September 4, 2020 | International, C4ISR
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army's tactical network modernization team is considering using satellite communications as a service capability for the next iteration of new network tools set for delivery in fiscal 2023.
The Army's Network Cross-Functional Team as well as Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical held a technical exchange meeting Sept. 2 to discuss with industry focus areas and goals for Capability Set '23, the next round of new network tools the Army plans to deliver to soldiers every two years.
Col. Shane Taylor, program manager for the tactical network at PEO C3T, outlined several priority areas for his program office, including a satellite-as-a-service need that he said provides a “wide gamut of opportunity.”
“The opportunity there is it could be anywhere from just leasing terminals to a cradle to [a] grave solution where we just say: 'All right, industry, if I need this capability in this location, what would that look like?' And so the challenge really in the near term is it's such a wide opportunity,” Taylor said. “There's a lot of work that you'll see us ask for some assistance going forward on that.”
While Capability Set '21 centered on delivering technology to soldiers to address immediate network gaps, Capability Set '23 is working to increase capacity, bandwidth and resiliency of the Army's tactical network. Satellite communications is critical to that effort, Taylor said.
“I'll keep hearkening back to resiliency, thickening, multi-path. SATCOM as a service also has a huge play in that role, and what I mean by that is it gives us just another opportunity to provide capability to the war fighter,” Taylor said.
Brig. Gen. Rob Collins, head of PEO C3T, said at the meeting that satellites will be a major focus for cooperative research and development agreements with Combat Capabilities Development Command's C5ISR Center — or Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Center.
The Army is interested in the networking capabilities that satellites can provide. Collins said in August that the service expects low- and medium-Earth orbit satellites to reach technical maturity in 2025 or 2027.
While the Army's tactical network team is exploring LEO and MEO capabilities, Taylor assured industry that traditional geosynchronous systems will still have a role to play.
“I think they all have a role,” Taylor said. “But where we need industry's help is getting after the ability to leverage each of those capabilities without having to leverage three different types of systems.”
Preliminary design review for Capability Set '23 is scheduled for April next year, with critical design review one year after that. Taylor said his team is also focusing on scalable and multi-band antennas so soldiers don't have to change out “feed horns” to change bands.
The team also wants to automate the primary, alternate, contingency and emergency, or PACE, decision-making process based on network quality, metrics and availability, Taylor said.
Project Manager Tactical Network is focusing on next-generation line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight communications capabilities as part of a pushing by PEO C3T is to improve low-probability intercept/low-probability detect for Capability Set '23.
Additionally, Taylor said his team will “always” be looking for industry's help reducing cost, size, weight and power for the baseband.
Taylor's program is also looking for solutions to system provisioning for the next iteration of network tools. “The initialization of the routers and switch[ing] the firewall [configurations] and then how we automate that process and move that out across the network continues to be a challenge.”
April 21, 2021 | International, C4ISR
To deal with disruptions to GPS, sometimes caused by malicious jamming or spoofing, Honeywell is developing several alternative navigation technologies for military aircraft.
June 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Julien Lausson C'est une annonce qui a été partiellement éclipsée par la présentation de la maquette en taille réelle de l'avion de combat du futur, qui mobilise la France, l'Allemagne et l'Espagne, et qui devrait vraisemblablement succéder au Rafale à l'Eurofighter Typhoon au milieu du siècle. Mais c'est une annonce qui revêt pourtant elle aussi un caractère hautement stratégique : le renseignement spatial. Profitant de l'ouverture du salon du Bourget, la ministre des Armées, Florence Parly, a officialisé lundi 17 juin la mise en chantier de deux nouveaux programmes spatiaux, qui ont été baptisés « Iris » et « Céleste ». Le premier proposera des capacités d'observation optique renouvelées , tandis que le second devra améliorer le renseignement d'origine électromagnétique, c'est-à-dire la captation de signaux en tout genre. CSO ET CÉRÈS Ces nouveaux satellites, dont l'entrée en service ne devrait vraisemblablement pas avoir lieu avant 2030, sont annoncés alors que la France est déjà en train de renouveler sa flotte de satellites militaires. Deux programmes sont en cours : « CSO », qui signifie « Composante Spatiale Optique », et « Cérès ». Le premier