Thales and MKU to co-develop the Elfie Night Vision Device for India and the world

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  April 14, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Land, C4ISR

  This upgrade will help Air Force convoys communicate while on the move

  Nathan Strout Persistent Systems will receive $25 million to upgrade hardware for the Wave Relay Tactical Assault Kit (WaRTAK) program, which provides multidomain communications and situational awareness to Air Force convoys, the company announced April 8. “It ties radio, GPS, cellular and satellite internet connections — everything — into our self-healing Wave Relay [mobile ad hoc network],” Adrien Robenhymer, vice president of business development for Persistent, said in a statement. The mobile ad hoc network allows users to share voice, video, text, GPS location and sensor data without fixed infrastructure or a central node, providing resilient communications and situational awareness to the convoy. The system uses a shared digital map to allow users to coordinate with friendly units or identify unknown or enemy vehicles that may pose a threat to the convoy. WaRTAK is used by the 90th Missile Wing, 91st Missile Wing and 341st Missile Wing, according to the company. The WaRTAK hardware ― the MPU5 system — can be installed on ground vehicles and on support aircraft, or carried by dismounted individuals. Persistent is to supply 400 MPU5 systems under the four-year contract, replacing and adding to the 350 MPU3 and MPU4 systems it previously delivered to the Air Force. The company claims the fifth-generation hardware will be 55 percent smaller than previous iterations, while resulting in power savings of 30 percent. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/04/09/this-upgrade-will-help-air-force-convoys-communicate-at-the-edge

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  August 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  The Pentagon can now buy US-made small drones from these five companies

  Nathan Strout WASHINGTON — Beginning in September, entities across the U.S. Department of Defense will be able to buy small, American-manufactured drones from five select companies, allowing users in the field to quickly and easily gain a bird's eye view of their environment. A spin-off of U.S. Army efforts to develop a rucksack-packable quadcopter with the Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) program of record, the Defense Innovation Unit's Blue sUAS effort let's U.S. government customers purchase trusted small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) that can take off and land vertically. The new drones were developed to comply with Section 848 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which prohibits the procurement of UAS built in China. Drone configurations will be available from five manufacturers: Altavian, Parrot, Skydio, Teal, and Vantage Robotics. “I think the fact that we started a program with a single requirement around an Army effort and were able to scale it across not only all of the services in DoD to include (U.S. Special Operations Command) and the combatant commands as well as the inter-agency federal government partners ― at least to me ― is super exciting,” Chris Bonzagni, a program manager within DIU's autonomy portfolio and an sUAS subject matter expert, told C4ISRNET. “As a former infantryman, having this capability when I was deployed to Iraq would have been a dream come true.” While Blue sUAS uses the same aerial vehicles as SRR, it offers a vendor-provided ground control system and radio configurations that can be used by customers across DoD and the federal government more broadly. Blue sUAS drones will be available on the GSA schedule starting in September 2020, though DoD entities can also pursue a production contract via Other Transaction Authority, DIU noted in their announcement. “Blue sUAS represents a tremendous first step toward building a robust and trusted UAS domestic industrial base that ensures sustained delivery of highly-capable, secure UAS to the warfighters that depend on it,” said Michael Kratsios, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “Blue sUAS showcases how we can both work with small, nontraditional companies and our allies and partners to quickly pilot cutting-edge technologies that support our mutual defense.” The path to Blue sUAS started about two years ago, according to Bonzagni. The Army approached DIU for help adopting commercial quadcopters for use by every platoon. DIU staff walked the Army through their Commercial Solutions Opening process, distilling about 60 pages of requirements to just a page and a half, making them more accessible to commercial companies looking to work with DoD. Those specifications were posted in November 2018, drawing 34 responses from industry. DIU accepted pitches from half of those companies, and ultimately downselected to just six companies five months later in April 2019. Of those six companies, four had never even worked with DoD before. “Blue sUAS is a great example of DoD acquisition reform by lowering the barrier to entry for non-traditional companies to rapidly iterate shoulder to shoulder with warfighters to deliver highly capable sUAS tailored to mission needs,” said Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord in a statement. Under those contracts, DIU worked with those six companies to modify their mature commercial products for broader DoD needs. Among other things, the companies had to incorporate a thermal camera, add a DoD data link, cyber test the drones and ruggedize them for field use. Midway through development, Congress passed a new requirement in the annual defense policy legislation, prohibiting the operation or procurement of UAS manufactured in China. That effort grounded significant numbers of government drones, said Bonzagni, and there were no suitable U.S.-manufactured alternatives available. While the Army continued to focus on developing a solution specifically for its soldiers through SRR, the new requirement opened up a much broader need across the federal government for U.S.-manufactured sUAS. DIU was able to leverage the Army's investment in SRR and make the technology available for all federal government customers — including organizations that use drones every day like the Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Geological Survey — as Blue sUAS. Drones available through Blue sUAS can be assembled in two minutes or less and will have an operational range of over 3 kilometers, flight endurance greater than 30 minutes, and can fly through dust and rain. All products are three pounds or greater. According to Bonzagni, DIU is looking for a pricing range between $7,000 and $15,000 per unit, although the end price point will vary based on configuration. “While all these offerings were derived from essentially consumer-based [products] ― in some cases toys and some cases fun cameras in the sky — these are sUAS built for work,” explained Matthew Borowski, program manager within DIU's sUAS portfolio and an sUAS subject matter expert. “There really is no consumer offering that has the type of payload package that these drones have on them, including higher resolution thermal cameras [and cameras with seamless zoom].” https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/08/20/department-of-defense-can-now-buy-us-manufactured-small-drones-from-these-five-companies/

