Les Royal Marines testent une combinaison volante (« jet pack »)

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  November 14, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR

  UK: Millions awarded to defence firms leading fight for modern battlefield

  Defence firms with cutting-edge ideas ranging from laser radars to Artificial Intelligence have been awarded over £10 million after being named winners of the MOD and Defence Growth Partnership (DGP) Innovation Challenge by Defence Minister Stuart Andrew. The winners provided innovative solutions to key strategic future demands for UK defence in autonomy and big data. The companies and their ground-breaking technologies will receive combined investment and support worth over £4 million from the MOD and £6 million from industry partners to see their full development. The winning solutions announced at the Institute of Engineering and Technology today are: Close Air Solutions with Project Hyper Real Immersion QinetiQ's Software Defined Multifunction LIDAR Horiba Mira's UGV Localisation and Perception using Deep Learning Neural Networks Polaris' Ants on Deck Defence Minister Stuart Andrew said: From shrewd navigation software, A.I. driven autonomous vehicles, laser radar to mixed reality training systems, today's winners are a clear demonstration of industry rising to meet the complex challenges of modern warfare. The MOD, working with commercial partners, will see these pioneering technologies go from the drawing board to the battlefield. Training is at the core of military capabilities and Project Hyper Real Immersion is designed to provide cutting-edge realistic air combat training. This revolutionary technology from Close Air Solutions aims to enable fully networked live training exercises with NATO and Coalition partners. This will reduce costs and increase safety for service personnel. QinetiQ's Software Defined Multifunction LIDAR (laser radar) system will provide a range of high-tech capabilities including 3D imaging, optical communication and covert targeting. Conventional 3D mapping can discover a vehicle under camouflage netting but LIDAR could also determine whether the engine is on and the type of vehicle using vibration sensors. The system could be adopted onto small satellites and unmanned and manned platforms Horiba Mira is developing a super-intelligent navigation system which uses Artificial Intelligence algorithms to identify landmarks around a military vehicle to provide a greater situational awareness. This technology will be key in developing the effective operation of unmanned autonomous vehicles in dangerous areas which will remove soldiers from dangerous situations and task them to more valuable roles. This is a crucial aim of the Last Mile logistics that UK armed forces are developing. Continuing with the autonomy theme, Polaris are developing a pioneering software system that autonomously generates the best routes for Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs). AntsOnDeck increases fuel efficiency which allows extended operations, provides real-time awareness of conditions and environment and can be extended to platforms across the air, land and sea domains. Co-chair of the Defence Growth Partnership, Allan Cook CBE, said: The innovative solutions developed by our own defence companies over the course of the Innovation Challenge is amazing. Using autonomy and big data these winning companies have found unique solutions to the ongoing challenges we face in the defence sector. The winners of the DGP's Innovation Challenge Final Phase have proven that their products are fundamentally important to the growth and prosperity of their companies. This final funding for the winners will enable them to complete their development and ultimately provide essential solutions in a dynamic, international and competitive market. Their success will benefit the defence sector in the UK and help us win more business in export markets. The Defence and Security Accelerator, in tandem with the Defence Solutions Centre, established the competition in 2012 to explore and develop solutions to ensure the UK armed forces stay ahead of adversaries by finding more efficient methods of communication, logistics, protection, intelligence and training. The initial investment of £10 million for the competition has been matched pound for pound with industry partners and since then, the competition has received an additional £4 million. This is part of the wider £800 million Defence Innovation Fund. Today's event brought together leading industry and military figures from the defence equipment community. This joint approach aims to create high quality UK jobs, boost defence exports and encourage collaboration between large industry, SMEs and academia. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/millions-awarded-to-defence-firms-leading-fight-for-modern-battlefield

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  October 21, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Japan to export defense tech to Vietnam under new agreement

