Remplacement des CF-18 | Boeing n’est officiellement plus dans la course

On the same subject

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  October 15, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  The US Army is building a ‘cloud in the sky’ for its aviation fleet

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army is building what is essentially a “cloud in the sky” for its current aviation fleet as it prepares the aircraft to fight alongside a future fleet under development, according to Brig. Gen. Thomas Todd, the program executive officer for Army aviation. The general spoke to Defense News in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference. The current fleet won't dissolve into thin air when future helicopters are fielded, and they will be expected to fly together in operational environments across multiple domains. The Army is aiming to field a future attack reconnaissance aircraft and a future long-range assault aircraft by 2030. “We have to figure out a way to host a common server so that we can store data, process data and transport data quicker,” Todd said. “So while they work on the future vertical lift architecture, we still have to make the enduring fleet, that will fly alongside it, work and be capable.” So the Army is building an Aviation Mission Common Server, or AMCS, that is a stack of storage, data processing and transport capability “that's very much a flying cloud, if you will,” Todd said. The AMCS “will reside inside every aircraft. It has to reside in every aircraft because there has to be onboard processing and storage power,” Todd said, adding that it will be the engine that drives the associated user interface and apps as well as provide connectivity to the network overall. The user interface will be built upon the technology developed by Northrop Grumman for the Victor-model Black Hawk. The "V" model is an L-model UH-60 with a digital, modern cockpit like the "M" model, the latest Black Hawk variant, but not with an M-model price tag. Additionally, the interface in a V model can take on new capability through apps like a smartphone. The V model wrapped up its initial operational test and evaluation in September at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, Brig. Gen. MacMcCurry, who is the Army G-3/5/7 aviation director inside the Pentagon, told Defense News in a separate interview. He reported the tests went well and the service looks forward to building out the fleet. The Army is currently assessing integrating the same user interface into Mike-model Black Hawks, according to Todd. The effort to build the server is part of a larger effort to ensure the current fleet is ready to fight in multidomain operations. The Army wants to obtain multidomain dominance by 2035. “We took a look at Army Futures Command's guidance on exactly what those combat aviation brigades would have in them and what would be enduring. For example, the Apache would be there indefinitely,” Todd said. “We also found that the requirements for data, the transport of and use of was exponential. So ultimately it's a problem that exists for the entire fleet, so we need to get after, at a minimum, making the enduring fleet compatible with future vertical lift, if not more capable.” There are several cross-cutting initiatives for the current fleet to make the aircraft more agile, interoperable, survivable and integrated in multidomain operations, Todd said, and the network will play an integral role. For example, the Army is working with the network community to replace its AN/ARC-201 radios with radios with the TSM waveform, which will improve and comply with future air-to-ground radio communications, according to Todd. There is also work being done within the position, navigation and timing community and with the Air Force to develop antennas, processors and software that hep the current fleet to survive battle, Todd added. And the service is working to improve power sources onboard aircraft. “There is a huge demand requirement coming, a demand signal for onboard systems and the power requirements of those is exponential. So given that it's not linear and it's going to grow exponentially, we have to get after alternative means,” Todd said. The same team that is in charge of the Improved Turbine Engine Program — which will replace engines in Apaches and Black Hawks and be the engine for the future attack reconnaissance aircraft — is looking at supplemental power units, upgrades to generators and upgrades to batteries to better power onboard systems that may not require the main power system anymore, Todd said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/2019/10/15/the-us-army-is-building-a-cloud-in-the-sky-for-its-aviation-fleet

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  February 12, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Land

  General Dynamics Mission Systems Awarded $883 Million Contract to Modernize U.S. Army Training Programs

