British F-35s train with US B-2s for the first time

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  15 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre, C4ISR

  Afghanistan deployment proves One World Terrain is more than a training tool

  Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army began building an entire virtual world a few years ago for its Synthetic Training Environment (STE) to bring accuracy and a real-life feel to training, but a deployment of One World Terrain in Afghanistan has proved it's not just a training tool, according to Maj. Gen. Maria Gervais, who is in charge of the service's STE development. One World Terrain, or OWT, compiles realistic and, in some cases, extremely accurate virtual maps of territory all over the globe. The idea is to be able to click on any place on a virtual globe and go there. Soldiers can then train virtually in an exact environment in which they can expect to operate in reality. “We're seeing now there are better uses for operational capability,” Gervais told Defense News in an Oct. 8 interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference. “And it's helping us inform how do we now expand this to meet training, operational and also targeting requirements.” It all began with a unit that used OWT for training at the National Training Center on Fort Irwin, California, and saw value in it, Gervais said. When the unit deployed to Afghanistan, the soldiers asked to take the system — which included a drone and software — she said. The unit was able to capture terrain for the purpose of mission-planning rehearsal and route planning. But the soldiers also used it to take an in-depth look at the forward-operating base to see how it was set up and analyze it for vulnerabilities. “I will tell you from that usage, they figured out they had to make some changes,” Gervais said. “And then they went out and they started looking at other operating bases within their area. They expanded it.” The system “immediately started proving its utility to them,” she said, “but from that unit from what they were able to do, we then were able to take the next unit that was coming in behind them and provide all that information to them and allow them to understand how One World Terrain could be used.” The Army's 82nd Airborne Division also used the system prior to deploying to another theater. The division captured the terrain, using it for predeployment planning and mission rehearsals, including how and where to set up a base and where to position electronic warfare systems. OWT also helped the 25th Infantry Division out of Hawaii prepare for a Joint Training Readiness Center rotation, and its members also plan to use it during the exercise. These uses have led the Army to provide more drones and software for more units, Gervais said. Starting in December and January, the Army will begin fielding “a little bit more capability,” she added. In March, the STE team went to Germany to observe an assured position, navigation and timing exercise that included a sensor-to-shooter, live-fire drill. The team worked with the 1st Cavalry Division's intelligence analysts and put OWT on the Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) system, which is an intelligence analysis platform. “We showed them the capability, and what came out of there was pretty astounding,” Gervais said. With 3D terrain from OWT in the system, decisions could be made more quickly because there was no need to compare two different databases and reason against it, she said. That cut workload by about 60 percent, she added. OWT was on a DCGS-A system at Project Convergence at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, this year, Gervais said, and it showed the realm of the possible from a targeting perspective. While the STE had a limited scope during Project Convergence, “we're going to be more integrated in Project Convergence 21 next year,” she added, so that “everybody's kind of operating off the 3D terrain.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2020/10/14/afghanistan-deployment-proves-one-world-terrain-is-more-than-a-training-tool/

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  16 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial

