The year’s biggest air show is canceled as COVID-19 sweeps through Europe

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  May 15, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  CAE USA awarded contract to provide instructor support services for United States Navy

  CAE today announced that CAE USA has won a contract to provide the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) with Contract Instruction Services (CIS) that will support the delivery of ground-based training to the United States Navy. Under terms of the five-year CNATRA CIS contract, which was awarded as a base contract with four one-year options, CAE USA will provide classroom and simulator instructors at five Naval Air Stations (NAS) to support primary, intermediate and advanced pilot training for the U.S. Navy. “We are pleased to be selected for this highly competitive program to support U.S. naval aviation pilot training,” said Ray Duquette, President and General Manager, CAE USA. “Over the past several years, we have demonstrated our capabilities to the Navy on the T-44C program as a world-class provider of comprehensive training solutions and services. CAE USA looks forward to expanding our support of the primary and advanced flight training that will produce future naval aviators for the United States Navy.” CAE USA will provide classroom and simulator instructors at five U.S. Navy training bases: NAS Whiting Field, Florida – training base for primary phase of training utilizing T-6B Texan aircraft; NAS Corpus Christi, Texas – training base for primary phase of training utilizing T-6B Texan aircraft; NAS Meridian, Mississippi – training base for intermediate and advanced phase of jet training utilizing T-45C Goshawk aircraft; NAS Kingsville, Texas – training base for intermediate and advanced phase of jet training utilizing T-45C Goshawk aircraft; NAS Pensacola, Florida – training base for naval flight officer (NFO) training. The CNATRA CIS program provides classroom and simulator instructor support services for the primary phase of naval aviation training, which is the start of training for all future Navy pilots. The CNATRA CIS program also supports intermediate and advanced strike training, which is the training pipeline for future fighter and attack, or “Tailhook” aviators; and NFO training, which provides the basic training for operating the advance systems onboard naval aircraft. CAE USA already supports the training pipeline for advanced multi-engine training as part of the contractor-owned and operated T-44C Command Aircraft Crew Training program at NAS Corpus Christi. The naval aviator training pipeline for rotary-wing is supported under a separate training support program. “The CNATRA CIS training program is another example of the U.S. military outsourcing to industry some of the training support required for aircrew training,” said Duquette, a retired naval aviator and former instructor at NAS Kingsville. “As a company focused on training, we are in a good position to partner with our military customers to help train and prepare their next-generation aviators.” https://www.cae.com/news-events/press-releases/cae-usa-awarded-contract-to-provide-instructor-support-services-for-united-states-navy

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  August 22, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Boeing Gets Contract to Upgrade Navy's Blue Angels to Super Hornets

  By Oriana Pawlyk The U.S. Navy Blue Angels are poised to receive new, retrofitted F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft in the next few years. The Navy on Monday awarded Boeing Co., the F/A-18's manufacturer, a $17 million firm-fixed price contract to configure nine F/A-18E and two F/A-18F aircraft to the standard Blue Angels' aircraft structure. The squadron, which typically maintains 11 aircraft, currently flies the F/A-18C/D models. While an upgrade, the new aircraft would not house the common nose cannon system used for strike operations. Like the Air Force Thunderbirds, the demonstration team uses "clean jets," aircraft without missiles or bombs. However, the Blue Angels' F/A-18s are "capable of being returned to combat duty aboard an aircraft carrier within 72 hours," if necessary, according to the team's fact sheet. Full article: https://www.military.com/dodbuzz/2018/08/15/boeing-gets-contract-upgrade-navys-blue-angels-super-hornets.html

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  January 7, 2019 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  Pentagon Seeks a List of Ethical Principles for Using AI in War

  BY PATRICK TUCKER An advisory board is drafting guidelines that may help shape worldwide norms for military artificial intelligence — and woo Silicon Valley to defense work. U.S. defense officials have asked the Defense Innovation Board for a set of ethical principles in the use of artificial intelligence in warfare. The principles are intended to guide a military whose interest in AI is accelerating — witness the new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center — and to reassure potential partners in Silicon Valley about how their AI products will be used. Today, the primary document laying out what the military can and can't do with AI is a 2012 doctrine that says a human being must have veto power over any action an autonomous system might take in combat. It's brief, just four pages, and doesn't touch on any of the uses of AI for decision support, predictive analytics, etc. where players like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and others are making fast strides in commercial environments. “AI scientists have expressed concern about how DoD intends to use artificial intelligence. While the DoD has a policy on the role of autonomy in weapons, it currently lacks a broader policy on how it will use artificial intelligence across the broad range of military missions,” said Paul Scharre, the author of Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War. Josh Marcuse, executive director of the Defense Innovation Board, said crafting these principles will help the department “safely and responsibly” employ new technologies. “I think it's important when dealing with a field that's emergent to think through all the ramifications,” he said. The Board, a group of Silicon Valley corporate and thought leaders chaired by former Google and Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt, will make the list public at its June meeting. Defense Department leaders will take them under consideration. Marcuse believes that the Pentagon can be a leader not just in employing AI but in establishing guidelines for safe use — just as the military pioneered safety standards for aviation. “The Department of Defense should lead in this area as we have with other technologies in the past. I want to make sure the department is not just leading in developing AI for military purposes but also in developing ethics to use AI in military purposes,” he says. The effort, in part, is a response to what happened with the military's Project Maven, the Pentagon's flagship AI project with Google as its partner. The effort applied artificial intelligence to the vast store of video and and image footage that the Defense Department gathers to guide airstrikes. Defense officials emphasized repeatedly that the AI was intended only to cut down the workload of human analysts. But they also acknowledged that the ultimate goal was to help the military do what it does better, which sometimes means finding and killing humans. An employee revolt ensued at Google. Employees resigned en masse and the company said that they wouldn't renew the contract. Scharre, who leads the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, said, “One of the challenges for things like Project Maven, which uses AItechnology to process drone video feeds, is that some scientists expressed concern about where the technology may be heading. A public set of AI principles will help clarify DoD's intentions regarding artificial intelligence.” Full artcile: https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2019/01/pentagon-seeks-list-ethical-principles-using-ai-war/153940/