20 février 2024 | International, Terrestre
More than a year and a half after receiving proposals to ramp production of artillery shells, the Canadian government is still debating whether to make investments in plants in Quebec and Ontario. Defence Minister Bill Blair says he's had discussions but has not signed any deals.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ukraine-munitions-canada-artillery-1.7118004
13 juillet 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
A group of panelists discusses what the rest of 2021 is looking like for the Department of Defense and future decisions the organization will need to make. Among the topics discussed: the United States' presence in Afghanistan, the defense budget and the winner of this year's Army/Navy college football game.
7 décembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
By: Christina Mackenzie PARIS – Spanish companies have unveiled a new system for simulating low-oxygen conditions that air force pilots may experience during flight. The technology, made by Indra, one of Spain's leading high-technology companies, and iAltitude, a Spanish company specializing in high-altitude sports training, is the latest proposal to cope with the symptoms of hypoxia, which can cause pilots to fall unconscious mid-flight. Air force pilots have a backup oxygen mask in case the oxygen levels drops too low but if the mask were to fail, pilots “must be able to identify the symptoms that precede hypoxia, a dangerous state that can cause loss of consciousness in a few seconds,” Indra said. The system, which the company claims is “the first of its kind in the world,” consists of normobaric hypoxia equipment made by iAltitude that Indra has integrated into the simulator for the C101 Spanish Air Force training jet at the Madrid-based CIMA (Aerospace Medicine Training Center). Whilst the pilots are training on the simulator, the system regulates the oxygen pilots get through their mask, reducing it progressively. Their responses are recorded and the data will be used by CIMA to design training programs tol alert pilots to pre-hypoxia symptoms. Until now, training in hypoxia was mainly performed in hypobaric and normobaric sealed chambers in which trainees could undertake exercises to help them detect loss of oxygen, but these could not be undertaken simultaneously with flight tasks. The new system means hypoxia tests are now integrated with flight training, as the capabilities of each pilot to complete flight procedures in low-oxygen conditions are being evaluated continuously. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/12/04/spanish-vendors-pitch-new-hypoxia-response-training-for-military-pilots
29 janvier 2021 | International, Naval
By: Vivienne Machi STUTTGART, Germany — Rheinmetall and MBDA Deutschland have officially been tasked to build, test and field a high-energy laser weapon system for the German Navy over the next year. The consortium, dubbed ARGE, was awarded a contract “in the low double-digit million euro range” by Berlin's military procurement office, the Federal Office for Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw). Work will be conducted through the end of 2021, with trials scheduled for 2022 aboard the Navy frigate Sachsen, per a joint press announcement released Thursday. The work is to be split on a “roughly equal basis,” the companies said. Rheinmetall will be responsible for the laser weapon system, the beam guiding system, cooling, and integrating the weapon system with the overall laser source demonstrator. MBDA will focus on the operator console along with tracking technology and command-and-control system integration. Details have yet to be revealed about where the system's development will take place. This latest contract continues the companies' collaboration on high-energy laser efforts, which was first announced in August 2019. Rheinmetall and the Germany military have been testing high energy laser technologies in the maritime domain since 2015, a company spokesman told Defense News. “The contract marks a systematic extension of the functional prototype laser weapon successfully tested in recent years, with the experience gained now dovetailing into one of the most ambitious projects in the field of laser weapon development in Europe,” said Alexander Graf, head of Rheinmetall Waffe Munition's laser weapons program, and Markus Jung, who leads the company's laser weapon development segment. Once the demonstrator is installed, it will be used to test other aspects of the laser weapon system, such as the sensor suite and combat management system, and evaluate rules of engagement, said Doris Laarmann, MBDA's head of laser business development, in the release. The German arm of MBDA announced a restructuring of operations in late 2020, following mixed signals from Berlin regarding the status of the Tactical Air Defense System (TLVS) program. Executives have expressed skepticism that a contract award would emerge soon for the follow-on work of the former Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS). In 2015, the German government announced it would use MEADS as the basis for TLVS, which would eventually replace the nation's 1980s-era Patriot air defense systems. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/01/28/rheinmetall-mbda-building-high-energy-lasers-for-germanys-navy