Canada moves forward with acquisition of first 2 Airbus A330-200s for RCAF future tanker - Skies Mag

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  22 juillet 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contracts for July 21, 2021

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  9 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Open source platforms, flexible airframes for new drones

  Kelsey D. Atherton Designing a drone body is about settling on the right compromise. Multirotor drones excel at vertical lift and hover, while fixed wing drones are great at both distance and wide-open spaces. In February, Auterion Government Solutions and Quantum-Systems announced a two-pronged approach to the rotor- or fixed-wing drone market, with a pair of drones that use the same sensor packages and fuselage to operate as either the Scorpion Trirotor or the Vector fixed wing craft. “As we started to develop our tactical UAS Platform, our plan was only to develop a VTOL fixed wing solution (like our Vector),” said Florian Siebel, managing director of Quantum-Systems. “During the development process we decided to build a Tri-Copter Platform as well, as a result of many discussions with law enforcement agencies and Search and Rescue Units.” Adapting the fixed-wing fuselage to the tri-copter attachments means the drone can now operate in narrow spaces and harsh conditions. Scorpion, with the rotors, can fly for about 45 minutes, with a cruising speed of zero to 33 mph. Put the fixed wings back on for Vector, and the flight time is now two hours, with a cruising speed of 33 to 44 mph. The parts snap into place without any need for special tooling, and Auterion recommends the drone for missions in rain or snow. Both platforms share a gimbal EO/IR with 10x optical zoom, 720p EO video, 480p IR video, laser illuminator, IR laser ranger. Common between modes is also a tactical mapping tool using a 21 megapixel Sony UMC R10C camera. For the scorpion, there's also the option of a gimbaled electro-optical camera with a 30x optical zoom. Both drones are designed to fit in rucksacks that a person can carry one at a time. While many features are common across Vector and Scorpion, the plan is not to include both rotors or wings in the same kit. Once a team packs into the field with a drone on its back, that's the mode the drone can be used in. Auterion intends to ship the drones by the fourth quarter of 2020, with preorders available. Designing a drone body is about settling on the right compromise. Vector and Scorpion are built on top of open source code. This includes an operating system capable of programmable autopilot , as well as machine-vision collision prevention and obstacle detection and avoidance. Software for the ground station and cloud data management of the drone are also built on open source code. The Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit awarded Auterion a $2 million contract last year to work on the PX4 software to help drive compatibility standards in the drone industry. As militaries across the world look to the enterprise sector for capable drones at smaller profile than existing military models, transparency in code and flexibility in airframe could become more widely adopted trends. In the meantime, there is Vector, and there is Scorpion. https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/03/25/open-source-platforms-flexible-airframes-for-new-drones

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  24 juillet 2020 | International, Terrestre

  U.S. Army Awards Distributed Common Ground System Capability Drop 2 to BAE Systems

  July 23, 2020 - The U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems an initial order under its Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Capability Drop 2 Program. The multiple award, Indefinite Delivery-Indefinite Quantity contract is worth up to $823 million, and provides enhanced intelligence to see and better understand threats and other relevant aspects of the operational environment. The company's solution for Capability Drop 2 is the Intelligence Knowledge Environment (IKE). It's a software framework of modular data and artificial intelligence analytic capabilities built to autonomously transform information into knowledge. “With a focus on a user-centric analyst experience, IKE rapidly transforms data into intelligence in an easy to learn and scalable manner,” said Dave Logan, vice president and general manager of C4ISR Systems at BAE Systems. “It helps analysts translate information into actionable intelligence using a collection of tools – some interactive, others that operate autonomously – to enhance the effectiveness of the analyst.” The Capability Drop development model allows the Army to rapidly insert new technology upgrades to DCGS by breaking requirements into small bundles, enabling agile and rapid acquisition. The company's Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance systems provide robust processing and exploitation capabilities that enable the analysis of intelligence data from a variety of sources, in any mission environment. BAE Systems developed the IKE framework at its site in San Diego, California. Ref. No. 068/2020 View source version on BAE Systems: https://www.baesystems.com/en/article/u-s--army-awards-distributed-common-ground-system-capability-drop-2-to-bae-systems