1 mars 2023 | International, Aérospatial
US Air Force awards Boeing first contract for fleet of 26 E-7 aircraft
Boeing's contract will be worth up to $1.2 billion, as the service begins work on a fleet to replace the iconic E-3 Sentry.
21 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Airbus pitches new trainer jet for Spain, but with eyes for Europe
STUTTGART, Germany – Airbus is pitching a new jet trainer package for the Spanish air force that industry executives hope could one day help school pilots across Europe on next-generation aircraft.
The Airbus Future Jet Trainer, or AFJT, would replace Spain's fleets of Northrop F-5M and CASA C-101 Aviojet aircraft around 2027 or 2028, Airbus officials told Defense News. While the concept has been in the works for several years, the company first revealed the official specifications late last week to Spanish media outlets.
The company envisions the project as a multi-role, integrated trainer system, with room for growth as a potential light-attack or aggressor aircraft. Among its features is a live-virtual-constructive (LVC) training environment, and compatibility with ground-based training systems.
Abel Nin, head of the AFJT program at Airbus, told Defense News the aircraft is designed with fighter characteristics of high maneuverability and speed, and the ability to emulate aircraft including the Eurofighter Typhoon and F/A-18 Hornet aircraft, as well as future systems. If selected, the AFJT plane could see its first flight around 2025, Nin said.
Raúl Tena, Airbus' sales manager for combat aircraft, emphasized that the aircraft and associated training systems are being built with the Spanish air force's requirements and timeline “as the starting point.”
“From there, we believe that this aircraft should not only serve Spain, but should also serve Europe,” he said, citing France and Finland as potential future customers.
Spain's government has not yet allocated any funding toward a new trainer system, Airbus said. A budget is expected to be revealed by the end of 2020 or early 2021. The Spanish Ministry of Defense last year committed to buying 24 Pilatus PC-21 trainer jets, to begin replacing its 1980s-era C-101 aircraft.
Airbus serves as the AFJT lead contractor in charge of design, assembly and integration. Other suppliers include: Indra for flight simulations and systems; Tecnobit for communications and machine-pilot interface systems; ITP Aero — the Spanish subsidiary of Rolls-Royce — supplying the engine; GMV providing software and flight systems; and Compañía Española de Sistemas Aeronáuticos S.A. (CESA) providing the landing gear and actuators.
“We are launching [this program] with all of industry, trying to capture all of their inputs in a single contract,” Nin said. “The ambition is there” to have a fully Spanish industry team, he added.
Airbus anticipates that there are between 500 to 800 trainer aircraft around the globe to be replaced within the next decade. “We cannot deny that there is a good opportunity” to capture part of that market, Tena said.
Since Spain has signed on as a partner in the Franco-German-led Future Combat Air System program to build Europe's next-generation fighter jet, Airbus also sees an opportunity for the AFJT to be that program's trainer. However, no final decisions have been made as to which country will build the FCAS trainer yet, Nin said.
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20 février 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Sikorsky lands $470.8M deal for presidential helicopter upgrade
Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Sikorsky Aircraft was awarded a $470.8 million modification for six VH-92A helicopters for the presidential helicopter replacement program. The deal modifies a $542 million contract awarded in June to build six new helicopters for the Presidential fleet. Under the modification, Sikorsky -- a division of Lockheed Martin -- will provide interim contractor support and six cabin interior reconfiguration kits as well as six low rate initial production lot II VH-92A aircraft for the presidential fleet. The Navy plans to replace the current Marine Corps fleet of 19 helicopters, composed of the VH-3D, which entered service in 1978 and the VH-60N aircraft, which arrived in 1987 -- with 23 new aircraft. The VH-92A is designed to increase performance and payload, including crew coordination systems and communications capabilities, and be easier to maintain. In December, General Electric received an $11.1 million contract to build five CT7-8A6 engines for the presidential helicopter fleet. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2020/02/19/Sikorsky-lands-4708M-deal-for-presidential-helicopter-upgrade/1301582159979/
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4 septembre 2020 | International, C4ISR
Harnessing Quantum Technologies at Room Temperature
Quantum research in both information science and sensing shows great promise for enabling a host of new defense applications. A major hindrance to transitioning breakthroughs from the laboratory to practical use, however, is the extensive equipment needed to cool and trap atoms to exploit their quantum features. To address this challenge, DARPA has announced its Science of Atomic Vapors for New Technologies (SAVaNT) program. SAVaNT seeks to advance the performance of room-temperature atomic vapors to enable future opportunities for unprecedented combinations of low size, weight, and power (SWaP) with performance across multiple Department of Defense domains. “The SAVaNT program will explore a new suite of technologies based on room-temperature atomic vapors to address important gaps for military-relevant applications,” said Tatjana Curcic, program manager in DARPA's Defense Sciences Office. “We're interested in innovative research proposals that significantly advance the performance of atomic vapors for electric field sensing and imaging, magnetic field sensing, and quantum information science.” The program is focused on warm atomic vapors as opposed to cold-atom technology, which requires cooling atoms to very low temperatures with lasers to reduce thermal noise. This process has enabled the world's most accurate atomic clocks with unprecedented levels of timing precision. But the apparatuses needed to cool the atoms can fill up a laboratory, making laboratory atomic clocks impractical for field use. The warm atomic vapors approach, on the other hand, doesn't require complex laser-cooling and allows for a larger number of atoms, boosting the signal. The challenge, however, is that thermal environment effects – even at room temperature – significantly mitigate how long the quantum effects, or coherence, can last. SaVaNT researchers will demonstrate novel methods in three technical areas to overcome limitations due to thermal effects: Technical Area 1 seeks to develop a Rydberg sensor – which uses atoms to sense electric fields – that would provide ultra-narrow bandwidth, high-sensitivity electric field detection for millimeter waves. Technical Area 2 focuses on Vector Magnetometry to enable low-SWaP, room-temperature, quasi-DC magnetic field sensors. The third technical area will address vapor quantum electrodynamics to enable critical components for quantum networks at room temperature. Current methods require either cryogenics or laser cooling and trapping. A Proposers Day for interested proposers will be held virtually via webinar on Sept. 3. The Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) solicitation with full details is available here: https://go.usa.gov/xGr4C https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2020-09-01a