May 5, 2020 | International, Aerospace
SMi Reports: Royal Air Force's Wing Commander Judith Graham to brief on RPAS Capabilities at UAV Technology, this September.
05/04/20, 05:43 AM | Unmanned & Other Topics
In recent news, the UK Royal Air Force is set to integrate the new Protector UAS, replacing the current Reaper models in service. As armed forces continue to invest in UAV developments, where remote combat UAS and ISR capabilities have solidified their importance to modern military operations, the RAF plans to acquire 16 Protectors by 2024.*With that said, SMi Group's 5th annual UAV Technology conference, reconvening on 28th and 29th September 2020 in London, UK and will further investigate RPAS capabilities. The 2020 event promises to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest wingmen programmes, long range ISR capabilities, regulation, counter-UAS technology and more.
For Interested parties, there is an early bird saving of £300 for bookings made by 29th May. Register at http://www.uav-technology.org/robtomPR2
The Royal Air Force's Remotely Piloted Air Systems Programme Manager, Wing Commander Judith Graham will be providing an exclusive keynote presentation on ‘Transforming the Royal Air Force's RPAS Capabilities' covering:
• Progress in delivering the Protector Remotely Piloted Air System to the Royal Air Force and testing the limits of the platform.
• Advancing towards Airspace Integration and Certification.
• Operational advantage of the Protector and how this will be leveraged in future operational planning, including Brimstone missiles, and upgraded sensor packages.
• Looking further ahead: what part will the Protector play in future conflict both against near-peer and irregular adversaries.
Delegates attending Europe's leading conference dedicated to UAV development will learn from high profile UK and international military speakers as they meet and share their insight and experiences with UAV technologies.
For the full speakers and the programme, visit:
http://www.uav-technology.org/robtomPR2
UAV Technology
28th - 29th September 2020
London, UK
Sponsored by: AeroVironment, Fizoptika, Leonardo and Mynaric
For sponsorship and exhibition queries please contact Justin Predescu jpredescu@smi-online.co.uk or call +44 (0) 20 7827 6130
For delegate queries please contact James Hitchen jhitchen@smi-online.co.uk or call +44(0)207 827 6054
For media queries please contact Carina Gozo at CGozo@smi-online.co.uk.
*‘ RAF unveils deadly new Protector drone armed with ‘game-changing technology' (Express: August, 2019) https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1169075/raf-news-drone-protector-drone-high-tech-armed-surveillance-aircraft
--END—
About SMi Group:
Established since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the world's most forward thinking opinion leaders and visionaries, allowing us to bring our communities together to Learn, Engage, Share and Network. More information can be found at http://www.smi-online.co.uk
April 28, 2024 | International, Aerospace
The Air Force's E-4B, which the president would use to direct forces during nuclear war, is nearing the end of its life and will be replaced by the SAOC.
October 5, 2022 | International, C4ISR
The service seeks an immersive, virtual environment that can be used to connect groups, enhance training and make testing a system more collaborative.
June 4, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Nathan Strout The American unit of Astroscale Holdings is entering the satellite life-extension market with the purchase of an Israeli company that specializes in developing on-orbit servicing solutions. Astroscale U.S. has acquired Effective Space Solutions, which develops life-extension solutions for satellites in geostationary orbit, or GEO. In addition to adding ESS' intellectual property to its portfolio, Astroscale is hiring all of the company's staff to form Astroscale Israel Ltd., which will remain in that country and serve as Astroscale's research and development group for geostationary satellite life-extension services. Astroscale, a global company based in Japan, is best known for its efforts to remove space debris from orbit. The company expects to demonstrate its end-of-life service later this year, which will see an Astroscale space vehicle capture debris and de-orbit it. But with this purchase the company is scaling up its understanding of — and ambitions for — on-orbit servicing. “Really, we've started thinking about the debris remediation part of the market as a subset of on-orbit services. It's one thing you can do once you have a satellite up there that can rendezvous and dock with other satellites,” said Ron Lopez, president and managing director of Astroscale U.S. “We're bringing all of those resources to bear to move into the GEO life-extension business, to complement what we're doing in [low Earth orbit] LEO on the debris and the situational space awareness side.” Astroscale claims that with its debris removal efforts in LEO and its new GEO life-extension effort, the company is now the only business solely dedicated to on-orbit servicing across all orbital regimes. Eventually, Astroscale could add satellite refueling, repair, upgrading, towing, salvage, situational space awareness and on-orbit manufacturing to its future portfolio for logistics services. But for now, the company is focused on providing life-extension services — supplanting the exhausted fuel reserves of a client satellite with the propulsion provided by an attached space vehicle. ESS' Space Drone platform will be used as the base for Astroscale's first life-extension vehicle. Lopez couldn't give a timeline for when the first life-extension mission would begin, stating that the timeline would be driven by customer demand. He added that he is in talks with potential customers. Astroscale will face some stiff competition as it enters the still nascent satellite-servicing market. SpaceLogistics, a Northrop Grumman subsidiary, successfully docked its own space vehicle with a commercial GEO satellite in February, marking the beginning of the first-ever commercial satellite life-extension mission. SpaceLogistics has also made important inroads with the Department of Defense. The company is working with the DoD to study the feasibility of providing life-extension services to four military satellites. And shortly after the firm's successful docking with a commercial satellite in February, the company announced it will partner with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to field a pair of government-built robotic arms for on-orbit repairs. Astroscale also sees the DoD as an important customer for any GEO servicing efforts. “U.S. strategy right now is very heavily focused on space, specifically on building resiliency and achieving greater operational flexibility, which this kind of capability will allow U.S. government customers to do,” Lopez said. The company does not have any DoD contracts to date, but Lopez said it's in communication with key U.S. government stakeholders and has presented its solution to DoD representatives. Lopez also sees strong commercial interest in on-orbit servicing, which underpins the company's business plan and would allow the government to leverage commercial prices. Ultimately, Lopez believes Astroscale is well-positioned to compete. “Even though we're small, we're nimble and we have a real, meaningful global footprint,” he said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/06/03/astroscale-leaps-into-the-satellite-servicing-fray