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  28 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  What the Pentagon should (and should not) get in the next stimulus bill

  By: Mackenzie Eaglen As Washington begins to draft another stimulus spending bill to combat coronavirus, the Pentagon needs a new plan to articulate its needs to lawmakers. Simply submitting unfunded lists whole cloth comes across as tone deaf and opportunistic. A better plan would be to focus on the health, safety and continuity of all the Pentagon's workforce: uniformed, civilian and contractor. Capitol Hill is (virtually) busy as ever these days, completing another injection of funds into the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act last week. Congress and the White House will now begin formulating a phase 4 bill. President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have indicated they would both like to see domestic infrastructure spending inside. Negotiations are just beginning, but this bill will open the spending aperture compared to the CARES Act. For national defense, this legislation must focus on taking care of people and protecting jobs. Even as the U.S. military mobilizes to support the fight against COVID-19, the disease is hitting the Defense Department and its workforce much the same as the rest of America. The first order of business is for the Pentagon to ensure health and wellness for service members, their families, civilians and contractors by encouraging safe and flexible work policies. The Pentagon will need additional funding to pay for COVID-19 support deployments, mitigate the effects of stop-movement orders, increase the availability of personal protective equipment and sanitation, and expand its IT infrastructure for telework. Second, Congress and the Pentagon should provide financial assistance to the thousands of small businesses, subcontractors and suppliers to defense contractors building weapons, conducting maintenance or developing classified software. The defense-industrial base is built for maximum efficiency, not resiliency. Even seemingly minor production pauses of weeks are combining with broader quarantine restrictions to wreak havoc on program schedules. While the Pentagon has many tools at its disposal — accelerating awards and progress payments as well as lifting contracting restrictions — the acquisition team simply cannot respond to this crisis without more resources available. Absent additional liquidity, contractors face the impossible choice between letting workers go or facing the reality that they will have no jobs to return to. Small businesses and subcontractors are particularly vulnerable, as they have far less slack to respond to crises. Many live contract to contract, as indicated by a 2018 Department of Defense report on industrial base fragility. These small firms providing needed materials, labor and technology to companies designated as “essential” are struggling with COVID like everyone else. Their employees are either afraid to come to work out of fear of contraction and contagion, or they're sick with the virus. The vicious cycle — where people want to work but can't — means schedules slip. If there is no work, there is no revenue, which means layoffs. Already around the country, a major defense contractor had to shut down two plants; a shipbuilder is struggling to get employees to show up; another defense firm has laid off employees; and still others can't get to work because classified spaces are off limits. To ensure workforces remain intact, lawmakers need to move quickly to pay contractors who cannot work because of COVID-19 effects, as delays are now averaging three months. Fixing this is as simple as measuring the impact of COVID-19 on contracts and ensuring a reasonable payment for that delay, which will be billions of dollars, according to acquisition czar Ellen Lord. It's no different than legal remedies for “acts of God.” Also, the DoD can consider a subset of its unfunded priorities list to get projects on contract that are executable very quickly and inject liquidity into the defense contractor workforce. These unfunded priorities run the gamut, from weapons production to software development. Similarly, there are always “incremental” projects that can be accelerated, like facilities sustainment and depot maintenance. Using unfunded priorities to inject liquidity into the defense-industrial base isn't the ideal tool, but all options must be brought to bear to deal with this crisis. The majority of defense dollars allocated to the big prime contractors go back out the door to their suppliers and vendors — many of which are small businesses. While many of the easiest financial levers to pull involve getting contracts to primes, Congress and the Pentagon need to emphasize that this money — whether it be new contracts, accelerated contracts or increased progress payments — must be passed on to major suppliers and subcontractors. If the behemoths of defense industry don't share the wealth and take care of their supply chain, there won't be more money, contracts or authority for additional progress payments from Congress. Contractor leadership must take care of workers — including those of its vendors. Lastly, Congress can provide Defense Production Act Title III funding to directly target injections of cash to the emergent needs of small businesses and subcontractors, including many up-and-coming innovative firms and single-source suppliers. So far, DPA funding has been focused on contracting for additional personal protective equipment, but the DPA was equally built to protect the defense-industrial base. The industrial base was already hurt by the Budget Control Act, and it's been busy rebuilding under Trump, only to get whacked again by COVID-19. Employees need to know the work is there, their safety is a priority and their jobs are safe. If the Pentagon and primes don't take care of their suppliers and subcontractors, the defense-industrial base will contract again, losing crucial skills and talents permanently — and possibly seeing those companies bought up by China. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/04/27/what-the-pentagon-should-and-should-not-get-in-the-next-stimulus-bill/

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  29 octobre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  European Missile Research Paves Way For Collaborative Weaponry

