Leidos awarded $276 million Defense Department contract to research and develop critical minerals and materials for use in munitions

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  October 22, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Roketsan chief says Tunisia interested in guided bombs for UAVs

  Lale Sariibrahimoglu Tunisia and Indonesia are both interested in acquiring Roketsan guided munitions for their future unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), according to Murat İkinci, the Turkish company's general manager. “Countries like Indonesia and Tunisia, which are in search of unmanned aerial vehicles, have a high demand for the procurement of mini smart munitions MAM-L and MAM-C, the main weapon systems mounted on the Turkish UAVs,” İkinci said in an interview with state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA) on 18 October. It was reported earlier this year that Tunisia had ordered six Anka-S systemsfrom Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), each with two UAVs. However, Africa Intelligence reported in September that the contract had been cancelled as Tunis could not find the funds. The Anka-S is the version of TAI's Anka family that has a satellite communications capability for beyond-line-of-sight operations. Roketsan's MAM-L and smaller MAM-C laser-guided bombs have been integrated with the Anka. These weapons have proved effective when used with the Bayraktar TB2, a smaller Turkish-made UAV, in Syria and Libya earlier this year. “Their usage in recent fights have changed the course of the operations in Turkey's favour,” İkinci noted. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/rokestan-chief-says-tunisia-interested-in-guided-bombs-for-uavs

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  January 31, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Defexpo 2020: UVision Announces a Joint Venture with Aditya Precitech for the Manufacture and Marketing of its Loitering Munitions in India

  January 29, 2020 UVision Air Ltd. - a global leader in the area of Loitering Munitions Systems of all sizes for a variety of missions‒ strengthens its presence in India and announces a joint venture with Aditya Precitech, an Indian company, for the manufacture and marketing of loitering munitions under the brand PALM (Precision Attack Loitering Munition) Hero Systems. These systems are already in service and combat-proven. AVision, the company formed under the joint venture agreement, addresses the needs of the Indian defense and paramilitary sectors. AVision will explore various opportunities in India for Loitering Munitions Systems with the intention of initiating a full range of activities including the design, manufacture, sales, maintenance, support, upgrading, and lifecycle management. The partners will also maintain a supply of spare parts for the warranty and post-warranty periods for current and future versions of the smart munitions systems. AVision will be responsible for and will provide the following: design, development manufacture and maintenance support for all PALM Hero series, marketing strategy development and implementation; facilities for the new company's operations; human resources and personnel; supply chain creation and implementation; platform integration; and, after-sale training and customer support services. Commenting on the Joint Venture, Shane Cohen, VP Sales & Marketing at UVision and AVision Board Member, said, “We are very pleased to have partnered with Aditya, a highly respected company with extensive experience as development partner for many of India's Defense Research and Development Organization's (DRDO) most important projects. Aditya has a skilled team able to produce a wide range of complex components, and is an ideal partner for our innovative, cost-effective loitering munitions systems designed for the battlefield of the future.” Regarding this partnership, Aditya's representative and Avision's CEO, Col. (ret.) Anil Yadav, remarked, “This Joint Venture is a major step forward enabling India to achieve significantly higher levels of self-sufficiency in the defense sector with the transfer of state-of-art cutting-edge technologies for the futuristic loitering munitions. We look forward to producing the full range of loitering munitions, which will be offered to India's military, paramilitary forces as an effective response to multiple threats with minimal collateral damage.” The PALM HERO Series and Simulation System will be showcased at the AVision booth Hall 1 R48 At Defexpo, we will also display the entire PALM HERO Series of Lethal Loitering Systems highlighting the high-precision PALM Hero-30 and the Long-Range PALM Hero-400EC as well as the recently launched PALM Hero-120 a modular, customizable loitering weapon system fitted for a variety of missions. The company will also demonstrate its advanced, user-friendly simulation system, allowing a hands-on experience for visitors. The PALM HERO Simulator is used for training forces on the HERO systems, thus avoiding the costs, risks and constraints inherent in live-fire missions. About UVision Air Ltd. UVision Air Ltd. designs and manufactures innovative, cost-effective, unmanned loitering munition systems for customers worldwide. With cutting-edge technology and 30 years of extensive field experience by a professional management team, UVision delivers highly unique aerodynamic platform configurations. The Hero series is comprised of advanced loitering munitions systems (Hero-20, Hero-30, Hero-70, Hero-120, Hero-250, Hero-400EC, Hero-900, Hero-1250), designed for different missions at various ranges using warheads of various types. The company's solutions are tailored for unique flight qualities, precision attack munitions, advanced airborne guidance and navigation systems, and C4 stations fully integrated with communication links. Extensive R&D has yielded a versatile series of loitering munitions systems that are suitable for tactical and strategic targets ‒ whether for short, medium or long ranges – and with a variety of warheads to ensure maximum mission effectiveness. With units deployed and field-proven by the Israel Defense Forces and other customers – including leading NATO countries – UVision is fully committed to providing its extensive network of partners and customers located around the world with high quality and fast-response support. About Aditya Precitech Aditya Precitech Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian MSME company which has been involved in almost all missile projects of the DRDO as a development partner to provide prototypes of critical subsystems and undertake serial production of the same. Over the years, Aditya has developed a core design and development team capable of independently developing components based on customer specifications in mechanical, electro-mechanical and electronic segments. Some of the innovative products from Aditya include Electro-Mechanical Actuators (Rotary as well as Linear), DC – DC convertors and Brushless DC Motors, apart from a whole range of fins, wings, control surfaces and motor casings for all types of missiles and rockets as well as some satellites. For more information on AVision, please visit www.avisionsystems.com Contact Details: Ms. Ronit Konfidan Marketing Communications Manager UVision Air Ltd. Email: ronit.k@uvisionuav.com Mobile: +972-52-3786665

