Budget spat puts Boeing contract for AWACS upgrades at risk: sources

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  4 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Air Force Research Laboratory announces new space experiments

  by Sandra Erwin AFRL's Space Vehicles Directorate will study the physics of very low Earth orbit, and will pursue sensor technologies for cislunar space WASHINGTON — The Air Force Research Laboratory announced Sept. 2 it will pursue two new space experiments — one will test the performance of satellite instruments in low orbits and the other is to advance sensor technology to monitor cislunar space The experiments are run by AFRL's Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. Col. Eric Felt, the director of the Space Vehicles Directorate, said 27 teams submitted proposals and the two projects that won address important areas of space that impact national security. The experiment known as “Precise” will study the physics of very low Earth orbit, or VLEO, which extends from 90 to 600 kilometers aboveEarth. AFRL said the experiment will examine the ionosphere and how gases impact radio propagation used for communications and navigation. “The experiment will use sensitive satellite instruments and radio waves to examine changes in the ionosphere resulting from different compositions of ion source gases,” AFRL said in a statement. Felt in June during a SpaceNews webinar mentioned that VLEO was an area of interest for AFRL. “This is like where you have to be thrusting all the time just to keep your satellite in orbit, at 200 to 300 kilometers,” Felt said. The second project, named Cislunar Highway Patrol System. or CHPS, will focus on space domain awareness beyond geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) all the way out to the moon. “CHPS will explore concepts for object detection and tracking between GEO, where most U.S. Space Force satellites are flown, and the moon,” said AFRL. NASA and commercial companies seek to harvest resources and return to the moon, Capt David Buehler, AFRL program manager said. “This increase in activity will require greater domain awareness. We want to be there providing safety of flight when the U.S. puts boots back on the moon.” The CHPS experiment will investigate sensing technologies and algorithms for object tracking. “We need to address really basic things that start to break down beyond GEO, like how do we even write down a trajectory. The current space catalog uses Two-Line Elements, or TLEs, which simply do not capture the complex orbital dynamics and have almost no meaning in cislunar space,” said Jaime Stearns, principal investigator. The next steps for the project leaders will be to submit budgets, program timelines and specific technical objectives by Oct. 1. At the SpaceNews webinar, Felt said the “best payoff comes from pursuing things that we're not currently doing in space today.” https://spacenews.com/air-force-research-laboratory-announces-new-space-experiments/

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  9 octobre 2018 | International, Aérospatial

  Brève note sur la guerre des avions de combat de nouvelle génération

  PAR JEAN-PAUL BAQUIAST BLOG : POUR UNE EUROPE PUISSANCE Ce terme de guerre signifie que plusieurs pays, Etats-Unis, Russie, Chine, France, Inde, veulent se doter pour 2020 environ de flottes d'avions de combat multi-rôles dits encore de 5e génération. Ceux-ci doivent avoir des versions capables de décoller d'un porte-avion dépourvu de catapultes. Depuis quelques années, l'objectif recherché était la furtivité, c'est-à-dire la possibilité d'échapper aux radars dont sont dotés les divers objectifs envisageable. Mais le progrès constant de ceux-ci rendent la furtivité pratiquement impossible à acquérir en totalité. C'est dorénavant, en dehors des aptitudes au combat rapproché aérien, la capacité d'emporter des missiles de plus en plus perfectionnés mais aussi de plus en plus lourds qui paraît aujourd'hui primer. Les Etats-Unis ont traditionnellement dominé le domaine, avec notamment le Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, diffusé à des centaines d'exemplaires. Depuis une dizaine d'années, ils avaient envisagé de les remplacer par des Lockheed Martin F 35 dits aussi JSF, pour Joint Strike Fighter. Mais les déboires à peine croyables qu'ils ont enregistrés dans le déroulement de ce programme, estimé au minimum à $1.500 milliards, font qu'ils redonnent d'importantes perspectives aux F-22 Raptor. Rappelons qu'Israël, seul Etat ayant pris le risque de mettre en service opérationnel des F-35 du type Adir, ne semble pas prête à les utiliser contre des batteries de S 300 russes en Syrie, même lorsqu'ils seront pris en mains par des Syriens. La Russie n'a jamais voulu se laisser distancer de façon importante par les Etats-Unis dans ce domaine. De nombreuses générations d'avions de combat avaient été développées depuis le début de la guerre froide. Pour un proche avenir, ce sera le Sukhoi Su-57 qui devrait prendre le relais de l'actuel Su-35. Le Su-57 a même été qualifié d'appareil de 6e génération. Mais en ce domaine ce sont les essais réussis qui comptent plus que les mots. La Chine qui jusqu'à présent s'était satisfaite de modèles directement inspirés par leurs homologues russes, a développé dans le plus grand secret et vient de présenter au public un appareil dit entièrement chinois, le Chengdu J-20. Elle comptera principalement sur lui pour se doter de la supériorité aérienne dans le Pacifique sud. Rappelons que la France dispose depuis plusieurs années du Dassault Rafale dont des versions successives sont régulièrement présentées. Dit parfois comme le meilleur avion de combat du monde, celui-ci devrait en tous cas être susceptible de s'opposer dans la pllupart des cas aux avions américains, russes et chinois. Quant à l'Inde, elle n'a pas encore essayé de se doter d'une gamme propre. Aujourd'hui elle a commandé une petite série de Rafales, qui pourraient à l'avenir être construits sous licence en Inde. Mais elle réfléchit également à la perspective d'acquérir des appareils russes du type Sukhoi. Israël serait très demandeur d'avions proprement israéliens ? Mais le pays vu le coût du programme compte aujourd'hui sur des appareils américains, qui ne semblent pourtant pas donner de grandes satisfactions. Rappelons qu'aux Etats-Unis comme en France, la fabrication des avions ou des pièces détachées est très largement décentralisée dans des pays-tiers. Mais cela n'est pas sans risques. En est témoin le fait que, selon une source iranienne, les Américains se découvrent aujourd'hui très dépendants de la Turquie, avec laquelle ils ne sont pas dans les meilleurs termes, pour la fabrication des F-35 Références https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-57 http://parstoday.com/fr/news/world-i68520-le_su_57_6e_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9ration_arrive! https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengdu_J-20 http://parstoday.com/fr/news/world-i71450-f_35_la_surprise_turque_pour_les_usa http://www.myzone59.com/f-35-jsf-le-cout-estime-du-programme-atteint-les-1-510-milliards-de-dollars/ https://blogs.mediapart.fr/jean-paul-baquiast/blog/071018/breve-note-sur-la-guerre-des-avions-de-combat-de-nouvelle-generation

