Bell Textron Unveils High Speed VTOL Military Aircraft Design Concepts

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  May 1, 2019 | International, Naval, C4ISR

  Navy to Showcase Innovative Information Warfare Capabilities at the Navy Information Warfare Pavilion at Sea-Air-Space 2019

  By Elisha Gamboa, SPAWAR Public Affairs NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (NNS) -- Eleven commands from across the Navy's Information Warfare (IW) community will come together to demonstrate the Navy's commitment to the information domain at the Sea-Air-Space (SAS) Exposition at the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland May 6-8. The IW Pavilion is designed to educate conference attendees on facets of Navy information warfare, including the key commands that lead, acquire, prepare and fight to secure the information domain. “Our Defense and Navy Strategies, as well as ‘A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority v2.0' all emphasize that we are in an era of Great Power Competition, with a return to a maritime warfare focus,” said Vice. Adm. Matthew Kohler, deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare (OPNAV N2N6) and director of naval intelligence (DNI). “They also note that ‘information' is key to warfighting across all domains – sea, air, space, and cyberspace – and is a warfare area in itself.” Representatives from the following commands will make up the Information Warfare Pavilion located at booth #2746 in the SAS exhibit hall: - The Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare (OPNAV N2N6) - Naval Information Forces Command (NAVIFOR) - U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. TENTH Fleet (FCC/C10F) - Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) - Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic (NIWC Atlantic) - Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (NIWC Pacific) - Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I) - Program Executive Office Space Systems (PEO SS) - Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS) - Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NMOC) - U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) Together these commands will provide a glimpse into the Navy's information warfare community through the Navy IW theater speaking series, the Navy IW engagement zone and Navy IW technology demonstrations. Navy IW Theater The theater in the IW Pavilion will hold a speaker series all three-days of the conference and exposition. Topics range from digitizing the Navy, to enabling ‘compile to combat in 24 hours,' to increasing cybersecurity resiliency, to providing insight into the IW community status and mission areas. The IW Pavilion speaker's series schedule: Monday, May 6 1:45 pm – 2:30 pm: Vice Adm. Matthew Kohler, OPNAV N2N6/DNI and Vice Admiral Brian Brown, NAVIFOR 2:45 pm – 3:30 pm: Rear Adm. John Okon, NMOC Tuesday, May 7 10:00 am – 10:45 am: Rear Adm. Christian Becker, SPAWAR 1:45 pm – 2:30 pm: Rear Adm. Michael Vernazza, FCC/C10F Wednesday, May 8 11:00 am – 11:45 am: Rear Adm. Danelle Barrett, OPNAV N2N6 Navy Information Warfare Engagement Zone Situated in the middle of the IW Pavilion, the engagement zone will allow attendees to informally meet program managers and subject matter experts from multiple IW commands for short blocks of time. No appointments are necessary. Navy Information Warfare Pavilion Technology Demonstrations The IW pavilion will also feature 12 technology demonstrations spotlighting systems and capabilities that facilitate information warfare, from seafloor to space. This includes swarm modeling and control technologies, position, navigation and timing technologies, military satellite and nanosatellite communication systems, advanced military mobile applications and more. "Today, our Navy and our nation are experiencing an unprecedented degree of competition in the information warfare domain," said Rear Adm. Christian Becker, SPAWAR commander. "It's vital that our Navy adapts to this reality and responds with urgency and creativity to increase naval agility and sustainability. The IW Pavilion provides a platform for our community to engage with the best and brightest to discuss how to equip our warfighters with the most advanced technologies possible, to give them an unfair advantage today and for decades to come." Throughout the IW community's evolution over the last 10 years, it remains organized under three core pillars - battlespace awareness, assured command and control and integrated fires. Each of these areas aims to take advantage of information-related capabilities in an integrated fashion, to make decisions faster than the adversary throughout the full spectrum of Navy missions, from peacetime to conflict. The Navy League's Sea-Air-Space Exposition was founded in 1965 as a means to bring the U.S. defense industrial base, private-sector U.S. companies and key military decision makers together for an annual innovative, educational, professional and maritime based event located in the heart of Washington, DC. Sea-Air-Space is now the largest maritime exposition in the U.S. and continues as an invaluable extension of the Navy League's mission of maritime policy education and sea service support. For information about the event, visit http://www.seaairspace.org/welcome. https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=109428

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  August 21, 2020 | International, Land

