US Air Force components partner on low code, no code pilot programs

On the same subject

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  August 9, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  The $25 million contract will provide a system that supports the military’s complex weather prediction workloads.

  By Brandi Vincent, Through a strategic partnership unveiled Wednesday, the U.S. Air Force and Oak Ridge National Lab will acquire a high-performance supercomputing system from Cray Inc. that aims to improve weather forecasting for Air Force and Army operations across the globe. Under the $25 million contract, the new system—called HPC11—will bring supercomputing-as-a-service to the Air Force's 557th Weather Wing, which creates and supplies comprehensive terrestrial and space weather information to the two military branches. “The system's performance will be a significant increase over the existing [high-performance computing] capability and will provide Air Force weather operators with the ability to run the next generation of high-resolution, global and regional models, and satisfy existing and emerging warfighter needs for environmental impacts to operations planning,” Steven Wert, an Air Force official and member of the senior executive service said in a statement. The system is expected to help the Air Force execute its mission more effectively by offering new features that support the military's complex weather prediction workloads. Official expect the system to improve forecasts and weather threat assessments that insiders rely on. Supercomputer manufacturer Cray also recently announced it's delivering the world's fastest supercomputer to the Energy Department by 2021, which it plans to outfit with a first-of-its-kind storage system that can hold more than an exabyte of data. “This is a great example of the upcoming Exascale Era bringing a new set of technologies to bear on challenging problems and empowering the Air Force to more effectively execute on its important mission,” Cray's President and CEO Peter Ungaro said. The system is expected to be delivered at the end of the year and accepted in early 2020. The company also announced Wednesday that the Defense Department selected it for two contracts—together valued at $46 million—to provide supercomputer systems to accelerate research and development at the Army Research Lab, and the Army Engineering and Research Development Center. https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/08/air-force-and-oak-ridge-get-supercomputer-better-weather-forecasts/159037/

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  March 28, 2023 | International, Naval

  US Navy prioritizes ‘game-changing’ rearming capability for ships

  Reloading a vertical launching system is a challenging maneuver, given the crane must hold missile canisters vertically, while slowly lowering explosives.

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  October 5, 2018 | International, Land

  Army testing more effective ghillie suits

  By David Vergun, Army News Service FORT BELVOIR, Va. -- The Army is looking for an improved ghillie suit to replace the flame-resistant, camouflage suit now worn by snipers to keep them from being seen by the enemy. The current ghillie suits are bulky, somewhat uncomfortable and hot in warm weather, said Debbie Williams, a systems acquisition expert with Program Executive Office Soldier, Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment. The current suit is known as the Flame Resistant Ghillie System, or FRGS. The replacement the Army is looking for will be called the Improved Ghillie System, or IGS, Williams said. She added that although the term "flame resistant" is not in the new name, the IGS will still have flame-resistant properties. Soldiers will receive most of their protection from the base layer worn under the IGS, such as the Flame Resistant Combat Uniform, or FR ACU. The IGS will be a modular system, worn over the field uniform, she said. It will be modular in that it can be taken apart, with pieces added or subtracted as needed, such as sleeves, leggings, veil, cape and so on. Another change is that the IGS will not come with the accessory kit, like the one supplied with the FRGS, Williams said. It was found that Soldiers were not using a majority of the items in their accessory kit or preferred a different material. Williams said the cost of the IGS will be lower than the current $1,300 FRGS. Mary Armacost, a textile technologist with Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment, said the IGS will be made of lighter, more breathable material than the FRGS. Also, the material for the skeins that accompany the IGS will be stiffer than that of the FRGS, thereby making the IGS more effective at camouflaging the Soldier. A request for proposal for the IGS went out Aug. 28 and closed Sept. 24, she said. Vendors must each provide three samples. About 3,500 suits are expected to be produced under the contract for approximately 3,300 snipers in all three Army components, as well as Soldiers in U.S. Special Operations Command, Williams said. After the samples are obtained, lab and field testing will begin at various locations in November, she said. For example, the Army's Night Vision Laboratory will do full-spectrum testing. It will also use night vision goggles to see how well the suits remain hidden in darkened conditions. Daytime testing for visual camouflage effectiveness will take place as well, with sniper-qualified Soldiers at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Williams said. Additionally, acoustic testing will be done by the Army Research Laboratory to determine how much noise the IGS produces in field conditions. ARL will also test the effectiveness of the fabric regarding tear resistance and fire retardant effectiveness, she added. Following all of this, a limited user evaluation should commence next spring using instructors from the Sniper School at Fort Benning, Georgia. https://www.army.mil/article/211933