30 mars 2021 | International, Aérospatial
The German government is buying a minority stake in defense supplier Hensoldt, a company that derives from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus’ former defense and security electronics division.
10 mai 2023 | International, Naval
May 9, 2023 - Thales and the Ministry of Defence have signed a contract that will provide the Royal Navy with a sixth ship-set of the T31 mission system. It...
26 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial
The Bell 360 Invictus and the Sikorsky Raider-X will vie for the final contract to build FARA, with rival prototypes in flight by 2023. Bell and Sikorsky (with Boeing) are also facing off for the FLRAA transport. By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR WASHINGTON: The Army has now narrowed its future aircraft choices to Sikorsky vs. Bell. This afternoon, the service announced that it had picked Sikorsky and Bell to build competing prototypes for Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), a high-speed optionally manned scout to replace the retired Bell OH-58 Kiowa. Just eight days ago, it picked the same two firms – plus aerospace giant Boeing, acting as Sikorsky's de facto junior partner – to compete for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), which will replace the Sikorsky's UH-60 Black Hawk as the military's aerial workhorse for everything from Ranger raids to medevac. The FLRAA transport decision was no surprise. The Army picked the two teams it had been funding for years to develop prototypes, the Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor and the Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 Defiant. There was more uncertainty over the FARA scout, because the service had given five companies Other Transaction Authority contracts to develop designs. Of those five, only Sikorsky had built and flight-tested an actual aircraft, the S-97 Raider, of which its Raider-X design is basically a super-sized version. Sikorsky and Bell now get to build FARA prototypes, while AVX, Boeing, and Karem have been cut. While AVX and Karem are design houses that have never built an actual aircraft, Boeing is a major aerospace player for which this is just the latest in a series of blows. Sikorsky and Bell have taken starkly different approaches to Future Vertical Lift. For both the FARA scout and the FLRAA transport, Sikorsky is offering its signature compound helicopters, descended from its record-breaking X2, that use a combination of ultra-rigid coaxial rotors and a pusher propeller to overcome the aerodynamic limits that cap the speed and range of traditional helicopters. No compound helicopter has ever entered mass production, but Sikorsky has built and flown two S-97 prototypes and, with Boeing, the much larger SB>1 Defiant: Raider-X will fall between the S-97 and SB>1 in size. Bell's marquee technology is the tiltrotor, most famously the widely used V-22 Osprey, using two massive rotors that tilt forward like a propeller for level flight and upwards like a helicopter for vertical takeoff and landing. It's a next-gen tiltrotor, the V-280 Valor, that Bell is flying for FLRAA. But Bell couldn't scale down their tiltrotor design – whose side-by-side rotors inevitably make for a wide aircraft – enough for the Army's FARA scout, which is meant to fly down city streets in urban warzones. So instead, their Bell 360 Invictus is, in essence, a streamlined conventional helicopter with wings: It has a single main rotor and a tail rotor, just like the old Kiowa, but it adds winglets to help with lift for high-speed fleet. Sikorsky argues their compound helicopter configuration is inherently much more efficient, pointing out that Bell's design requires more horsepower to achieve the Army's required speeds. Bell argues their time-tested single-main-rotor configuration will be less risky to develop, cheaper to buy, and easier to maintain. They each have three years to prove their case to the Army. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/03/fvl-army-picks-bell-sikorsky-for-fara-scout
15 juin 2020 | International, Terrestre
'We know that there is some innovation out there that can help us do those things better and sometimes faster' David Burke · CBC News · Posted: Jun 14, 2020 6:00 AM AT | Last Updated: June 14 The Department of National Defence is reaching out to Canadians for innovative solutions to problems it's facing due to COVID-19. The department is willing to pay $15 million for that assistance. The effort is being funded through DND's Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security program, which pays for research by outside organizations, typically businesses and universities. In this case, DND has three specific goals. The military wants to be able to rapidly sanitize workplaces and vehicles containing sensitive equipment like computers. It wants to be able to quickly clean uniforms and COVID-19 protective gear so it can be reused. It's also looking for ways to gather data to support the early detection and monitoring of contagious disease outbreaks. "We're reaching out to Canadian innovators because we know that there is some creativity out there, we know that there is some innovation out there that can help us do those things better and sometimes faster," said Eric Fournier, director general of innovation for DND. He said DND is working with the Centre for Security Science Program, the National Research Council of Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada to hunt for solutions that will benefit the whole country. If a solution to any of the problems is found, it will be passed along to federal, provincial and municipal agencies. "Although the program doing this is a national defence program," said Fournier, "we are doing this for public safety across Canada. So it's for the first responders, it's also for national defence, it's for everybody and those solutions will be made available to all those government entities." Rapid, thorough cleaning is DND's goal. Fournier said it can take a lot of time to sanitize by hand. During a crisis, that time can be in short supply, he said. He said if a military aircraft is used to transport a COVID-19 patient, the entire vehicle, along with the uniforms and the personal protective equipment worn by the crew, would have to be cleaned. "We want to make sure that the people are ready to respond, again and again and again and again," said Fournier. "In a pandemic like this, we see that people have to work constantly." While dropping uniforms and flight suits into the washing machine might be an option, the military wants something faster. "So we want to make sure you can do it quickly," Fournier said. "In some cases just putting it in the laundry might work, but we might not have the time to do it that way. We might need something to clean it up faster for reuse in a few hours, for example." It's the same thing with cleaning vehicles by hand. It works, but getting it done fast is hard to do. Finding a way to sanitize aircraft, ambulances, offices and other spaces without damaging computers or other electronics is essential, Fournier said. He said it's also important to find ways to collect data on how the virus is moving through the population and to locate hot spots. DND will choose several winners in each of the three categories. The winners will be given up to $200,000 and up to six months to deliver on their solution. If the solution works, DND could provide them with more funding for fine-tuning or to adapt it for more widespread use. Anyone looking to apply for the program can go to the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security website. There have only been a handful of applications, but Fournier said that number usually jumps up in the final days before the deadline. Applications for the program are due June 23. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/military-dnd-covid-19-research-solutions-1.5607535