China says Boeing welcome to deepen development in its market | Reuters

Sur le même sujet

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  2 février 2023 | International, Aérospatial, Naval

  DARPA wants a heavy cargo plane that can land at sea

  The Pentagon has grown increasingly concerned about the potential for a conflict with China, which would require improved maritime capabilities.

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  30 septembre 2020 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Army Wants New Mega-Jammer In 2023: TLS-EAB

  SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. Mounted on a pair of heavy trucks, the Terrestrial Layer System – Echelons Above Brigade (TLS-EAB) will do long-range jamming for high-level HQs – and fry the circuits of incoming enemy missiles as well. WASHINGTON: The Army officially asked industry today to help take a big step towards repairing the Army's long-neglected EW corps and countering Russian and Chinese jamming – and it'll have an unexpected missile defense dimension as well. Boeing and Lockheed are still building rival prototypes for the Army's next-generation cyber/electronic warfare vehicle, the Terrestrial Layer System set to enter service in 2022. The new system, known as TLS-EAB — will be TLS's much bigger brother. The service has set a pretty brisk schedule, talking of fielding something by the end of 2023. The original-flavor TLS, aka TLS-BCT, will fit on an 8×8 Stryker armored vehicle and accompany frontline Brigade Combat Teams. TLS-Echelons Above Brigade will fill a pair of heavy trucks, probably Oshkosh FMTVs, Army officials unveiled today: One truck will carry sensors, transmitters, and a tethered drone or aerostat to detect enemy signals, triangulate their locations for artillery and airstrikes, and disrupt them electronically with a combination of jamming, wireless hacking, and deceptive signals. It'll be crewed by eight soldiers, four specializing in cyber/electronic warfare and four in signals intelligence. There will likely be sub-variants, for example with a division-level system designed to frequently relocate, while a Multi-Domain Task Force might accept a less mobile version with more range and power. But overall, this long-range offensive cyber/EW/SIGINT capability is essentially a supersized version of what the TLS-BCT will do, albeit operating over much greater distances. The other truck, however, adds a dimension absent from the brigade-level TLS-BCT: a high-powered but relatively short-ranged defensive EW capability to protect key sites like division, corps, and theater command posts. It'll be crewed by four electronic warfare soldiers, but there's no SIGINT on this variant. Instead, it'll have an “electronic countermeasure point defense suite” – again, using a mix of jamming, wireless hacking, and deceptive signals – to decoy or disable incoming enemy drones, missiles, rockets, and artillery rounds, many of which rely on radar for guidance and fusing. Because it's mounted on trucks, TLS-EAB can be a lot bigger and more powerful than the Stryker-mounted TLS-BCT or the drone-mounted jamming/sensing system known as MFEW-Air-Large. But it will share data with those systems, because they'll be closer to the front line and/or able to fly over obstacles to see distant threats. TLS-EAB will also link to other Army and interservice systems like the EWPMT command-and-control software and the TITAN satellite terminal. The defensive suite, in particular, will get warning of incoming threats from air & missile defense networks – which we can presume includes the Army's forthcoming IBCS – to “national technical means,” such as spy satellites. Now, the three Army colonels who briefed the AOC CEMAlite conference this afternoon didn't provide any details on what kind of incoming missiles the TLS-EAB defensive suite is meant to stop. Actually jamming an inbound hypersonic or ballistic missile might be prohibitively hard since those weapons fly so fast – Mach 5 and up – and may only be in range for seconds. But if you deceive the enemy's reconnaissance and targeting systems into shooting at a decoy instead of the real target, it doesn't matter how fast their missiles are — they'll still miss. It's also worth noting that the Army hasn't locked down the formal requirements for this system – a draft Abbreviated Capabilities Development Document (ACDD) is in the works – and the service intends to leave plenty of leeway for industry to propose out-of-the-box ideas. “These are our initial concept ideas and not intended to constrain or limit the industrial solution space,” said Col. Jennifer McAfee. “Please think of this is a starting point in a long and mutually beneficial conversation.” That said, all proposals need to rely on an Army-sponsored software framework known as Photon and a set of technical standards known as CMOSS. Both are intended to let the service plug and play components from different vendors instead of getting locked into one company's proprietary solution that's not compatible with other people's innovations. There's also an official Software Development Kit (SDK) to let companies integrate their sensors into the Army-standard systems. What the Army rolled out today was a draft concept of operations (CONOP) for TLS-EAB, explained the Army project manager, Col. Kevin Finch. Looking ahead, he outlined an ambitious schedule: January 2021: The Army will hold an initial industry day for interested vendors (TBD whether it'll be in-person or online). February-March 2021: Individual vendors will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Army officials. Meanwhile the service will put together a draft Request For Proposals (RFP) and circulate it for industry feedback. June 2021: a second industry day. July 2021: the release of the final RFP and the official launch of what's known as a Middle-Tier Acquisition process. Fall 2023 (first quarter of federal fiscal year 2024): the First Unit Equipped (FUE) will receive prototype TLS-EAB vehicles. If TLS-EAB can stick to that 2023-2024 timeline, it'll enter service along with a host of new long-range Army systems, from howitzers and hypersonics to intermediate-range missiles and missile defense lasers. But between the budgetary hit from COVID and the upcoming election, it's far from certain the Army can afford it all. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/09/army-wants-new-mega-jammer-in-2023-tls-eab/

