Pentagon to pit AI against human pilots in live fighter trials

On the same subject

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  September 19, 2023 | International, Aerospace

  RTX business unit installing space observation system in California

  The installation should be completed by the end of October and the system should be providing operational data by November.

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  September 1, 2021 | International, Other Defence

  The Green Heat Test Drive - call for proposals has been extended!/Banc d'essai énergie verte - appel de propositions prolongée!

  The Green Heat: Low Carbon Energy Generation for Heating Existing Buildings Test Drive call for proposals has been extended! We are pleased to announce that the deadline to apply to the Green Heat Test Drive Call for Proposals (CFP) has been extended by three weeks. The deadline for application is now Tuesday, September 28, 2021. See the full Call for Proposals that was issued July 27, 2021, and explore how you can support environmental progress and contribute to this key energy initiative. In extending the deadline, the Department of National Defence (DND) is maximizing its chances of getting the best technology to solve the challenge of finding ways to convert its buildings to low carbon heating without requiring a major building retrofit, and address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. About the challenge: The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) are looking to Test Drive creative energy generation solutions to pair up with existing heating systems to help lower our carbon footprint. Specifically, DND/CAF are seeking a large-scale, low carbon energy generation/transfer system for heating existing buildings by integrating with their current hydronic heat distribution systems. A test building has been selected in Kingston, Ontario, for a Design-Build team to design and install an innovative system, in order to assess the effectiveness and the costs of these integrated technologies, with the aim of reducing the energy demand and carbon footprint of DND/CAF's infrastructure portfolio. The potential funding for the Design-Build contract component of the project has been established in the range of $5,500,000. Interested in knowing more about this Test Drive? Please reach out to the Test Drive & Sandbox Team: IDEaSSandboxes-EnvironnementsprotegesIDEeS@forces.gc.ca The IDEaS Team Énergie Verte : Production d'énergie à faibles émissions de carbone pour le chauffage de b'timents existants – Appel de propositions prolongée! Nous sommes heureux d'annoncer que la date limite pour l'appel de propositions pour le Banc d'essai Énergie Verte a été prolongée de trois semaines. L'échéance pour présenter une demande est désormais fixée au mardi 28 septembre 2021. Consultez l'intégralité de l'appel de propositions publié le 27 juillet 2021 et découvrez comment vous pouvez soutenir le progrès environnemental et contribuer à cette initiative énergétique clé. En prolongeant la date limite, le ministère de la Défense nationale (MDN) maximise ses chances d'obtenir la meilleure technologie pour relever le défi de trouver des moyens de convertir ses b'timents au chauffage à faibles émissions de carbone sans nécessiter une rénovation majeure du b'timent, et de lutter à réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES). À propos du défi : Le ministère de la Défense nationale et les Forces armées canadiennes (MDN/FAC) cherchent à tester des solutions créatives de production d'énergie à jumeler avec les systèmes de chauffage existants pour aider à réduire notre empreinte carbone. Plus précisément, le MDN et les FAC recherchent un système de production/transfert d'énergie à grande échelle et à faible émission de carbone pour le chauffage des b'timents existants; ce système serait intégré aux systèmes actuels de distribution du chauffage hydronique. Un b'timent d'essai a été sélectionné à Kingston, en Ontario, afin qu'une équipe de conception-construction conçoive et installe un système novateur. L'objectif est d'évaluer l'efficacité et les coûts de ces technologies intégrées, dans le but de réduire la demande d'énergie et l'empreinte carbone du portefeuille d'infrastructures du MDN et des FAC. Le financement possible pour le volet conception-construction du projet a été établi à environ 5 500 000 $. Vous souhaitez en savoir plus sur ce banc d'essai ? Veuillez contacter l'équipe Banc d'essai & Environnement Protégé : IDEaSSandboxes-EnvironnementsprotegesIDEeS@forces.gc.ca L'équipe IDEeS

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  May 10, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Swiss Air 2030 program clears hurdle of external review — with tweaks

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — Switzerland should package the proposed buy of 40 or so combat aircraft as a unique track under the $8 billion Air 2030 program, according to a new study commissioned by the defense ministry. This, the study argues, will increase the chance the purchase will be approved in an eventual national referendum. The conclusion is part of a report by former Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, who was tasked earlier this year by the new defense minister, Viola Amherd, to critique the envisioned air-defense reboot. The recommendation speaks to the government's strategy of seeing the aircraft acquisition through a circuitous decision-making process in a country with a strong plebiscitary tradition. Buying the aircraft makes up the lion's share of the Air 2030 program, at roughly $6 billion. The purchase of ground-based, air-defense weaponry accounts for the rest. The current Cabinet plan is to pursue the aircraft and ground-based, anti-missile weaponry as a package deal, allowing the populace to vote on both segments en bloc in the likely event that a referendum is called. But advocates for new aircraft, which includes Nicollier, contend that the need for new planes is so great that the decision should be teed up without any distractions whatsoever. “In my opinion, it is wise to choose this track for the combat aircraft, after the past experiences of our direct democracy,” Nicollier wrote in his report. “It is ... useless to mix another weapon system to this next battle, which concerns only the plane and which promises, as usual, to be much more emotional than professional.” Nicollier's comment refers to a previous Swiss decision about replacing parts of its aging combat aircraft inventory, composed of F-5 Tiger and F-18 planes, five years ago this month. At the time, the population voted down the government's pick of the Saab Gripen E following a grueling campaign by advocates and opponents that quickly left the realm of national security arguments. Some believe that putting a specific aircraft model out for a referendum contributed to the program's defeat, a mistake that the defense ministry wants to avoid at all costs this time around. According to a statement on the ministry's website, Nicollier's analysis, submitted in French, recommends that the population should get the chance to vote on the aircraft acquisition only in general terms, leaving the choice of aircraft model up to the government later on. The competitors for the aircraft procurement are Airbus with the Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin with the F-35A, Boeing with the F-18 Super Hornet and Dassault with the Rafale. Saab and its Gripen E also are taking another go at it. Nicollier's report will probably be seen as good news for the industry contenders. For one, it supports the idea that Switzerland must quickly act to modernize its abilities to control the national airspace at a time when traditional geopolitical fronts in Europe are becoming murky. In addition, it proposes a path for the aircraft acquisition that appears mindful of lessons learned from the Gripen debacle of 2014. Cabinet officials are expected to debate the Nicollier report in the weeks ahead and determine how its recommendations will shape the Air 2030 program, a Swiss defense ministry official told Defense News. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/05/09/swiss-air2030-program-clears-hurdle-of-external-review-with-tweaks