  HANOI, Vietnam — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, in his first overseas summit since taking office last month, agreed with his Vietnamese counterpart to step up defense and security cooperation in the face of China's expanding influence in the region. In talks in Hanoi on Monday, Suga and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc set a basic agreement allowing Japan to export defense equipment and technology to Vietnam. Japan has been pursuing such pacts in recent years to bolster ties with Southeast Asian countries and sustain its own defense industry. Suga said his four-day trip to Vietnam and later Indonesia was key to pursuing multilateral economic and security cooperation to counter China's growing power and protect sea lanes in disputed areas of the South China Sea. “Vietnam is crucial to achieving our vision of ‘the Free and Open Indo-Pacific,' and our valuable partner,' ” Suga told a news conference after his meeting with Phuc. “Japan, as an Indo-Pacific nation, will continue to contribute to the peace and stability in this region.” Suga said Vietnam, at the center of the region, was the most suitable destination for his first trip abroad as Japan's leader. Neither of the two leaders mentioned China by name in their news conference. Phuc said the peace and stability of the South China Sea should be protected by the rule of law, not unilaterally by force or threats. “Vietnam appreciates that Japan, one of the world's leading powers, is actively contributing its efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region and in the world,” Phuc said. In a speech later Monday at Vietnam-Japan University, Suga said that Japan's “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” concept and “ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific,” formulated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2019, share values such as rule of law, openness, transparency and freedom. Suga expressed strong support for their vision, and said together Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations can achieve a peaceful and prosperous future. “Unfortunately in this region, there is a move in the South China Sea that goes against the rule of law and openness stated in this ASEAN Outlook, and Japan strongly opposes any attempt that escalates tensions in the South China Sea,” Suga said in his speech, hinting at China's growing assertiveness in the area. Japan already has defense equipment transfer deals with the U.S., Britain and Malaysia, among other countries. Vietnam is a 12th partner, while Japan is still negotiating deals with Indonesia and Thailand. In its first actual delivery of such exports, Japan in August exported a radar surveillance system to the Philippines. Details of possible equipment sales were not mentioned, but Suga called the agreement “a major step” for a bilateral defense cooperation, saying he expects further developments. Japan partially lifted its ban on military equipment and technology transfer in 2014 as part of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to build Japan's defense capabilities. Suga and Phuc signed other agreements to cooperate in a range of economic fields and on anti-terrorism measures. The two sides also agreed to ease entry bans and allow short-term business visits and reopen flights between Vietnam and Japan. Such travel has been very tightly restricted due to the pandemic, but both countries have managed to somewhat stabilize COVID-19 outbreaks. Suga also promised to provide support for Vietnamese workers in Japan affected by the pandemic's hit to the economy. Vietnamese accounts for more than half of the foreign workers Japan has accepted in recent years to make up for its declining and aging population. Japan is one of Vietnam's top trading partners with two-way trade of $28.6 billion so far this year. Japan is also Vietnam's largest overseas aid donor, providing $23 billion as of 2019 and accounting for more than a quarter of Vietnam's foreign loans. The government has been trying to entice Japanese companies to invest in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries to lessen Japan's dependence on manufacturing and other businesses in China. On Monday, Japan and Vietnam agreed on the need to cooperate on diversifying supply chains — a lesson Japan learned from its dire shortages of surgical masks and protective gowns earlier this year due to heavy dependence on Chinese imports. In August, Vietnam agreed to buy six coast guard patrol boats worth $345 million from Japan. The country is seeking to improve its maritime defenses amid China's continuing development and militarization of artificial islands in contested waters of the South China Sea. Progress in talks between ASEAN and China over the disputes appears to be at a standstill. Suga's predecessor Abe also chose Vietnam as the first country he visited after taking office. Suga is the first foreign head of a state to visit Vietnam since the country closed its borders to contain COVID-19. https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2020/10/19/japan-to-export-defense-tech-to-vietnam-under-new-agreement/

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  May 11, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Amazon challenges the Pentagon’s revised JEDI solicitation directly to the department

  Andrew Eversden Amazon Web Services filed a bid protest directly to the Department of Defense challenging “ambiguous aspects” of the Pentagon's revised solicitation for its embattled enterprise cloud contract. AWS' challenge is in response to a revised solicitation from DoD regarding a specific technical requirement of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract that AWS had challenged. Back in mid-April, a Court of Federal Claims judge granted the department's motion allowing DoD to “reconsider certain aspects” of the JEDI award. “AWS is committed to ensuring it receives a fair and objective review on an award decision that the court found to be flawed," an AWS spokesperson said. "AWS repeatedly sought clarity from the DoD around ambiguous aspects of the amended solicitation and the DoD refused to answer our questions. We simply want to ensure a common understanding of the DoD's requirements and eliminate ambiguity that could impact a fair evaluation.” The JEDI cloud, potentially worth $10 billion over 10 years, was awarded to Microsoft in October last year. Amazon protested the award in the Court of Federal Claims in December and won a temporary restraining order in March preventing the DoD and Microsoft from building out the cloud infrastructure after the court decided that AWS was likely to show that DoD erred in its technical evaluation. AWS also opposed the DoD's motion to reconsider specific aspects of the JEDI award because the DoD's request didn't account for all six technical errors Amazon alleged were made during the contract's evaluation process. "Even if taken at face value, DoD's proposed corrective action fails to address in any meaningful way how it would resolve the technical issues AWS has raised, or which specific technical challenges it intends to address,” Amazon lawyers wrote in a March 24 court filing. In response to Amazon's protest, the content of which is not publicly available, Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw wrote in a blog post that the filing by AWS was “disappointing but not surprising.” “The only thing that's certain about Amazon's new complaint is that it will force American war fighters to wait even longer for the 21st-century technology they need – perpetuating Amazon's record of putting its own interests ahead of theirs,” Shaw wrote May 7. A spokesperson for AWS called Shaw's post “not surprising," and touted AWS' cloud computing capabilities. “We're eager to see the full array of mistakes considered and assessed,” the spokesperson said. Lt. Col. Robert Carver, Department of Defense spokesman, said in a statement that the department is trying to get the JEDI capability to war fighters quickly. “DoD continues to execute the procedures outlined in the Motion for Voluntary Remand granted last month with the intent of delivering this critically-needed capability to our warfighters as quickly as possible,” Carver said. This story has been updated with a comment from the Department of Defense. https://www.federaltimes.com/it-networks/cloud/2020/05/07/amazon-challenges-the-pentagons-revised-jedi-solicitation-directly-to-the-department/