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  31 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Lockheed Martin Wins $933 Million U.S./Saudi THAAD Mod

  Lee Hudson The U.S. Air Force has upgraded an existing deficiency for the KC-46A Pegasus fuel system to Category 1. The service's program office first identified “excessive fuel leaks” in July after an air refueling test. The Air Force and Boeing are working together to determine the root cause and implement corrective actions. A Category 1 deficiency means the government has identified a risk that jeopardizes lives or critical assets. “The KC-46 Program Office continues to monitor the entire KC-46 fleet and is enhancing acceptance testing of the fuel system to identify potential leaks at the factory where they can be repaired prior to delivery,” according to an Air Force statement. Boeing is contractually obligated to rectify this deficiency at no additional cost to the Air Force. “We are disappointed to learn of this development and are already implementing assembly and installation improvements to correct the issue,” Boeing spokesman Larry Chambers said in a statement to Aerospace DAILY. “We have repaired several of the airplanes and will continue to implement repairs as needed. Boeing is working with urgency to address this issue.” The Air Force discovered several required fuel-system repairs, Chambers said. The fuel system is equipped with redundant protection for fuel containment. “In some cases with this issue, aircraft maintenance crews are finding fuel between the primary and secondary fuel barriers within the system,” Chambers said. The KC-46A program still faces other unresolved Category 1 deficiencies that involve the Remote Vision System (RVS) and the boom telescope actuator. The problem with the RVS is what the Air Force calls a “rubber sheet” effect that distorts the image on the visual display used by the boom operator during refueling operations. The actuator on the boom needs to be more sensitive to smaller receiver aircraft, such as A-10s and F-16s. Boeing has agreed to pay for the RVS design fix, while the Air Force will finance the design change to the actuator. “There's profound problems with the system,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said March 3 during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. The service is certifying the aircraft to conduct airlift and medical evacuation missions. The plan is for the Air Force to employ the KC-46 in those roles while a long-term fix is being developed, Goldfein said. Goldfein told new Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun to focus on the KC-46 program, even as it is fixing the 737 MAX. Calhoun said the KC-46 is his top military priority. “I have seen a change in the behavior of that company since he took over, and so that's why we're more confident sitting here today that we have a serious fix on the table,” Goldfein said. “We're in final negotiations, so we can't go into any more detail than that. But I will say that it's looking better today than it was even six months ago.” https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/usaf-announces-new-major-deficiency-kc-46