Airbus finalises acquisition of Aerovel and its UAS Flexrotor

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  28 août 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Army announces winners of electronic warfare challenge

  By: Kelsey Atherton A platypus, several Australians and a thundering panda walk into an electromagnetic spectrum, then leave with $150,000. The result is, potentially, a technique and a tool that will allow soldiers to discover what signals in a war zone are relevant to their mission and what are merely noise. The Army Rapid Capabilities Office announced Aug. 27 the winners of the Army Signal Classification Challenge, a competition for artificial intelligence and machine learning with the goal of creating a thinking machine that can accurately classify signals on the fly. Platypus Aerospace, a team from the federally funded Aerospace Corporation, won the event, taking home $100,000. A group of data scientists from Australia competing as TeamAU won $30,000, and a team from Motorola Solutions named THUNDERING PANDA placed third, winning $20,000. These winners beat out a pool of over 150 teams from universities, industry, laboratories and government. The challenge ran from April 30 through Aug. 13. Participants had a 90-day period to develop a model and train on data sets provided by the Rapid Capabilities Office. After that, the models were tested against two data sets ranging in complexity. For the challenge, the Army office said that “the classic signal detection process is no longer efficient in understanding the vast amount of information presented to electronic warfare officers on the battlefield” thanks to the multiplicity of satellite signals, radar signals, phones and other devices transmitting across the electromagnetic spectrum. The understated goal is that the winners' creation is needed not just for a hypothetical future battlefield, or even any of the long-running active theaters where soldiers see combat today. Instead, as noted in the release, “this was the office's first competitive challenge, which grew from the fielding of electronic warfare prototypes to address operational needs in Europe earlier this year.” That “operational need in Europe” may refer to the electronic warfare taking place in Ukraine, which has become something of an open laboratory for both Russia and the United States. Or it might be a broader acknowledgement of the potential threat picture in the region generally. In June, the Army conducted an electronic attack within Latvia as part of a NATO training exercise. The Rapid Capability Office already outfitted the Army with several new electronic warfare tools for countering Russian electronic warfare in Europe, and in July announced that it was bringing those capabilities home to field with a unit stateside. Research into a versatile, flexible artificial intelligence that can find electronic warfare specialists the interesting signals amidst the irrelevant noise is likely to continue. The Rapid Capabilities Office will announce a Phase 2 for the program later this year. https://www.c4isrnet.com/electronic-warfare/2018/08/27/army-announces-winners-of-ai-for-electronic-warfare-challenge

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  18 septembre 2019 | International, Terrestre

  Two companies to square off for Australia’s $10 billion infantry fighting vehicle program

  By: Nigel Pittaway MELBOURNE, Australia – The Australian government has selected Hanwha and Rheinmetall to participate in the next phase of its A$15 billion (U.S. $10.3 billion) infantry fighting vehicle program, being delivered under Project Land 400 Phase 3. Hanwha's AS21 Redback IFV, a variant of the South Korean Army's K21 vehicle, and Rheinmetall's Lynx KF41 will now progress to a 12-month risk mitigation activity program later this year, which will test the vehicles under operational conditions. Land 400 Phase 3 (Mounted Close Combat Capability) will acquire up to 450 tracked IFVs to replace the Australian Army's ageing M113AS4 armoured personnel carriers. A decision on which tenderer will progress to the acquisition phase of the program will be presented to government for consideration in 2022. “The two companies have been assessed as offering vehicles that are best able to meet the requirements of the Army while offering value for money for defense,” Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said at the Sept. 16 announcement. The announcement reduces the field from four to two, with BAE Systems (CV90) and General Dynamics Land Systems (Ajax) now eliminated from the competition. Phase 3 of the overarching Land 400 program follows on from the A$5.2 billion (U.S. $3.6 billion) Phase 2, under which Rheinmetall is delivering 211 Boxer wheeled 8x8 combat reconnaissance vehicles to replace the Australian Army's light armored vehicles. Rheinmetall is assembling all but the first 25 Boxers at its recently established Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence at Ipswich, west of Brisbane. Local industry participation will be a key requirement for Land 400 Phase 3. “Australian industry involvement and Australian workers are vital to this project,” Price said. “Phase 3 is another important opportunity for Australian industry to deliver leading edge technology for the ADF.” Rheinmetall has indicated it will assemble the Lynx in its Ipswich facility and Hanwha announced on May 23 that it had teamed with EOS Group and Elbit Systems to develop the AS21 and build it in Geelong, south of Melbourne. Hanwha and Rheinmetall are also the prime contenders for the Australian Army's recently revitalized Land 8116 program, which will acquire 30 self-propelled howitzers, together with support vehicles and systems. Hanwha is proposing a local version of its K9 Thunder 155mm SPH, dubbed Aussie Thunder, which the company said in May would be assembled in Geelong irrespective of the Land 400 Phase 3 outcome. Rheinmetall is expected to offer a solution based on its PzH 2000 vehicle. https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2019/09/17/two-companies-to-square-off-for-australias-10-billion-fighting-vehicle-program/

