Defense Innovation Unit partners with Orbital Insight to take on satellite spoofing

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  14 mars 2019 | International, Terrestre

  DARPA Seeks Tools to Capture Underground Worlds in 3D

  DARPA is seeking information on state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies for advanced mapping and surveying in support of the agency's Subterranean (SubT) Challenge. Georeferenced data – geographic coordinates tied to a map or image – could significantly improve the speed and accuracy of warfighters in time-sensitive active combat operations and disaster-related missions in the subterranean domain. Today, the majority of the underground environments are uncharted or inadequately mapped, including human-made tunnels, underground infrastructure, and natural cave networks. Through the Request for Information, DARPA is looking for innovative technologies to collect highly accurate and reproducible ground-truth data for subterranean environments, which would potentially disrupt and positively leverage the subterranean domain without prohibitive cost and with less risk to human lives. These innovative technologies will allow for exploring and exploiting these dark and dirty environments that are too dangerous to deploy humans. “What makes subterranean areas challenging for precision mapping and surveying – such as lack of GPS, constrained passages, dark or dust-filled air – is similar to what inhibits safe and speedy underground operations for our warfighters,” said Timothy Chung, program manager in DARPA's Tactical Technology Office (TTO). “Building an accurate three-dimensional picture is a key enabler to rapidly and remotely exploring and searching subterranean spaces.” DARPA is looking for commercial products, software, and services available to enable high-fidelity, 3D mapping and surveying of underground environments. Of interest are available technologies that offer high accuracy and high resolution, with the ability to provide precise and reproducible survey points without reliance on substantial infrastructure (e.g., access to global fixes underground). Additionally, relevant software should also allow for generated data products to be easily manipulated, annotated, and rendered into 3D mesh objects for importing into simulation and game engine environments. DARPA may select proposers to demonstrate their technologies or methods to determine feasibility of capabilities for potential use in the SubT Challenge in generating and sharing 3D datasets of underground environments. Such accurately georeferenced data may aid in scoring the SubT competitors' performance in identifying and reporting the location of artifacts placed within the course. In addition, renderings from these data may provide DARPA with additional visualization assets to showcase competition activities in real-time and/or post-production. Instructions for submissions, as well as full RFI details, are available on the Federal Business Opportunities website: https://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/DARPA/CMO/DARPA-SN-19-21/listing.html. Submissions are due at 1:00 p.m. EDT April 15, 2019. Please email questions to SubTChallenge@darpa.mil. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-03-07

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  7 décembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  L’industriel français Dassault dans le premier cercle des vendeurs d’armes

  Le classement mondial des industriels de l'armement, publié lundi, est trusté par des groupes américains. Par Isabelle Chaperon Publié aujourd'hui à 00h00, mis à jour à 07h39 En tête, rien ne bouge. Cinq groupes américains – Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics – dominent le classement mondial des industriels de l'armement, publié lundi 7 décembre par l'Institut international de recherche sur la paix de Stockholm (Sipri). Ce palmarès a été établi à partir des données de 2019, année où les ventes d'armes et autres équipements militaires des 25 premiers acteurs du secteur ont atteint 361 milliards de dollars (298 milliards d'euros), soit 8,5 % de plus que le top 25 en 2018. Derrière les leaders, la hiérarchie évolue. D'abord parce que, pour la première fois, le Sipri a inclus des fabricants chinois. Quatre d'entre eux, dont Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), apparaissent ainsi parmi les vingt-cinq groupes mondiaux de l'armement sachant que d'autres entreprises chinoises auraient pu y figurer « mais les informations étaient insuffisantes », précise le Sipri. En un an, les ventes de Dassault Aviation ont augmenté de 105 % Ces quatre représentants de l'Empire du Milieu raflent 16 % des ventes du club des 25 leaders mondiaux et forment le deuxième bataillon national derrière les douze fleurons de l'armada américaine et leur 61 % de part de marché. Ensemble, les six Européens de l'Ouest (BAE Systems, Leonardo, Airbus, Thales, Dassault, Rolls Royce) comptent pour 18 %. Les deux Russes (Almaz-Antey, United Shipbuilding Corp) pour 3,9 %. A noter la création de EDGE, un acteur des Emirats arabes unis né en 2019 de la fusion de vingt-cinq entreprises locales, qui se place au 22e rang. Du côté des industriels français, « une forte hausse des livraisons de l'avion de combat Rafale a propulsé Dassault Aviation dans le top 25 pour la première fois », souligne Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, directrice du programme armes et équipements militaires au Sipri. En un an, les ventes de l'avionneur tricolore ont augmenté de 105 %, soit la croissance la plus élevée en pourcentage dans le secteur. En parallèle, Naval Group qui figurait en 2018 au vingt et unième rang a perdu sa place dans le club. Airbus arrive à la 13e place (10e en 2018) et Thales à la 14e (13e). https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2020/12/07/dassault-dans-le-premier-cercle-des-vendeurs-d-armes_6062420_3234.html

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  13 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre

  Army validates design for future helicopter engine, remains on track despite COVID

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army has validated its design for its future helicopter engine, and the program remains on schedule to deliver the first engine for testing in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, according to service officials in charge of the effort. The Improved Engine Turbine Program (ITEP) has seen a long — and often delayed — journey as the service wrestled with funding and development strategies for several years. ITEP will replace current engines in both UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters Since awarding a contract to General Electric Aviation in February 2019, the program has pushed forward on schedule, despite a protest from a competing team comprised of Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney, which paused work for roughly three months. And, while the Coronavirus pandemic caused some anxiety among Army officials trying to keep the program on track, those in charge were able to complete the critical design review, conducted 100 percent virtually, according to Army spokesman David Hylton. The ITEP Critical Design Review (CDR) was a multi-month process that consisted of three phases, Hylton told Defense News in a written statement. The engine control system component CDR was completed on June 5, followed by the software CDR on July 17 and the engine systems CDR on July 24, he said. The Army and GE are making “tremendous efforts to keep COVID-19 impacts from delaying the program,” Hylton wrote. GE is now working toward a test readiness review ahead of the first engine test. “We are full steam ahead in terms of understanding where we need to go next with respect to the design, Col. Gregory Fortier, who is in charge of the program office for the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, said during a media briefing last month. The Army has “no reason to believe we will not fly” in fiscal 2023, he said. According to FY21 Army budget request justification documents, the service plans to fly an aircraft with an ITEP engine installed in the first quarter of FY23 followed by a low-rate initial production decision in the fourth quarter of FY24. A full-rate production decision is expected in FY26. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/08/12/army-validates-design-for-future-helicopter-engine-remains-on-track-despite-covid/