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  October 11, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  NFAC Tests Next-Generation Military Helicopter

  Wind Tunnel Test Designed To Validate The Aerodynamic Performance And Flight Mechanics Of Sikorsky's X2 Technology Aircraft The U.S. Army is looking to improve its aviation technology and recently called upon the AEDC National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex at Moffett Field in Mountain View, CA, to advance this effort. Engineers from Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and The Boeing Company, in partnership with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center Army Aviation Development Directorate, recently conducted a series of tests at NFAC to support the development of the SB>1 DEFIANT, a military helicopter being developed for the Army's Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program. The goal of this wind tunnel test was to validate the aerodynamic performance and flight mechanics of Sikorsky's X2 Technology aircraft. These configurations, which are being utilized on the SB>1 DEFIANT, include a lift-offset coaxial rotor system, composite fuselage and rear-mounted pusher propulsor that provides increased speed. The SB>1 DEFIANT, which made its first flight in March, is a technology demonstrator for a medium-lift utility helicopter. Future uses of this type of air vehicle could include attack and assault, troop transport or MEDEVAC. The testing was conducted throughout the first half of 2019 and concluded in mid-June. To accomplish the tests, a 1/5 scale model of the SB>1 DEFIANT airframe with powered coaxial main rotors was placed in the NFAC 40- by 80-foot wind tunnel. Measurements included forces and moments on the various components, as well as fuselage, empennage and blade surface pressures. David Wang, NFAC test engineer, said the recent tests expanded on data collected from a JMR wind tunnel entry conducted at NFAC in 2016 by gathering data at faster speed ranges. “From the NFAC perspective, the wind tunnel test was successful,” Wang said. “The test customer was able to collect performance and handling qualities data for their subscale model up to their maximum design flight speed.” Data collected during the recent tests is undergoing review and analysis. It is unknown at this time if there will be future testing of the SB>1 DEFIANT model at NFAC. The full-scale SB>1 DEFIANT flight demonstrator is currently undergoing ground and flight tests at Sikorsky's flight test facility. According to the Sikorsky-Boeing JMR Team, data from SB>1 DEFIANT will help the Army develop requirements for new utility helicopters expected to enter service in the early 2030s. A previous DOD study concluded that upgrades to the aging DOD rotary wing aviation fleet would not provide the capabilities required for future operations. Significant improvement in several attributes of fleet aircraft, such as speed, payload, range, survivability and vertical lift are required to meet future needs. It was determined this improvement could be achieved through application of new technologies and designs. To accomplish its goal, the Army has been executing a science & technology (S&T) effort to mitigate risk associated with maturity of critical technologies, feasibility of desired capabilities and cost of a technical solution. An aspect of this effort is the air vehicle development associated with the JMR TD program. JMR TD is the alignment of Army Aviation's S&T with the Future Vertical Lift initiative, which seeks to develop a new family of system to modernize and replace the government's current fleet of rotorcraft. According to the Army, the intent of the JMR TD is to mitigate risk for the Future Vertical Lift program through means that include the testing of advanced technologies and efficient vehicle configurations. NFAC, managed and operated by Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), is the largest wind tunnel complex in the world. It consists of both the 40- by 80-foot and 80- by 120- foot wind tunnels. These tunnels, which share a common drive system, are primarily used for aerodynamic and acoustic tests of rotorcraft and fixed wing, powered-lift V/STOL aircraft and developing advanced technologies for these vehicles. Both subscale and full-scale models are tested at NFAC. The speed range of the 40- by 80-foot wind tunnel test section is continuously variable from 0 to 300 knots, while the speed range in the 80- by 120-foot wind tunnel section is continuously variable from 0 to 100 knots. http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=021bcb83-4df9-4253-b7a3-ff3805b7b16a