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  2 avril 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense

  Les start-up spécialisées dans la défense et la sécurité poussent tous azimuts

  Par Michel Cabirol Cinq des dix start-up accompagnées par Generate, l'accélérateur du Groupement des Industries Françaises de Défense et de Sécurité Terrestres et Aéroterrestres (GICAT), sont devenues des scale-up. Qui a dit que la défense et la sécurité n'étaient plus un domaine d'innovations... Deux ans après le lancement de son accélérateur de start-up dans le domaine de la défense et de la sécurité (Generate), le Groupement des Industries Françaises de Défense et de Sécurité Terrestres et Aéroterrestres (GICAT) tire un bilan positif des deux premières promotions de start-up accompagnées. Sur les dix ayant intégré Generate dès le départ, cinq ont franchi un cap pour devenir les fameuses scale-up (ou TPE). Ce sont le cas d'Aleph Networks, qui explore le deep et le dark web, de CerbAir (lutte anti-drone), de Diodon (drones), d'Internest, qui améliore la sécurité des vols des drones et des hélicoptères et, enfin, de l'éditeur de logiciels Linkurious, qui fournit des analyses de réseaux sociaux. En revanche, Othello, qui a développé une approche scientifique du comportement humain, Numalis, qui analyse les logiciels pour détecter et corriger les vulnérabilités numériques, Physip, qui propose des solutions d'analyse automatique de l'activité cérébrale basées sur l'EEG (électroencéphalogramme) et Uniris, qui fournit des services inviolables d'authentification, vont rester une année supplémentaire au sein de Generate afin de d'essayer de passer le cap de start-up. Enfin, Sterblue, qui édite une solution de pilotage automatique adaptable à tous les drones du marché, va se consacrer aux marchés civils. Cette start-up nantaise, créée par des anciens d'Airbus, a réussi fin 2018 une première levée de fonds de 2 millions de dollars. 8 millions d'euros de levées En deux ans, 50% des start-up de Generate ont réussi à lever des fonds, nouer des partenariats industriels, remporter des contrats et se projeter à l'export. Ainsi, elles ont réussi à lever 8 millions d'euros de fonds auprès d'investisseurs publics, privés et notamment des Venture Capital d'industriels du GICAT. Elles ont réalisé un chiffre d'affaire de 4,8 millions d'euros et près d'une start-up sur deux est aujourd'hui présente à l'export et y remporte des marchés. Elles emploient aujourd'hui près d'une centaine de personnes, dont la moitié a été recrutée sur les deux dernières années. Enfin, elles ont remporté sept trophées et prix aussi bien dans la défense et la sécurité, mais également auprès d'organisme civil. Pour le GICAT, ces résultats confirment sa volonté de poursuivre le recrutement de nouvelles pépites, en développant son système de parrainage, en se faisant connaitre auprès d'investisseurs et en accompagnant nos partenaires institutionnels (Délégation générale de l'armement, Agence Innovation défense, Armées, Ministère de l'intérieur, etc.). Generate accueille ou a accueilli au total 28 start-up depuis ses débuts. https://www.latribune.fr/entreprises-finance/industrie/aeronautique-defense/les-start-up-specialisees-dans-la-defense-et-la-securite-poussent-tous-azimuts-811829.html