12 avril 2023 | International, Autre défense
What’s in the defense wish lists? Unraveling FY24 unfunded priorities
Given the political drama stemming from the FY24 budget request, it is worth investigating what’s not in the president's submission.
27 décembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR
The Associated Press , Vladimir Isachenkov
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw a test Wednesday of a new hypersonic glide vehicle, declaring that the weapon is impossible to intercept and will ensure Russia's security for decades to come.
Speaking to Russia's top military brass after watching the live feed of the launch of the Avangard vehicle from the Defence Ministry's control room, Putin said the successful test was a “great success” and an “excellent New Year's gift to the nation.”
The test comes amid bitter tensions in Russia-U.S. relations, which have sunk to their lowest level since the Cold War times over the conflict in Ukraine, the war in Syria and the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Putin's hopes for repairing ties with Washington under President Donald Trump have fizzled amid investigations into allegations of Trump's campaign ties with Russia, and tensions have escalated as the U.S. administration slapped Russia with new waves of sanctions.
The Avangard was among the array of new nuclear weapons that Putin presented in March, saying that Russia had to develop them in response to the development of the U.S. missile defence system that could erode Russia's nuclear deterrent.
In Wednesday's test, the weapon was launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Ural Mountains. The Kremlin said it successfully hit a designated practice target on the Kura shooting range on Kamchatka, 6,000 kilometres away.
“The Avangard is invulnerable to intercept by any existing and prospective missile defence means of the potential adversary,” Putin said after the test, adding that the new weapon will enter service next year with the military's Strategic Missile Forces.
When first presenting the Avangard in March, the Russian leader said the new system has an intercontinental range and can fly in the atmosphere at 20 times the speed of sound, bypassing the enemy's missile defence.
He emphasized that no other country currently has hypersonic weapons.
Putin has said that Avangard is designed using new composite materials to withstand temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,632 degrees Fahrenheit) that come from a flight through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
https://nationalpost.com/news/world/russias-putin-oversees-test-of-hypersonic-weapon
12 avril 2023 | International, Autre défense
Given the political drama stemming from the FY24 budget request, it is worth investigating what’s not in the president's submission.
10 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR
B2) Alors que la rentrée va se faire sous l'angle de la défense — que ce soit au niveau européen avec les propositions de Emmanuel Macron ou le discours de l'état de l'Union de Jean-Claude Juncker — et avant les universités d'été de la défense, nous publions une série de papiers issus des Premiers Entretiens de la défense européenne à la Sorbonne que nous avons organisé en juin avec nos amis universitaires et chercheurs. Une panoplie d'acteurs industriels, de chercheurs et d'acteurs institutionnels, réunis autour d'un sujet majeur : dans quelle direction s'oriente l'Europe de la défense, en particulier l'industrie européenne de défense qui a fait l'objet de toutes les attentions des politiques ces derniers mois. Du côté industriel se dégage un certain consensus pour estimer que les dernières nouvelles venues de Bruxelles, avec la création du Fonds européen de défense, sont positives. Pour autant, elles ne peuvent pas solutionner certaines faiblesses notables. Pour Carole Ferrand, de la direction générale de l'armement DGA, créer une base industrielle et technique de défense européenne (BITDE) suppose une autonomie industrielle, c'est-à-dire sans pays tiers. Oui, mais elle doit être composée de champions forts à l'export, et pas seulement sur le marché européen, qui est trop petit pour avoir exister et innover, précise Olivier Martin de MBDA. Attention à bien définir les modalités du Fonds, relate Stéphane Abrial, de SAFRAN. Les acteurs institutionnels, eux, s'accordent sur un point en particulier : c'est à l'industrie de faire un pas en avant et lancer des projets rapidement, au moyen du Fonds européen de défense, comme l'ont martelé Pierre Delsaux, directeur général adjoint, et Anne Fort, chef d'unité adjoint, à la DG GROW à la Commission européenne, ainsi que Jean-Youri Martin, directeur adjoint de l'Agence européenne de défense. Quel chemin parcouru, a précisé Françoise Grossetête, eurodéputée, qui nous a fait part de son expérience de rapporteure du programme de développement industriel de défense, détaillant les circonstances, finalement favorables, qui a amené une majorité assez large, plutôt inédite quand on parle d'intégration européenne, des conservateurs aux sociaux-démocrates, pour approuver ce nouveau programme. Enfin nous avons pu avoir un portrait sans concession de la future coopération structurée permanente (PESCO) par F. Mauro ou de la situation des budgets européens de défense avec F. Coulomb. A noter sur vos agendas : Les seconds entretiens de la défense européenne auront lieu au printemps 2019, juste avant les élections européennes. Nous vous tiendrons informés sur ce site, comme sur celui des Entretiens. (Nicolas Gros-Verheyde avec Aurélie Pugnet, st.) https://www.bruxelles2.eu/2018/09/09/les-premiers-entretiens-de-leurope-de-la-defense-a-pantheon-sorbonne/
14 novembre 2018 | International, C4ISR
BY DAVE GERSHGORN The Pentagon's AI shopping list is similar to a Silicon Valley company's: fast data organization, predictive maintenance, and mitigation for threats. While Silicon Valley workers continue to protest their employers selling artificial intelligence products to the US military, the US military is still looking to spend money on AI. The Army Research Lab, the Project Maven team, and the USDepartment of Defense's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center will host technology companies later this month in Maryland, where the government will view private demonstrations. According to federal contracting data (free login required for the full list), large tech companies such as Intel, IBM, GE, Oracle, as well as defense company Raytheon, have expressed interest in showing off their AI for the military. Absent from the list are AI giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, though the DoD has not responded to an inquiry as to whether the available contracting data is the complete list of attending organizations. The DoD's needs aren't too different from those of a Silicon Valley tech company, though the technology is unlikely to be used in a food delivery app or search engine. The military is looking for help organizing and standardizing its data, tools to create AIalgorithms, and infrastructure to test and deploy those algorithms. Some of the military's uses are similar to commercial applications for AI, like predictive maintenance and translation, though other use cases include analyzing drone footage and “force protection,” which means mitigating potential threats to the military. Project Maven, in particular, is focused on tech that autonomously extracts information from still or moving imagery. Smaller, more specialized tech firms from outside of Silicon Valley are also vying for government contracts. Descartes Labs, which uses artificial intelligence to analyze satellite imagery, is planning to attend the industry day and give a demo. Descartes Labs' government programs director, Steven Truitt, tells Quartz the company plans to discuss a super-computing platform for the intelligence community and “defense information awareness missions.” A competitor, Orbital Insight, has also indicated interest in the event. Of the 42 businesses interested in attending the event, six are owned by veterans, according to the contracting documents. John Merrihew, VP government solutions at AI contractor Veloxiti, says his military experience puts him in a different category of tech company than Silicon Valley. “I'm an Army retiree after 24 years and a half-dozen combat tours, so I have an obligation to [provide this technology],” Merrihew told Quartz. “I'm not a guy out on the west coast who's made a lot of money like Google. All of my engineers have security clearances, so we're pretty bought in on trying to help the military in this area.” https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/11/tech-companies-are-eager-sell-ai-pentagon/152800/