  Russian Company Plans New Generation Of Missiles

  Piotr Butowski Moscow-based GosMKB Vympel, which designs air-to-air missiles, is funding its own research on what appears to be the continuation of a short-range missile project that had been halted decades ago. In late January, the company summarized its research and development work conducted in 2020. The most interesting project appears to be its research on “shaping the appearance of a future product 300M.” This work, financed by Vympel's long-term development fund, is to lay the scientific and technical groundwork for the Russian military and increase the company's export prospects, the company says. Undoubtedly, the current izdeliye 300M (“izdeliye” means “product” in Russian) is a further development of the K-30, or K-MD, short-range missile project, launched by Vympel in 1986 as part of its work on arming the fifth-generation MiG multirole fighter, which was halted in 1994 due to a lack of funding. Later, Vympel offered the 300 project while working on how to arm the Sukhoi PAK FA (Su-57) fighter. In 2006, the company said the 300 missile could have been ready in 2013, if enough funding had been available. Gennady Sokolovsky, the head of Vympel at the time, said that the 300 missile would “significantly exceed foreign missiles of a similar type.” The 300 was to be fitted with a new Merlushka, or “lambskin,” imaging infrared seeker developed by the AOMZ tactical missile company, enabling target identification and a lock-on range twice as great as its predecessors. The dual-pulse, solid-propellant motor was to provide relatively large specific impulse (about 100s), a measure of the engine's efficiency. The 300 missile was to have jet-vane gas controls instead of spoilers placed in the engine nozzle, as is the case with the current R-74 missiles. The efficiency of the variable gas nozzle is greater than that of spoilers; moreover, the presence of spoilers in the nozzle causes a loss of thrust. Judging from the course of events, plans to resume the 300 project were not approved at the time, and the simpler R-74M2, otherwise known as izdeliye 760, was chosen as the primary close air-combat missile for the Su-57. How the current 300M project changed compared with the previous version is not known, but most likely the modifications did not alter the overall configuration. If the changes were really significant, the project would have received a new index, not just an additional M letter. Certainly, the element base in the seeker and control system is new; the engine also may be improved. Of course, the 300M missile remains at the conceptual research stage, which usually does not yet involve the actual construction of a missile. According to Vympel's announcement, another short-range missile performed “about 30 firing tests” in 2020 as part of state evaluations, the final stage of tests before the missile is approved for full-scale series production. The announcement probably refers to the R-74M2, izdeliye 760, missile, which started firing tests on April 8, 2016, and in July 2019 was submitted for state evaluations on the Su-57. The Vympel R-74M2 is a further development of the in-service R-74M izdeliye 750 with the cross-section reduced so it can be fitted inside the internal quick-launch weapons bays of the Su-57. The remaining information provided by Vympel about its 2020 research and development work is very general. The types of weapons are not named, and only the categories are defined. In the long-range air-to-air missile class, one of the missiles “completed preliminary tests to the extent sufficient for the construction documentation to be awarded the letter ‘O.'” In the parlance of the Russian defense industry, the letter “O” denotes permission to make an initial serial batch of missiles. Vympel could be referring to a new-generation heavy missile, the izdeliye 810, intended for internal carriage in the Su-57 fighter. The 810 missile, never presented to the public, began undergoing firing tests on July 6, 2017; its maximum range is estimated at 300 km (186 mi.). https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/missile-defense-weapons/russian-company-plans-new-generation-missiles

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  26 avril 2018 | International, Aérospatial

  Airbus et Dassault développeront un avion de combat franco-allemand

  Airbus et Dassault Aviation sont parvenus à un accord de principe autour du développement du futur avion de combat franco-allemand. Un futur avion de combat franco-allemand verra le jour. Airbus et Dassault Aviation ont annoncé mercredi 25 avril être parvenus à un accord de principe autour du développement du futur avion de combat franco-allemand, dont le principe avait été annoncé en juillet 2017 par Paris et Berlin. Airbus et Dassault ont "regroupé leurs forces pour le développement et la production du Système de combat aérien du futur européen (Scaf)" à l'horizon 2040, ont annoncé les deux groupes à l'occasion du salon aéronautique de Berlin (ILA). "C'est un accord de principe. Le premier message est de dire "oui, nous sommes prêts" pour le développement du Scaf", a déclaré le PDG de Dassault Aviation, Eric Trappier, lors d'une conférence de presse commune avec le patron d'Airbus Defense and Space, Dirk Hoke, dans la capitale allemande. "C'est un moment historique pour l'industrie" Play Video "Nous sommes prêts et nous disons à nos ministères de la Défense, à nos responsables politiques : nous sommes prêts, à présent allez-y", a-t-il ajouté. "C'est un moment historique pour l'industrie" aéronautique, a complété Dirk Hoke. "C'est un grand pas en avant pour développer les compétences en Europe et assurer la souveraineté européenne", a-t-il ajouté. Paris et Berlin devraient annoncer "une première étape significative" en vue du lancement de ce programme lors du salon, avait indiqué la ministre française Florence Parly, début avril. Les deux capitales se sont entendues l'été dernier pour "développer un système de combat aérien européen" destiné à remplacer à l'horizon 2040 leurs flottes actuelles d'avions de combat, le Rafale pour la France et l'Eurofighter Typhoon pour l'Allemagne. (Avec AFP) https://www.challenges.fr/entreprise/airbus-et-dassault-developperont-un-avion-de-combat-franco-allemand_583065