F-35 Proposal Submitted To Swiss Government

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  31 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  US Air Force eyes KC-46A aerial refuelling boom redesign

  Pat Host, Everett, Washington - Jane's Defence Weekly Key Points The US Air Force is planning to redesign the KC-46A boom to better accommodate lighter aircraft The USAF agreed to pay for this upgrade as Boeing met its international standard The US Air Force (USAF) will redesign the problematic boom on the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus aerial refuelling tanker to better accommodate lighter aircraft such as the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II. USAF Secretary Heather Wilson said on 24 January that the boom does not disconnect as well from lighter aircraft as it does with heavier aircraft. The service has identified an actuator fix that will make the boom a little more sensitive, and she believes it is likely that the A-10 is the only aircraft affected by this issue. The A-10 is a lighter aircraft compared with some of the USAF's other aircraft such as transports, bombers, and even other tactical combat aircraft. The Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules weighs 34,686 kg empty and the A-10 weighs 9,183 kg empty, while the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) weighs 13,290 kg empty. At Boeing's KC-46A first delivery ceremony, Wilson said that the USAF is paying for the boom redesign as it meets the international standard that the service gave to Boeing. In the deal reached in mid-January over the first delivery, the USAF agreed to pay for the boom fix while Boeing would pay for upgrading the remote vision system (RVS). Boeing is planning both hardware and software fixes to the RVS to allow it to automatically adjust and operate effectively in both the sun's glare and in shadow. Wilson also said that this boom redesign will be the first programme change in the history of the KC-46A. https://www.janes.com/article/86037/us-air-force-eyes-kc-46a-aerial-refuelling-boom-redesign

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  18 juin 2020 | International, Terrestre

  Army Reassures Anxious Industry Over Stryker Cannon Competition

  While at least two of six competitors have dropped out, the Army says it will still have plenty of 30mm turret options to choose from as it starts testing this fall. By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.on June 17, 2020 at 2:43 PM WASHINGTON: “This is a healthy competition,” the head of the Army Stryker program, Col. Bill Venable, reassured reporters. “My No. 1 mandate as the overall program manager was to protect the competition in this first phase.” Venable was allaying anxieties yesterday about the five-year-old effort to upgun the infantry transport version of the Stryker, an 8×8 armored vehicle that's become an Army workhorse worldwide since its controversial introduction in 2003. The wheeled Stryker was criticized for having lighter armor than the tracked M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley, although it's far better protected than Humvees. It often struggled over Afghan terrain. But its ability to move rapidly by road – with fewer stops for gas and maintenance than heavy armored vehicles – made it a favorite of US commanders from Iraq to Estonia. So, while overshadowed by high-tech prototypes from hypersonic missiles to high-speed helicopters to robotic tanks, the Army is doubling down on the proven Stryker in several ways: Two light infantry brigades are being converted into Stryker units, which increases the number of active-duty Stryker brigades from five to seven. (There are two more part-time units in the National Guard). Original manufacturer General Dynamics has a $2.4 billion contract to rebuild hundreds of existing Strykers as DVHA1 models with bigger engines, upgraded electronics, and mine-resistant “double-V” hulls. Leonardo DRS is developing a new anti-aircraft variant called IM-SHORAD. It is several months behind schedule due to COVID disruptions and software issues. And the Army is upgunning the basic infantry-carrier variant from an exposed 12.7mm (0.50 cal) machinegun, viable against infantry and unarmored trucks, to a turret-mounted Medium Caliber Weapon System (MCWS), a 30mm autocannon capable of killing light armored vehicles widely used by Russia General Dynamics urgently built 83 upgunned Strykers to reequip a single Europe-based brigade. Now the Army is holding an open competition for an official Program of Record (POR) to upgrade at least three more brigades with a more refined 30mm turret design – but we've heard some anxiety over whether any other vendor can really unseat the incumbent. Out of six companies awarded $150,000 design contracts last summer, Venable confirmed that at least two have dropped out. At the current — sensitive — stage of the competition, the program manager said after a quick consultation with his staff, he isn't allowed to disclose how many companies remain and how many have quit. But Venable did tell reporters that one vendor dropped out because it wasn't making adequate progress to meet the technical requirements, while another decided it didn't have a good enough chance of winning to justify the investment. While the Army gave competitors free Strykers and 30mm guns, they must provide their own turrets, electronics and other components to integrate the weapon and the vehicle into a functional fighting system, to be delivered to the Army for testing by August 10. “We're not funding their development,” Venable said, “[which is] in some cases millions of dollars they're going to invest.” While he won't second-guess any company's cost-benefit calculus, he's been working with all of them to try to keep them in the running, despite disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have adjusted the evaluation strategy in order to maintain the competition as robust as we can,” he said. “This isn't the first competitive selection effort that I've run, and I will say we have more [viable competitors] than the incumbent, significantly more than the incumbent,” Venable told reporters. “We're going to present a variety of choices to the source selection authority to evaluate starting on 10 August.” Once the vehicles arrive in August, the Army will live-fire the 30 mm guns, check out the armor, and conduct a host of other tests. By January, Venable expects to have that data ready for the evaluation board, which aims to announce a winner by the end of April, 2021. After that, the winning company will start mass production, with the first vehicles scheduled for delivery to a Stryker unit in August or September 2022. That meets the Army's previously announced deadline to start fielding by the end of fiscal '22, Venable said. But the brigade will spend months more taking possession of the vehicles and training on them – a “Rubik's Cube” of logistics and scheduling, Venable said — before it's officially declared the “First Unit Equipped,” probably around March 2023. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/06/army-rebuffs-anxiety-over-stryker-cannon-competition

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  15 octobre 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Textron Systems, Shield AI team up on unmanned project

  Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — Textron Systems has teamed with artificial intelligence firm Shield AI to work together on “multi-domain autonomy,” the two firms announced Tuesday. According to a Shield AI spokesman, the collaboration will integrate the company's software onto Textron's unmanned systems, with an early focus on U.S. Army modernization priorities. The initial collaboration will focus on sharing exploration data between small unmanned aerial systems developed by Shield AI and unmanned ground vehicles developed by Textron Systems. This is not the first collaboration with a traditional defense firm for Shield AI, which is one of a number of of tech companies aiming to break into the Pentagon market. The company has worked closely with the Defense Department's technology hub, the Defense Innovation Unit, and it has raised more than $50 million in venture funding since 2015. Textron Systems is a subsidiary of Textron, the 38th largest defense company in the world, according to the annual Defense News Top 100 list. Included in its portfolio are a number of unmanned systems, including the Ripsaw ground robotic combat vehicle and the Shadow aerial system. “Working with U.S. Department of Defense customers since the 1980s to provide reliable, highly capable unmanned systems, we understand how these technologies extend the capabilities of our warfighters, while keeping them at a safe standoff distance,” Textron Systems Senior Vice President Wayne Prender said in a statement. “We are continuously enhancing our autonomous platforms to meet stated and anticipated future requirements for our customers. We look forward to collaborating with Shield AI on this shared priority.” Added Ryan Tseng, Shield AI co-founder and CEO: “We are excited to innovate together and believe this marks a significant moment on our path to achieving our mission and delivering AI for Maneuver at scale.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/show-reporter/ausa/2020/10/14/textron-systems-shield-ai-team-up-on-unmanned-project/