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  17 octobre 2019 | International, Terrestre

  Here’s who will build the US Army’s new missile defense radar

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Incumbent Raytheon will build the U.S. Army's new missile defense radar to replace the Patriot air and missile defense system's current radar as part of the service's future Integrated Air and Missile Defense System. The company has taken its years of experience refining gallium nitride, or GaN, technology at its Massachusetts-based foundry to help design a new radar system that will provide the Army 360-degree threat detection capability in a configuration that includes one large array in the front and two smaller arrays in the back. The contract is worth roughly $384 million to deliver six production-representative units of the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS. “Our clean-sheet approach to LTAMDS reinforces Raytheon's position as the world's premier air and missile defense radar capability provider,” Ralph Acaba, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, said in a statement. The service earlier this year held a “sense-off” at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, between three working radars from Raytheon, a Lockheed Martin and Elta Systems team,and Northrop Grumman. The service analyzed the results and was in contract negotiations with the winner as the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference, which kicked off Oct. 14. Brig. Gen. Brian Gibson, who is in charge of the service's air and missile defense modernization effort, told Defense News in an interview ahead of the show that negotiations were ongoing and that the award would happen soon. Without public knowledge of the win, Raytheon brought its offering for the LTAMDS competition to the show and passed out red lanyards advertising LTAMDS that said: “No time for a blind spot,” referring to the 360-degree coverage capability. Replacing the Patriot radar has been a long time coming. The radar was first fielded in the 1980s, and the Army previously attempted to replace the system with Lockheed Martin's Medium Extended Air Defense System through an international co-development effort with Germany and Italy. But that program was canceled in the U.S. after closing out a proof-of-concept phase roughly six years ago. Since then, the Army studied and debated how to replace the Patriot radar, while Raytheon continued to upgrade its radar to keep pace with current threats. The service has acknowledged there will come a point where radar upgrades will be unable to keep up with future threats. Taking years to decide, the service moved forward on a competition to replace the radar in 2017 and chose four companies to come up with design concepts for the capability — Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Technovative Applications. Toward the end of 2018, Raytheon and Lockheed were chosen to continue technology development under that program. But then the Army redirected its plans into a sense-off competition last fall. Raytheon is expected to build six prototypes by the end of fiscal 2022. The radar that Raytheon specifically designed for the Army uses next-generation GaN and is 7 feet longer but 11 inches more narrow than the current radar unit. But it no longer requires outrigger stabilizing legs. Rather, the system is held stable by jacks underneath, which means it takes up less space on the sides, according to Bob Kelley, Raytheon's director of domestic integrated air and missile defense programs for business development and strategy. The radar meets all of the Army's mobility and transport requirements, Kelley said, including fitting in a C-17 aircraft. The smaller arrays are about 50 percent of the size of the legacy Patriot system's array, but are twice as capable due to the advancements with GaN technology, he added. Though the Army backed off its 360-degree detection capability requirement for the competition, Raytheon has been steadfast about keeping that capability in its offering. In addition to being able to constantly cover 360 degrees, the radar can see farther than the currently fielded Patriot radar. That radar is unable to fully support the maximum kinematic range of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement that it fires. The Army claims that its effort to tie the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System with Patriot would help the MSE missile reach its full potential. The LTAMDS will be able to fully support current missile systems including PAC-3 MSE range capability and future missiles ranges, Kelley said. https://www.defensenews.com/breaking-news/2019/10/17/heres-who-will-build-the-armys-new-missile-defense-radar