  Northrop Grumman Armament Systems advances M-ACE development

  by Andrew White Northrop Grumman Armament Systems is moving to verify the design and upgrade its Mobile Acquisition Cueing and Effector (M-ACE) system following a test event completed in July. Conducted at the company's private proving grounds, northwest of Armament Systems' headquarters near Minneapolis, the event was aimed at demonstrating advanced predictive cueing integration between the M-ACE vehicle – which is equipped with radar, electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR), radio frequency (RF) sensors, and a command and control (C2) suite – and several Scorpion air defence (AD) vehicles fitted with 30 mm M230LF Bushmaster cannons. M-ACE comprises a multi-mission ground and air security which can be tasked with counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) operations, company officials told Janes . Northrop Grumman's Business Development Director, Armament Systems C-UAS, Robert Menti, said the event successfully proved a fully “networked, integrated, full kill chain” capable of detecting ground and UAS threats at extended ranges. “The advanced predictive cueing capability enables shortening the kill chain decision cycle (target identification, classification, and prioritisation) at near machine speed,” Menti explained. “This is accomplished through the fusion of sensors and autonomous/artificial intelligence capabilities of the system.” The next test event is scheduled to be conducted at Big Sandy Range in Arizona in October which will see the Scorpion AD vehicles firing proximity fused ammunition from the M230LF to destroy UASs that are initially identified, tracked, and targeted by M-ACE. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/northrop-grumman-armament-systems-advances-m-ace-development

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  August 31, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Orb Takes Flight

  By Kimberly Underwood The Air Force's Agility Prime program conducts first demonstration of electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft. Last Thursday afternoon, leaders deemed the first demonstration of a flying orb by AFWERX's Agility Prime effort a success. The event was the first in a series of steps toward the U.S. Air Force fielding electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOLs, by 2023. Held at Camp Mabry, near Austin Texas, with the Texas National Guard as hosts, the exhibition of LIFT Aircraft's Hexa eVTOL vehicle included the service's top brass. Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett, new Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., and new Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass were all on hand to see the new aircraft, flown by LIFT CEO Matthew Chasen. “It was really exciting,” said Col. Nathan Diller, USAF, AFWERX director and Agility Prime lead, “These demonstrations start to show some of the maturity of the vehicle. And the fact that LIFT was able to do all the preparations and do an on-time takeoff and have all the maintenance pieces together [was great].” Col. Diller, who is spearheading Agility Prime's Air Race to Certification, which aims to have a first series of initial eVTOL capability by December, spoke to SIGNAL Magazine on Saturday. In the coming weeks, Agility Prime will conduct more demonstrations like the LIFT Aircraft event, with a “handful of companies,” he said. “And when that testing gets to a level where we feel this learning campaign would bring military utility at cost, we can start to purchase hardware, data or potential services, such as flight test-as-a-service.” Following the demonstrations with the companies, they may proceed into a full test plan, using combined operational testing, the colonel added. For the demonstration, the service also had to achieve the appropriate regulatory approvals. To use the airspace for the basic maneuvering, they needed much lower altitudes than a conventional aircraft would use, and in an urban environment. “The FAA gave us authorization to operate, both manned and unmanned [aircraft] within a few miles of downtown Austin,” Col. Diller shared. “And the CEO of LIFT actually flew the aircraft, so he hopped into the orb. The Hexa has a very interesting architecture, and when you think of the reliability....and to hear the acoustics, that was something to see.” The Air Force leaders were really impressed, the colonel shared. “There is kind of this ‘ahh moment' where, there is actually something flying,” he said. “And then [you see] that it is actually a demonstration more of the maturity when you start to look at it, the maturity of the vehicle and the maturity of the technology. There was a build-up that allowed us to have the confidence to do that and operate at Camp Mabry. And given that is was Texas in August, with an air temperature of about 100 degrees, the colonel said it also was a test of the e-VOTL's operations in such as environment. Col. Diller added that it was quite something to see the eVTOL aircraft as well as the Guard's F-16s at Camp Mabry, and it put into perspective where the flying orb technology could play a role in urban air mobility. “The ability to fly one of those, with the advances in new aircraft controls, there are some interesting opportunities to think about pilot training in the future, and to think about who across our service might be able to fly these in the future,” Col. Diller pondered. https://www.afcea.org/content/orb-takes-flight