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  October 29, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  US Army’s top uniformed IT official lays out priorities for new office

  Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army's new top military IT official has its eyes on several priorities to ensure that the service is prepared for multi-domain operations. Lt. Gen. John Morrison, the Army's first deputy chief of staff for the G-6, a new position created after the Army announced it would be splitting its CIO/G-6 office over the summer, told reporters Tuesday that his new office will focus on strategy, network architectures, and implementation of command, control, communications, and cyber operations efforts. To achieve that, Morrison laid out four pillars that will shape the role of the new G-6 office, which reached initial operating capability after he took over in August. The four pillars are establishing a unified network, positioning cyber and signal forces for multi-domain operations, reforming the cybersecurity process, and driving efficient and effective investments across the network and cyber. The unified network pillar is focused on vertical integration of the tactical network and enterprise networks to create a unified network that can meet the globally dispersed warfighting operations of the service. Right now, Morrison said, the enterprise network is focused on modernizing bases, posts, camps and installations, while the tactical network is centered around brigade combat teams. The unified network will be “imperative” for multi-domain operations, Morrison said. His office will work with Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems; PEO Command, Control, Communications-Tactical; and the Network Cross-Functional Team to establish the unified network he said the Army needs to enable Joint All-Domain Command and Control. “We break down the individual theater architectures, and we make it easy for formations that are actually in [the contiguous United States] to rapidly deploy to any area of operations and immediately plug in and start conducting operations, whether that's in competition or conflict,” Morrison said. “That needs to be ... our goal.” As for aligning cyber and signal forces for multi-domain operations, Morrison said that he will be looking at the training, talent management and operational frameworks while adjusting them over time to ensure those soldiers are used effectively during future battles. “That means making sure that we have signal and cyber, underpinned by intelligence, operating in a combined arms fashion in cyberspace to include electromagnetic spectrum,” Morrison said. The three-star also wants to take a “hard look” at the service's risk management framework (RMF) as part of reforming and operationalizing its cybersecurity process. He wants to move the Army away from a bureaucratic system with intermittent reviews to a system where cybersecurity is baked into a system before it's added to the network, then going back “periodically” to make sure there are no new vulnerabilities to the system. As the service works toward enabling multi-domain operations, Morrison is also focused on ensuring that the service is making effective and efficient investments in its network and cyber infrastructure so that it can make the JADC2 concept a reality. For example, Morrison said, his team is looking at what the joint force is doing with cyber so the Army makes investments to develop cyber capabilities that the service needs while ensuring it has links back to the joint force. It's especially important for the Army to be meticulous with its cyber and network investments as the Department of Defense as a whole prepares for flat budgets as the government funds are increasingly directed toward recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Morrison said. “We are probably entering into a time where budgets may not be all that they have been in the past,” he said. “And quite frankly, we owe it to taxpayers to force ourselves to be efficient and effective.” Before former Army CIO/G-6 Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford retired, he told reporters that the Army split the CIO/G-6 office to take better advantage of technology, saying that the way his office was structured had become outdated as technology advanced. The Army has yet to nominate a new CIO, but Morrison will work closely with the next official named to that position, he said. “Think of it in this way, the CIO establishes the policies," Morrison said. "We're responsible for the planning and the actual implementation of those policies, and then supporting Army organizations worldwide as they go out and actually execute the policies.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/10/27/us-armys-top-uniformed-it-official-lays-out-priorities-for-new-office/