28 juin 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Georgia base tapped to host F-35 fighters as A-10 fleet retires
The Air Force said Monday it plans to bring two F-35A squadrons to the Valdosta base starting in fiscal 2029.
19 décembre 2018 | International, Terrestre
Are the days of pulling pits at the rifle range coming to an end?
By: Shawn Snow
As a shooter on rifle range qualification day, have you ever seen your target come up crooked, barely hanging onto the stand, and wonder, “What the heck are the Marines doing in the rifle pits?”
Pulling pits at the rifle range might be most Marines' least favorite task. It requires constantly raising and lowering targets just to see them fall off the rickety stands, and quickly patching them up with pasties to give the shooter a clean canvas ... just to watch them fall off again.
It's a frustrating, tedious task.
There's the fact you have to rely on another Marine in the pit to accurately score your shots — and that one-point difference between the marksmen pizza box badge and sharpshooter can save a a lot of scorn before the next chance to qualify.
There's the shooter who probably missed the target entirely during the last course of fire, leaving the scorer staring at the target for an eternity, seeking a nonexistent shot hole.
There's always the Marine who shoots on the wrong target — those must just be bonus points to help a buddy who is about to fail on the range.
The Corps' entire rifle range qualification process is rife with human error and inefficiencies that can impact Marines' scores on the range.
Well, the Corps finally is looking to remedy this. In a request for information posted on the government's business opportunities portal, the Corps is in the hunt for an automatic scoring system for its ranges.
In the posting the Corps said that the purpose of the new scoring system is to “reduce the amount of labor necessary to conduct KD [known distance] training/qualification. By eliminating the need for target operators in the pits, the labor overhead associated with KD training is greatly reduced.”
“During marksmanship training the KDAS [known distance automated scoring] will be required to accurately show the shooter where they hit the target, to provide feedback that will assist the shooter in developing their shooting skills," the RFI stated.
And the Corps is looking for a complete system that will streamline the scoring process and ease the rifle range qualification process.
According to the RFI, the Corps wants new scoring platform display systems for coaches and shooters.
For marksman coaches on the range, a new display unit will allow the coach to view and track the shots of four shooter lanes at once.
Shooters will have a display unit that will let them track their individual shot placement and score as well.
A single control system will be able to communicate wirelessly and control up to 100 targets at once, according to the RFI. That means no more Marines in the pits manually pulling targets up and down.
The new scoring system is intended to reduce “the amount of time shooters need to spend on the range, freeing them up to perform other work,” the RFI reads.
So maybe the days of showing up to the range at dawn also are coming to an end?
Responses to the Corps' request for information regarding the new scoring system are due by Jan 11.
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27 novembre 2019 | International, C4ISR
Northrop Grumman, MBDA and Saab Demonstrate the Integration of Disparate Missile and Radar Systems into Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Manager
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Nov. 26, 2019 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), MBDA and Saab have successfully completed a joint, collaborative effort to demonstrate the ability to integrate MBDA's Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) family and Saab's Giraffe radar system family into Northrop Grumman's Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS). CAMM was the first non-U.S. missile system to be demonstrated with IBCS earlier this year, and Giraffe represents the first non-U.S. sensor system to be demonstrated. The three companies demonstrated rapid and functional integration during simulated threat scenarios that included simultaneous engagements. Simulated air targets were fed to the Giraffe radar emulator, which passed the radar information to IBCS to assess and track threats. IBCS operators planned and executed optimized engagements based on that data using the CAMM missile emulators which engaged multiple threats simultaneously. IBCS then closed the loop by displaying the outgoing missiles detected and reported by the Giraffe emulators. The event successfully demonstrated both Distributed Fire Direction and Advanced Integrated Fire Control engagements. “Building on lessons learned from the CAMM family integration, we were able to integrate the Giraffe radar onto the IBCS network even more rapidly and cost effectively, continuing to demonstrate the dynamic and flexible nature of IBCS's open architecture in adding capabilities when and as needed,” said Bill Lamb, director, international battle management, Northrop Grumman. “Together we are creating a revolutionary IAMD enterprise that