November 27, 2019 | International, Aerospace
By: Nathan Strout
The Air Force awarded Capella Space a $750,000 base contract for high-resolution radar imagery during one of the service's rapid acquisition events earlier this month.
Capella Space announced Nov. 20 that the Air Force plans to use the company's sub 0.5 meter synthetic aperture radar imagery for virtual reality software, missile defense and developing predictive intelligence to foresee foreign threats.
“The U.S. Air Force is always working to maintain our leadership as a global technology innovator, and this contract is a testament to that commitment,” said Lt. Gen. John Thompson, head of the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center.
SAR satellites are unique in their ability to collect imagery despite adverse weather or lighting conditions that make optical sensors useless. Unlike optical sensors, SAR sensors can pick up data on material properties, moisture content, elevation and precise changes and movements. In addition, SAR data can be used to make both 3D recreations or 2D images of 3D objects. Capella plans to launch its first SAR satellite in early 2020 as part of a constellation of 36 satellites that it expects to be operational in 2022.
“Capella will work alongside the U.S. Air Force to foster collaboration and deliver a product that best suits their mission needs,” Dan Brophy, vice president of government services at Capella Space, said in a statement. “Timely SAR data that presents changes on Earth holds tremendous military value, and we will make adaptations to meet unique military requirements. Together with the Air Force, we will define the applications for this data in its hybrid, military and commercial space architecture.”
The contract was awarded during the Air Force's Space Pitch Days Nov. 5-6, where the Air Force invited small and nontraditional companies to make pitches for their products and solutions in an environment like the television show “Shark Tank.” The Air Force awarded Phase II Small Business Innovative Research contracts on the spot to several companies, including to Capella Space. At the conclusion of this base contract, Capella could win a Phase III contract in 2020.
August 25, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France over content moderation issues. Platform faces scrutiny for alleged facilitation of cybercrime and illegal
November 12, 2018 | International, Aerospace
By: Tom Kington ROME — Italy will stretch out the order of F-35 fighter jets, buying six or seven of the aircraft in the next five years instead of the previously planned 10 jets, a government source told Defense News. The decision follows a review of the program by Italy's populist government, which took office in June and is mulling defense spending cuts to pay for social welfare programs and cover tax cuts. The source said the plan did not envisage a reduction in orders, merely a slowdown of intake, which would leave the decision of the total F-35 purchase to a future government. Previous governments planned to buy 60 F-35As and 30 F-35Bs for a total of 90 aircraft. The new government will focus on spending plans over its five-year mandate and not beyond, the source said, adding that discussions are underway with the U.S. about the change in schedule. The decision on the slowdown keeps with Italian policy on the F-35 set out by Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta after she took office in June. “What I would like to do is lighten the load, since we have other spending commitments in Europe. We will try to stretch out deliveries instead of cutting the order, which would reduce offsets and mean penalties,” she told Defense News at the time. Italy has taken delivery of 10 F-35As and one F-35B. Two of the "A" models as well as the "B" model are being used for training in the U.S., while eight "A" models are now based at the Italian Air Force's base in Amendola, southern Italy. Trenta was tapped for office by the Five Star party, one of two political parties in Italy's current coalition government. Five Star politicians took a hostile line toward the F-35 program before taking office, at one point promising to scrap it. However, a defense spending document released last month suggests the government will maintain spending on the program in the next two years, with €766 million (U.S. $874 million) due to be spent in 2019 and €783 million in 2020. Those figures should be treated as provisional until the overall budget is signed in Parliament in the coming weeks. Five Star politicians have also shown hostility toward another U.S. defense program — the ground station planned in Sicily to support the Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS, network, a U.S. Navy-run satellite network providing voice and data communications to U.S. military personnel and platforms around the world, even when they are under thick forest canopies. Long held up by legal challenges in Sicily amid health fears, sources have said the MUOS antenna in Sicily could soon see final approval from the Italian government. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/11/09/italy-signals-slowdown-on-f-35-orders
March 11, 2024 | International, Land