Missile Defense Agency to pick hypersonic interceptor vendor this year

On the same subject

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  September 28, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Russia plans to arm its most advanced fighter with new hypersonic air-to-air missiles meant to cripple the F-35 stealth fighter

  Ryan Pickrell Russia's most advanced fighter jet, the Sukhoi Su-57, will reportedly carry the hypersonic R-37M long-range air-to-air missile, a new weapon with the ability to strike targets hundreds of miles away. The Chinese are developing similar systems for their fighter jets. These weapons, assuming US rivals can take them from testing to deployment, could pose a threat to rear support aircraft such as early warning and aerial refueling aircraft, key force multipliers for American jets like the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. Russia reportedly plans to arm its most advanced fighter jet with a powerful hypersonic air-to-air missile that can take aim at aircraft nearly two hundred miles away, making them a potential threat to critical US air assets. The Su-57 multipurpose fighter jet, a fifth-generation stealth fighter built for air superiority and complex attack operations that is still in development, will be armed with the new R-37M, an upgraded version of an older long-range air-to-air missile, Russia Today reported Thursday, citing defense officials. The Russian Ministry of Defense is reportedly close to completing testing for this weapon, the development of which began after the turn of the century. With a reported operational range of 186 to 248 miles and a top speed of Mach 6 (4,500 mph), the R-37M is designed to eliminate rear support aircraft, critical force multipliers such as early warning and aerial refueling aircraft. Russia asserts that the missile possesses an active-seeker homing system that allows it to target fighter jets during the terminal phase of flight. While Russia initially intended to see the weapon carried by the MiG-31 interceptors, these missiles are now expected to become the primary weapons of the fourth-generation Su-30s and Su-35s, as well as the next-generation Su-57s. The weapon's specifications were modified to meet these demands. The Russians are also apparently developing another very long-range air-to-air missile — the KS-172, a two-stage missile with a range said to be in excess of the R-37M's capabilities, although the latter is reportedly much closer to deployment. China, another US competitor, is also reportedly developing advanced long-range air-to-air missiles that could be carried by the reportedly fifth-generation J-20 stealth fighter. The China Dailyreported in January 2017 that photos of a J-11B from the Red Sword 2016 combat drills appeared to show a new beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile. "China has developed a new missile that can hit high-value targets such as early-warning planes and aerial refueling aircraft, which stay far from conflict zones," the state-run media outlet reported, citing Fu Qianshao, an equipment researcher with the People's Liberation Army Air Force. Slow, vulnerable rear-support aircraft improve the overall effectiveness of key front-line fighter units, such as America's F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which just conducted its first combat mission. The best strategy to deal with this kind of advanced system is to "send a super-maneuverable fighter jet with very-long-range missiles to destroy those high-value targets, which are 'eyes' of enemy jets," Fu told the China Daily, calling the suspected development of this type of weapon a "major breakthrough." The missiles being developed by US rivals reportedly have a greater range than the American AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), giving them a potential edge over US military aircraft. The Russian Su-57 is expected to enter service in 2019, although the Russian military is currently investing more heavily in fourth-generation fighters like the MiG-29SMT Fulcrum and Su-35S Flanker E, which meet the country's air combat needs for the time being. Russia canceled plans for the mass production of the Su-57 in July after a string of development problems. There is some evidence the aircraft may have been active in Syria earlier this year, but the plane remains unready for combat at this time. Military analyst Michael Kofman previously told Business Insider that the Su-57 is "a poor man's stealth aircraft," adding that it doesn't quite stack up to the F-35 or F-22. https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-plans-to-arm-su-57-jets-with-new-hypersonic-air-to-air-missiles-2018-9

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  May 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Coronavirus Hampering Defense Contractor Operations, Reader Survey Finds

