Here's what a 'green' ship design could look like for the Royal Navy

On the same subject

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  August 30, 2018 | International, Naval

  Navy Making Room for Railguns in Next Warship, But No Extra Investments

  By: Megan Eckstein THE PENTAGON – The Navy's next large surface combatant will have all the space, weight and power margins the sea service could need now and into the future to accommodate new weapons in development – but the director of surface warfare said the Navy would not accelerate weapons development to get them ready in time to outfit the new ships. Rear Adm. Ron Boxall, OPNAV N96, spoke to USNI News on Aug. 28, in his first interview on the Future Surface Combatant program since its initial capabilities document was signed out by leadership. Noting that the next large surface combatant would pull from some of the advances made with the Zumwalt-class destroyers (DDG-1000) – including potentially its integrated power system that could easily support laser guns, an electromagnetic railgun, powerful radars and other power-hungry technologies – Boxall told USNI News that the new large surface combatant represented an opportunity to put these technologies into the surface fleet whereas the legacy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers simply do not have the power and cooling capacity to do so. “We're just excited that we think we do have something that is expandable, has SWaP-C (space, weight, power and cooling) for the future. I think all of us were kind of a little bit nervous about the DDG Flight III and whether we'll have long-term ability to put future energy weapons on there, or the power that we need for directed energy, lasers, things like that,” he said. But just because the new ship will be able to support energy weapons doesn't mean Boxall wants to accelerate energy weapons development to ensure they're ready to field on the first new ships. He said moving to the Future Surface Combatant in 2023 is an “aggressive timeline” and that at some point the Navy will have to “snap the chalk line and say, this is what you have that's good enough to go on there” – and if a technology isn't ready, it would wait for fielding in a later block buy of the ship. With the Navy already seeking a new hull to better support the Aegis Combat System and the AN/SPY-6(V) Air and Missile Defense radar – collectively called the DDG-51 Flight III capability – Boxall said he didn't want to force too many changes all at once. “So I'm inclined to say, as long as we build it modularly, we're going to make those assessments in stride” in terms of inserting in new weapons as they come through the development process, he said. “But I don't want to get too crazy about trying to accelerate new technology in the first of the class as we change hulls, which will hopefully be a hull that will be with us for a very long time.” Full article: https://news.usni.org/2018/08/29/navy-making-room-railguns-next-warship-no-extra-investments

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  August 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Land

  American trucks land in Israel to support Iron Dome testing ahead of US Army delivery

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — A Ukrainian cargo plane that landed in Israel Aug. 3 carried trucks that will be used to support Iron Dome battery testing ahead of delivery in the United States, U.S. Army Futures Command confirmed. The Ukrainian plane was used to transport the trucks because of its capability to meet load requirements and delivery timelines, an AFC spokeswoman told Defense News. The U.S. Army has bought two Iron Dome batteries to fill a cruise missile threat gap as an interim solution while it continues to shape its future Indirect Fires Protection Capability being developed to battle against not just cruise missiles but unmanned aircraft threats, rockets, artillery and mortars. Congress mandated the Army buy and field two batteries no later than the end of fiscal 2020. The Oshkosh vehicles will be mated with the Iron Dome system and then be delivered to the United States in that form following factory acceptance testing in Israel. The first battery is expected to be shipped to the United States in December and the second in February, Brig. Gen. Robert Rasch, the U.S. Army's program executive officer for missiles and space, said at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium Aug. 4. While the Army has said it will not buy all-up Iron Dome systems as part of the IFPC program, officials developing the capability are considering incorporating parts of Iron Dome in the final solution. The service will conduct a shoot-off of best available options for integration into an enduring IFPC solution in the third quarter of fiscal year 2021. Rasch stressed the Army won't throw away its Iron Dome systems when IFPC comes online, but instead the service will continue to use the systems because it plans to ensure the batteries are interoperable with U.S. command-and-control capabilities. The Army plans to field Iron Dome by the end of the year, but it will still take time to train troops on the system before deployment. Some lawmakers are urging the Army to rapidly deploy the systems to the Middle East, arguing U.S. and coalition forces there need the protection from Iran and its proxies. As equipment to complete U.S. Iron Dome batteries arrived in Israel, American firm Raytheon Technologies and Israeli-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems have formed a joint venture to build the Iron Dome missile defense system in the United States. Under the name Raytheon Rafael Area Protection Systems, the partnership is being set up to build a first-ever Iron Dome “all-up-round” facility stateside. The facility will build Iron Dome systems, the Tamir interceptor and launcher, and the SkyHunter missile (the U.S. version of Tamir). Seth Frantzman, Defense News Israel-based correspondent, contributed to this report. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/smd/2020/08/04/american-trucks-land-in-israel-to-support-iron-dome-testing-ahead-of-us-army-delivery/

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  May 1, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Cinq candidats évalués jusqu’à fin juin

  Par Sébastien Galliker Avions de combatEurofighter, F/A-18 Super Hornet, Rafale, F-35A et Gripen E sont testés par Armasuisse sur la base de Payerne. Cinq avions de combat sont en lice pour remplacer les Tiger et les F/A-18 de l'armée suisse. Quatre jours de tests sont prévus pour chacun, selon l'ordre alphabétique. L'Eurofighter d'Airbus était le premier sur la sellette, dès le 11 avril. La phase de sélection du F/A-18 Super Hornet de Boeing a débuté le 29 avril. Le Rafale de Dassault suivra dès le 20 mai, puis le F-35A de Lockheed-Martin le 6 juin et enfin le Gripen E de Saab à partir du 24 juin. Pour chaque avion, Armasuisse a prévu un après-midi aux spotters et autres citoyens intéressés pour approcher l'avion respectif à l'intérieur de l'aérodrome militaire. Les places sont toutefois limitées et l'attrait du public et surtout des photographes est grand. «C'est un peu comme le Paléo pour s'inscrire, il faut être connecté au moment où les places sont ouvertes», commente un spotter. Armasuisse précise aussi sur son site qu'«il ne s'agit pas d'un meeting aérien. Aucune manœuvre supplémentaire, des loopings par exemple, ne sera présentée.» Les essais incluent huit missions comportant des t'ches spécifiques. Effectuées par un ou deux avions de combat, parfois en en solo par un pilote étranger pour le F-35A et le Gripen E qui sont des monoplaces et sinon en présence d'un ingénieur helvétique, ces missions consisteront en 17 décollages et atterrissages. Elles seront axées sur les aspects opérationnels, les aspects techniques et les caractéristiques particulières. «L'objectif n'est pas de sélectionner le meilleur avion, mais le meilleur pour la Suisse», avait présenté Christian Catrina, délégué du Conseil fédéral pour ce dossier, lors de sa présentation. La taille de la future flotte n'est pas encore déterminée, même si les prévisions oscillent entre 30 et 40 avions de combat. Le Conseil fédéral fera son choix à fin 2020, début 2021 et la facture totale sera de l'ordre de 8 milliards de francs, y compris la défense sol-air. La population suisse se prononcera sur cette acquisition, mais pourrait ne voter que sur l'achat des avions, pour un montant estimé de 6 milliards de francs. (24 heures) https://www.24heures.ch/news/news/cinq-candidats-evalues-jusqu-fin-juin/story/30895634