Houthi rebels claim they shot down another US MQ-9 Reaper drone

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  May 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Raytheon to move Albuquerque operations to other US sites

  By: The Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A national aerospace and defense contractor has confirmed plans to pack up operations in New Mexico and move to Arizona and elsewhere. Raytheon Technologies Corp. will close its office in Albuquerque, where it employs about 200 people, the Albuquerque Journal reported Tuesday. Company spokeswoman Heather Uberuaga said Raytheon is looking to streamline its capabilities with pursuits and programs located at other sites around the country. She described the move as being in the best interest of customers and said the company will work with employees on individual options for employment going forward. That could include transferring to a new site or applying for different positions within the company. All laid-off workers will receive severance packages, and health care coverage will continue during the severance. Raytheon's Albuquerque division has worked closely in recent years with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base to develop modern laser and microwave weapons. That work will be transferred to Raytheon Missiles and Defense headquarters in Tucson, Arizona. Raytheon expanded its operations at the Sandia Science and Technology Park on Albuquerque's south side in 2017. The company received $850,000 in economic development funding from the state to offset the expansion costs. Uberuaga said that money has been returned. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/05/20/raytheon-to-move-albuquerque-operations-to-other-us-sites/

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  September 7, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  It’s Now Possible To Telepathically Communicate with a Drone Swarm

  BY PATRICK TUCKER DARPA's new research in brain-computer interfaces is allowing a pilot to control multiple simulated aircraft at once. A person with a brain chip can now pilot a swarm of drones — or even advanced fighter jets, thanks to research funded by the U.S. military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The work builds on research from 2015, which allowed a paralyzed woman to steer a virtual F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with only a small, surgically-implantable microchip. On Thursday, agency officials announced that they had scaled up the technology to allow a user to steer multiple jets at once. “As of today, signals from the brain can be used to command and control ... not just one aircraft but three simultaneous types of aircraft,” said Justin Sanchez, who directs DARPA's biological technology office, at the Agency's 60th-anniversary event in Maryland. More importantly, DARPA was able to improve the interaction between pilot and the simulated jet to allow the operator, a paralyzed man named Nathan, to not just send but receive signals from the craft. “The signals from those aircraft can be delivered directly back to the brain so that the brain of that user [or pilot] can also perceive the environment,” said Sanchez. “It's taken a number of years to try and figure this out.” In essence, it's the difference between having a brain joystick and having a real telepathic conversation with multiple jets or drones about what's going on, what threats might be flying over the horizon, and what to do about them. “We've scaled it to three [aircraft], and have full sensory [signals] coming back. So you can have those other planes out in the environment and then be detecting something and send that signal back into the brain,” said Sanchez. The experiment occured a “handful of months ago,” he said. It's another breakthrough in the rapidly advancing field of brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, for a variety of purposes. The military has been leading interesting research in the field since at least 2007,. And in 2012, DARPA issued a $4 million grant to build a non-invasive “synthetic telepathy” interface by placing sensors close to the brain's motor centers to pick up electrical signals — non-invasively, over the skin. But the science has advanced rapidly in recent years, allowing for breakthroughs in brain-based communication, control of prosthetic limbs, and even memory repair. https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/09/its-now-possible-telepathically-communicate-drone-swarm/151068

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  April 22, 2021 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  L’alliance entre SDTS et SECAERO donne naissance à ARES (Advanced Redair European Squadron), un nouveau leader européen des services aériens de plastronnage et de simulation

  Implantée sur l'aéroport de Nîmes-Garons, SDTS est spécialisée dans l'entraînement opérationnel et les missions de type « REDAIR – Aggressor Squadron ». Entreprise partenaire notamment de la Marine nationale, elle dispose d'une flotte de 9 avions MB-339 (Aermacchi) auxquels s'ajoutent un Cessna et un ULM. Quant à SECAERO, l'entreprise est domiciliée sur l'aérodrome de Valence-Chabeuil, et spécialisée dans la maintenance, la modernisation d'avions et d'hélicoptères, et la formation des mécaniciens. Sa flotte est composée de neuf MB-339 (Aermacchi), Cessna 337, un CTSW (ULM), deux hélicoptères Merlin (Agusta Westland Leonardo) en location. La nouvelle entreprise sera spécialisée dans l'entraînement aérien opérationnel de type REDAIR ou ADAIR pour Adversary Air Services, la maintenance aéronautique de type MRO/MCO, le développement et la fabrication d'équipements optroniques. ARES affiche ses ambitions dans son communiqué de presse « ARES projette d'investir, en liaison avec le constructeur Dassault-Aviation, le motoriste Safran et l'équipementier Thales, dans la modernisation de sa flotte avec des Mirage 2000, avions de 4e génération, supersoniques équipés de radar, pour répondre et s'adapter avec le plus haut niveau de réalisme aux besoins d'entrainement opérationnel grandissants des Forces armées françaises et européennes ». Lignes de défense, 22 avril