12 février 2024 | International, Terrestre
RTX to supply 600 Coyote drone interceptors to Army
The $75 million deal for the interceptors was made "in direct support to the U.S. counter-unmanned aircraft systems mission," according to the service.
29 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
COVID-19 Alters DOD View Of Supply Chain
Lee Hudson
The spread of the novel coronavirus has changed the way the Defense Department views its supply chain and the military is beginning to understand where the industrial base is “hyper efficient but very brittle,” according to the U.S. Navy acquisition executive.
The Pentagon is discovering there are components made by either a single supplier or an overseas supplier that is impacted by COVID-19, Hondo Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, told reporters April 28.
Geurts said the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing the Pentagon to dig deeper into understanding various supply chain elements. This allows the military to begin making deliberate choices in where it needs additional “resilience” or “flexibility, he said.
“We meet now weekly at the department level to have a look through industrial base concerns, issues, hot spots or strategic challenges,” Geurts said. “That's one of the areas that I view, when we come out of this, that needs to be a normal course of business.”
The Pentagon identified Mexico and India as countries where the defense industrial base is being hit hard by supplier closures, Ellen Lord, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters April 20.
Geurts said it is not that other nations do not deem defense work as essential, but they are facing different circumstances with the novel coronavirus. His team is looking at various programs where there are overseas supply chains and understanding how they are operating or not during this time.
The Navy not only has many contracts with suppliers in Mexico, but also in Italy and Spain.
“We're just keeping an eye on it,” Geurts said. “We have flexibility and may have programs that rephase elements of construction or use stock we have on hand.”
Separately, since commercial aviation is being hard hit by COVID-19, the Pentagon is specifically focusing on propulsion contractors to put in orders during this time by rephasing work.
For example, the military did not intend to purchase an engine until three months from now, but because of the global pandemic will submit an order early.
“There'll be a natural limitation of funding, so we can't do that infinitely, but we're looking to leverage all the different tool sets we have,” Geurts said.
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/supply-chain/covid-19-alters-dod-view-supply-chain
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9 avril 2018 | International, C4ISR
Here’s what the Army wants in future radios
By: Mark Pomerleau Advancements in electronics and tactics by high-end adversaries are forcing the Army to change the way it revamps and optimizes its communications network against current and future threats. The problem: adversaries have become more proficient and precise in the sensing and jamming of signals. “What we're looking for in terms of resilience in the future is not only making individual links more anti-jam and resilient, resistant to threats, but also having the ability to use multiple paths if one goes down,” Joe Welch, chief engineer at Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications Tactical (C3T), told reporters during a network demo at Fort Myer in early March. “Your phones work this way between 4G and Wi-Fi and that's seamless to you. That's kind of the target of what we're intending to provide with next-generation transport for the Army's tactical network.” Members of industry are now looking to develop radios to these specifications outlined by the Army. “We have an extensive library of waveforms — 51, 52 waveforms that we can bring to bear — that we can say look we can use this waveform to give you more resilience with this capability,” Jeff Kroon, director of product management at Harris, told C4ISRNET during an interview at the AUSA Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, in March. “Down the road, we need to talk about resilience and what's going on with the near-peer threats.” Next-generation systems, leaders believe, will be able to provide this necessary flexibility. “The radios that we're looking at buying now — the manpack and the two-channel leader radios — have shown themselves to be able to run a pretty wide range of waveforms and we think it postures us to run some changes to those waveforms in the future as we look at even more advanced waveforms,” Maj. Gen. David Bassett, program executive officer of C3T, told reporters at Fort Myer. While jammers have become more powerful and targeted in recent years, officials contend the entire spectrum can't be interrupted at once. The Army realizes links won't be jam-proof, Bassett told reporters at Fort Myer, so it is looking at how they can be either more jam-resistant or able to switch seamlessly across portions of the spectrum that are not being jammed. Kroon noted that one of the big developments within the radio community down the road will be radios that seamlessly switch frequencies or waveforms without direct user input. “I think, as we move forward, we'll start to have more cognitive capabilities that will allow [the radio] to adapt automatically, and keep the user focused on their own job and let the radio handle the rest,” he said. In addition to multiwaveform and a large range of spectrum coverage, Kroon said the Army is also really looking for multifunction capabilities within radios. Radios also have to have passive sensing capabilities to be able to understand the signals in the environment and provide some level of situational awareness of the spectrum environment. “They have to have visibility into what's going on around them ... not just for [electronic warfare] purposes but sometime just knowing what's going on in the spectrum around you as a planner is really important,” Kroon said. “What's actually going on out there, I don't know I was told this frequency was clear, how do I really know. Having a radio come back and say look what we hit ... it is actually very useful.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/show-reporter/global-force-symposium/2018/04/06/heres-what-the-army-wants-in-future-radios/
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4 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial
Boeing completes NATO AWACS upgrades
In December, Boeing delivered the final Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft modernized with avionics and a digital cockpit to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Manching, Germany. This delivery is the final of 14 and ensures NATO AWACS compliance with current and future air traffic control and navigation requirements. Upgrades include five full-colour digital displays in each aircraft, replacing 1970's-era dials, and provides crew members with customizable engine, navigation and radar data. These digital capabilities also allow NATO to consolidate crew responsibilities. “The Communication Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) modernization project enables the NATO E-3A fleet to meet current and foreseen European air traffic management requirements,” said BrigGen Mike Hain, general manager, NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Programme Management Agency. The first modernized NATO AWACS plane was modified at Boeing facilities in Seattle and delivered to NATO in November 2016. The remaining 13 aircraft underwent modernization work in Manching, Germany. “We are delighted to deliver this final upgraded AWACS to NATO and honored by their continued partnership,” said Scott Johnson, Boeing's CNS/ATM manager. “The modernized AWACS equipment provides real cost savings and efficiency so NATO can execute their vital mission for years to come.” NATO's AWACS fleet is the alliance's first integrated, multinational flying unit, providing rapid deployment, airborne surveillance and command and control for NATO operations. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/boeing-completes-nato-awacs-upgrades