UK eyes alternative to Galileo satellite system as Brexit row widens

On the same subject

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  September 11, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  MDA to deliver mission-critical SAR information for maritime surveillance

  ichmond, BC - MDA, a Maxar Technologies company (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.), (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR), today announced that it has signed a multi-million dollar contract with the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) for a one-year maritime surveillance program that includes the delivery of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data products from the RADARSAT-2 satellite, using MDA's global network of ground receiving stations. The contract includes two additional option years. As part of the Presidential program Operation Phakisa, SANSA has been tasked to acquire SAR imagery with the aim of enhancing the monitoring and protection of South Africa's coastal regions and oceans. Initiatives under this program are considered crucial in accelerating the delivery of South Africa's development priorities. Operations Phakisa estimates that the approximate total contribution of coastal resources (marine fishing, port and harbour development, attractive lifestyles, recreation and tourism) is 35% of South Africa's GDP. The information provided by the SAR data contributes to ensuring improved governance and enables the securing of South African resources, such as the National Ocean and Coastal Information System. The South African Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is roughly 1.5 million square km and forms part of the economic resources and trade routes of South Africa. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa's central and premier scientific research and development organization will create the ship and oil detection products for SANSA to share with various government agencies. “RADARSAT-2 provides a unique method of cost-effectively and accurately monitoring very large areas and providing information in near real-time, demonstrating immediate value to users,” said Mike Greenley, group president of MDA. “MDA has decades of remote sensing expertise to help our customers anticipate and address their most complex mission-critical challenges with confidence.” Under this contract, using RADARSAT-2 information, MDA will provide systematic weekly broad-area surveillance over South Africa's EEZ and on-demand high-resolution image acquisitions. RADARSAT-2 Ocean Surveillance Mode is well suited for broad area maritime surveillance, and is unique as a single scene covers over 250,000 ㎢ and allows for the detection of ships and oil within the coastal and offshore regions regardless of light or weather condition. https://mdacorporation.com/news/pr/pr2018091001.html

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  October 9, 2019 | International, Land, C4ISR

  Beetle-like Iranian robots can roll under tanks

  By: Kelsey D. Atherton On screen, the small robot slides perfectly underneath the textureless tank. It is a modern iteration of an old promise in remote warfare, rendered with all the processing power of a desktop PC from 1994. Can a small, cheap robot prove useful against the vehicles of an enemy at war? A recent exhibition of unmanned ground vehicles by Iran suggests that the possibility, if not the reality, is already in development. Designed by the Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization of the Iranian Army, the Heidair-1 is almost certainly bound for life as an expendable battlefield platform. “There are many countries and forces using small [unmanned ground vehicles] for ISR and other roles — many belligerents in the Middle East have them, including several DIY models made by non-state actors,” said Samuel Bendett, an adviser at the Center for Naval Analyses. The Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces, or NEZAJA, shared pictures of the new machine on Twitter Oct. 3. The default body of the robot is a six-wheeled tan box, with a pair of antenna sticking out toward the rear of the machine. Of the six Heidair-1 platforms featured, two were models with assault rifles mounted on top of the little rovers, magazines pointed skyward. “NEZAJA had an expo in Tehran where it unveiled several concepts, including this small UGV, Heidar-1. It appears to be a proof of concept, and there is no evidence of this UGV taking part in combat,” Bendett said. In the same video, NEZAJA shows one of the robots driving toward a rough tank-like shape. It explodes, fulfilling the promise of the simulation, and hearkening back to an earlier era of anti-tank warfare. In World War II, Germany fielded thousands of Goliath remote-control anti-tank mines, designed to crawl under parked tanks and detonate through the softer armor below. “This is the first time we have seen Iran unveil such a vehicle,” said Bendett, a fellow in Russia studies at the American Foreign Policy Council. “Equally interesting is their claim that this will be a ‘networked' system of vehicles that can presumably function in more or less autonomous mode. At this point, however, they are remote-controlled devices.” In a video demonstration, the rovers are either single-use mines or armed with machine guns. They are shown being used as combined arms with flying multirotor scouts. Whatever the guts of the new rolling rovers, the ability to guide them remotely to targets spotted by drone adds to the range of threats small robots can pose to armored vehicles. “This Heidair-1UGV may act ... as a kamikaze vehicle that may sneak up on its target much faster given its overall small size,” Bendett said. “We may not see this UGV operate in Iranian Army, but we may see such a vehicle operated by Houthis in their campaign against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its aligned forces.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2019/10/08/beetle-like-iranian-robots-roll-under-tanks/

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  October 2, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security

  MDA and Army see successful Patriot and THAAD test after failure

  Jen Judson UPDATED — This story has been updated to include a statement from Lockheed Martin. WASHINGTON — After a failed test in February, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Army successfully intercepted a target in an Oct. 1 test using a Patriot air and missile defense system as well as a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system integrated together, according to an MDA statement. In the test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, the THAAD AN/TPY-2 radar detected and tracked a Black Dagger target missile and provided that information to the Patriot system. The Patriot launch system deployed a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement missile and destroyed the target. In February, the AN/TPY-2 detected and tracked a Black Dagger and supplied the information to the Patriot system, but the missile missed the target “due to an interceptor software upgrade error,” according to the MDA statement. The error “has since been corrected, as demonstrated by today's successful intercept,” the statement noted. The success of the test "validates the interoperability of the Patriot and THAAD weapon systems,” MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said in the statement. “This capability is vital to the Ballistic Missile Defense System to defend against rogue threats to our homeland, deployed forces and allies.” “We're proud to support the Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Army Program Executive Office Missiles and Space to provide this vital capability within the Ballistic Missile Defense System,” Scott Arnold, Lockheed Martin vice president of integrated missile defense in the company's Missiles and Fire Control business, said in statement. Lockheed Martin manufactures the THAAD weapon system. The missile tests this year meet a congressional requirement for the Army and the MDA to test integration and interoperability of the THAAD and Patriot weapon systems annually. Last year, the first-ever test of THAAD's ability to remotely fire an interceptor was a success, a significant milestone in proving the ability to decouple launchers from radars and fire control systems. The Army's work to integrate the Patriot and THAAD systems was born out of an urgent operational need on the Korean Peninsula. The effort uses some of the principles of decoupling launchers and radars so an operator, for instance, can use a THAAD radar — which can see farther than a Raytheon-made Patriot radar — but decide to engage a Patriot interceptor depending on the threat picture. The ability to use the THAAD radar also gets more out of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement weapon fired from Patriot units, which outperforms the organic Patriot radar. In another test last year at White Sands, a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Cost Reduction Initiative interceptor took out an air-breathing threat at a record distance. That test also showed it can be integrated into the Northrop Grumman-made Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, which is the command-and-control system of the Army's future air and missile defense architecture. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/10/01/mda-and-army-see-successful-patriot-and-thaad-test-after-failure/