Rafael acquires Newcastle based Pearson Engineering as part of its strategic expansion in the United Kingdom

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  January 25, 2021 | International, Aerospace

  General Atomics Advances SeaGuardian Systems

  by David Donald - January 20, 2021, 6:53 AM General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has revealed that it has completed the development and testing of a self-contained anti-submarine warfare (ASW) package, the first such equipment for an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The package comprises podded sonobuoy dispenser systems (SDS) and a sonobuoy management and control system (SMCS). GA-ASI has been studying unmanned ASW capability for some years, demonstrating sonobuoy remote processing capability from an MQ-9A Reaper in 2017. Subsequently an SMCS has been added, and the SDS has been developed. It employs a pneumatic launch system, and each pod can carry up to 10 A-size sonobuoys or 20 G-size buoys. On November 24 last year GA-ASI carried out a trial at the U.S. Navy's Pacific range in which a company-owned MQ-9A Block 5 released seven SSQ-53G Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording (DIFAR) and two SSQ-62F Directional Command Activated Sonobuoy System (DICASS) sonobuoys, and a single SSQ-36B bathythermograph buoy. Using a General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada UYS-505 processing system the trial successfully tracked an MK-39 expendable mobile ASW training target (EMATT) for three hours, data being relayed by a satcom link to the Laguna flight operations facility at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. The ASW capability is being developed for the SeaGuardian configuration of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian, which can carry up to four SDS pods under its wings. The SeaGuardian is intended to perform as a stand-alone maritime patrol asset or to act with traditional maritime patrol aircraft as part of a manned-unmanned team. A key part of the SeaGuardian mission set is a surveillance radar, and GA-ASI is working with Leonardo to integrate the Seaspray 7500E V2 AESA radar into the UAS's centerline pod. The radar offers a variety of modes, including inverse synthetic aperture radar that works with the automatic identification system (AIS, a form of maritime IFF) to provide accurate identification of detected surface targets. It can spot submarine periscopes and humans in the water during search and rescue operations. A high-definition optical/infrared full-motion video capability is also included. Another option from Leonardo is the SAGE electronic surveillance system. GA-ASI reports that two undisclosed export customers have ordered the SeaGuardian capability, which was included in the recently approved request for up to 18 MQ-9Bs from the United Arab Emirates. In its standard SeaGuardian configuration the MQ-9B has an endurance of more than 18 hours and can mount an eight-hour patrol at a radius of 1,200 nm. Another store that has recently been trialed by GA-ASI is the Legion Pod, in this case, the carrier being the company's jet-powered Avenger remotely piloted aircraft. The Legion Pod, which is carried by F-15 Eagles, features a Lockheed Martin IRST21 infrared search and track sensor in its nose and datalinks to network the sensor and carrier with other platforms. n early January GA-ASI was selected to support the U.S. Air Force's Skyborg Vanguard program that is developing artificial intelligence/machine-learning autonomous capabilities for future combat aircraft. Two company-owned Avengers are being modified with updated links and the Skyborg System Design Agent software to support this activity, which will test the ability of manned aircraft to control the Avengers in flight and to pass critical mission information between them. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2021-01-20/general-atomics-advances-seaguardian-systems

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  September 18, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  BAE Maturing microelectronics for next-generation radar, electronic warfare, and communications systems

  BAE Systems has signed a cooperative agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for Phase 1 of a technical effort to transition gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology developed by the U.S. Air Force to our Advanced Microwave Products (AMP) Center. We've signed a cooperative agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for Phase 1 of a technical effort to transition gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology developed by the U.S. Air Force to our Advanced Microwave Products (AMP) Center. As part of the effort, we'll transfer and further enhance the technology, and scale it to 6-inch wafers to slash per-chip costs and improve the accessibility of this defense-critical technology. GaN technology provides broad frequency bandwidth, high efficiency, and high transmit power in a small footprint, making it ideal for next-generation radar, electronic warfare, and communications systems. Under the agreement, we will work with AFRL to establish a 140-nanometer GaN monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) process that will be qualified for production by 2020, with products available to Department of Defense (DoD) suppliers through an open foundry service. “Millimeter-wave GaN technologies today are produced in research and development laboratories in low volumes at high associated costs or in captive foundries that are not broadly accessible to defense suppliers,” said Scott Sweetland, Advanced Microwave Products director at BAE Systems. “This effort will leverage AFRL's high-performance technology and BAE Systems' 6-inch manufacturing capability to advance the state of the art in GaN MMIC performance, reliability, and affordability while providing broader access to this critical technology.” The work on this project will primarily take place in our 70,000-square-foot Microelectronics Center (MEC) in Nashua, New Hampshire, where we research, develop, and produce compound semiconductor materials, devices, circuits, and modules for a wide range of microwave and millimeter-wave applications. The MEC has been an accredited DoD Category 1A Trusted Supplier since 2008, and fabricates integrated circuits in production quantities for critical DoD programs. As part of the project, the AMP Center team will work closely with the company's FAST LabsTM research organization and MMIC design experts from ENGIN-IC. https://www.baesystems.com/en/article/maturing-microelectronics-for-next-generation-radar-electronic-warfare-and-communications-systems

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  January 18, 2021 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  Secrets of Tempest’s ground-breaking radar revealed