  t's harder to win business amid a pandemic, said one-third of industry respondents in a Defense One reader survey. Federal contractors and private-sector workers say the coronavirus pandemic is hurting business and their ability to compete for government work, a new survey of Defense One readers has found. More than 75 percent said COVID-19 had a moderate, major, or extreme impact on their company's day-to-day operations. About 22 percent said the virus had a minimal impact; 2 percent, no impact. Nearly 60 percent of the respondents said coronavirus has forced them to slow or pause production. Nearly 40 percent said their business has seen disruptions to its cash flow. Defense One commissioned the survey, which was conducted by Government Business Council, a division of Defense One's parent company, Government Executive Media Group. The survey was conducted May 8-14 and received 677 responses, yielding a 5 percent margin of error. Of those, 313 self-identified as a government contractor or private sector employee. Related: 62% Disapprove of Trump's Coronavirus Response, Reader Survey Finds In March, the Pentagon began paying its contractors more money up front so these large firms could send more money to the smaller companies that make up their vast and diverse supply chains. Collectively, companies have sent or pledged to send billions of dollars to their suppliers in a quicker fashion. Still, Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, said last month that she was expecting a three-month slowdown in weapons deliveries as companies faced shutdowns and modified their processes and procedures to comply with social distancing and other guidelines. About 30 percent of contractors and private sector workers said their business has experienced supply-chain disruptions. While more than one-third of respondents said social distancing has hurt their company's ability to compete for government contracts, more than half said social distancing has made no difference in their company's ability to win contracts and 12 percent said restrictions have helped their company's competitive advantage. More than 17 percent said their business has had to lay off employees; 18 percent said their companies have furloughed workers. One-quarter of respondents said lack of access to senior officials and decision makers and the inability to attend networking events has affected their business. With conferences, trade shows and other in-person events on hold indefinitely, trade associations and event organizers have looked for virtual ways to replicate not only speaker presentations, but the sideline discussions and other types of networking that many consider essential to doing business in the defense sector. “Your ability to pull somebody off the stage coming off a panel, the ability to ask a question in the question-and-answer period in this environment, is a little bit challenging,” Hawk Carlisle, a retired Air Force general who is CEO of National Defense Industrial Association, said in an interview late last month. “It is having an effect and I do believe the longer this goes on it will continue to have an effect.” This week, NDIA, which represents 1,700 large and small companies and has 70,000 individual members, became the first to transform a large conference and trade show into a fully virtual conference. Typically, its SOFIC event is held in Tampa, near the U.S. Special Operations Command headquarters. This year, the speeches and panel discussions were broadcast online. What's more, the organization facilitated meetings between companies and government officials. NDIA, which usually hosts dozens of events around the country each year, is considering new ways to hold its gatherings, including hosting hybrid events, with some people in attendance and others attending virtually, Carlisle said. https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/05/coronavirus-hampering-defense-contractor-operations-reader-survey-finds

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  October 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR

  With artificial intelligence, every soldier is a counter-drone operator

  Todd South With the addition of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the aim is to make every soldier, regardless of job specialty, capable of identifying and knocking down threatening drones. While much of that mission used to reside mostly in the air defense community, those attacks can strike any infantry squad or tank battalion. The goal is to reduce cognitive burden and operator stress when dealing with an array of aerial threats that now plague units of any size, in any theater. “Everyone is counter-UAS,” said Col. Marc Pelini, division chief for capabilities and requirements at the Joint Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, or JCO. Pelini and Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey, JCO director, who spoke Thursday at the virtual Association of the U.S. Army conference, told reporters that the original focus was on smaller Tier I and II threats. But that has now extended to Tier III threats, traditionally covered by the Army's air defense community, such as Avenger and Patriot missile batteries. Some of that work includes linking the larger threat detection to the smaller drones that now dot conflicts across the world, including the hot zone of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. In June, the Department of Defense conducted a “down select” of existing or in-the-pipeline counter-drone systems from 40 to eight, as Military Times sister publication C4ISRNET reported at the time. That was an effort to reduce redundancy in the flood of counter drone programs taken on in the wake of a $700 million funding push in 2017 to get after problems posed by commercially available drones being used more frequently by violent extremist organizations such as the Islamic State to harass, attack and surveil U.S. and allied forces. Those choices, in the down select, included the following, also reported by C4ISRNET: Fixed/Semi-Fixed Systems * Fixed Site-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System (FS-LIDS), sponsored by the Army * Negation of Improvised Non-State Joint Aerial-Threats (NINJA), sponsored by the Air Force * Counter-Remote Control Model Aircraft Integrated Air Defense Network (CORIAN), sponsored by the Navy Mounted/Mobile System * Light-Mobile Air Defense Integrated System (L-MADIS), sponsored by the Marine Corps Dismounted/Handheld Systems * Bal Chatri, sponsored by Special Operations Command * Dronebuster, no sponsor, commercial off-the-shelf capability * Smart Shooter, no sponsor, commercial off-the-shelf capability * Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD-C2), sponsored by the Army (includes FAAD-C2 interoperable systems like the Air Force's Air Defense System Integrator (ADSI) and the Marine Corps' Multi-Environmental Domain Unmanned Systems Application Command and Control (MEDUSA C2)) The four areas evaluated to determine which systems stuck around for use or further development were effectiveness, integration, usability and sustainment, Gainey said Thursday. A kind of virtual open house with industry is planned for Oct. 30, in which JCO will evaluate what options are out there. Some of what they're learning is being gathered through a consortium, of sorts, that involves regular meetings between service branch representatives during monthly sessions at the two-star level, Gainey said. That goes into a real-time, updated “common threat library” that helps those in the field identify trends and changes that can be met across forces. They use those sessions to share what each component is seeing in theater as far as drone use and changes. But it's more than simple intelligence gathering, he said. They also form rapid response teams. "My operations team works with the warfighters, [the] intelligence community” and others, he said. They “triangulate” common problems with drones and send the rapid response teams to the area of operations most affected. https://www.armytimes.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2020/10/17/with-artificial-intelligence-every-soldier-is-a-counter-drone-operator/