12 janvier 2023 | International, Aérospatial
More can be done to ban US government use of Chinese drones
The U.S. national security community must eschew companies and supply chains controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
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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18 juillet 2018 | International, C4ISR
Following industry trend, Airbus dives into data
By: Andrew C. Jarocki WASHINGTON — Airbus has created a new advanced data analytics system for the defense market, gathering data from vehicles to better plan maintenance and study mission performance. The firm announced the program, SmartForce, at the 2018 Farnborough Airshow. The program is meant to “enable substantially more efficient maintenance by drilling into the wealth of data acquired by new generation helicopters and aircraft,” according to a company news release. The company added it will “more rapidly perform root-cause analysis and faster trouble shooting.” The use of artificial intelligence to make sense of data has become a growing focus for the defense and intelligence community, as has cloud computing for handling the massive volumes of data. “Our digital analytics services support the goal of enhanced mission readiness of our operators' aircraft," said Stephan Miegel, head of military aircraft services at Airbus Defence and Space, “and they provide predictive solutions which all contribute to reduced workload and costs.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/farnborough/2018/07/17/following-industry-trend-airbus-dives-into-data/
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11 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial
After a hard-fought competition, ULA and SpaceX to remain military’s rocket launch providers
By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — United Launch Alliance and SpaceX have won the Space Force's next-generation rocket contract, locking the two companies in as the Defense Department's launch providers of choice for the foreseeable future. ULA — a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing — was awarded $337 million, while SpaceX will be getting $316 million for phase two of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, the Pentagon announced Aug. 7. They beat out Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman. Phase 2 of the NSSL program is the U.S. military's vehicle for ordering launch services from fiscal year 2022 to 2027. ULA is slated to get 60 percent of the manifest, with SpaceX getting the remainder. “We don't think this is the last round of innovation that we're going to see,” Will Roper, the Air Force's acquisition executive, told reporters during an Aug. 7 roundtable. “Although we're excited for the next five years, we're looking ahead to ‘Phase 3' five years from now and wondering what new leap-ahead, lower-cost technologies might be on the forefront to make assured access to space not just assured, but cheaper.” The award pays for the first three missions in 2022, which include two ULA launches and one for SpaceX. All are classified, Roper said. There is no ceiling on the number of launches that the Pentagon can order in Phase 2, but Roper expects about 32 missions. Funding for those missions will be distributed in future task orders. The NSSL Phase 2 award moves the U.S. military one step closer to eliminating its dependence on the Russian RD-180 engine, which is used in ULA's Atlas V rocket. The Defense Department has until 2022 to stop RD-180 procurement, and Roper said he was confident was on “a low risk path” to ensure it will meet that deadline. For the Phase 2 SpaceX offered the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, which are both certified and in use. ULA proposed a new rocket, the Vulcan Centaur, which is under development and expected to make its maiden flight in 2021. “Vulcan Centaur is the right choice for critical national security space missions and was purpose built to meet all of the requirements of our nation's space launch needs,” said Tory Bruno, ULA's president and CEO, said in a statement. Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman were also in the process of creating new launch systems under a 2018 agreement with the Space and Missile Systems Center. That organization will now work with those companies on how to best halt the government's involvement in that development, Roper said. “We will tie off the [launch service agreement] contracts as soon as we can, at a point that makes sense,” he said. “We want to make sure that work that's in flux, that we're able to document what the vendors have done. Where the government has rights to the data and the work, we want to make sure we retain them.” Unless the companies protest the contract award, the next opportunity for Northrop, Blue Origin or other challengers to compete for national security launches is NSSL Phase 3, but the department's approach and timeline for that effort is still being determined. “If funding were available for a Phase 3 launch service agreement, there's no prohibition on how early we could start Phase 3,” said Roper, who added that studies have shown “some strategic benefits for doing that sooner rather than later.” https://www.defensenews.com/space/2020/08/07/after-a-hard-fought-competition-ula-and-spacex-to-remain-militarys-rocket-launch-providers/