Bell awards CAE contract for U.S. Army Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program

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  12 octobre 2023 | International, Naval

  HII is awarded $347 Million U.S Navy Lionfish small UUV contract

  The Lionfish System, based on HII’s REMUS 300, is a highly portable, two-person SUUV with an open architecture design and versatile payload options.

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  1 mars 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Australia formulates its path to military modernization and industrial growth

  By: Mike Yeo MELBOURNE, Australia — One of the United States' most steadfast allies, seen widely as a lynchpin of security in the Asia-Pacific region, is in the process of recapitalizing its own air power capabilities and developing a local defense industry that it hopes will be globally competitive in the near future. Although Australia is somewhat geographically isolated from the rest of the world (with a former Australian prime minister reportedly referring to it as the back end of the world — although he used a more colorful term), the country is very much connected to the world and rather dependent on seaborne trade with Asia, thus it is invested in regional security. Its armed forces have also deployed as part of coalition forces to Afghanistan and Iraq as well as helped in the fight against the Islamic State group. There is strong support across the Australian political spectrum for its alliance with the U.S. and for maintaining the global rules-based order. The country, which is hosting the biennial Avalon Airshow in the southern state of Victoria later this month, recently welcomed the first of its Lockheed Martin-made F-35A fighter jets in-country — part of a transformation aimed at modernizing the Royal Australian Air Force into a service that will be networked to its Army and Navy counterparts. A fifth-generation air force Under Plan Jericho, the Royal Australian Air Force, or RAAF, seeks to transform itself into an integrated, networked force that can deliver air power effects in the information age. A key part of this is by realizing the potential of the increased data and situational awareness that will be made available as the service brings a range of modern aircraft into service. These include 72 F-35As, which will replace the F/A-18A/B Hornet as the service's main combat aircraft, backed by 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets and 11 EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft. The F/A-18A/B fighters, which are known as Classic Hornets in Australia, are being progressively withdrawn from service, with the last aircraft to be retired around 2022. Canada will buy 25 of the Classics; it will field 18 and keep the rest for spares. The first aircraft will reportedly arrive in Canada as Defense News goes to press and will enter Canadian service in the middle of this year. Australia is also replacing its Lockheed Martin AP-3C Orion anti-submarine maritime patrol aircraft, with the Boeing P-8A Poseidon and the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance UAV taking over the maritime domain awareness mission. Delivery of the P-8As is ongoing, with seven of 15 aircraft already in Australia, while the six Tritons will start arriving in 2023. The P-8As have carried out missions enforcing United Nations sanctions on North Korea, with an aircraft beginning operations in December from the Japanese island of Okinawa. Meanwhile, Australia has conducted connectivity trials on its airlift fleet as part of Plan Jericho. Working with industry, one of the RAAF's Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules airlifters was fitted with wideband satellite communications equipment and wing drop tanks, and will eventually be equipped with the Litening AT electro-optical targeting pod as a means to improve its tactical capability. Procurement road map Australia's last defense whitepaper, published in 2016, provided insight into future procurement programs, some of which include a fast medevac platform and a fleet of special operations helicopters. The latter would need to fit onboard the RAAF's Boeing C-17 strategic airlifters; and according to the whitepaper, the helo will be used to “insert, extract and provide fire support for small teams of Special Forces undertaking tasks ranging from tactical observation through to counter-terrorism missions, or hostage recovery.” The investment plan released alongside the whitepaper said the chosen type needs to be small enough so that “three or four” can fit inside a C-17 as part of a small force element. The whitepaper also flagged the potential replacement of the RAFF's lead-in fighter training system. The replacement program was expected to begin in 2022 and last until the end of the next decade. The service is currently operating the BAE Systems Hawk 127 as its lead-in fighter trainer, with the fleet nearing the end of an upgrade program to keep the type relevant for training pilots who will go on to fly advanced fighters. The Hawks are expected to continue service in Australia until around 2026. But Steve Drury, BAE Systems Australia's director of aerospace and integrated systems, told Defense News that the service life of the aircraft could be extended by another 10 years. During an interview last year, the chief of the RAAF, Air Marshal Leo Davies, told Defense News that the service was considering several different options for a future fighter trainer, and that extending the Hawk's service was also under consideration. Australia is also seeking unmanned aircraft to operate from Royal Australian Navy ships. The service is conducting trials with the Schiebel S-100 Camcopter, and under phases 4 and 5 of Project SEA 129 it will look to acquire more aircraft for forthcoming offshore patrol vessels and frigates. A larger role for industry The current Australian government has prioritized the development of a sustainable local industry and has made substantial efforts to ensure local industry is heavily involved in production and sustainment. Several Australian companies have secured a healthy slice of F-35 manufacturing work, with components for the vertical tail, weapons bay and skin panels among a host of components manufactured in Australia as part of the jet's global supply chain. In addition, Australian companies will be involved in the F-35 sustainment program, with BAE Systems Australia serving as the south Pacific regional airframe depot and the Asia-Pacific regional parts warehouse for the program. In 2016, four Australian companies secured regional depot maintenance responsibility for 64 of the first 65 tier 1 F-35 components. The next step for Australian industry could be to grow its share of the global defense market. Last year, Britain chose the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail for its airborne early warning fleet — an aircraft already in use by Australia. Steven Ciobo, Australia's minister for defense industry, sees an opportunity to work with Britain through cooperative development and industry collaboration. “Australian industry, including the more than 200 Australian companies that have contributed to our own Wedgetail acquisition and sustainment, stands to benefit from what could become one of Australia's most significant defense exports,” he said in October. The Australian government has made boosting defense exports a priority. Last year it released its defense export strategy that provided a system to plan, guide and measure defense export outcomes. The government has also provided $14 million in additional annual funding from 2018-2019 to support defense exports, and it will set up a new defense export office within the Defence Department to drive implementation of the strategy, with the goal of growing Australia's defense industry into a top 10 global defense exporter by 2028. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/avalon/2019/02/25/australia-formulates-its-path-to-military-modernization-and-industrial-growth/

