24 mai 2023 | International, Naval
The contract includes options for detail design and construction of up to seven T-AGOS 25 class ships which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to US$3,195,396,097
9 avril 2024 | International, Aérospatial
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Tuesday he will enter the cockpit of an F-16 that the service has converted for drone flight to see how it performs.
20 mars 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
DARPA aims to apply the power of social networks to research and development via a novel social media platform purpose-built to quicken the pace of U.S. technology development. Polyplexus, which was recently launched as a public platform, is designed to increase access to scientific evidence and accelerate hypothesis development, research proposal generation, and research sponsor engagement. The platform's real-time interactions and functionality are designed to dramatically shorten the time between the emergence of concepts and the submission of worthy proposals. The platform facilitates connections among experts across academic disciplines so they can propel novel research opportunities together. Beta-launched for academics only in 2018, Polyplexus is now open to the broader research and development community and features an initial offering of research topics for collaboration and potential funding. DARPA seeks participation from anyone who is interested in sharing and learning about emerging science and technology including researchers, practitioners, and even retirees. “Crowdsourcing on the internet works when the solution exists and can be found,” said John Main, program manager in DARPA's Defense Sciences Office. “However, no amount of crowdsourcing will ever work if it's a research and development problem that must be solved, because the solution does not yet exist. That's why we built Polyplexus as a productivity platform rather than a crowdsourcing platform.” Polyplexus is composed of three integrated components: a public information feed where users can promote interesting research and connect it to other research via tweet-like summary statements called micropubs; a private tool for synthesizing new ideas, known as micropub portfolios; and an incubator environment. Incubators allow research sponsors in government and industry to post specific topics of interest and find research and development specialists to address their challenges. Following a 2018 test phase that was restricted to academic researchers, Version 1 of Polyplexus is now open to the public. Researchers and research sponsors across disciplines and industries are invited to sign up and become “Plexors” at https://polyplexus.com/users/login. During the Beta test phase, DARPA awarded funding to multiple proposals generated by founding members on the platform. Recipients included researchers from the University of Arkansas, Arizona State University, University of North Carolina, University of Miami, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. With the public launch of Polyplexus, DARPA's Defense Sciences Office intends to fund up to 30 one-year seedling efforts developed through Polyplexus incubators over the next 18 months. These funding opportunities are capped at a maximum of $100,000 each. They will roll out at a pace of approximately two per month. DARPA just announced the first three Polyplexus incubators focused on Quantum Machine Learning (https://go.usa.gov/xEFpV), Human Learning (https://go.usa.gov/xEFpA), and Strategic Technological Surprise (https://go.usa.gov/xEFpm). To learn more about the incubator topics visit the incubators section on https://Polyplexus.com. Abstracts and proposals resulting from DARPA incubators will be submitted directly to DARPA as specified in the Polyplexus BAA: https://go.usa.gov/xEFpE. Abstracts and proposals are not submitted on the Polyplexus site. Anyone may create an account and contribute to the public areas of the site. Retired scientists, engineers, and researchers are especially encouraged to continue to share their expertise by engaging as Plexors. Plexors can also contribute suggestions for new features that will be included in Polyplexus Versions 2 and 3, which are planned for development over the next 18 months. “Polyplexus maintains a balance between public information exchange and protection of private intellectual property,” Main said. “It also creates an avenue for broader participation in DARPA research and development, including by those who aren't looking for a research project but who have knowledge to contribute, such as retirees.” Researchers should monitor the announcement and evolution of each individual incubator on the platform to fully understand the topic, opportunity, and requirements. Follow @polyplexors on both Instagram and Twitter for updated information. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-03-19
7 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial
David Slotnick 19 hours ago The Air Force One of the future might be getting a major speed boost. An aerospace company called Hermeus on Thursday announced a contract with the US Air Force and the Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate to develop a hypersonic aircraft for the presidential fleet. While the next Air Force One, a modified 747-8, is due to be delivered by Boeing next year, the Hermeus contract looks toward its eventual replacement. Hermeus said it won the contract after designing, building, and successfully testing a prototype of an engine capable of propelling an airplane to Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound — about 3,300 mph. Mach 5 represents the delineation between supersonic and hypersonic speeds. The company completed those tests in March, Aviation Week reported. Hermeus plans to build a demonstrator vehicle over the next five years, with commercial aircraft envisioned in about a decade, Skyler Shuford, its cofounder and chief operating officer, said in 2019. A press release announcing the Air Force contract said part of the project would focus on integrating Air Force requirements into the airplane's designs. Hermeus emerged last year, announcing plans to develop a Mach 5 aircraft that could fly from New York to Paris in about 90 minutes. Ars Technica reported in May 2019 that the company raised an initial round of funding, led by Khosla Ventures, which it used to develop the prototype. Hermeus said it would use a turbine-based combined-cycle engine for the propulsion system, according to the report. The company's cofounders are alumni of SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the aerospace company Generation Orbit. At the time, Hermeus said it planned to use mostly existing technology and materials to achieve hypersonic travel. "We can make a vehicle fly that fast with today's technology," Glenn Case, a cofounder and the chief technology officer, said in a video published this spring. "We aren't getting into anything too miraculous," Shuford told Ars Technica last year. "We want to do engineering, not science." As of Thursday, the company listed about 10 open positions, including for airframe and propulsion engineers. https://www.businessinsider.com/hypersonic-air-force-one-hermeus-mach-5-2020-8