July 21, 2023 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
US Navy ‘operationalizes’ drones in 4th Fleet exercise
US 4th Fleet is setting up the second unmanned systems hub for the Navy, and showcased its early work in UNITAS 2023.
June 12, 2018 | International, Aerospace
Dassault Aviation poursuit sa stratégie d'implantation en Belgique
Dassault Aviation a profité du salon Eurosatory pour signer ce 12 juin un protocole d'entente avec Thales Belgium pour l'implantation d'un centre d'excellence dédié à la cybersécurité en Belgique.
Cet accord s'inscrit dans le cadre des compensations industrielles liées à l'offre française de Rafale pour les forces aériennes belges. Les offsets liés au contrat prévoient au moins 20 milliards d'investissements sur 20 ans et concerneraient quelques 5 000 emplois. Dassault Aviation n'exclut pas un "regain d'activité" et une augmentation de ces chiffres en cas de signature. Quatre-vingt accords ont d'ores et déjà été signés par la Team Rafale pour renforcer les partenariats industriels entre les deux pays.
Parmi les coopérations envisagées, des centres de recherche sur l'interface homme-machine, la fabrication additive ou encore la simulation numérique, mais aussi la fondation d'un "centre de l'innovation" dans le domaine de la maintenance prédictive, ainsi que la mise en place d'un centre de maintenance Rafale.
Ces accords de coopération seront mis en place en cas de victoire du GIE Rafale en Belgique, "Les activités pourront être lancées immédiatement", explique-t-on chez l'industriel - qui dit rester confiant sur ses chances d'attribution du contrat, estimé à 3,6 milliards d'euros.
La France avait présenté à l'automne dernier une proposition "d'État à État" à la Belgique, sortant de fait de l'appel d'offres lancé en mars 2017 pour l'acquisition de 34 nouveaux avions de combat. Face à la proposition française, Lockheed Martin et son F-35, ainsi que le consortium Eurofighter - la compétition semblant davantage se jouer entre les avions français et américain.
On the same subject
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May 8, 2020 | International, Naval
Here’s the DARPA project it says could pull the Navy a decade forward in unmanned technology
David B. Larter WASHINGTON – A project inside the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has the potential to pull the Navy's unmanned surface vessel aspirations forward a decade, a senior DARPA official said Wednesday at the annual C4ISR Conference. DARPA's effort to develop a ship designed from the keel up to operate without humans, known as “NOMARS” for “no mariners,” is a separate effort from the Navy's quest to develop a family of large and medium unmanned surface vessels. But the benefits of that program, if successful, could be a giant leap forward for the concept the Navy is developing, said Mike Leahy, who heads the Tactical Technology Office at DARPA. The Navy “will only be able to go so far with where the technology has matured,” Leahy said. “What we're able to do is link to that group [developing USVs for the Navy], get information about what missions they are trying to accomplish, the sizing and other constraints, feed that into NOMARS project so that we can take the same class of ship – looking at the same ideas in terms of a hull form – and when we are successful we can dump that right into their tranche and pull that forward a decade from where it might have been on a traditional path.” The Navy and DARPA have been closely linked in efforts to develop unmanned platforms but DARPA's NOMARs will remain an independent effort, Leahy said. The Navy has “been involved in the source selection, they're involved in the testing we're doing, so that we can make sure that information is flowing,” Leahy said. “But we will reserve the right to take risks that may not be in the direction they want to go. Because sometimes learning what does not work is even more valuable than what does. “The physics is going to tell you what you need to know, and you can't cheat it.” Maintaining separate lines of effort is important because DARPA has the freedom to fail whereas failure in an acquisition program has higher stakes, he said. “NOMARS is going and looking at ‘Can I take people completely off ships,'” he explained. “That's a risky endeavor. We don't know if we're going to be able to do that. We don't know if that's going to pan out. You would not want to link an acquisition program directly to that.” Another Option The Navy is currently pursuing both a large and medium unmanned surface vessel that can perform missions for the surface Navy as a means of increasing aggregate naval power without wrapping a $2 billion hull around 96 missile tubes, as Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday has said publicly, referencing the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Maintaining separate lines of effort is important because DARPA has the freedom to fail whereas failure in an acquisition program has higher stakes, he said. “NOMARS is going and looking at ‘Can I take people completely off ships,'” he explained. “That's a risky endeavor. We don't know if we're going to be able to do that. We don't know if that's going to pan out. You would not want to link an acquisition program directly to that.” Another Option The Navy is currently pursuing both a large and medium unmanned surface vessel that can perform missions for the surface Navy as a means of increasing aggregate naval power without wrapping a $2 billion hull around 96 missile tubes, as Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday has said publicly, referencing the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. https://www.c4isrnet.com/2020/05/06/heres-the-darpa-project-it-says-could-pull-the-navy-a-decade-forward-in-unmanned-technology/
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October 5, 2021 | International, Naval
Alabama company wins contract for Navy and Coast Guard boats
A Gulf coast Alabama company just signed an $8 million dollar contract to design and build boats for the Navy and Coast Guard. Options could sweeten that deal to almost $52 million.