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  30 octobre 2020 | International, C4ISR

  In a COVID-19 world, system integration is the best approach

  Lt. Gen. David Mann (ret.) and Maj. Gen. Francis Mahon (ret.) As COVID-19 is adding “social distancing” and “PPE” to our everyday lexicon and making handshakes a thing of the past, Project Convergence's experimentation with artificial intelligence and integration is moving the U.S. Army closer to the realization that “any sensor, any shooter — or any sensor, best shooter” applies to more than solely the air and missile defense community. Project Convergence is validating the path to success in future combat operations by integrating capabilities of many systems and not solely hanging our hopes on a new, best artillery or aviation or maneuver system. Concurrently, it is validating the need for the Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense system, or AIAMD. “See first, understand first, act first, and finish decisively” was the mantra of Army transformation in the early 2000s, and here we are, 20 years into the 21st century, with AIAMD modernization efforts on the cusp of achieving the first two elements of that axiom — which enables the last two. AIAMD's development has not been easy, but it is essential, as our adversaries have not taken a tactical pause. North Korea is now a nuclear state with intercontinental ballistic missiles and, as recently noted on Oct. 10, other missile initiatives underway. China is creating barrier islands, improving its air and missile forces, and building a carrier fleet. Russia has optimized Syria and Crimea as proving grounds for its capabilities and forces while regularly probing NATO and North American airspace. Iran has fired ballistic missiles against undefended U.S. bases, demonstrated technical and tactical prowess by executing an integrated and complex armed unmanned aerial system and cruise missile attack against Saudi Arabia, and provided nonstate actors an expanded poor man's air force. Cyber, too, is becoming “mainstream” among our adversaries, and two of our near peers are developing hypersonic weapons, as witnessed in Russia's recent Zircon cruise missile test. As the U.S. Army, and the military at large, look to the future, all acknowledge integrating systems achieves a synergistic effect from our limited number of sensors, weapon systems and munitions. Integration closes gaps and seams, and enables the timely application of fires while reducing the cost-per-intercept dilemma. Closed architectures are a thing of the past, as are stovepiped systems. We must leverage each other's data and information and apply the best available weapon to counter threat activities or inflict maximum damage upon an adversary. If the Army's Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor can provide an accurate launch point for a ballistic missile, shouldn't the Army's Precision Strike Munition or other long-range fires capability leverage this data in real time for an offensive strike? If an F-35 fighter jet detects aerial threats it cannot counter, shouldn't it pass this data via a joint architecture so the joint family of systems can defeat those threats? Project Convergence is endeavoring to expand integration and advance operating concepts to leverage all possible capabilities. It is a logical extension of a key AIAMD modernization effort — the Army's IAMD Battle Command System, or IBCS — which demonstrated impressive capabilities during a recent limited-user test. Patriot batteries executed near-simultaneous engagements against ballistic missiles and low-altitude cruise missiles, while using only Sentinel targeting data provided to IBCS. Multiple capabilities operating as an integrated system — leveraging one element's information and another's lethality to defeat a complex and integrated attack — represents true integration. The Missile Defense Agency's integration efforts with the Patriot and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems, and its recent successful flight test, also demonstrate the power of an integrated approach. Specifically, this capability enables earlier engagements, expanded battlespace, an increase in defended area, flexible firing doctrines, interceptor optimization and the tightening of operational seams. We cannot afford to slow these efforts or take our eye off the objectives and capabilities these programs will deliver. IBCS is approaching a key milestone decision, which will enable low-rate production to begin, execute additional development and operational tests, and field an initial operational capability in 2022. Further integrating IBCS with other Army systems must be a future priority: It is the standard bearer for air and missile defense integrated operations and a key enabler for dealing with complex and integrated attacks. This investment requires sustained support from the Department of Defense and Congress as well as priority funding as we wrestle with flat budgets and COVID-19's fiscal challenges and potential bills. The Army is expected to add IBCS to Project Convergence — a good plan, but this action cannot become a distraction or diversion of resources that slows its development and fielding. IBCS, as well as the integration of Patriot and THAAD, are critical to success in today's tactically and technically challenging operations, which are stressing the force. Our integration efforts must expand to all joint air and missile defense systems and to our allies and partners, who remain essential to our success. AIAMD will also be a major contributor to the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept and the Air Force's Advanced Battle Management System — two key programs focused on integration at the theater level. COVID-19 has changed our lives in many ways and will levy a bill on our defense budgets. We cannot allow integration programs or initiatives to become COVID-19 casualties because seeing first and understanding first are the most critical elements in managing a crisis and keeping it from becoming a catastrophe. Retired Lt. Gen. David Mann led U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. He has also commanded Army air and missile defense forces in Iraq, Southwest Asia and the United States. Retired Maj. Gen. Francis Mahon served as the director for strategy, policy and plans at North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command. He also commanded Army air and missile defense forces in Southwest Asia, South Korea and the United States. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/10/29/in-a-covid-19-world-system-integration-is-the-best-approach/