May 28, 2024 | International, Aerospace
US Army sets development plan for future tactical drone
The service approved an abbreviated capabilities development document as two competitors move into a prototype flight demo phase for future tactical UAS.
January 30, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
New bill could get Italy its own DARPA
By: Tom Kington
ROME — As consensus grows in Italy that military planners need better access to civilian technology, a new law is being proposed to give the country its own version of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The new bill, which its authors claim has backing from the military and Italy's political parties, envisages the setup of a new agency able to stimulate and coordinate the development of civil technologies for military application.
“We want to make the newest technology more accessible,” said Alessandra Maiorino, the Italian senator who is steering the bill through parliament.
Established in 1958 in response to the Soviet Union launching its Sputnik satellite the year before, DARPA has since teamed with universities, corporations and government partners to fund research programs to improve America's defense capabilities.
Technologies it has worked on have also fed back into civilian applications, notably the internet, voice recognition and small GPS receivers.
“Thanks to the DARPA system, avangard civilian technologies are considered to have strategic value. This in turn has a cascade effect on the economy and on innovation in the U.S.,” according to the Italian bill.
The bill calls for the new Italian agency to be based near Pisa at an existing military research facility. An eight-person management board would include a military director, three civilian researchers and representatives from the four government ministries involved — the Department of Treasury, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Ministry for Education, University and Research.
The Joint Centre for Innovation and Strategic Technologies, known by its Italian acronym CINTES, will now be discussed in the Senate's Defence Committee, where representatives from the military, academia and industry will be invited to give their opinions, said Maiorino.
The bill does not cite the required funding for the agency — a figure which has yet to be decided. However, it claims that Italy must quickly set up its own version of DARPA to keep up with France and Germany, who are already ahead in launching such an agency.
The bill claims France's Innovation Défense Lab is now “allowing France's DGA procurement agency to map out and evaluate civilian technologies and acquire those which are of interest to the defense sector.”
Germany's planned ADIC agency is cited in the bill as an example of the government investigating “disruptive” technologies in cybernetics and other key technologies.
Maiorino, the senator backing the bill in Italy, is a member of the Five Star party, which has previously taken a unfavourable approach to defense investment. Before entering government in 2018, the party called for the cancellation of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
As such, the party's support for the new bill reflects a progressively more positive view of the defense sector since it entered government.
https://www.defensenews.com/smr/cultural-clash/2020/01/29/new-bill-could-get-italy-its-own-darpa/
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March 30, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Raytheon-UTC merger wins approval, pending divestitures
By: Jill Aitoro WASHINGTON — The merger between two defense giants got the green light from the U.S. Department of Justice, under the condition that divestitures already in the works move forward and another piece of business is shed. According to a March 26 announcement from the DOJ, United Technologies Corp. and Raytheon will need to divest Raytheon's military airborne radios business as well as UTC's military global positioning systems and large space-based optical systems businesses in order to proceed with the proposed merger. The divestitures would satisfy a proposed settlement from the department's Antitrust Division of a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the proposed Raytheon-UTC merger. BAE Systems agreed in January to buy Collins Aerospace's military global positioning system business — which is owned by parent firm UTC — for $1.93 billion and Raytheon's airborne tactical radios business for $275 million. “Today's settlement protects the American taxpayer by preserving competition that leads to lower costs and higher innovation in critical military and defense products,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Antitrust Division. “The merger, as originally proposed, would have eliminated competition in the supply of military airborne radios and military GPS systems, and would have positioned the merged firm to harm rivals capable of making key components for reconnaissance satellites. These horizontal and vertical concerns are resolved by the Division's structural remedy, which includes the divestiture of three separate business units.” Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the companies need to divest Raytheon's military airborne radios business, including facilities in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Largo, Florida; as well as UTC's military GPS business to BAE Systems or another approved acquirer. The proposed settlement would also require the divestiture of UTC's optical systems business, including a facility in Danbury, Connecticut, to an approved acquirer. Raytheon and UTC announced in June 2019 plans to officially merge into a new entity called Raytheon Technologies Corporation, with the deal at the time expected to close during the first half of 2020. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/03/27/raytheon-utc-look-to-shed-segments-to-win-merger-approval
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February 12, 2024 | International, Land
RTX to supply 600 Coyote drone interceptors to Army
The $75 million deal for the interceptors was made "in direct support to the U.S. counter-unmanned aircraft systems mission," according to the service.