April 30, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Air Force New Fighter Jet: Sixth-Generation Tech, Capabilities
Engineers are already sketching out must-have technology for sixth-generation fighters, including the Air Force’s secret new fighter jet.
June 25, 2020 | International, Naval
Dutch leading role for German Frigate project MKS-180
June 19, 2020 - On June 19th Damen Shipyards Group and the German Bundesamt fur Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr signed the contract for the construction of four MKS-180 frigates for the German Navy. Damen is the main contractor for this complex project which it is undertaking, together with partners Blohm+Voss and Thales, in Germany.
The combination of companies was previously declared the winner of a European tender; the largest in the history of the German Navy. On 17 June, the necessary financial resources were released by the German Bundestag budget committee. The contract marks the start of the design and construction phase.
Approximately 80% of the project investment remains in Germany as added value. The vessels will be built at Blohm+Voss in Hamburg, but partly also at other shipyard locations in Germany, including Bremen, Kiel and Wolgast. Besides this, approximately 100 small and medium-sized companies from the maritime industry, mechanical engineering and plant construction sectors will be involved in the implementation. These companies originate from almost all German states.
Hein van Ameijden, Managing Director Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding: “I am convinced that with the MKS-180 project, we are building a high-quality frigate that meets all the wishes of the German Navy. It is a German-Dutch project. We are already working well with our partners in Germany; Luerssen, Blohm+Voss, and Thales. The project also offers prospects for further European cooperation. The many years of cooperation between Damen and Thales as part of the Dutch golden ecosystem is an important factor in this success. If the Netherlands continues to invest in innovative projects for its own navy, we can further expand our role within European naval construction. That's good for the Netherlands' strategic role, which fits in with the Defence Industry Strategy.”
The German added value and knowledge development also apply to Thales's mission systems acquired within the project. Approximately 70% is supplied by Thales's German branches in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven. This is done in close cooperation with numerous subcontractors.
Gerben Edelijn, CEO of Thales Netherlands: “This historic contract for both the German Navy and Thales is a significant milestone in more than 50 years of cooperation, and confirms our worldwide leading position in the field of high-end naval mission systems. The women and men on board of these innovative frigates can rely on the latest technologies in the field of cyber defense, radar and fire control. The AWWS system, developed for the Netherlands and Belgian Navies, will soon also enable the German Navy to withstand threats of today and the coming decades.”
Damen, Lürssen, Bohm+Vos and Thales are delighted with the confidence that the German government places in it. The implementation of the project will begin soon and involves the delivery of four frigates between 2027 and 2031 for an amount of approximately 4.6 billion euros. There is also an option to supply two more frigates after 2032.
View source version on Damen Shipyards Group: https://nlnavy.damen.com/dutch-leading-role-for-german-frigate-project-mks-180/
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May 1, 2019 | International, C4ISR
DARPA Tests Advanced Chemical Sensors
DARPA's SIGMA program, which began in 2014, has demonstrated a city-scale capability for detecting radiological and nuclear threats that is now being operationally deployed. DARPA is building off this work with the SIGMA+ initiative that is focused on providing city- to region-scale detection capabilities across the full chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive threat space. DARPA initiated a SIGMA+ pilot study last year known as ChemSIGMA to provide initial data and insights into how new chemical sensors using the existing SIGMA network would function. The chemical sensor package incorporates a chemical sensor, wind sensor and communications board into a weatherproof housing. Sensors report wind readings and real-time chemical information to a central cloud-hosted suite of fusion algorithms. “The algorithms were developed using a custom simulation engine that fuses multiple detector inputs,” said Anne Fischer, program manager in DARPA's Defense Sciences Office. “We built the algorithms based on simulant releases in a large metropolitan area – so we took existing data to build the algorithms for this network framework. With this network, we're able to use just the chemical sensor outputs and wind measurements to look at chemical threat dynamics in real time, how those chemical threats evolve over time, and threat concentration as it might move throughout an area.” In the pilot study, DARPA researchers from MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Physical Sciences Inc., and Two Six Labs, built a small network of chemical sensor packages. In partnership with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Marion County Health Department, DARPA's performer teams deployed the network on-site at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late April 2018. The chemical sensor network and the data collected during events such as the 2018 Indianapolis 500 were critical to the DARPA effort, allowing the team to assess the performance of the sensors and network algorithms. These tests were conducted in an urban environment to ensure that the system could handle complex and stochastic signals from species that are ever present in a city's chemical background. Significantly, the network-level algorithm successfully improved system performance by correctly suppressing false detection events at the individual detector level. The group of DARPA researchers was also able to collect a large relevant data set and valuable user feedback that will guide ongoing system development efforts. Further testing with safe simulant/concert smoke at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, August 2018 During additional tests in August 2018, a non-hazardous chemical simulant was released in the empty Indianapolis Motor Speedway at a realistic threat rate. Concert fog was also released to serve as a visible tracer. The propagation of the visible tracer was observed in aerial photography, and ChemSIGMA sensors and algorithms determined the release location with unprecedented accuracy. The web-based ChemSIGMA interface allows the user to view alerts in real time across a variety of devices. Multiple trials were conducted over the course of several days assessing performance over a variety of meteorological conditions. Releases occurred during daytime and nighttime with a full range of wind directions and speeds. The ChemSIGMA prototype system detected all of the simulant releases and generated zero false alarms over the course of testing. Department of Defense simulant testing at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, October 2018 “We're looking at how we might make this network more robust and more mature,” Fischer said. “For example, we implemented a network at Dugway Proving Ground as part of a DoD test for simulant releases, and have shown that the network can respond to a number of chemical simulant threats different than those used in Indianapolis, as well as built-in capabilities for mobile releases. Over the past few months, the team has used these data sets to further refine the algorithms, and plans to integrate and test them with the ChemSIGMA system in test events scheduled later this year.” The successful pilot and simulant test of the ChemSIGMA system at the Indy500 and Dugway Proving Ground provided valuable, relevant, and realistic data sets for validation and verification of the source localization and plume propagation algorithms. DARPA is currently extending the capabilities for networked chemical detection by advancing additional sensor modalities, including short-range point sensors based on techniques, such as mass spectrometry, and long-range spectroscopic systems. As these systems are further developed and matured, they will be integrated into the SIGMA+ continuous, real-time, and scalable network architecture to increase the system's capabilities for city-scale monitoring of chemical and explosive threats and threat precursors. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-04-30
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July 16, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Le SCAF, un programme crucial pour la France
Safran et Dassault Aviation ont qualifié le programme du Système de combat aérien du futur (SCAF) de « projet existentiel », selon un rapport d'information du Sénat d'Hélène Conway-Mouret (PS) et de Ronan Le Gleut (Les Républicains) sur ce projet. « Le programme SCAF n'a sans doute pas tout à fait le même degré d'importance et d'urgence pour chacun des partenaires, notent pourtant les deux auteurs. Pour la France, le SCAF est existentiel à la fois pour Dassault et pour Safran, qui ne peuvent pas se permettre de rester sans projet d'avion de combat et de moteur d'avion de combat. Les industriels allemands (Airbus et MTU au premier chef) ou espagnols ne sont pas tout à fait dans la même situation : il s'agit plutôt pour eux de monter en compétence dans ces domaines ». Surtout, estime le rapport, si le développement d'un avion européen n'est pas lancé, « la France et l'Allemagne devront sans doute se doter d'une solution non souveraine en 2040, rappellent les deux sénateurs. La France renoncerait ainsi à son autonomie stratégique ». La Tribune du 15 juillet 2020 – Le Figaro du 15 juillet 2020