Defense firm Lockheed forecasts dour 2024 profit on supply chain woes

Sur le même sujet

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  5 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  DoD Stands Up New Biotech Manufacturing Center: Griffin

  WASHINGTON: DoD is opening a new manufacturing innovation center dedicated to biotechnology to figure out how to replicate “nature's manufacturing plant” on an industrial scale, Pentagon research and engineering head Mike Griffin says. This is “a key new initiative,” Griffin stressed. The idea, he said at the annual McAleese conference, is “to learn how to do in an industrial way what nature has done for us in so many areas of things that we harvest and mine and use ... now that we are beginning to learn how to manipulate genomes.” Such technology could lead to DoD creating its own fuel using synthetic biology methods, for example. This would be a leap beyond ongoing efforts by DARPA that Sydney has widely reported, designed to protect soldiers against an enemy's biotech weapons. “This is a nascent technical area in the world, and especially in the United States,” Griffin told the audience here. “We want the national security community to be out in front on this.” The new center will be the ninth so-called ManTech center, designed to help overcome the so-called ‘valley of death' between research and commercialization by reducing risks. It will be the second ManTech center with a biotech focus: The first, BioFabUSA in New Hampshire, opened in 2016 to develop next-generation manufacturing techniques for repairing and replacing cells and tissues, which for example could lead to the ability to make new skin for wounded soldiers. Griffin elaborated on several other key areas for his two-year old office. DARPA is investing $459 million in the 2021 budget for AI Next, a “campaign” aimed at automating critical DoD business processes; improving the reliability of Artificial Intelligence systems; and enhancing the security of AI and machine learning tech. Griffin said his office is also “working with the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) under the CIO to bring about what we're calling AI Now: what can we do with AI that can get into the field and bring value to the national security community today, and the next day.” On 5G newtorks, he said that his deputy Lisa Porter is in charge of efforts to “figure out how we can use 5G to press our military advantage” and to protect US military networks. DoD launched that effort in 2019, with a $53 million reprogramming, he said. Congress added $200 million in the 2020 appropriations act, he added, and DoD is asking for $484 million in the 2021 budget. A key to future 5G networks and communications will be spectrum sharing, Griffin stressed. “There is no green field spectrum left,” he said, so DoD will have to figure out how to share spectrum to keep up with both its own demand and deal with pressure from commercial industry for it to give up spectrum. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/03/dod-stands-up-new-biotech-manufacturing-center-griffin

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  13 septembre 2022 | International, Aérospatial

  California company promises free crash-avoidance tool for spacecraft

  Using the free tool, satellite operators can visualize objects on orbit, evaluate the risk of collision and coordinate on their decision path.

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  13 septembre 2018 | International, Terrestre

  Estonia eyes mid-range air defense systems to rectify NATO ‘oversight’

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — Estonia's military is prioritizing the purchase of a midrange air defense system as the country seeks to plug a capability gap its defense minister called the result of a “total oversight” by NATO. During a Washington trip to attend Sen. John McCain's funeral, Estonian Defence Minister Jüri Luik told Defense News that NATO made a strategic mistake in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union by not building up air defense capabilities, outside of rotational deployments of aircraft. “For a long time, there was no consideration that you would actively have to close the airspace at some point. So NATO countries have very weak air defense capabilities,” Luik said. “I think this is one of the priority systems, or priority areas, which every [one of the allied] countries should develop.” “I have to say with sadness that very few NATO countries actually have proper air defense capabilities. That is one of the areas which was gravely mismanaged, or was not under any attention,” he added. “I think that was a total oversight. But, of course, it was based on the idea that the era of big power tensions is over.” Luik hopes to put Estonia's money where his mouth is. The country in June signed an agreementwith MBDA to purchase more Mistral short-range air defense weapons, but has its eyes on adding another layer of protection. The country is looking at procuring a medium-range air defense system, similar to the Kongsberg network-centric air defence system, or NASAMS, purchased by Lithuania, which is also in use by Finland. While not declaring Estonia would also go after NASAMS, Luik acknowledged that regional air defense systems “should be as close as possible coordinated” with neighborhood countries. However, such a system is “the only step which is even theoretically available to our country with our defense spending,” Luik said, even if the upcoming March elections lead to a government willing to increase defense spending to about 2.5 percent of gross domestic product. (At the worst, Luik predicts, defense spending would remain flat.) Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/09/12/estonia-eyes-mid-range-air-defense-systems-to-rectify-nato-oversight