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October 4, 2018 | International, Aerospace

DGA - Une étude pour le NH90 Forces Spéciales

Par Emmanuel Huberdeau

La DGA a notifié une étude pour un système d'aide à la vision des pilotes d'hélicoptères en environnements dégradés qui sera intégré sur la version du NH90 destinée aux forces spéciales.

La Direction Génerale de l'Armement (DGA) a annoncé l'attribution de cette étude le 3 octobre 2018. Elle concerne le concept de « caméra grand champ » développé par Safran sous l'appellation « Eurofl'eye ». Un système qui avait été présenté au dernier salon Eurosatory. Le système doit aider les pilotes à visualiser leur environnement dans des conditions de visibilité très dégradées. « Eurofl'eye » est composé d'une boule optronique et de quatre paires de capteurs. Le système sera intégré sur la variante du NH90 destiné aux forces spéciales.

Cette version du NH90, dérivée du NH90 TTH Caïman Terre, comprend aussi l'intégration d'un boule gyrostabilisée de Safran et d'un affichage numérique pour le casque Topowl de Thales.

Selon la DGA, des tests au sol puis sur les simulateurs et les hélicoptères banc d'essais de la DGA à Istres sont prévus. Le 4e Régiment d'Hélicoptères des Forces Spéciales (4eRHFS), futur utilisateur des appareils, sera impliqué dans toutes les étapes de qualification du système.

La loi de programmation militaire 2019-2025 prévoit la commande de dix NH90 en variante « Forces Spéciales » dont six livrés d'ici 2025. Ces appareils devraient remplacer les H225M Caracal actuellement employés par le 4e RHFS et dont le transfert à l'armée de l'Air est évoqué depuis plusieurs années.

http://www.air-cosmos.com/une-etude-pour-le-nh90-forces-speciales-115611

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  • Bell collaborates on Micro-Unmanned Aerial Systems

    September 6, 2018 | International, Aerospace

    Bell collaborates on Micro-Unmanned Aerial Systems

    Researchers from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and Bell Helicopter met in June 2018 to focus on the development of micro unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The project surrounds what Bell describes as miniature, lightweight reconnaissance vehicles that soldiers can carry onto the battlefield and deploy in a confined space. The collaboration began after Bell representatives travelled to Adelphi, Maryland, to attend an open campus event at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in November 2016. After a year and a half of information sharing, the two parties signed a five-year cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) in March 2018. “We're trying to get data on the fundamental level, to build up a knowledge base of vehicles, because their expertise is in designing the vehicles, whereas our expertise is the fundamentals of them,” said Dr. John Hrynuk, a mechanical engineer in ARL's Vehicle Technology Directorate (VTD). “We want new technology; they want new vehicles. Together, we want to enhance technologies for the soldiers – that's what makes it the absolute perfect collaboration.” Bell engineers Dakota Easley and Levi Hefner recently visited ARL to perform experiments on micro UAS using the facility's wind tunnel. Bell explains the visit was prompted by vehicle control challenges its researchers had observed in early flight testing. With the help of ARL scientists and equipment, according to Bell, the engineers were able to isolate their earlier challenges and improve the performance of the aerial vehicle. “The wind tunnel here at ARL has been beneficial in providing data that explains why certain things are happening on the control side. Now we're able to better analyze our tests to enhance the performance of our vehicles,” Hefner said. “This collaboration is great because we're heading into a new design space with these small vehicles.” https://www.wingsmagazine.com/news/bell-micro-uas-15855

  • DIU awards $45M contract for weapon systems cybersecurity

    May 13, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security

    DIU awards $45M contract for weapon systems cybersecurity

    Andrew Eversden The Defense Innovation Unit awarded a $45 million to a Silicon Valley-based tech startup to perform cybersecurity testing on Defense Department weapon systems' applications, the company announced May 11. The company, ForAllSecure, has been prototyping its cybersecurity testing platform, known as Mayhem, with DoD components for more than three years. DIU made the award on the five-year contract April 23, a ForAllSecure spokesperson said. ForAllSecure is working with the Air Force 96th Cyberspace Test Group, the Air Force 90th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) and the U.S. Army Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center (C5ISR). The same DoD users have worked with ForAllSecure throughout the prototyping process for the company's platform, which finds bugs in applications and shows the user how they can be triggered. The platform will allow for a continuous testing for vulnerabilities in weapons systems. “One of the problems that [the department] run[s] into is this idea that there's a point in time when you're done" with cybersecurity," said David Brumley, chief executive officer of ForAllSecure. "It all comes down to how quickly can you test and retest.” In the last few years of prototyping, the company went through 10 iterations of Mayhem. One significant piece the company added to those iterations were cybersecurity tutorials for users. ForAllSecure's work on Mayhem started before a troubling report from the Government Accountability Office that highlighted several cybersecurity challenges and shortfalls that the Defense Department's weapons systems faced in light of potential advanced cyberattacks. “If you look at the GAO report, they simply weren't embedding cybersecurity testing in the process at all," Brumley said. “So this is adding this common sense measure and it's automating it.” In 2016, the company's Mayhem platform won the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Cyber Grand Challenge, an automated defensive cybersecurity competition. That victory came with a $2 million prize. Since that victory, Brumley said that the company has run into a few unique challenges working with other DoD components, particularly around installing the platform. “When DARPA has their contest, it really only has to work for the developers,” Brumley said. “When you go to a product, you have to go to an unknown site, you have to install. You have to repeatedly do that.” https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2020/05/12/diu-awards-45m-contract-for-weapon-systems-cybersecurity/