  Fairfax, Va., February 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - General Dynamics Mission Systems announced today it was awarded a contract for the Army Consolidated Product Line Management Plus (CPM Plus) Program from the Army Contracting Command in Orlando, Florida. CPM Plus is an eight year, single-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity, cost-plus fixed-fee/firm-fixed price contract with a ceiling of $883 million. Executing the contract will improve the Army's individual and collective expeditionary training systems at unit home stations and the major Combat Training Centers, including Military Operations on Urban Terrain training sites, live fire and digital ranges and additional training facilities located worldwide. "Modernizing the training experience is one of the Army's six modernization priorities," said Chris Brady, president of General Dynamics Mission Systems. "This award increases the viability, relevancy, and alignment of the Army's current live training systems while bridging to the future Synthetic Training Environment that will be delivered to soldiers worldwide." General Dynamics will focus primarily on the extensive Live Training Transformation (LT2) Product Line, the Common Training Instrumentation Architecture, and the Live Training Engagement Composition for the Project Manager for Soldier Training portfolio within the Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation. The operational focus will be implemented through an agile, capabilities-based organization to evolve the LT2 Family of Training Systems. The intent is to reduce total ownership cost and operational complexity, to increase technology agility and concurrency, and to enable enhanced Soldier training effectiveness. General Dynamics' expanded seamless Product Line Engineering approach will build upon the Project Manager for Soldier Training's investments to extend product line governance, processes and tools supporting new training domains such as Virtual Training Systems and the Synthetic Training Environment. CPM Plus is a follow-on contract to CPM Next, which was awarded to General Dynamics in 2015. General Dynamics Mission Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD). More information about General Dynamics Mission Systems is available at gdmissionsystems.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/general-dynamics-mission-systems-awarded-883-million-contract-to-modernize-us-army-training-programs-301003154.html SOURCE General Dynamics Mission Systems

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  August 30, 2018 | International, Naval

  Navy Making Room for Railguns in Next Warship, But No Extra Investments

  By: Megan Eckstein THE PENTAGON – The Navy's next large surface combatant will have all the space, weight and power margins the sea service could need now and into the future to accommodate new weapons in development – but the director of surface warfare said the Navy would not accelerate weapons development to get them ready in time to outfit the new ships. Rear Adm. Ron Boxall, OPNAV N96, spoke to USNI News on Aug. 28, in his first interview on the Future Surface Combatant program since its initial capabilities document was signed out by leadership. Noting that the next large surface combatant would pull from some of the advances made with the Zumwalt-class destroyers (DDG-1000) – including potentially its integrated power system that could easily support laser guns, an electromagnetic railgun, powerful radars and other power-hungry technologies – Boxall told USNI News that the new large surface combatant represented an opportunity to put these technologies into the surface fleet whereas the legacy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers simply do not have the power and cooling capacity to do so. “We're just excited that we think we do have something that is expandable, has SWaP-C (space, weight, power and cooling) for the future. I think all of us were kind of a little bit nervous about the DDG Flight III and whether we'll have long-term ability to put future energy weapons on there, or the power that we need for directed energy, lasers, things like that,” he said. But just because the new ship will be able to support energy weapons doesn't mean Boxall wants to accelerate energy weapons development to ensure they're ready to field on the first new ships. He said moving to the Future Surface Combatant in 2023 is an “aggressive timeline” and that at some point the Navy will have to “snap the chalk line and say, this is what you have that's good enough to go on there” – and if a technology isn't ready, it would wait for fielding in a later block buy of the ship. With the Navy already seeking a new hull to better support the Aegis Combat System and the AN/SPY-6(V) Air and Missile Defense radar – collectively called the DDG-51 Flight III capability – Boxall said he didn't want to force too many changes all at once. “So I'm inclined to say, as long as we build it modularly, we're going to make those assessments in stride” in terms of inserting in new weapons as they come through the development process, he said. “But I don't want to get too crazy about trying to accelerate new technology in the first of the class as we change hulls, which will hopefully be a hull that will be with us for a very long time.” Full article: https://news.usni.org/2018/08/29/navy-making-room-railguns-next-warship-no-extra-investments