  Tom Kington ROME — Radar engineers on the Tempest fighter program have said they expect to break data-processing records. The secret, they explain, is all about miniaturization and going digital. The sixth-generation jet — planned by the U.K., Sweden and Italy and set to enter service after 2030 — will bristle with new technology, from its weaponry and propulsion to a virtual cockpit projected inside the pilot's helmet. But the group set the bar high in October by announcing the fighter's radar would process a quantity of data equivalent to nine hours of high-definition video — or the internet traffic of a medium-sized city — every second. Few details were given to back up the claim, but now U.K.-based engineers with Italian firm Leonardo, who are working on the radar, have shared clues with Defense News. Boosting performance will mean rethinking today's electronically scanned radars, which have grids of small Transmit Receive Modules, or TRM, on the antenna, each generating an individual radar beam which can follow different targets or combine with others to create a larger beam. The TRMs in the array are formed into groups, and the signals received by each group are fed to a receiver which digitalizes the data before passing it to the radar's processor. Due to their size, the receivers must be positioned back from the aircraft's nose and accept the incoming analogue radar signal down coaxial cables, which incurs some data loss before the signal is digitalized. To remedy that, Leonardo is working on miniaturizing the receivers so they can be moved up into the nose and integrated within the antenna, cutting out the need for a coaxial cable. The data emerging from the receiver must still travel to the processor, but by now it is digital and can flow down fiber-optic cables, reducing data loss. “Miniaturized receivers can digitalize the signal within the antenna much earlier in the receive chain,” said chief engineer Tim Bungey. That's one step up from the new state-of-the-art European Common Radar System Mark 2 radar that BAE Systems and Leonardo have signed to deliver for RAF Eurofighters, which will use coaxial cables. “Digitalizing the data closer to the array means more data can be received and transmitted, the data can be more flexibly manipulated, and there is more potential for using the radar as a multi-function sensor such as for data linking and for electronic warfare,” said Bungey. There is also a second advantage to miniaturized receivers: Many more can be installed, meaning each one handles fewer TRMs. “To improve performance and flexibility within the system, a key challenge is to divide the TRMs into more groups containing fewer TRMs, handled by more receivers,” said Bungey. “By achieving that, together with supporting wider bandwidths, you can generate significantly more data, giving greater flexibility for beam steering and multi-function operation,” he added. “We are aiming to increase the number of groups of TRMs, and therefore the number of receivers, beyond what will be offered by the MK2 radar for Eurofighter,” he added. While the radar may push the envelope, Duncan McCrory, Leonardo's Tempest chief engineer, said it would be a mistake to consider it as a stand-alone component. “The MRFS will be integrated within the wider Tempest Mission System, which incorporates a full suite of electronic-warfare and defensive-aids capabilities, EO/IR targeting and situational awareness systems, and a comprehensive communications system.” he said. “The data captured by these systems will be fused to create a rich situational awareness picture for the aircrew,” he added. “This information will also be fused with data received from other aircraft and unmanned systems, with machine learning used to combine and process the overall situational awareness picture for the aircrew. This avoids information overload in the cockpit, enabling the aircrew to quickly absorb data and make decisions based on suitably processed and validated information, and rapidly respond to threats in highly contested environments,” he said. McCrory added that Leonardo demonstrated aspects of human-machine teaming recently in a trial organized with the British Army and the MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, in which a Wildcat helicopter crew tasked a semi-autonomous UAV provided by Callen-Lenz to gather imagery and feed it back to the cockpit display via datalink. “It is these human-machine teaming principles that we will be building upon for Tempest,” he said. “The MRFS will be integrated within the wider Tempest Mission System, which incorporates a full suite of electronic-warfare and defensive-aids capabilities, EO/IR targeting and situational awareness systems, and a comprehensive communications system.” he said. “The data captured by these systems will be fused to create a rich situational awareness picture for the aircrew,” he added. “This information will also be fused with data received from other aircraft and unmanned systems, with machine learning used to combine and process the overall situational awareness picture for the aircrew. This avoids information overload in the cockpit, enabling the aircrew to quickly absorb data and make decisions based on suitably processed and validated information, and rapidly respond to threats in highly contested environments,” he said. McCrory added that Leonardo demonstrated aspects of human-machine teaming recently in a trial organized with the British Army and the MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, in which a Wildcat helicopter crew tasked a semi-autonomous UAV provided by Callen-Lenz to gather imagery and feed it back to the cockpit display via datalink. “It is these human-machine teaming principles that we will be building upon for Tempest,” he said. As Tempest development proceeds, McCrory said design of the integrated mission system was proceeding in parallel with the design of the aircraft itself. “We are effectively designing the aircraft from the inside out; by this I mean we are working closely with the MoD to understand future sensing, communications and effects capability requirements, and then working with the Team Tempest partners to ensure the aircraft can accommodate and support the required avionic systems.” Leonardo is working with BAE Systems to ensure the airframe will accommodate sensors, with Rolls Royce to ensure there is sufficient powering and cooling for the systems, and with MBDA, said McCrory, “to give weapons the best available data prior to launch, and to keep them informed after they are released and receive data back from them as they progress towards the target.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/home/2021/01/15/secrets-of-tempests-ground-breaking-radar-revealed/