October 10, 2022 | International, Aerospace
Sierra Nevada buys drone maker Volansi after VC funding dries up
Sierra Nevada said it bought Volansi for "considerably less" than other drone manufacturers have sold for recently.
March 9, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Turkish Drones Destroy Russian-Made Air Defense Systems
On Friday, a missile fired by a Turkish drone destroyed a Russian-made Pantsir-S1 deployed by the Syrian Army in Idlib province. This video released by Turkish media, shows an active Syrian Pantsir being destroyed by a Turkish drone.
According to Turkish media, the Pantsir radar was active when it was hit, indicating that the system failed to detect the incoming missile.
The Syrian Air Defense Force reportedly has more than 30 $14 million Pantsir S1 (SA-22) air defense systems. Russia has also strengthened its Syrian Khmeimim air base with Pantsir systems to prevent air strikes. The systems were deployed in Khmeimim after a series of drone attacks in 2018.
Combat unmanned aerial vehicles used by the Turkish military against the Syrian army led to Syria's largest losses, according to the Turkish Ministry of Defense. After Turkey started using drones against the Syrian Armed Forces, Assad's army has lost about a hundred units of armoured vehicles and several hundred military personnel.
Russian news outlet Avia.pro writes that, for unknown reasons, Turkish drones are invisible to Syrian air defense systems. According to the news outlet, Pantsir radars are possibly “blinded” by Turkish electronic warfare systems. Reportedly, Turkey has been using it Koral jamming system built by Aselsan, to degrade the effectiveness of Syrian air defense radars. The Koral, which has a range of 124 miles, has support sensors designed to detect and classify other systems in the area, and an electronic attack element designed to jam, deceive and overload enemy sensors
The Turkish drones are reportedly using MAM-C and MAM-L ‘micro-munitions'—70- and 160-millimeter rockets respectively, weighing only 14 and 48.5 pounds designed to strike targets illuminated by a laser. These can carry high explosive, armour-penetrating shaped charges, or (on the MAM-L) lung-rupturing thermobaric warheads, while remaining light enough to mount on relatively small drones. The larger MAM-L can also extend range from 5 to 8.6 miles by using GPS or inertial guidance.
Syrian air defenses have managed to shoot down at least three Turkish Anka-S drones in February, and Damascus claims as many as six. As these are larger and newer drones, their loss may be keenly felt, but obviously less so than manned aircraft.
https://www.uasvision.com/2020/03/06/turkish-drones-destroy-russian-made-air-defense-systems/
On the same subject
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June 4, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security
Watchdog says Pentagon needs better planning for IP update 17 years after first attempt
Andrew Eversden A federal watchdog found that poor planning by the Department of Defense has blurred the department's understanding of the risks and costs associated with upgrading the system that routes internet traffic across the globe, known as Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). According to a June 1 report from the Government Accountability Office, the Pentagon needs to improve its transition planning for the most recent effort, which began in April 2017. The DoD has tried twice previously to implement IPv6 in 2003 and 2010, but stopped those transitions after identifying security risks and lacking adequately trained personnel. The problem for the DoD is that IPv4, the IP management system the DoD uses, is running out of address space. IPv4 only has room for 4.3 billion addresses. In contrast, IPv6, created in the 1990s, provides about 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (undecillion) IP addresses. The Defense Department owns approximately 300 million IP addresses with about 59.8 million unused and planned for use by future DoD components. The department estimates it will run out of its unused IP addresses by 2030. The department's IPv6 implementation plan from early 2019 listed 35 actions needed to switch over from IPv4. Eighteen of those steps were scheduled to be completed by March 2020. The report said six of the 18 tasks were completed on time. Upgrading to IPv6 would increase connectivity, add security, improve the warfighter's connection and communications on the battlefield, and preserve interoperability with allied systems, the GAO wrote. The watchdog found that the department was not compliant with several IPv6 transition requirements from the White House's Office of Management and Budget. The DoD hasn't completed a cost estimate, developed a risk analysis or finished an inventory of IP compliant devices, the report said. Pentagon officials told the GAO that they knew their time frame for the transition was “optimistic," adding that they thought the pace was reasonable "until they started performing the work,” the GAO wrote. “Without an inventory, a cost estimate, or a risk analysis, DOD significantly reduced the probability that it could have developed a realistic transition schedule,” the GAO wrote. “Addressing these basic planning requirements would supply DOD with needed information that would enable the department to develop realistic, detailed, and informed transition plans and time frames.” The Department did meet OMB's requirement to name an official to lead and coordinate the agency planning. But because the Pentagon failed to complete the other three OMB requirements. the move is at risk. “Without an inventory, a cost estimate, or a risk analysis, DOD's plans have a high degree of uncertainty about the magnitude of work involved, the level of resources required, and the extent and nature of threats, including cybersecurity risks,” the GAO wrote. Among the DoD's goals it did complete are several IPv6 training programs, information sharing opportunities and a program management office. The GAO recommended that Defense Secretary Mark Esper direct the DoD chief information officer to complete an inventory of IP-compliant devices, develop a cost estimate and perform a risk analysis. The DoD agreed that it needed to develop a cost estimate and risk analysis but didn't concur that it needed to inventory devices, citing new guidance from OMB and calling an inventory “impractical” because of the department's size. “The lack of an inventory is problematic due to the role that it should play in developing transition requirements,” the GAO wrote. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2020/06/02/watchdog-says-pentagon-needs-better-planning-for-ip-update-17-years-after-first-attempt/
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March 5, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Pratt & Whitney Makes Hypersonic Revival As Pentagon Pushes Reuse | Aviation Week Network
A secret program inside GatorWorks seeks to deliver a high-speed, reusable propulsion system.