maximizes the combat potential of all sensors and weapons across all domains and fills gaps in today's air defense capabilities.” MBDA's CAMM family is the next generation of air defense missiles for multi-domain applications. Designed to defeat the most challenging of modern and future threats, including saturation attacks by precision-guided munitions and maneuvering high-speed missiles attacking simultaneously from multiple directions, the CAMM family of missiles feature a solid-state active radar seeker, two way data-link, low-signature rocket motor and a 360° soft-vertical launch system. “This represents the latest successful demonstration of the flexibility of the CAMM family, which has been designed from the ground up to operate within a modern network-centric open IAMD architecture. In this event we were able to demonstrate multiple simultaneous engagements of a full range of contemporary threats, using targeting information from networked surveillance sensors,” said Ben Newland, ground based air defence programme head, MBDA. Saab's Giraffe AMB radar delivers key capabilities as part of short- and medium-range surveillance and Ground Based Air Defence. It integrates powerful 3D surveillance radar and C3 functionality in one and the same system and provides forces with swift understanding of the air situation, enabling immediate and effective response to changing threats, new tactics and shifting operational conditions. “We are delighted to see this demonstration of integration of the Giraffe radar onto the IBCS network, contributing both directly to the demonstrated “sense-assess-engage” chain and to the wider Integration Air and Missile Defense with the level of interoperability delivered by IBCS,” said Lars Tossman, vice president and head of Saab business unit Radar Solutions. IBCS creates a paradigm shift for IAMD by replacing legacy stove-piped systems with a next-generation, net-centric approach to better address the evolving complex threat. The system integrates disparate radars and weapons to construct a far more effective IAMD enterprise. IBCS delivers a single integrated air picture with unprecedented accuracy and broadens surveillance and protection areas. With its open systems architecture, IBCS allows incorporation of current and future sensors and effectors and interoperability with joint C2 and the ballistic missile defense system. IBCS is managed by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. With more than 90 armed forces customers worldwide, MBDA is a world leader in missiles and missile systems. In total, the group offers a range of 45 missile systems and countermeasures products already in operational service and more than 15 others currently in development. MBDA is jointly owned by Airbus (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%), and Leonardo (25%). Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services and solutions within military defence and civil security. Saab has operations and employees on all continents around the world. Through innovative, collaborative and pragmatic thinking, Saab develops, adopts and improves new technology to meet customers' changing needs. Learn more at www.saab.com. Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, space, strike, and logistics and modernization to customers worldwide. Please visit news.northropgrumman.com and follow us on Twitter, @NGCNews, for more information. View source version on Northrop Grumman Corporation: https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-mbda-and-saab-demonstrate-the-integration-of-disparate-missile-and-radar-systems-into-integrated-air-and-missile-defense-battle-manager
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25 septembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR, Sécurité
Northrop launches new divisions focused on space, cyber, unmanned tech
By: Jaleah Dortch WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman has created four new operating sectors — Aeronautics Systems, Defense Systems, Mission Systems and Space Systems — the company announced in a news release. Aeronautics System will serve as a manned and unmanned air system provider. Defense Systems will be a broad provider of critical technology services, modernization and sustainment. It will handle battle command systems, directed-energy technology, tactical weapons and information systems, and focus on solutions for national security, the military and civilian customers. Mission Systems will cover cybersecurity and software-defined systems for defense and intelligence applications. Space Systems will provide space and launch systems that served national security, civil and commercial customers. “This new operating structure allows us to take full advantage of our company's portfolio by aligning businesses that have shared markets, customers and technologies," said Kathy Warden, the head of Northrop. The company also announced the planned retirement of two executives: Patrick Antkowiak, corporate vice president as well as chief strategy and technology officer; and Christopher Jones, corporate vice president and president of the Technology Services division. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2019/09/20/northrop-launches-new-divisions-focused-on-space-cyber-unmanned-tech