Ground robots hauling drones into battle is a trend at Paris arms fair

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  7 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Should the military treat the electromagnetic spectrum as its own domain?

  By: Nathan Strout Military leaders are reluctant to treat the electromagnetic spectrum as a separate domain of warfare as they do with air, land, sea, space and cyber, even as the service increasingly recognize the importance of superiority in this area. At the Association of Old Crows conference Oct. 30, representatives from the Army, Navy and Air Force weighed in on a lingering debate: whether the electromagnetic spectrum should be considered its own domain. In short, while the spectrum can legitimately be described as a physically distinct domain, it does not make sense logistically for the Department of Defense to declare it a separate domain of warfare, they said. “It's something that we've had a lot of discussion about ... In one way, you can argue that the physical nature of the electromagnetic spectrum, the physical nature of it being a domain. However, I understand the implications and those are different challenges for a large organization like the Department of Defense. So I think that there's a little bit of a different discussion when you talk about domain and what that implies for the Department of Defense and each of the departments in a different way,” said Brig. Gen. David Gaedecke, director of electromagnetic spectrum superiority for the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration and requirements. Regardless of whether it's an independent domain, military leaders made clear that leveraging the electromagnetic spectrum is a priority for every department and every platform. “We're going to operate from strategic down to tactical, and EMS ... is going to enable all of our forces to communicate and maneuver effectively, so we'll have a layered approach across all the domains that we operate in,” said Laurence Mixon from the Army's Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors. “EMS is definitely an aspect of the operational environment that every tactician has to be aware of, understand and leverage. And on the acquisition side we have to consider EMS when we are developing every one of our systems. I think since EMS crosses all of the domains that we currently have today that we identify and use in the joint parlance--I don't think the Army is ready to call it a domain." Similarly, while the Navy is working to understand how EMS works best within the maritime domain, Rear Adm. Steve Parode, director of the Navy's Warfare Integration Directorate, N2/N6F, indicated that there was no rush to declare EMS a separate domain. “For the Navy, we're pretty comfortable with the way we are into the maritime domain as our principal operational sphere. We are working through understanding the EMS and the way it relates to physical properties in that domain. We know where we're strong and we know where we're weak. And we understand principally why we're weak. We're making decisions about how to get better,” said Parode. https://www.c4isrnet.com/electronic-warfare/2019/11/06/should-the-military-treat-the-electromagnetic-spectrum-as-its-own-domain/

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  27 octobre 2020 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR

  Défense : l'américain Teledyne va racheter Photonis à prix soldé

  Le groupe de Thousand Oaks a déclaré avoir obtenu un « accord de principe » pour acquérir le leader français de l'optronique à un prix 15 % moins élevé que celui de départ, soit 425 millions d'euros. Une réduction accordée par le vendeur Ardian suite aux conditions imposées les pouvoirs publics tricolores. Anne Drif La pépite de l'optronique militaire Photonis s'apprête bien à basculer sous pavillon américain... et pour 15 % moins cher. « Je pense que nous avons un accord de principe maintenant et nous avons besoin de finaliser les formalités administratives », a déclaré à la séance de questions analystes Robert Mehrabian, le président exécutif de l'acquéreur américain Teledyne, lors de ses résultats fin octobre. Le groupe de Thousand Oaks compte mettre ainsi la main sur Photonis pour 75 millions d'euros de moins, soit au final 425 millions d'euros, confirment des sources proches du dossier. Fin septembre, après des mois de négociations avec le ministère des Finances, des Armées et la reprise en main du dossier par l'Elysée suite à la vaste polémique soulevée par ce projet de cession auprès des parlementaires, Teledyne avait fait part à la SEC son intention de retirer sa demande d'autorisation d'achat auprès du gouvernement français. Une décision que ses opposants dans l'Hexagone ont immédiatement interprété comme un abandon à l'usure, lié aux exigences de gouvernance et le droit de veto imposés par les pouvoirs publics tricolores. https://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/air-defense/defense-lamericain-teledyne-va-racheter-photonis-a-prix-solde-1259299

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  10 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

  A human F-16 pilot will fight against AI in an upcoming contest

  Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON ― An artificial intelligence algorithm will face off against a human F-16 fighter pilot in an aerial combat simulation in late August, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced Aug. 7. The simulation — the third and final competition in DARPA's AlphaDogfight Trials — will take place Aug. 20. The event will be virtual due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The AlphaDogfight Trials was created to demonstrate advanced AI systems' ability in air warfare. Eight teams were selected last year to participate in the final competition that runs from Aug. 18-20. The competition is also part of DARPA's Air Combat Evolution, or ACE, program, which was started in 2019, and seeks to automate air-to-air combat as well as improve human trust in AI systems to bolster human-machine teaming. “We weren't able to host the finals at AFWERX in Las Vegas as we'd originally planned with fighter pilots from the Air Force Weapons School at nearby Nellis Air Force Base,” Col. Dan Javorsek, program manager in DARPA's Strategic Technology Office, said in a statement. “We are still excited to see how the AI algorithms perform against each other as well as a Weapons School-trained human and hope that fighter pilots from across the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as military leaders and members of the AI tech community will register and watch online. It's been amazing to see how far the teams have advanced AI for autonomous dogfighting in less than a year.” The eight teams are Aurora Flight Sciences, EpiSys Science, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Heron Systems, Lockheed Martin, Perspecta Labs, PhysicsAI and SoarTech. On the first day of the competition, the teams will fly their respective algorithms against five AI systems developed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. Teams will face off against each other in a round-robin tournament on the second day, with the third day featuring the top four teams competing in a single-elimination tournament for the championship. The winner will then fly against a human pilot. “Regardless of whether the human or machine wins the final dogfight, the AlphaDogfight Trials is all about increasing trust in AI,” Javorsek said. “If the champion AI earns the respect of an F-16 pilot, we'll have come one step closer to achieving effective human-machine teaming in air combat, which is the goal of the ACE program.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/08/07/a-human-f-16-pilot-will-fight-against-ai-in-an-upcoming-contest/