9 décembre 2024 | International, Aérospatial
Safran Defense and Space, Inc. has chosen to set up shop in Parker. It's big news for Colorado, and more specifically for Douglas County.
14 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
The U.S. Army is taking the next year to craft a transformation strategy that builds off a modernization plan the service issued in 2016, according to the service's acquisition executive. The 2016... https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/budget-policy-operations/us-army-starts-work-transformation-strategy
2 juillet 2019 | International, Aérospatial
By PAUL MCLEARY WASHINGTON: As the Marine Corps prepares to wrap up the first deployment of its innovative mobile counter-drone system to the Middle East, the service is rushing ahead to put lasers on a ground vehicle, with an eye to shooting down drones. While the deployed Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System — mounted on two Polaris MRZR all-terrain vehicles — can move quickly and electronically jam drones, the Marines are looking for something a little more...well, kinetic. They hope they've found it in the Compact Laser Weapons System (CLaWS) program. It is the first ground-based laser approved by the Pentagon for use by ground troops. Marine Lt. Col. Ho Lee, product manager for Ground Based Air Defense Weapons Systems, said in a statement that the CLaWS program has been developed, troops trained on it, and its been fielded for testing all in about a year's time, a timeline the Corps is hoping will get the system fielded in a relatively short time period. “We've been doing rapid prototyping, rapid delivery,” Lee said. “With this and a lot of the other efforts we are doing, we are using items currently available and integrating them to meet a capability. Little development, if any, went into this.” Back in 2017, Boeing began developing the system in 2-kW, 5-kW and 10-kW configurations. But it's unclear which version the Marines are testing. The Army has already placed a version of the weapon on a Stryker for testing in Europe, while the Marines last year showed it off on top of a JLTV. The idea is to get the system in the field as part of a larger, integrated air defense system that can protect deployed troops from DIY drones to more sophisticated models built by nation states. Despite the Pentagon's National Defense Strategy which prioritize equipping the force for competition with China and Russia, out in the world, there are still 15,000 US troops in Afghanistan, 5,000 in Iraq and somewhere around 2,000 in Syria, all of whom are in range of small, DIY drones made by insurgent groups or second-tier states. In Syria, Iranian-made drones operated by the Asad regime have dropped small bombs near US troops, and US aircraft have been forced to shoot them down using aircraft that launch expensive missiles, creating a cost imbalance that favors the other side. Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq have also long weaponized small commercial quadcopter drones to drop small munitions on Iraqi troops and US-backed fighters, who have little to no protection against them. The Taliban has filmed attacks on Afghan outposts from a collection of drones, as well. “We will never deploy again to a theater of operations where we are not under threat from unmanned aerial systems,” UK's Maj. Gen. Felix Gedney, former deputy commander of US and coalition troops in Iraq and Syria in 2017-2018 said recently. “Both those high-end systems of our near-peer competitors, and lower, off-the-shelf, botched-together systems that are developed by asymmetric enemies. And we need to get used to that.” https://breakingdefense.com/2019/06/marines-develop-laser-to-fry-drones-from-jltvs/
27 avril 2018 | International, Aérospatial
By: Sebastian Sprenger BERLIN ― Airbus, Dassault and Leonardo have revealed the first full-scale model of an envisioned European drone at the Berlin Air Show, upping the the visibility ― and scrutiny ― of a project meant to epitomize the continent's growing military profile. Thursday's mock-up unveiling was orchestrated with big fanfare on the tarmac of Schönefeld airport south of the German capital. Featuring climactic music, lights and dissipating smoke, the ceremony organizers were lucky enough to catch a momentary break between a hefty mix of rain showers, sunshine and wind gusts, considered typical April weather here. The medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft rides on a twin-turboprop propulsion system and will come in a strike-capable configuration when it reaches the actual flying stage in the mid-2020s. Germany, France, Italy and Spain have a hand in the program, though only the first three are considered the principal main industry partners, with Germany's Airbus in the lead. Notably, companies are building the unmanned plane so it can operate immediately in the dense European airspace. Past practice of first acquiring a drone and later worrying about requisite certifications has proven to be problematic, especially for the Germans. The mock-up is based on a vehicle configuration agreed by the partner nations in mid-2017. In January, the program passed a systems requirements review, prompting another study phase that should last through 2018 and lead to another milestone, a “system preliminary design review,” the companies wrote in a statement. “While still a lot of work lies ahead of us, this full-scale model represents a first milestone of what Europe can achieve in a high-technology sector if it bundles its industrial strength and know-how,” said Dirk Hoke, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space. Hoke told reporters he views the approach to the drone as a learning experience for a new combat aircraft development that is on the horizon between Germany and France. In addition, he told Defense News there is some hope of redemption for problem-plagued projects of the past. For example, the European drone will come in one base configuration for all the countries that users can then move to expand, avoiding too many separate build types that came to haunt the A-400M, Hoke said. “This is a chance to prove that we can work in a different way together,” he said. One of the configurations will entail a strike package, though officials said they had yet to think about the particulars of that mission set. In an apparent nod to Germany, Hoke told Defense News that the combat capability would depend on political sensitivities in each user nations, and that customers can opt to solely install the reconnaissance features. Armed drones are a thorny subject in Germany, as the weapons conjure up images of the U.S. government's targeted killing of suspected terrorists, which many in the country reject. By the time the issue of armaments comes up for the Eurodrone, however, there may already be a resolution. That's because upcoming parliamentary decisions could lead to Germany's first-ever armed drone, the Heron TP, leased through Airbus from Israel. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2018/04/26/companies-unveil-eurodrone-model-at-berlin-air-show/