  By Tony Osborne Future conflicts will require weapons that can adapt to different target sets and collaborate to hit harder. As several European nations gear up to begin the development of advanced new combat aircraft, such as the Franco/German/Spanish Future Combat Air System and the British-led Tempest project, and invest in long-range ground-based weaponry, European missile manufacturer MBDA has begun focusing its research programs on delivering these advanced capabilities. The Anglo-French Materials and Components for Missiles Innovation and Technology Partnership (MCM-ITP), led by MBDA and sponsored by the French and UK defense ministries to the tune of €13 million ($14.5 million) a year, has been developing technologies over the last 11 years to help increase the performance and lower the cost of MBDA's British and French weapons. Small to midsize enterprises (SME) and academia have participated in the program, validating technologies with more than 200 projects in eight research domains ranging from rocket propulsion to seekers and fusing, developing them up to a technology readiness level (TRL) of 4. The research program has assisted in development of the French Mica NG air-to-air missile, supporting a small active, electronically scanned array radar module for the seeker of the radar-guided version, while the Spear 3, a network-enabled guided missile being developed in the UK will use a wire-free architecture. In addition, as the Spear 3 family of weapons broadens in the future, it will use an adaptive control system. The ITP is beginning to look at technologies that can speed up the engagement chain, adapt warheads for different kinds of targets and even develop lower-cost air-breathing engines for new families of so-called remote carriers—the attritable unmanned air systems that will support future combat aircraft into theater. “We know that collaborative weapons would be a big advantage to defeat air defenses, but how we do that has not yet been quantified,” says Olivier Lucas, MBDA's director of Future Systems, speaking to Aviation Week at the MCM-ITP Conference in Birmingham, England, on Oct. 15. “We need to demonstrate the benefits you can get from these networked weapons through operational analysis,” he adds. To make collaborative weapons work, Lucas says there will need to be developments in low-cost data links to connect them, and then algorithms that can take advantage of the cooperation and ensure all these systems can still work together in environments where navigation and communication signals could be degraded. Industry has already proved it can make UAVs collaborate and swarm in formations, but as Lucas points out, this is usually done with the aid of satellite-based global positioning systems. The military is unlikely to enjoy such a luxury in a high-end conflict. All four global navigation satellite systems (GNSS)—the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), Europe's Galileo, Russia's Glonass and China's BeiDou—work around similar frequencies and could be easily jammed. Weapons such as cruise missiles can already operate without GNSS by relying on inertial navigation systems (INS), or if flying over land they can recognize landscapes based on internal terrain databases. But what if a considerable part of their flight is over water, where there are no landmarks? As part of the MCM-ITP, a team from MBDA, Airbus Defense and Space and French aerospace research agency ONERA have developed a means of correcting INS drift using satellite communication signals. The Resilient and Autonomous Satcom Navigation (Reason) system gives the weapon an alternative measurement signal. Many military communication satellites already have the capability of geolocating interference. Using the signals to provide navigation updates employs a reverse of that process, say engineers. They have already proved the theory by linking an INS fitted to a 4 X 4 vehicle that took signals from two of the UK's SkyNet communication satellites and compared the INS track with that of GPS, noting small deviations from course. The team believes the Reason technology will be valuable for future generations of long-range cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles such as the Anglo-French Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon, currently in a concept phase. Another MCM-ITP project is looking at using artificial intelligence (AI) and a process called deep reinforcement, learning to better understand the levels of autonomy that might be needed in the engagement chain. The Human Machine Teaming (HUMAT) project considers the growing complexity and capability of modern missiles and the increasing amounts of data being collected by multilayered intelligence systems. It recognizes that human operators may need to be supported in their analysis and prioritization of threats by artificial intelligence. The two year-long program, started in November 2017, has studied different elements of the engagement chain, as well as the ethical, legal and technological constraints, with the aim of creating “robust engagement decision-making,” and “effective transfer of task responsibilities between the human operator and the machine.” The HUMAT system has benefits for the weapon command-and-control systems, particularly air-to-surface attack, but also multilayered air defense systems, say MBDA engineers. “We have to understand the information we will share with the weapons, what will be split, what is planned and what decisions are left to the group of weapons,” says Lucas. “This process has to be tuned, you can either program the trajectory of each weapon or tell the weapons: ‘Here are your targets, now do your best,'” he says. Collaborative weapons will also need to feature additional low-cost sensors to help them make their targeting decisions, including those that understand radar signal and resolution, so that the most appropriate weapon can be selected to hit a particular target successfully. Mission planning is also being addressed. MBDA engineers and academics from Queen Mary University of London have been exploring the use of deep-learning techniques to speed up the targeting process for weapons such as cruise missiles. Current air-launched cruise missiles such as MBDA's Storm Shadow/SCALP family use an imaging infrared sensor and autonomous target recognition system in the terminal phase of flight. But to recognize the target, a 3D model needs to be developed as part of the mission planning process. This process can be laborious and time-consuming, so engineers have been studying ways to create the models using satellite imagery. Using deep-learning techniques, the system has been fed thousands of daylight and infrared satellite images taken in different conditions at different times of the day. The Fast Targeting algorithms have learned how to match images with the target area despite various geometric and radiometric distortions, allowing a 3D model of the target to be built much faster. The idea is to make such weapons much more flexible and pave the way for them to be used against time-sensitive targets. Lucas says such technologies will help address the issues associated with combat mass, dealing with the challenge of fewer platforms, so the same weapons will have to be adaptable for different missions and targets. “In recent conflicts in Libya and Syria, weapons could not be used to their full effectiveness, because they were too powerful, and there was a risk of collateral damage,” says Lucas. Operators will be able to program future weapons to scale the warhead's effects up or down to deal with different targets and environments, he suggests. Other projects in the MCM-ITP are developing lethality models for different types of targets, including aircraft, ships and structures. Replacing metal parts in warheads with reactive materials could result in more efficient and increased lethality, and if combined with additive manufacturing techniques warhead costs could also be reduced, say engineers. Additive manufacturing processes could lead to new designs for penetrator warheads in particular. Engineers from MBDA and SMEs Impetus Afea and Fluid Gravity Engineering have developed a 3D penetrator warhead case with a smaller mass than the thick casings usually produced through casting. Using the 3D-printed case means less energy is lost during warhead detonation than with the older cast penetrator. Testing has proved the 3D-printed casing can match the survivability of the thicker casing, and reduced collateral effects can also be achieved, MBDA says. The company is now looking to evolve the MCM-ITP to deal with new technologies that may cut across the eight domains of research, with the addition of a new ninth, open-challenge domain that will be more flexible for future program needs. A name change is also in the offing, with MCM-ITP being renamed the Complex Weapons Innovation and Technology Partnership (CW-ITP) from early next year. https://aviationweek.com/defense/european-missile-research-paves-way-collaborative-weaponry

