December 17, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
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June 25, 2019 | International, Aerospace
PARIS — U.S. drone-maker General Atomics looks to get a foothold in the European market by touting the promise of smooth civilian-airspace integration of its aircraft by militaries there.
The company considers the United Kingdom, with its Protector program of 20 or so planned aircraft, as the launch customer for the MQ-9B SkyGuardian, a successor to the Reaper. The medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drones come with safety features that executives at this year's Paris Air Show said will enable a so-called military-type certification by the British authorities in the summer of 2023 — the final step toward allowing the drone to fly routinely alongside civilian air traffic.
Belgium also has gained U.S. approval to buy four of the aircraft, complete with a detect-and-avoid suite that can alert the system whenever its flight path risks hitting another aircraft, according to a March 26 announcement by the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency. That technology, along with a host of technologies for safe operations that have long been standard in manned aviation, is still considered something of a holy grail in the drone business.
With unmanned aircraft expected to reach deeper into military and civilian life in the coming years, manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic have been working feverishly to construct their products with requisite safety certifications in mind.
General Atomics' sales pitch is perhaps indicative of an industry where the potential for airspace integration is now taking an equal seat to reconnaissance capabilities and combat punch.
The American company can be expected to tread on manufacturers' toes in Europe, where vendors are shaping the evolving regulatory landscape of the European Union and member states to ensure compliance with all expected safety requirements.
“We believe we should be there first,” General Atomics President David Alexander told reporters at a briefing during the air show. Being first with a certified drone, he noted, would also open vast potential of the commercial market.
But questions remain. Most importantly, issue experts said, it is unclear if the European authorities will honor whatever progress in safety certifications the MQ-9B has made in the eyes of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Company officials told Defense News they try to keep their fingers at the pulse of the relevant policymaking processes on the continent, putting them at the same tables as suppliers in the European industry, like Airbus, Hensoldt or Leonardo.
The American firm recently worked with the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Center, or NLR, to simulate a SkyGuardian flying in European airspace.
“During the first simulations performed in May, we subjected air traffic controllers to many contingency procedures ranging from engine failure to loss-of-link between the pilot and the remotely piloted aircraft,” Emmanuel Sunil, an NLR project manager, said in a June 18 statement by the research center.
“The results indicate that the new procedures that we are developing will make it possible for MALE RPA to fly safely and efficiently in civil European airspace along with other manned air traffic.”
 
					December 17, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
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					February 12, 2024 | International, Aerospace
As the B-52H Stratofortress tops more than six decades in service, it’s grown increasingly temperamental.
 
					June 28, 2018 | International, C4ISR
By: Mark Pomerleau Air Force Brig. Gen. Timothy Haugh has assumed command of U.S. Cyber Command's Cyber National Mission Force. As one of CYBERCOM's four main headquarters elements, the CNMF is in charge of deterring and disrupting cyberspace operations to defend the nation. CNMF components include cyber support teams that provide intelligence support, cyber protection teams that specialize in defending the Department of Defense Information Network, and national mission teams that help protect the DoDIN and, when ordered, other U.S. cyberspace. NMTs are also aligned against specific nation-state actors. With potential changes to the construct of CYBERCOM's cyber teams writ large, some have indicated that the CNMF construct is a good model. “The way the Cyber National Mission Force is organized, having ... mission teams, support teams and CPTs, that is an ideal construct for doing full-spectrum operations,” Brig. Gen. Maria Barrett, who formerly served as deputy of operations at CYBERCOM, said. Senators have previously pushed CYBERCOM to be more aggressive in using NMTs to deter malicious cyber activities in the U.S., particularly those conducted by Russia. “With the authority or the direction of the president of the United States national mission teams can disrupt these attacks at the point of origin, is that correct?” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., asked during a February congressional hearing. While they could be tasked to do that, the former commander of CYBERCOM, Adm. Michael Rogers, was careful to say it depends on specifics not wanting to overpromise. Haugh, who took over June 4, was most recently the director of intelligence at CYBERCOM. Previous holders of this role include Gen. Paul Nakasone, who is now the commander of CYBECOM and director of the NSA, as well as most recently Vice Adm. Timothy White, who now commands 10th Fleet/Fleet Cyber Command. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/cybercom/2018/06/27/the-new-cyber-leader-that-could-help-stop-malicious-activities/