May 26, 2020 | International, Aerospace
The US Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Cross-Functional Team (CFT) will continue flight trials in the fourth quarter of this year as it transitions into the next phase of its Air Launched Effects (ALE) programme, service officials have disclosed.
The decision follows initial flights tests conducted at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, between February and March, during which the Area-I Altius 600 unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) were for the first time forward-launched at low altitudes in the hover position from UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in support of the ALE concept.
The Altius 600 UAS being launched from a UH-60 helicopter at low altitudes and in the hover position during a trial.
Speaking to Janes from the FVL CFT's headquarters at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) Integration Lead and Plans/Requirements Officer Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Freude and Jeff McCoy, Product Lead for the Command, Control and Effects Product Office, PM Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) confirmed the forthcoming flight tests would be designated ‘Project Convergence'.
Industry sources told Janes that flight tests were scheduled to be conducted in September.
The ALE programme has been designed to enhance the army's ability to conduct multi-domain operations by using autonomous air vehicles as part of a wider FARA “eco-system”.
Expected to penetrate enemy air-defence systems, air vehicles must be capable of creating “chaos in enemy decision spaces” to enable freedom of movement for friendly forces across a battlespace.
Air vehicle mission sets have been divided by the CFT into detect, identify, locate, and report (DLIR); disrupt; decoy; and lethal categories. Mission sets will be enabled by a series of active and passive payloads that could “stimulate” and confuse enemy air-defence systems, service officials added.
https://www.uasvision.com/2020/05/26/us-army-advances-air-launched-effects-programme/
February 14, 2024 | International, Aerospace
With the current contracted fighter lead-in training program coming to an end in March 2024, and its replacement not expected to be ready until after 2030, the Air Force is turning to allies to help prepare its future fighter pilots.
November 12, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Steve Trimble The U.S. Army has started a long-term search for a replacement for the Raytheon FIM-92 Stinger short-range air defense surface-to-air missile system, with a contract award for up to 8,000 missiles planned by fiscal 2026. Any replacement for the Stinger must be compatible with the Initial Mobile-Short-Range Air Defense (IM-SHORAD), which uses the Stinger Vehicle Universal Launcher, according to a market survey released on Nov. 10 by the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. “The Army is conducting a SHORAD study which will inform efforts to modernize and to address emerging threats, which may increase the demand for MANPADS capable missiles,” said the sources sought notice. The new missile must also be able to defeat fixed-wing ground attack aircraft, rotary wing aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in a size class that ranges between the Boeing Insitu Scan Eagle and the Textron AAI RQ-7, which are examples of Group 2 and Group 3 UAS. The Army is extending the service life of the Stinger Block 1, but the original version of the Stinger with a reprogrammable microprocessor will become obsolete in fiscal 2023, the notice said. The sources sought notice asked interested companies to supply a wide range of information, such as a rough order of magnitude estimate for the cost and schedule of developing and delivering up 8,000 missiles. The Stinger defined the role of a man-portable air defense system quickly after the Army launched development in 1972. Though designed for ground-launch by a human, the missile has also been integrated on fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and large UAS. The all-up round includes the 1.52 m-long FIM-92 Stinger missile, a launch tube and a fire control and aiming system. The missile itself is guided by an infrared/ultraviolet seeker, and controlled with four small rectangular fins. https://aviationweek.com/special-topics/air-dominance/us-army-opens-5-year-search-stinger-missile-replacement
October 10, 2022 | International, C4ISR
Project Convergence this year will grow in scope and scale to examine more deeply how the joint force and international partners can conduct fully connected combined operations. Another new element to the U.S. Army's annual experimentation event is a “gateway” where industry can test emerging technology in a operational environment.