June 2, 2024 | International, Land
A lighter, high-tech Abrams tank is taking shape
The new M1E3 Abrams' design is underway as the U.S. Army eyes a rapid fielding schedule.
July 9, 2020 | International, Aerospace
NGA looking to academia and industry to boost research efforts
The National-Geospatial-Intelligence Agency issued a new Broad Agency Announcement July 6, giving researchers and academics a new pathway to present intelligence solutions to the agency.
NGA is responsible for delivering geospatial-intelligence to war fighters, policy makers and the intelligence community. Under this announcement, the agency is looking for solutions from industry and academia to help them accomplish that mission.
“The release of this BAA will help accelerate our research endeavors and provide NGA with the ability to expand and diversify its research performer base, while giving us better flexibility and agility in research contracting efforts,” said Cindy Daniell, director of research and NGA, in a statement.
The BAA is seeking research and development concepts that address one or more of the following topics: Foundational GEOINT; advanced phenomenologies, and analytic technologies.
- Foundational GEOINT - The creation of always accurate, high-resolution, continually updated representations of the earth's properties, available on demand.
- Advanced Phenomenologies - The use of novel methods and efficient strategies to deliver spatially, spectrally and temporally resolved data from a growing number of traditional and non-traditional sources.
- Analytic Technologies - The ability to leverage new data sources and new analytics techniques to add geospatial intelligence to multi-intelligence analytics in an effort to address emerging threats and mission domains.
More details on each technical domain can be found in the BAA.
According to the announcement, NGA plans to make multiple awards, which may take the form of procurement contracts, grants, cooperative agreements or other transactions for prototypes and follow-on production. The agency will be issuing response dates for individual topic areas within the three stated technical domains periodically. A COVID-19 rapid response topic will be one of the first items posted under the BAA according to NGA.
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February 4, 2024 | International, Aerospace
China's Geely launches 11 low-orbit satellites for autonomous cars
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May 25, 2020 | International, Aerospace
The U.S. Navy’s New Drone Could Team Up With Stealth Fighters
The U.S. Navy is spending $13 billion buying 72 MQ-25 Stingray tanker drones for its 11 aircraft carriers. The idea is for the Boeing BA-made MQ-25s to refuel manned fighters, extending their range while also relieving the fighter squadrons of their own tanking duties. But the MQ-25 always had potential to be more than just an aerial-refueler. With its stealthy airframe and high endurance, it could be a surveillance plane and even a light strike platform, too. At least one fleet community isn't waiting for the Navy and Boeing to adapt the MQ-25 to other missions. The fleet's airborne command-and-control weapons school at Naval Base Ventura County in Point Mugu, California, already thinks of the Stingray as more than a tanker. Robbin Laird, a military analyst and writer, spoke to Cmdr. Christopher Hulitt, the head of the school, and summarized the conversation at Second Line of Defense. Laird and Hulitt's main point is that the Navy is acquiring new aircraft with highly-sophisticated communications systems and sensors. The F-35C stealth fighter. The E-2D early-warning plane. The MQ-4C high-altitude drone. And the MQ-25. Where before, E-2s would fly over a maritime battle, detecting targets and relaying commands to fighters, now a new system is coming together. The F-35C, E-2D, MQ-4C and MQ-25 all possess the qualities of a sensor- and command-and-control platform. So instead of passing information just one way—from an E-2 to a fighter—in coming years info could begin moving in all directions. An F-35C in stealth mode might detect an enemy ship using its passive sensors and beam, via secure datalink, the target's general location to the nearby MQ-25 that just refueled the F-35C. The MQ-25 could hand off the data to an E-2D. The E-2D crew could instruct the operators of an MQ-4C to steer their drone toward the enemy ship's location. Once the MQ-4C pinpoints the ship, the E-2D could then pass the targeting data back to the F-35C as well as to other allied vessels and planes, all of which could fire missiles. Imagine this whole process happening in minutes. “It is about deploying an extended trusted sensor network, which can be tapped through various waveforms, and then being able to shape how the decision-making arc can best deliver the desired combat effect,” Laird wrote. The Navy hopes to deploy the first MQ-25s as early as 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2020/05/22/the-us-navys-new-drone-could-team-up-with-stealth-fighters/#9bc4fd875e2e