13 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
A modified version of China's first stealth fighter jet, the J-20, has formally entered mass production, with upgrades earning it a place as a fifth-generation fighter jet, according to a military source close to the project.
The moment was marked at a ceremonial unveiling of the modified J-20B stealth fighter jet on Wednesday attended by many senior military leaders including Central Military Commission (CMC) vice-chairman General Zhang Youxia, the source said.
Zhang is the second-ranked vice-chairman of the CMC and is in charge of weapons development for the People's Liberation Army.
“Mass production of the J-20B started on Wednesday. It has finally become a complete stealth fighter jet, with its agility meeting the original criteria,” the source said.
“The most significant change to the fighter jet is that it is now equipped with thrust vector control.”
Thrust vector control (TVC) allows pilots to better control the aircraft by redirecting engine thrust.
In 2018, China debuted its J-10C multirole fighter – fitted with a WS-10 Taihang engine – at the China air show in Zhuhai, putting the aircraft through its paces in a performance that indicated that China had succeeded in thrust technology.
While the TVC technology had been applied to the stealth fighter, the J-20B would still use Russian Saturn AL-31 engines because more work needed to be done on China's WS-15 engine, the source said.
Chinese engineers have been developing high-thrust turbofan WS-15 engines for the J-20, but that work has fallen behind schedule.
“The Chinese engine designed for the J-20s still failed to meet requirements, but its development is going quite smoothly, and it may be ready in the next one or two years,” the source said.
“The ultimate goal is to equip the J-20B fighter jets with domestic engines.”
China was thought to have built about 50 J-20s by the end of 2019, but problems with the jets' engines delayed further production plans.
Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth assembly plant in Texas delivered 134 F-35 stealth fighters in 2019, three more than its target and 47 per cent more than its output in 2018, according to the company.
China's first batch of J-20s entered service in 2017 when the US decided to deploy more than 100 F-35s to Japan and South Korea that year.
The J-20 was meant to be a fifth-generation fighter jet on a par with Lockheed's F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning multirole strike fighters.
Fifth-generation fighters are defined by their stealth technology, supersonic cruising speed, super manoeuvrability, and highly integrated avionics.
But the earlier version of the J-20 was described by Western media as a “dedicated interceptor aircraft” because of its lack of agility.
“The launch of the J-20B means this aircraft now is a formal fifth-generation fighter jet,” the military source said, adding that Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC), which manufactures the J-20s, had received “heavy orders” from the PLA.
CAC set up its fourth production line in 2019, each one with a capacity to make about one J-20 a month.
9 mai 2024 | International, Aérospatial
Flexrotor is a small tactical unmanned aerial system designed for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions at sea and over land.
17 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR, Sécurité
Mark Pomerleau The Air Force has selected the Air National Guard's training and education center at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base in Tennessee to be the focal point for training a cadre of defensive focused cyber teams, according to a news release. These teams, called mission defense teams (MDTs), will protect critical Air Force missions and installations such as critical infrastructure or computers associated with aircraft and remotely piloted systems. The teams are an outgrowth of the service's communications squadrons, which have performed much of the IT and cyber defense at the base or wing level. Now, with the Air Force outsourcing much of its IT management, the service was able to free up personnel and resources to focus on protecting these critical assets. The new crews differ from the cyber protection teams that the Air Force, and other services, provide to U.S. Cyber Command as part of the cyber mission force. At first, 20 students will participate in the mission defense team pilot class in mid-August. If that is successful, it will expand to six 20 student classes in 2021. The ultimate goal is to graduate 1,000 students each year across the service beginning in fiscal year 2023, the Air Force said. These teams will be stationed at 84 locations around the world. “This is an exciting moment for TEC and its future as an agile, innovative, and resilient center of learning for the total Air Force and the National Guard Bureau,” Col. Kenneth Lozano, the commander of the traning and education center, said. The Air Force has taken a “total Air Force approach” to cyber, to include its cyber mission force teams and mission defense teams, meaning, these forces are made up of combined active duty, guard and reserve forces. Prior training efforts for mission defense teams began at the 223rd Cyberspace Operations Squadron at Little Rock Air Force Base with a Cyber-Protect and -Defend course. The first classes were held in August 2019. The Air Force said to date, the schoolhouse has trained 160 airmen. The goal is for the training and education center at McGhee Tyson to assume 1,000 graduates a year, with the majority of training to transition there in 2022. One of the biggest hurdles thus far, is procuring a range for trainees to operate on. The Air Force is working through the Defense Cybercrimes Center to procure a cyber range and certify instructors. The price tag associated with this for the initial 20 students is $1.5 million. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/07/16/air-force-wants-to-expand-training-for-cyber-teams/
3 juin 2021 | International, C4ISR
Les Echos se penchent sur le contexte entourant la création d'Athea, la société commune à Thales et Atos visant à développer une plateforme souveraine associant traitement de données massives et intelligence artificielle pour les secteurs de la défense, du renseignement et de la sécurité intérieure, dont le lancement a été annoncé la semaine dernière dans le cadre du programme technologique de la direction générale de l'armement (DGA). Destinée à développer un logiciel souverain dont les états-majors auront la pleine maîtrise, Athea a vocation à devenir un champion européen de l'analyse de données en grandes quantités (Big Data) pour les armées et le renseignement, capable de rivaliser avec l'américain Palantir. « Nous avons énormément de projets à venir car l'intelligence artificielle permise par l'analyse de grandes quantités de données est de plus en plus utile pour les militaires, que ce soit pour le renseignement, la cybersécurité ou la logistique des forces armées », souligne Marc Darmon, le directeur général adjoint de Thales. « Notre ambition est d'être l'outil qui réponde aux besoins techniques des programmes de défense et de sécurité », précise-t-il. Les Echos du 3 juin