Rheinmetall supplies AI-powered navigation system for UK MoD’s Project Theseus 2.2

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  October 25, 2018 | International, Naval

  Lockheed planning big shift away from LCS propulsion system for its future frigate offering

  By: David B. Larter PARIS – Lockheed Martin is planning to shift from its littoral combat ship's water-jet propulsion to a propulsion system that the U.S. Navy is more familiar with for its future frigate offering, Lockheed's vice president for small combatants and ship systems told reporters at the 2018 Euronaval show. As it works through the Navy's requirements for its FFG(X) program, Lockheed is hoping that a more traditional twin-screw design with independent drive trains will entice the service towards its offering. One of the major hang-ups with the design requirements for all the competitors has been requirement that the engineering spaces be separated by a certain number of meters so that if the ship takes damage in one area, the other space should be online to drive the ship. If the design can't meet the spacing requirement, an alternative propulsion unit has to be installed. For Lockheed, the decision was to try and meet the spacing requirement, which is making its FFG(X) offering a bigger ship than the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship. “We felt the more traditional approach to the suite, going with more of the ... port and starboard side, redundant type of propulsion trains, that familiarity would be well received by the Navy. Going to more of a common system sized for the FFG(X),” said Joe DePietro. “It does require the ship to be longer, given those separation requirements and how you plan to stagger your port and starboard configuration of the combining gear/reduction gear, running into a single shaft into a screw on either side. You have to have a certain amount of separation and they have to be fully independent.” As for the system itself, Lockheed is keeping its options open, but is looking hard and combined diesel and gas systems, or even combined diesel and diesel, give the speed requirements for FFG(X), which are well reduced from what they were for the speedy LCS. The fleet has been receptive but mixed on the idea of a straight diesel propulsion system. But the trade-off for gas turbines is less fuel efficiency, which impacts range, DePietro said. In February, the Navy announced that it had awarded design contracts to asked to Huntington Ingalls, Lockheed Martin, Austal USA, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, and Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri have all been asked to submit mature designs. Lockheed is playing a strong hand going into selection, however, because of its partnership with Fincantieri on the Freedom-variant LCS, which is built at Fincantieri's Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin. Lockheed will either win the award for its modified LCS or it will be a systems integrator for Fincantieri's FREMM, which is another leading competitor for the program. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/euronaval/2018/10/23/lockheed-planning-big-shift-away-from-lcs-propulsion-system-for-its-future-frigate-offering

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  July 24, 2019 | International, Naval

  NIWC Atlantic is Named First DoD Entity to Join Amazon Web Services Academy

  By Diane Owens, Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic Public Affairs CHARLESTON, S.C. (NNS) -- Certified cybersecurity instructors at Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic's Cyber Education and Certification Readiness Facility (CERF) in Charleston are collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to train active duty military members and civilian employees in cloud computing. The training is part of the first Department of Defense (DoD) AWS academy and is offered to all branches of service. AWS Academy is a pathway for students and educators to gain AWS cloud computing skills and knowledge via AWS-authorized curriculum; the courses prepare students to pursue industry-recognized AWS certifications. “This is a tremendous honor and an incredible opportunity to lead the way in cloud computing education for DoD employees,” said Andrew Mansfield, NIWC Atlantic technical director. “Cloud computing is a key component of the next generation of IT and is critical to maintaining the military's technological advantage. It represents significant change – end-to-end.” CERF instructors met stringent requirements for certification as part of NIWC Atlantic's commitment to develop and retain a credentialed workforce. “The CERF team is providing active duty military members and civilian employees foundational opportunities to learn about and stay abreast of emerging technology domains such as cloud,” said Mansfield. Wesley Jones, NIWC Atlantic CERF instructor, taught the first one-week, face-to-face portion of the AWS Academy Cloud Foundations course to Marine Corps active duty members and civilian employees at the Pentagon June 10 – 14. The instructors used AWS-provided coursework including lectures, self-assessments and hands-on lab projects. In addition to classroom training, AWS Academy provides students with one-year online access to remote curriculum that supplements classroom training. Jones also distributed a step-by-step checklist he developed for self-study to help students pass the related AWS certification exam. He plans to track and encourage class members as they obtain certification. “The students loved the class; everyone was amped up,” Jones said. “Because I'm a government employee, it put them at ease. We were able to discuss and apply classroom concepts used in government projects during class.” The CERF has also partnered with AWS Educate, which makes a free online IT sandbox – Amazon Console – available to students for classroom labs and scenarios they create on their own. The students' sandbox and fresh expertise deploy and test networks, systems and applications relevant to their customers' requirements. “Bringing the instructor to the classroom to avoid having students travel to vendor training is convenient – and it's a huge cost avoidance,” said Jeff Hays, NIWC Atlantic Marine Corp team lead. “Classroom networking is also extremely beneficial; it allows students to discuss specific challenges from the perspective of a DoD environment and facilitates sharing experiences. You don't get that at vendor training.” NIWC Atlantic instructors Jones, Kamau Buffalo and Fred Bisel are working diligently to pass additional certification exams so they can teach more AWS courses as they are released. “The instructors are stars,” said Bisel. “They teach part-time and have other jobs as members of various integrated products teams – many involving cloud computing. Most of their certification study and classroom preparation occurs after business hours -- and they're also staying abreast of innovations that affect material in existing classes. It's a continuous learning process and they're highly motivated.” The second AWS Academy course for Marine Corps members took place at the Marine Corps Information Technology Center in Kansas City, Missouri, in July. To inquire about DoD cloud computing training, contact Bisel at earl.bisel@navy.mil. As a part of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, NIWC Atlantic provides systems engineering and acquisition to deliver information warfare capabilities to the naval, joint and national warfighter through the acquisition, development, integration, production, test, deployment, and sustainment of interoperable command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, cyber and information technology capabilities. Get more information about the Navy from US Navy Facebook or Twitter. For more news from Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/spawar/. https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=110327

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  September 11, 2024 | International, Aerospace

  Safran in talks with MBDA over Roxel's stake, La Tribune reports