12 février 2024 | International, Naval
Kongsberg unit wins Italy order for shallow-water unmanned submersible
The order has an estimated value of $11 million (€10.2 million).
14 janvier 2019 | International, Terrestre
Army looks to give its old combat boot the boot
By JOHN VANDIVER | STARS AND STRIPES
The Army is testing new combat boots at select boot camps in a push to better compete with the more comfortable commercial brands favored by many soldiers for their lightness.
The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Soldier Center in Natick, Mass., has developed prototypes that soldiers will wear at three different basic training and active duty sites during the next four months.
“Soldiers live in their boots and many will tell you that there is no piece of equipment more important to their lethality and readiness,” said Al Adams, a team leader at the Army's soldier center, in a statement. “A bad pair of boots will ruin a Soldier's day and possibly result in injuries, so we really believe that each of these prototype boots have the potential to improve the lives of Soldiers.”
The prototypes, which utilize more flexible types of leather and lighter outsoles, will be fielded to 800 new recruits at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and Fort Jackson, S.C. Another 900 pairs will go to infantry soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas.
The Army's soldier center team will custom-fit each pair and collect solider surveys on boot performance in the spring.
The prototypes are up to 1.5 pounds lighter per pair than those issued today.
“In terms of energy expenditure or calories burned, 1-pound of weight at the feet is equivalent to 4-pounds in your rucksack,” Adams said in a statement.
The prototypes in their current design would be the first significant change to the basic Army combat boot in years.
While there have been improvements to the Army's special footwear for jungle, mountain and cold weather locations, there is room for improvement in general-purpose boots issued to new recruits, the Army said.
“Most components of these combat boots have not been updated in almost 30 years,” Army footwear engineer Anita Perkins said in a statement.
Army surveys have found that satisfaction with the Army combat boot is lower than with commercial varieties. In a poll of 14,000 soldiers, the Army said it found that nearly 50 percent choose comfortable sneaker-like commercial boots over Army-issued ones.
The problem confronting Army officials is that commercial comfort can come with trade-offs. The Army said its ultimate aim is to bridge the comfort gap while maintaining durability and protection.
vandiver.john@stripes.com
Twitter: @john_vandiver
https://www.stripes.com/news/army-looks-to-give-its-old-combat-boot-the-boot-1.563985
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23 avril 2019 | International, Terrestre
US Army needs another year to pick protection system for Stryker
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army plans to take another year to pick an Active Protection System for its Stryker combat vehicle, according to the military deputy to the Army acquisition chief. The service is already fielding the Rafael-made Trophy APS on its Abrams tank and has picked IMI's Iron Fist for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle — both as interim systems until the Army can develop an advanced future system — but it had to go back to square one when its attempt to outfit Stryker with Herndon, Virginia-based Artis LLC's Iron Curtain system failed. The Army put out a request for possible systems to be qualified as an interim solution on the Stryker. Officials ultimately chose a Rafael and DRS team and a Rheinmetall and UBT team to participate in a live-fire rodeo last November to see if either system might work. But while it was believed a decision would come soon after, Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski testified at an April 2 Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee hearing that it would take another year to make a decision. “We have two companies that are in the process of competing for [APS on Stryker]. One is a venture between ... Rafael and DRS and the other is Rheinmetall and UBT, so we are in the process of going through that,” Ostrowski said. “It's going to take about a year, quite frankly, in order to put those systems on the vehicles, characterize them and make a determination as to whether or not to move forward with either one of the two vendors.” Ostrowski added the service had asked each team to provide blueprints and to build their non-developmental APS systems to fit on Stryker. “They are in the process of doing that build,” he said. “And once the build is put on the vehicle, it's then a matter of testing in order to ensure that it works,” Ostrowski said, which is not unlike the process the Army went through to characterize and qualify APS systems on both Abrams and Bradley. Israeli company Rafael and DRS submitted its Trophy VPS — a lighter version of Trophy — for the rodeo. Germany-based Rheinmetall partnered with Unified Business Technologies, based in Michigan, and submitted its Active Defense System — now renamed StrikeShield. During the rodeo, participants did not perform a full installation of their systems on the vehicle. Instead, they set up test rigs in front of Strykers or hung their system off a Stryker in the evaluation. Following the rodeo, the idea was to select one, possibly two systems, to begin some sort of installation characterization on a platform deemed most appropriate for the APS system, Col. Glenn Dean, the Army's Stryker program manager who is also in charge of the interim APS effort, told Defense News in October 2018. Meanwhile, Ostrowski said the Army bought 88 Iron Fist systems for Bradley in 2019 and planned to buy another 36 in the FY20 budget. The service is on a path to field four brigades of Abrams with Trophy by FY21. The Army is also developing its own Modular Active Protection System, which is seen more like a digital integrated backbone that will be designed with an open-system architecture so that vendors can bring radars, optical sensors and hard- or soft-kill effectors and plug them in, according to Ostrowski. The important thing is “to get a capability out there first. . . . Now it's just a matter of moving beyond that,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/04/02/us-army-needs-another-year-to-pick-protection-system-for-stryker/
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18 février 2022 | International, Aérospatial
Defense Innovation Unit partners with Orbital Insight to take on satellite spoofing
Under a new contract, Orbital Insight will use commercially available data and advanced algorithms to detect and alert operators to possible spoofing attempts.