Proposed House spending bill would add more F-35s

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  February 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Air Force Budget Request Includes $120 Million for U-2 Aircraft

  By Frank Wolfe The United States Air Force fiscal 2021 budget request includes $120 million for the Lockheed Martin U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, including about $48 million for the "high altitude, deep look" Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System-2B (ASARS-2B), $62 million for other upgrades, and nearly $10 million in overseas contingency operations funding. Raytheon builds ASARS-2B. The $120 million Air Force request is $62 million more than appropriated last year, when ASARS-2B funds were not included. The ASARS-2B program "replaces the front end components of the [Raytheon] ASARS-2A airborne radar to alleviate reduction in current ASARS-2A capability starting in FY21 [fiscal 2021] due to significant diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages (DMSMS) issues," according to the Air Force fiscal 2021 budget request. "ASARS-2B fixes these front end DMSMS issues while advancing the AF high altitude long range ISR radar capabilities," the request said. "ASARS-2B incorporates a new Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) antenna, Power Conditioning Unit (PCU), and Liquid Cooling System (LCS) while replacing the existing ASARS-2A Receiver Exciter Controller (REC) and radar data processing software on the Onboard Processor (OBP). The front-end (AESA, PCU, and LCS) together with the replaced/modified components (REC and OBP) significantly improve existing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) capabilities while adding new maritime capabilities. These efforts will align with back end up grades, previously referred to as ASARS-2C." The Air Force said that it expects to award an ASARS-2B production contract by October next year and that the initial operational capability of ASARS-2B will come by fiscal 2023. The ASARS-2B radar includes an open systems architecture and the radar's range is nearly double that of the previous ASARS-2A radar, Raytheon has said. ASARS-2B is to complement the Collins Aerospace Senior Year Electro-Optical Reconnaissance System (SYERS) multispectral imaging sensor. On Feb. 18, Lockheed Martin and Collins Aerospace said that they had recently completed flight testing and deployment of SYERS-2C, a 10-band, high spatial resolution sensor. "Developed with open mission systems standards to enable command, control and data exchange with 5th generation platforms, the sensor has become a critical asset to theater commanders bringing unique advantages to joint operations across the battlespace," the companies said. https://www.aviationtoday.com/2020/02/18/air-force-budget-request-includes-120-million-for-u-2-aircraft/

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  August 12, 2019 | International, C4ISR

  Extending Field of View in Advanced Imaging Systems

  New program focuses on developing curved infrared focal plane arrays to improve optical performance and widen field of view while reducing system size of military imagers The military relies on advanced imaging systems for a number of critical capabilities and applications – from Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and situational awareness to weapon sights. These powerful systems enable defense users to capture and analyze visual data, providing key insights both on and off the battlefield. Today, nearly all imaging systems rely on detector arrays fabricated using planar processes developed for electronic integrated circuits on flat silicon. While significant progress has been made in advancing these technologies for narrow field of view (FOV) systems, optical aberrations can limit the performance at the periphery in wide FOV systems that then require large, costly, and complex optics to correct. The trade-off for correcting optical aberrations by using large, heavy lenses is a reduction in optical signal and a large size penalty, which limits their use for new and emerging capabilities. “Tremendous progress has been made over the past 20 years towards making multi-megapixel infrared (IR) focal plane arrays (FPA) for imaging systems cost effective and available to the Department of Defense,” said Dr. Whitney Mason, a program manager in DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office (MTO). “However, limitations to the technology's performance and size remain. Current advances on the commercial side have shown the viability of small area, curved FPAs (CFPAs) for visible cameras. While these technologies have shown modest benefits, more must be done to achieve the performance and size requirements needed for imaging systems used in emerging defense applications.” DARPA developed the FOcal arrays for Curved Infrared Imagers (FOCII) program to expand upon the current commercial trend for visible sensor arrays by extending the capability to both large and medium format midwave (MWIR) and/or longwave (LWIR) infrared detectors. The program seeks to develop and demonstrate technologies for curving existing state-of-the-art large format, high performance IR FPAs to a small radius of curvature (ROC) to maximize performance, as well as curve smaller format FPAs to an extreme ROC to enable the smallest form factors possible while maintaining exquisite performance. FOCII will address this challenge through two approaches to fabricating a curved FPA. The first involves curving existing state-of-the-art FPAs, while keeping the underlying design intact. The focus of the research will be on achieving significant performance improvements over existing, flat FPAs, with a target radius of curvature of 70mm. The fundamental challenge researchers will work to address within this approach is to mitigate the mechanical strain created by curving the FPGA, particularly in silicon, which is very brittle. The second approach will focus on achieving an extreme ROC of 12.5 mm to enable a transformative reduction in the size and weight compared to current imagers. Unlike the first approach, researchers will explore possible modifications to the underlying design, including physical modifications to the silicon that could relieve or eliminate stress on the material and allow for creating the desired curvature in a smaller sized FPA. This approach will also require new methods to counter the effects of any modifications during image reconstruction in the underlying read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) algorithm. The FOCII program is hosting a proposers' day on August 13, 2019 at the Executive Conference Center, 4075 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia, 22203 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EDT. The purpose of this meeting is to provide information on the FOCII program, promote additional discussion on this topic, address questions from potential proposers, and provide an opportunity for potential proposers to share their capabilities and ideas for teaming arrangements. The Special Notice for can be found here, https://www.fbo.gov/index.php?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=4c8a360d1f5be2e1b7e784f86b7d42fb&tab=core&_cview=0 Full details are available in the FOCII Broad Agency Announcement on FBO.gov: https://go.usa.gov/xV3EH. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-08-09

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  September 22, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  How Relativity Space plans to win the Pentagon’s launch contracts

  Nathan Strout Relativity Space wants to be the first company to launch an entirely 3D-printed rocket into orbit and it wants the Pentagon as a customer. While the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a wrench into plans, a growing number of companies are looking to provide small and medium launch services to the U.S. government. The establishment of the U.S. Space Force, Space Development Agency and U.S. Space Command in 2019 signaled the Pentagon's ambitious plans for launching more payloads into space, and providing a vehicle for just a portion of those launches would prove lucrative to any company. For Vice President of Business Development and Government Affairs Josh Brost, Relativity Space stands out from the competition, bringing disruptive 3D printing technology to bear on the small launch sector. Prior to joining Relativity, he worked at SpaceX for nine years, where he was responsible for the company's government sales. Even as the company works toward the launch of its first Terran One rocket in fall 2021, Relativity has worked to secure contracts in the commercial world. In June, the company announced it had secured a deal with Iridium Communications for six dedicated launches to low Earth orbit, with the first launch taking place no earlier than 2023. That same month, Relativity also announced a Right of Entry Agreement with the 30th Space Wing for development of rocket launch facilities at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Recently, Brost and Relativity Space co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis spoke with C4ISRNET about how the company plans to win launch contracts with the U.S. government. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/09/21/how-relativity-space-plans-to-win-the-pentagons-launch-contracts/