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  15 janvier 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Lockheed, Boeing enter Germany’s heavy transport helicopter race

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky and Boeing have submitted their proposals for the German military's envisioned heavy transport helicopter program, the companies announced. Sikorsky is offering a version of the CH-53K designed for the U.S. Marine Corps, while Boeing is pitching the H-47 Chinook. The offers, due on Jan. 13, come in response to a request for proposals published by the Bundeswehr last summer. Government officials will spend the greater part of 2020 analyzing the submissions, with a second and final request for offers pegged for the end the year. The multibillion-dollar STH program, short for Schwerer Transporthubschrauber, is meant to replace the German fleet of decades-old CH-53G copters. Deliveries from the winning bidder are slated to begin in 2024 and last through the early 2030s — that is if the program receives budgetary support from the government and lawmakers when the time comes for a contract next year. Both companies have assembled a group of German suppliers that would oversee areas such as maintenance, simulators and documentation in an effort to maximize domestic industry participation. The Bundeswehr initially wanted a no-frills, off-the-shelf cargo helicopter that would be easy on the defense budget. Notably, the Germans also want to use the STH choppers for combat search-and-rescue operations, with plans to raise that mission profile throughout the Air Force's ranks. But last year's solicitation came with an unexpected level of complexity, Frank Crisafulli, Sikorsky's director of international business development for heavy helicopters, told reporters during a company presentation in Bonn, Germany, on Monday. “Folks were caught by surprise,” he said. The added complications are due, for example, to the Bundeswehr's goal of having the helicopters certified in accordance with European civilian aviation regulations. In addition, German officials want a weather radar better than the one offered in the Marine Corps version of the CH-53K, plus a multilayered radio communications setup," Crisafulli said. As envisioned, the STH program would plunge the German military into a model of contractor-driven support popularized by the U.S. Defense Department under the moniker of performance-based logistics, or PBL. The idea is that the government can save money by dictating to contractors what level of readiness it wants for its hardware, and then letting vendors figure out how to meet those objectives within a given budget. Pentagon auditors previously affirmed the basic premise of performance-based logistics, with one key caveat: The government must have enough insight and clout in the programs to be able to set sensible performance benchmarks at rates favorable to taxpayers. According to Mike Schmidt, CEO of Rheinmetall Aviation Services, one of Sikorsky's key local partners, the concept is relatively new for Germany. At an STH industry day in 2018, “nobody knew what PBL was,” he said. At stake for the contractors is a 40-year relationship with Germany over the life cycle of the program. Boeing has portrayed its Chinook offering as a low-risk and low-cost option because more than 950 of the aircraft are already used by 20 countries. Sikorsky has played up the aerial-refueling capabilities of the CH-53K, especially in conjunction with the Lockheed Martin-made KC-130J tanker, to increase range. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/01/14/lockheed-boeing-enter-germanys-heavy-transport-helicopter-race/