beta.SAM.gov website, and four proposals were received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. DRS Laurel Technologies, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is awarded an $8,830,253 firm-fixed-price modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-20-C-5605 to exercise an option and purchase additional consoles, displays, and peripherals (CDP) technical insertion (TI) 16, modification (MOD) 1 production equipment and spares to support the Navy's future surface ship combat systems. Work will be performed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The CDP program consists of a suite of TI 16 MOD 1 common display system (CDS) consoles, thin client displays, multi-mission displays and peripheral equipment. The CDS consoles are a set of open-architecture watch station three-eyed horizontal display consoles comprised of three different console variants: water cooled CDS (14-35 Hz), air cooled CDS (14-35 Hz), and air cooled CDS (8Hz). The CDP hardware provides the human machine interface between the sailor and the ships combat systems. Work is expected to be complete by December 2021. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (99.96%) and the government of Spain (0.04%) under the Foreign Military Sales program. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds; 2018 other procurement (Navy) funds; 2014 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds; 2019 other procurement (Navy) funds; 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds; 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds; 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds; and government of Spain and 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $8,830,253 will be obligated at time of award; funds in the amount of $152,639 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $7,681,241 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N00019-20-F-0692) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-19-G-0029. This order procures support to update existing CH-53K system/subsystem specifications produced by the original equipment manufacturer. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, and is expected to be complete by October 2022. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds for $7,681,241 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2207312/source/GovDelivery/