Singapore to buy eight more F-35B jets

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  February 21, 2020 | International, Naval

  Virtual Training becomes reality for Royal Netherlands Navy

  February 20, 2020 - Technical students from the Royal Netherlands Navy can now make virtual acquaintance with naval ships. They do this with a Virtual Reality (VR) programme that Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS), Thales Nederland and the maritime innovation cluster Extended Reality developed for them. The programme was commissioned by the Royal Dutch Navy last Wednesday, prior to the signing of the contract for a new supply vessel. The so-called Intro-TD-OPV experience was created for students of the Royal Navy Technical Training. Supported by game techniques and a narrative, the student moves over the HNLMS Holland, a patrol ship of the Holland class and learns, playfully, the functional design of the ship and the location of the systems on board. The idea is that VR technology, game technology and gamification contribute to innovative education. With this, the Royal Netherlands Navy tries to fascinate and bind the technical target group. After all, the defence sector in general, and the Royal Navy in particular, nowadays need all the tools to recruit and retain suitable personnel. The VR programme was developed in close collaboration with the maritime innovation cluster Extended Reality. This cluster is largely run by naval personnel from the Simulation Center Maritime (SimCenMar). Here experiments are performed with all kinds of possibilities of extended reality. For the realisation of this VR project, DSNS worked closely with students from the Media Designer course at Scalda in Vlissingen. They participated in the course 3D models and graphics. To date, more than ten trainees have been involved in DSNS's ever-growing VR/AR department. View source version on Damen: https://www.damen.com/en/news/2020/02/virtual_training_becomes_reality_for_royal_netherlands_navy

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  March 26, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Fonds européen de défense : 100 millions d'euros pour l'eurodrone

  Par Justine BOQUET La Commission Européenne a annoncé qu'un budget global de 525 millions d'euros avait été débloqué au titre du fonds européen de Défense, dont 100 millions devraient être attribués pour le programme Eurodrone. La Commission Européenne a détaillé le 19 mars la répartition du budget du fonds européen de défense pour la période 2019-2020. Un budget initial de 500 millions d'euros a ainsi été approuvé. A cela s'ajoute « un montant supplémentaire de 25 millions d'euros [qui] a été affecté à l'appui aux projets de recherche collaboratifs dans le domaine de la défense en 2019 », rapporte la Commission Européenne. Deux projets ont d'ores et déjà été sélectionnés, lesquels bénéficieront d'un soutien financier émanant du FED. Parmi eux, figure l'eurodrone. Le drone male européen, développé par Airbus, Dassault et Leonardo, obtient ainsi un financement de 100 millions d'euros. Le programme de communications militaires ESSOR hérite lui d'une enveloppe de 37 millions d'euros. L'institution a par la même détaillé les domaines qui devraient hériter d'un financement, dans le but de soutenir la BITD européenne et pour permettre aux Etats Membres de se doter d'équipements leur permettant d'assurer leur sécurité. « L'accent sera mis sur des domaines tels que la technologie des drones, la communication par satellite, les systèmes d'alerte rapide, l'intelligence artificielle, la cyberdéfense ou la surveillance maritime », précise la Commission. Afin de sélectionner les programmes qui bénéficieront d'un soutien européen, l'Union Européenne réalisera un appel à propositions pour 21 projets sur la période 2019-2020. Parmi les axes technologiques soutenus par la Commission Européenne, on retrouve la prévention des menaces NRBC et le domaine de l'anti-drones, volet qui hérite d'un montant de 80 M€. La cybersécurité, la cyberdéfense, la surveillance de l'espace, les capacités d'alerte rapide et de surveillance maritime bénéficieront d'une enveloppe globale de 182 M€. « 71 millions d'euros soutiendront la mise à niveau ou le développement de la prochaine génération de capacités de frappe de précision au sol, de capacités de combat au sol, de capacités de lutte aérienne et de futurs systèmes navals », ajoute la Commission Européenne. Pour soutenir le domaine de l'intelligence artificielle, de la réalité virtuelle et des cybertechnologies, l'Union Européenne débloquera une enveloppe de 27 millions d'euros, laquelle permettra par ailleurs d'appuyer les PME dans la conduite de leurs projets. http://www.air-cosmos.com/fonds-europeen-de-defense-100-millions-d-euros-pour-l-eurodrone-121705

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  July 24, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Four companies win contracts to build the Air Force’s Skyborg drone

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Atomics and Kratos will move forward in the Air Force program to build an AI-enabled drone wingman known as Skyborg. Each company Thursday was awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract worth up to $400 million, but no seed money was immediately allocated as the firms will have to compete against each other for future orders. Through the Skyborg program, the Air Force wants to field a family of unmanned aerial systems that use artificial intelligence to adapt to battlefield conditions. The Skyborg drone should be cheap enough where the loss of aircraft in combat could be sustained, yet survivable enough so that it could move into a high-end fight and function as a wingman to manned fighter jets. “Because autonomous systems can support missions that are too strenuous or dangerous for manned crews, Skyborg can increase capability significantly and be a force multiplier for the Air Force,” said Brig. Gen. Dale White, who leads the Air Force's program office for fighters and advanced aircraft. “We have the opportunity to transform our warfighting capabilities and change the way we fight and the way we employ air power.” Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper has said that Skyborg could eventually become smart enough that, like R2-D2 in the Star Wars films, it can autonomously present information and conduct tasks to help decrease fighter pilot workload. The system learns from prior experiences how best to support human pilots. But in the near term, the Air Force wants to use the Skyborg program to integrate an autonomous air vehicle with open mission systems as a way to demonstrate that it can team with a manned fighter, the service said in a statement. “Autonomy technologies in Skyborg's portfolio will range from simple play-book algorithms to advanced team decision making and will include on-ramp opportunities for artificial intelligence technologies,” said Brig. Gen. Heather Pringle, the Air Force Research Laboratory commander. “This effort will provide a foundational government reference architecture for a family of layered, autonomous, and open-architecture UAS.” https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2020/07/23/four-companies-got-contracts-to-build-the-air-forces-skyborg-drone