est spécialisé dans la prise de vue, tandis que le second s'occupe de la collecte des ondes. Fin 2018, la France a d'ores et déjà envoyé un premier satellite CSO (il y en aura trois en tout) en orbite. Il a été placé sur une orbite basse, à 800 km d'altitude. Il sera rejoint par un autre satellite en 2020 et par un troisième en 2021. L'un d'eux sera placé sur une orbite encore plus basse, à moins de 500 km d'altitude, pour générer des clichés en très haute résolution. PROTECTION RENFORCÉE Du fait de leur caractère stratégique, ces lancements de satellites militaires font l'objet d'un haut degré de protection : avions de chasse Rafale envoyés depuis la métropole, avec le soutien d'un avion ravitailleur et d'un avion radar AWACS, mais aussi navires déployés le long des côtes, hélicoptères en vol, radars à longue portée et fantassins dispatchés tout autour du centre spatial guyanais. Ces moyens renforcent de facto la bulle de protection qui est systématiquement activée à chaque tir de fusée et qui est organisée dans le cadre de l'opération Titan. C'est ce même dispositif qui sera donc renforcé pour CSO-2 et CSO-3 ainsi que pour Cérès (acronyme de (Capacité d'Écoute et de Renseignement Électromagnétique Spatiale), qui impliquera plusieurs satellites. Le premier doit être lancé en 2020. « Nos opérations ne peuvent plus se passer de nos capacités spatiales qui contribuent de façon décisive à notre autonomie d'appréciation, de décision et d'action », a observé la ministre lors de son discours. C'est aussi vrai dans le secteur des télécommunications : la France peut aujourd'hui compter sur Sicral 2, Athenas-Fidus ou encore Syracuse 3. Et demain, elle pourra miser sur Syracuse 4. La durée du service opérationnel de CSO et Cérès sera d'environ une dizaine d'années. https://www.numerama.com/politique/526882-renseignement-spatial-la-france-officialise-deux-nouveaux-programmes-de-satellites-militaires.html
April 14, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Troops in improvised face masks to slow the spread of COVID-19 have begun field testing one candidate for the Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (FTUAS). By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR WASHINGTON: First Infantry Division soldiers at Fort Riley, Kansas launched their first Arcturus JUMP 20 recon drone on Tuesday, one of four UAVs the service is evaluating to replace the aging RQ-7 Shadow. While some high-profile weapons testing has been delayed or disrupted by the COVID-19 coronavirus, from the F-35 fighter to the IBCS missile defense network, the 1st ID's commander, Maj. Gen. John Kolasheski, okayed the Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (FTUAS) test — with some precautions. “1st Infantry Division Soldiers are encouraged to wear cloth face coverings in public settings or in situations such as the FTUAS assessment, where social distancing is difficult,” said Maj. John Allen. “Our actions to protect the force and prevent the spread of COVID-19 are continually assessed and revised as necessary and in accordance with Army policy.” Allen is public affairs officer for the division's 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team. The unit, one of the oldest in the Army with a history going back to World War I, is now the first of five combat brigades that will be field-testing the four FTUAS contenders. The Martin V-Bat, Textron Aerosonde HQ, and L3Harris FVR-90 will each be tested by a different brigade, while two units (including the 1st ABCT) will try out the largest of the drones, Arcturus UAV's 210-pound JUMP 20. The exact start dates are now uncertain as each unit and contractor must take precautions against the pandemic. This multi-month, multi-brigade effort is part of Army Futures Command's emphasis on getting feedback from real soldiers early in acquisition programs, rather than trying to perfect new technology in isolation from the people who'll actually have to use it. So far, so good, according to soldiers quoted in today's Army announcement. The current Shadow drone is so loud that “we're used to screaming at each other and having to use radios in order to communicate,” said Spc. Christopher McCoy. With the JUMP 20, he said, “you can stand right next to this aircraft and not even raise your voice.” Getting a quieter scout drone is a top priority for the FTUAS program – not to save soldiers' hearing, although that's a positive side effect — but to make it harder for enemies to detect. Another priority is scrapping the cumbersome infrastructure required for the Shadow, which needs a pneumatic catapult to launch it and a runway to land on. “With the VTOL [Vertical Take Off & Landing] system on the JUMP 20, we don't need any of that,” said Spc. Nicholas Miller (pictured above in his cloth mask). “We're working with half the equipment.” The 1st Brigade will try out the JUMP 20 for five months, building up from this week's familiarization drills to full-scale brigade wargames at the National Training Center – assuming, that is, that those exercises aren't canceled by the pandemic like so many others. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/covid-19-masked-army-soldiers-test-new-drones