First trans-Atlantic drone flight is set to leave from North Dakota

Sur le même sujet

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  16 février 2018 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

  Le Canada réintègre le programme du système aéroporté d’alerte et de contrôle de l’OTAN

  Communiqué de presse De Défense nationale Le 14 février 2018, Bruxelles (Belgique) — Défense nationale/Forces armées canadiennes Le gouvernement est déterminé à assurer la sécurité et la sûreté de la population canadienne et à en protéger les droits et libertés. Le Canada joue un rôle important et constructif dans le monde en contribuant concrètement à la paix et à la sécurité internationales, y compris au sein de l'Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN). L'OTAN est une pierre angulaire de la politique de sécurité internationale du Canada et, aujourd'hui, le gouvernement a annoncé son intention de réintégrer le programme du système aéroporté d'alerte et de contrôle (AWACS) de l'OTAN. Les programmes comme AWACS, qui effectuent des activités de renseignement, de surveillance et de reconnaissance, sont de plus en plus pertinents dans le contexte actuel de sécurité. En réponse aux défis posés par cet environnement, l'OTAN a considérablement augmenté le recours à AWACS, y compris dans des régions comme l'Europe centrale et l'Europe de l'Est où le Canada dirige un groupement tactique multinational de l'OTAN en Lettonie. Le Canada avait décidé de se retirer du programme AWACS en 2011 à la suite de l'examen stratégique de 2010 du ministère de la Défense nationale. Citations « L'OTAN est une pierre angulaire de la politique canadienne en matière de sécurité internationale et l'une de nos relations multilatérales les plus importantes. Dans cet esprit, le Canada a décidé de réintégrer le programme du système aéroporté d'alerte et de contrôle qui est une capacité clé de l'OTAN. Nous appuierons ce programme en contribuant à son budget d'opérations et de soutien. Nous sommes résolus à maintenir l'engagement du Canada dans le monde et nous continuerons de soutenir l'OTAN et ses missions : il s'agit d'étapes importantes vers la réalisation de cet objectif. » Harjit S. Sajjan, ministre de la Défense Faits en bref Le système aéroporté d'alerte et de contrôle (AWACS) a été créé en 1978 et comprend une flotte d'aéronefs appartenant à l'OTAN, ce qui donne à l'Alliance les moyens d'effectuer une surveillance aérienne à long rayon et de commander ainsi que de contrôler les forces aériennes. Une partie de l'engagement du Canada envers l'OTAN, comme il est énoncé dans la politique Protection, Sécurité, Engagement, comprend ce qui suit : mener et/ou contribuer des forces aux efforts de l'OTAN et de la coalition pour dissuader et vaincre des adversaires potentiels, y compris des terroristes, afin de soutenir la stabilité mondiale; diriger et/ou contribuer aux opérations internationales de paix et aux missions de stabilisation avec les Nations Unies, l'OTAN et d'autres partenaires multilatéraux. Le système aéroporté d'alerte et de contrôle (AWACS) de l'OTAN compte seize aéronefs E-3A. Ces Boeing 707 modifiés sont facilement identifiables à partir du dôme radar distinctif monté sur le fuselage. L'appareil E-3A fonctionne généralement à une altitude d'environ 10 km. À partir de cette altitude, un seul appareil E-3A peut surveiller en permanence l'espace aérien dans un rayon de plus de 400 km et peut échanger des informations, au moyen de liaisons de données numériques, avec les commandants sur terre, en mer et dans les airs. En utilisant le radar à impulsions Doppler, un appareil E-3A volant dans l'espace aérien de l'OTAN peut faire la distinction entre les cibles et les réflexions au sol et est donc en mesure de donner l'alerte rapide en cas de vol à basse ou haute altitude au-dessus du territoire d'un agresseur potentiel. Personnes-ressources Byrne Furlong Attachée de presse Cabinet du ministre de la Défense nationale Téléphone : 613-996-3100 Courriel : byrne.furlong@forces.gc.ca Relations avec les médias Ministère de la Défense nationale Téléphone : 613-996-2353 Courriel : mlo-blm@forces.gc.ca https://www.canada.ca/fr/ministere-defense-nationale/nouvelles/2018/02/le_canada_reintegreleprogrammedusystemeaeroportedalerteetdecontr.html

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  10 février 2023 | International, Aérospatial

  Fix coming for F-35 engine problem that froze fighters’ deliveries

  Time is running out to fix the problem and keep F-35 production going, according to Rep. Rob Wittman.

