October 23, 2024 | International, Land
New Grandoreiro Banking Malware Variants Emerge with Advanced Tactics to Evade Detection
New variants of Grandoreiro malware emerge, using advanced tactics to evade detection and targeting banks globally.
August 15, 2019 | International, Aerospace
DARPA Invites Proposals For Active-Flow-Control X-Plane
By Graham Warwick
DARPA has formally launched a program to build and fly an X-plane designed around active flow control (AFC), potentially eliminating the need for moving control surfaces.
Designing from the ground up around AFC, rather than modifying an existing aircraft, is expected to yield performance and operational benefits.
A broad agency announcement (BAA) was released on Aug. 12 for the first two of four planned phases of the Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (Crane) program. A proposers' day is scheduled for Aug. 26 and proposals are due to be submitted by Nov. 8.
A budget of $21 million is available for multiple awards under the 12-month Phase 0, which will focus on the aircraft design process and understanding the trade space. DARPA expects performers to enter this phase with multiple candidate configurations and flow-control approaches. Each Phase 0 contract will end with a conceptual design review for one or more configurations.
Phase 1 will continue to mature up to two concepts and is expected to involve component-level testing and demonstrations to inform a system requirements review. This nine-month phase is planned to culminate in a preliminary design review for the proposed X-plane.
DARPA plans to downselect to one performer at the end of Phase 1 in second-quarter fiscal 2022 and award a contract for Phase 2 detailed design. This is planned to conclude in a critical design review and lead to a go/no-go decision in the second quarter fiscal of 2023 for Phase 3 building and flying of the X-plane.
First flight is planned for the third quarter of fiscal 2024. DARPA wants a “tactically relevant scale aircraft,” the BAA says. This may include a “clean-sheet design or modification of an existing aircraft.” The agency expects substantial use of off-the-shelf components for the flight demonstrator so that program resources can be focused on AFC development and testing.
AFC modifies the flow field around the aircraft using mechanical or fluidic actuators. The BAA specifically excludes using large external moving surfaces, mechanical vectoring of engine exhaust or other traditional moving aerodynamic control surfaces.
AFC applications identified in the BAA include eliminating moving control surfaces for stability and control and improving takeoff and landing performance, high-lift flight, thick-airfoil efficiency and high-altitude flight. Proposers may identify additional applications and benefits.
A NATO technical study involving Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and academic institutes in the U.S. and UK identified that an unmanned combat aircraft with AFC could have stealth and other potential performance benefits during the ingress and egress phases of a strike mission.
https://aviationweek.com/defense/darpa-invites-proposals-active-flow-control-x-plane
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December 31, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Budget Busters: What to Look For in 2019 and Beyond
By PAUL MCLEARY The release of the 2020 defense budget is still over a month away, and it's already been a wild ride. A look at what has happened, and what might happen next. WASHINGTON: If there's one complaint that has sounded a consistent across the Joint Chiefs and Pentagon leadership in recent years, it has been the lack of predictability in year-to-year funding. If there's one thing we have learned about President Trump, it's that nothing is certain until the very end. And even when there's a decision, it can be flipped, rehashed, tinkered with or forgotten about in the time it take to knock out a Tweet on phone. After two years of budget certainty in 2018-19, the 2020 submission was humming along at $733 billion — until it wasn't. In late October, the number plummeted (relatively speaking) to $700 billion, until the president was convinced by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis — not yet on his way out at the time — to rocket it up to $750 billion. But even that number isn't certain. Most analysts see the 2020 submission settling around the $733 billion level. Visiting US troops at the Al Asad air base on Dec. 26, the president gave the latest vague update. “I mean, I want to see costs come down, too. But not when it comes to our military. You have to have the finest equipment anywhere in the world, and you have that — $716 billion. And this year, again, we're going to be — don't tell anybody because nobody else knows — even a little bit higher.” Whatever the number is, it appears likely that incoming acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan will be the one to deliver and defend it on Capitol Hill in February, as Mattis has been told to leave by Jan. 1. It's unclear what effect the firing of Mattis will have on the process, or if there will be any significant strategic shifts for the department given the change in leadership. As budget guru Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told me this week — specifically in reference to the Space Force, but it really applies across the entire budget — “the thing to keep in mind is that this is, so far, just the Pentagon's proposal to the White House. It's not clear if the White House is going to agree to this. The president has a way of sticking to his ideas even if his own administration recommends otherwise.” Here are a few of the stories we've done over the past months breaking down what is happening, and what might — might — happen next. Full article: https://breakingdefense.com/2018/12/budget-busters-what-to-look-for-in-2019-and-beyond
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October 25, 2023 | International, Aerospace
US Air Force activates units dedicated to electronic warfare
“Our team here at Robins will identify what our weak points are, and be able to point us in the direction we need to go,” said Col. Josh Koslov.