  • Northrop Grumman, MBDA and Saab Demonstrate the Integration of Disparate Missile and Radar Systems into Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Manager

    November 27, 2019 | International, C4ISR

    Northrop Grumman, MBDA and Saab Demonstrate the Integration of Disparate Missile and Radar Systems into Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Manager

    HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Nov. 26, 2019 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), MBDA and Saab have successfully completed a joint, collaborative effort to demonstrate the ability to integrate MBDA's Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) family and Saab's Giraffe radar system family into Northrop Grumman's Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS). CAMM was the first non-U.S. missile system to be demonstrated with IBCS earlier this year, and Giraffe represents the first non-U.S. sensor system to be demonstrated. The three companies demonstrated rapid and functional integration during simulated threat scenarios that included simultaneous engagements. Simulated air targets were fed to the Giraffe radar emulator, which passed the radar information to IBCS to assess and track threats. IBCS operators planned and executed optimized engagements based on that data using the CAMM missile emulators which engaged multiple threats simultaneously. IBCS then closed the loop by displaying the outgoing missiles detected and reported by the Giraffe emulators. The event successfully demonstrated both Distributed Fire Direction and Advanced Integrated Fire Control engagements. “Building on lessons learned from the CAMM family integration, we were able to integrate the Giraffe radar onto the IBCS network even more rapidly and cost effectively, continuing to demonstrate the dynamic and flexible nature of IBCS's open architecture in adding capabilities when and as needed,” said Bill Lamb, director, international battle management, Northrop Grumman. “Together we are creating a revolutionary IAMD enterprise that maximizes the combat potential of all sensors and weapons across all domains and fills gaps in today's air defense capabilities.” MBDA's CAMM family is the next generation of air defense missiles for multi-domain applications. Designed to defeat the most challenging of modern and future threats, including saturation attacks by precision-guided munitions and maneuvering high-speed missiles attacking simultaneously from multiple directions, the CAMM family of missiles feature a solid-state active radar seeker, two way data-link, low-signature rocket motor and a 360° soft-vertical launch system. “This represents the latest successful demonstration of the flexibility of the CAMM family, which has been designed from the ground up to operate within a modern network-centric open IAMD architecture. In this event we were able to demonstrate multiple simultaneous engagements of a full range of contemporary threats, using targeting information from networked surveillance sensors,” said Ben Newland, ground based air defence programme head, MBDA. Saab's Giraffe AMB radar delivers key capabilities as part of short- and medium-range surveillance and Ground Based Air Defence. It integrates powerful 3D surveillance radar and C3 functionality in one and the same system and provides forces with swift understanding of the air situation, enabling immediate and effective response to changing threats, new tactics and shifting operational conditions. “We are delighted to see this demonstration of integration of the Giraffe radar onto the IBCS network, contributing both directly to the demonstrated “sense-assess-engage” chain and to the wider Integration Air and Missile Defense with the level of interoperability delivered by IBCS,” said Lars Tossman, vice president and head of Saab business unit Radar Solutions. IBCS creates a paradigm shift for IAMD by replacing legacy stove-piped systems with a next-generation, net-centric approach to better address the evolving complex threat. The system integrates disparate radars and weapons to construct a far more effective IAMD enterprise. IBCS delivers a single integrated air picture with unprecedented accuracy and broadens surveillance and protection areas. With its open systems architecture, IBCS allows incorporation of current and future sensors and effectors and interoperability with joint C2 and the ballistic missile defense system. IBCS is managed by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. With more than 90 armed forces customers worldwide, MBDA is a world leader in missiles and missile systems. In total, the group offers a range of 45 missile systems and countermeasures products already in operational service and more than 15 others currently in development. MBDA is jointly owned by Airbus (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%), and Leonardo (25%). Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services and solutions within military defence and civil security. Saab has operations and employees on all continents around the world. Through innovative, collaborative and pragmatic thinking, Saab develops, adopts and improves new technology to meet customers' changing needs. Learn more at www.saab.com. Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, space, strike, and logistics and modernization to customers worldwide. Please visit news.northropgrumman.com and follow us on Twitter, @NGCNews, for more information. View source version on Northrop Grumman Corporation: https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-mbda-and-saab-demonstrate-the-integration-of-disparate-missile-and-radar-systems-into-integrated-air-and-missile-defense-battle-manager

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