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  20 juillet 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Inside the intelligence community’s new plan for commercial imagery

  Nathan Strout Starting in 1961, the National Reconnaissance Office has been tasked with designing, building, launching and operating the United States' fleet of intelligence satellites. Over the years, that mission has evolved, bolting on new components and missions. Now in 2020, the NRO is looking to change once again, moving beyond the status quo by issuing a new set of contracts toward the end of this year that will reshape the intelligence community's relationship with commercial imagery. Peter Muend, the head of NRO's commercial imagery efforts, told C4ISRNET that the agency is “obviously very committed to utilizing commercial imagery to the maximum extent practical in support of defense, national security and all the other mission areas that we serve.” “I think the best philosophy that underpins that is one that says ‘We really are looking to buy everywhere we can and only build what we have to—what's really not available on the commercial market,‘” Muend said. An important condition to that approach is that the commercial imagery market actually have commercial support. In other words, Muend doesn't want any of these companies to exist solely to support government requirements. There should be a real commercial market for these capabilities, which will help drive down costs for the government. To understand the agency's approach to commercial imagery, it's best to go back to 2017, when the NRO took over the role of acquiring commercial satellite imagery on behalf of the intelligence community from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Under this new paradigm, NGA serves as the geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) functional manager, determining what imagery the intelligence community needs and writing those requirements, but it's up to NRO to determine how those requirements are filled. Then in 2018, another step occurred when the NGA's EnhancedView contract was transferred to NRO, which issued a follow-on contract to Maxar shortly thereafter. That single EnhancedView contract has been one of the primary source of commercial imagery for the intelligence community for years. The goal now is to start the move beyond EnhancedView. That process started in 2019, when the NRO issued a request for information (RFI) to see what types, quality and quantity of imagery industry could provide. For Muend, that RFI sent a message to industry: the intelligence community was looking to the commercial sector for imagery that went beyond the requirements, capacity and capability the government had sought in the past. That RFI initially led to a trio of study contracts for Maxar, BlackSky and Planet. “Really, the purpose of those study contracts was to serve a couple purposes, one being to take a look at their systems and really understand their performance from a modeling and simulation standpoint to really see what they can do and how they would measure up and meet our capability,” said Muend. “The other part was really to assess imagery, because of course a lot of the input we got back from the RFI emphasized the quality of the imagery and how much they could deliver. It's one thing to get an RFI response. It's another thing to actually formally assess and measure.” In the year since those first study contracts were issued, the agency has issued a handful of other study contracts, primarily to companies offering different phenomenologies than electro-optical imagery, including synthetic aperture radar and radio frequency sensing. Muend clarified that those study contracts were less focused on purchasing data from those phenomenologies and more focused on ensuring the agency's systems could interface with those phenomenologies. “We certainly see a very vibrant future ahead for those phenomenologies. We're excited for them to continue to mature and we're certainly looking forward to taking advantage of them in the future,” said Muend. “But again, the specific contracts we're moving forward with toward the end of the year are more focused on the electro-optical side.” Back on that electro-optical side of things, the study contracts have been mutually beneficial, said Muend. Not only has NRO learned what capabilities are available commercially and how they can be incorporated, the vendors have gotten a better understanding of what the agency is looking for. “And then on the imagery side, we've certainly learned a lot — certainly some of the differences between what the glossy advertising sheets say and then what's really available when looked at analytically in the way that we and the larger community do,” said Muend. When pressed on that point, Muend declined to characterize whether any company had failed to live up to or superseded its claims. All of those efforts are leading up to source selection and contract awards toward the end of the year. Muend noted that there were likely to be awards to multiple companies and those contracts will specifically pertain to electo-optical imagery. “One thing that we have seen out of our study contracts and our market research is that no single provider can currently meet what we're asking for out of our requirements. So it is going to be an aggregate of capability from multiple vendors, and in addition it's going to be something that they're going to have to grow into over time, that they expand their capabilities to meet our needs,” he explained. As a precursor to that decision, NRO issued an RFI in June to help the agency standardize end user license agreements for imagery. Those agreements govern how the agency is able to use and share the imagery it collects, explained Muend. As NRO prepares to begin purchasing imagery from multiple companies, it wants to make sure those agreements are clear, intuitive and broadly uniform. “We're very, very excited about the future, about establishing a new set of operational imagery contracts to not only take advantage of our current industry base, but the growing new entrants and new providers as well,” said Muend. “We're eager to get moving.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/intel-geoint/2020/07/17/how-the-intelligence-community-is-approaching-commercial-imagery/