30 août 2018 | International, Terrestre
By: Kyle Rempfer
NEW ORLEANS — Equipment requirements, logistics and training are on the minds of Army National Guard soldiers this year, as the Army prepares to roll out a new gender- and age-neutral fitness test.
But while soldiers voice trepidation, the larger Army says it's not going to be an issue.
“I think the test is going to be good, [but] my concern in the National Guard is the equipment requirement,” a battalion commander from the Louisiana National Guard said during a discussion with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley at the National Guard Association of the United States conference in New Orleans this past weekend.
“There's a tremendous amount of equipment that's going to be needed at every company, every armory, every detachment in order to administer the test and to train our troops. Have we addressed a plan to do that prior to the roll-out?” the soldier asked.
Milley said the equipment concerns were not just an issue for the Guard, but one across the force. However, the new Army Combat Fitness Test correlates much better to actual combat requirements, and “we'd all be negligent if we didn't train to this [new] test," he said.
“In order to do it right there's going to have to be a lot of training the trainers, it has be phased in, we have to make sure the scoring standards are correct, and, as you pointed out, it does require a little bit of equipment," Milley said.
The ACFT field tests will begin in October and last one year. It will include 60 different types of battalions from all three components of the total force — active Army, Army Guard and Army Reserve.
Additionally, Milley said, Training and Doctrine Command is currently conducting an analysis of all the equipment required throughout the force, how much it will cost and how to distribute the gear to the entire Army.
There will be some challenges, Milley acknowledged.
“For example, embassies," he said. “We have soldiers at embassies around the world, not in big units but small ones. ... But the equipment is an issue. The Guard will get the same equipment the rest of the Army gets. In the meantime — which means the next year — you can train for it. This isn't rocket science."
For instance, grab “a 10-pound medicine ball, throw it over your head. Every gym in America has a 10-pound medicine ball,” he added.
Full article: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/08/29/army-national-guard-soldiers-anxious-over-new-pt-test-gear-shortfalls
1 août 2023 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
Most weapons systems---radios, ships, tanks, airplanes, drones, satellites, and rockets---depend on the electromagnetic spectrum to operate.
25 novembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Burak Ege Bekdil ANKARA, Turkey — A privately owned Turkish company says it has developed an artificial intelligence-based software for swarm drones. MilSOFT announced Nov. 19 it developed the software after four years of research, and the the technology could be used in both fixed- and rotary-wing drone platforms. A government aerospace official said swarm drones would be used in Turkey's future unmanned aerial combat concept due to their low hardware costs and stealth technology. “These drones could be ideal in asymmetrical warfare. They are quick, cost-effective and easy to operate,” the official said. “Most importantly, they are assets designed to minimize human loss in asymmetrical warfare.” The Turkish military has been operating a big fleet of tactical and armed drones primarily in combat against Kurdish militants in Turkey's southeast provinces but also in cross-border operations in northern Syria and Iraq. Turkish drones have also been used in Libya's civil war and, most recently, in conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Many countries have yet to try drone swarm technology in a simulated, controlled environment. Turkey is among those that have the technology and the ability to test it in the field during operations. Turkey's top procurement office, the Presidency for Defense Industries, launched its Swarm UAV Technology Development and Demonstration program with a view to develop algorithms and software for the use of unmanned platforms with a swarm capability. The program is also meant to involve micro-scale companies as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. MilSOFT has specialized in software solutions since 1998, and it is one of the participants of the government-run program. It has been offering products to the Turkish military for tasks including identifying detection by automatic moving target technology using AI, and machine-learning techniques with image-processing algorithms. The company said with the integration of intelligence and image evaluation products, drone swarms can be updated with additional capabilities such as reconnaissance, detection, recognition, search and rescue, and vehicle tracking. MilSOFT's software-based solution will allow drone swarms to be launched from aerial, land and naval platforms, and the images they obtain will enter a central command system. In the meantime, the drone flocks will transfer images between different military units with a relay function. AI technology can help catch elements that cannot be caught by the human eye and enable multiple attack capabilities by arming vehicles in operation. MilSOFT's AI-based software is also expected to enable swarm drones to perform frontal attacks on command from helicopters and provide operational support to other friendly platforms. The drones can reportedly operate autonomously from the beginning to the end of a mission, and can be instantly monitored and controlled via intelligence applications. The UAVs have a flight time of more than half an hour and a payload capacity of 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds). The vehicles work with landing gear that can land on rough terrain. While five UAVs are currently used in a herd in the field, this number can reach up to 25 in a controlled environment. MilSOFT aims to make a drone swarm of 50 operational vehicles. Communication between the drones is also provided by MilSOFT's own technology. Vehicles can communicate with each other from up to 500 meters. There is also a 10-kilometer network solution for data transfers. MilSOFT plans to integrate its technology for underwater and surface platforms as well as land vehicles. https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/11/24/turkish-firm-develops-ai-powered-software-for-drone-swarms/
9 octobre 2018 | International, Terrestre
By: Todd South Army researchers are speeding up development on key conventional munitions, from field artillery to long-range missiles, and making them more deadly when they land. At a panel hosted by Defense News at the annual Association of the United States Army annual meeting, commanders with the Army's Research, Development and Engineering Command, Program Executive Office-Ammunition and the Long-Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team gave a few updates on those efforts. Brig. Gen. Alfred Abramson III, head of PEO Ammo and Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, told audience members that his researchers are finding the quickest ways to go after extending ranges, saying that the XM1113 round will be “critical” for the conventional artillery in the Extended Range Cannon Artillery program, a centerpiece of artillery modernization. Abramson noted that the existing M795 High Explosive artillery round, the base of the 155mm munition portfolio, includes about 614,000 rounds in the nation's stockpile. But those rounds only reach out to about 30 kilometers. The problem developers face in pushing the ranges of conventional rounds is keeping them both accurate and having a real effect when they strike, he said. “You want to push it out to 70 kilometers and ensure it's not just a long-range paintball,” Abramson said. The XM1128 pushes those ranges to about 40 kilometers currently. But work with “lithographic fragmentation technology,” Abramson said, makes the round more lethal on target. Col. John Rafferty, director of the LRPF CFT, said that recent testing has gotten 155mm artillery rounds to the 60-kilometer range at the Yuma, Arizona, testing facility. Abramson said that his organization has seen a significant spike of about $2.5 billion for fiscal years 2017 to 2022 funding for ammunition and armament systems products. Another $1.5 billion has been allotted to update the aging ammunition manufacturing plants across the Army, he said. Recent Overseas Contingency Operations funding for 2019 was marked at about $4.1 billion simply to replenish munitions consumed during combat. What's being done to advance the science? Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, commanding general of U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, said that over the past year, $900 million was realigned for science and technology development for the LRPF initiatives, and another $500 million was also realigned for the Air Missile Defense CFT. His organization just completed a six-month study of energetics propulsion that included a detailed study of adversary capabilities and advancements over the past two decades. It also looked at how those advances were achieved and what gaps exist in the United States' armaments, he said. While the study has not yet been released to the public, he said two non-technical gaps that the United States must correct are in their ability to collaborate with global partners and science, chemistry and energy experts within government. Further down the development pipeline he said was a shortfall in transitioning the research to the PEOs for development and fielding. One tech challenge is the existing stockpiles. As the developers push the capacities of conventional rounds and their systems they must also maintain “backwards compatibility” with the substantial munition stockpiles, he said. https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/10/08/army-leans-on-scientists-to-push-the-boundaries-of-munitions-range-precision-lethality