1 septembre 2021 | International, Aérospatial
Lawmakers Aim to Increase Investment in Aircraft Engine Tech
Lawmakers Aim to Increase Investment in Aircraft Engine Tech
31 décembre 2018 | International, C4ISR
How DIA can recreate the stress of learning in a foreign country
By: Mark Pomerleau
How can the Defense Intelligence Agency ensure its staff members can effectively communicate in the everyday environments of far-flung places without sending them into potentially risky situations? Agency leaders are hoping the answer to improve foreign language training is just a computer away.
In a sources sought notice issued in late December, the agency said virtual, augmented and mixed reality provides a safer means for trainees to be fully immersed in areas where they might one day be sent on assignment but that are too dangerous to visit for training purposes.
“The risk of traveling overseas is always a main concern when considering the safety of intelligence officers, especially those who have language skills or specialize in regions of high risk,” the notice reads.
“The use of VR for language training would allow these DIA employees to enter a VR scenario in which they, for example, would practice their language skills (e.g., Russian, Chinese, Arabic, etc.) without having to actually travel to these high-risk environments. By using VR as a language training tool, DIA can offer its officers an immersive language experiences while also maintaining their safety.”
These scenarios will be relevant to the curricula in multiple languages and could help improve language learning and cultural sensitivity. The potential contractor will initially develop scenarios in Russian with Chinese and Egyptian Arabic as options.
Additionally, the contractor must develop an environment that includes interaction in a large apartment, a small grocery store, a café, a small park with vendor kiosks, community markets, realistic historical locations and a 4x4 block section of a city environment.
In-country immersions will also have to be incorporated. The user will face situations that include social pressures such as making friends, avoiding embarrassment or offending others, as well as real-world noise, such as background conversations or street sounds, exposure to a variety of accents and slang. The agency's hope is that users will get a better understanding of the stress of the situation and the experience of being bombarded by foreign language at speed.
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18 novembre 2020 | International, Terrestre
Rheinmetall supplies South African National Defence Force with new 40mm medium-velocity ammunition
November 13, 2020 - Rheinmetall is supplying the South African military with new 40mm medium-velocity ammunition, underscoring its role as the world's leading one-stop-shop for 40mm ammunition systems. In October 2020 Rheinmetall Denel Munition officially completed Project Kamogelo on behalf of the South African Department of Defence, Armscor and the South African Army. What makes Project Kamogelo so special is not only the introduction of a new 40mm medium-velocity (MV) weapon system: it also marks the first successful Expedited Armament Acquisition Process (EAAP) project in response to an urgent operational requirement of the South African Army. The South African Army initiated the project in 2016 with the aim of fielding a new grenade launcher and family of 40mm ammunition. Armscor, the nation's arms procurement agency, approved the procurement plan in February 2018, subsequently overseeing testing and evaluation of the Milkor Y4 multi-shot weapon. This involved firing Rheinmetall Denel Munition's less-lethal, low-velocity and medium-velocity ammunition. Particular emphasis was placed on speed and accuracy. The South African Army procured more than 20,000 rounds of medium-velocity ammunition, including high explosive ammunition, high explosive dual-purpose ammunition, practice ammunition, practice tracer ammunition, red phosphorous smoke rounds and orange target marker ammunition. Rheinmetall Denel Munition's medium-velocity ammunition has a maximum range of 800 metres, exceeding conventional extended range low-velocity (LV) variants by up to 375 metres while delivering unparalleled accuracy. The company's ammunition suite currently encompasses nine different MV variants, six of which formed part of this procurement package. “This day marks ... an important milestone in the history of the Department of Defence, in particular the South African Army, as we witness the handing and taking over ceremony of the 40mm medium-velocity grenade launcher,” said Rear Admiral A.A.A. Morris, Chief Director Defence Acquisition Management, Material Division. “We're proud to be able to offer our new medium-velocity 40mm family to our home market, the SANDF. With this solution we offer the soldier a unique product solution: a quick-firing multiple grenade launcher with a standoff range in excess of 800 metres”, said Jan-Patrick Helmsen, CEO of Rheinmetall Denel Munition. Rheinmetall – the leading one-stop-shop for 40mm systems In the infantry toolbox, the versatile 40mm ammunition pallet closes the gap between hand grenade and mortar. It therefore serves as a veritable combat multiplier for infantry and other dismounted troops. Rheinmetall is one of the world's leading suppliers of ammunition, weapon systems and fire control systems and therefore serves as a one-stop-shop for 40mm systems. Widely used today, Rheinmetall's 40mm x 46 low-velocity ammunition (LV, velocity: 78 m/s) is available in many different versions, including HE/fragmentation, shaped charge with fragmentation jacket (HEDP/high explosive dual purpose) as well a number of other service and practice rounds, together with non-lethal payloads such as kinetic impact munitions or irritant. The range of ammunition is constantly being expanded and new capabilities added. With Rheinmetall Denel Munitions's handover, Rheinmetall has taken the first step as the leading maker of new 40mm medium-velocity (MV, ca. 100 m/s) ammunition. The company is currently expanding its MV product. It now includes the new generation of 40mm MV ammunition, which has a maximum effective range of 800 metres, doubling the gunners's operational reach and providing a flatter trajectory for those crucial close-in, accurately placed shots MV ammunition is. Currently undergoing NATO qualification, Rheinmetall's 40mm MV ammunition family will soon be available in service and practice versions. It can be used with the multi-shot grenade launchers Milkor US M32A1 and AV 140. Furthermore, Rheinmetall's 40mm Magazine-Fed Grenade Launcher (MFGL) is currently under development. The Group's 40mm x 53 high-velocity (HV) ammunition reaches a velocity of 240 m/s and has a maximum effective range of 2,200 metres. Here, too, the Group supplies a wide assortment of different cartridges, including newly developed HE and HEDP airburst ammunition programmed by an infrared programming unit. The airburst function also makes this type of ammunition suitable for engaging small unmanned aerial systems. Among other things, it is earmarked for the Bundeswehr's Qualified Air Defence project. Rheinmetall's family of fire control systems enhances combat effectiveness enormously. It provides users with a broad range of enhanced capabilities, increasing the effectiveness of the gunner while maximizing the potential of the host weapon system and the accompanying munitions. The family consists of various fire control solutions, providing increased accuracy and performance: Vingmate FCS 4500 for high-velocity automatic grenade launchers and heavy machine guns, MR-500 and MR-800 for low- and medium-velocity 40mm grenade launchers and Vingmate SL 1000 for shoulder-launched weapons. Rheinmetall AG Corporate Sector Defence Press and Information Oliver Hoffmann Rheinmetall Platz 1 40476 Düsseldorf Germany Phone: +49 211 473-4748 Fax: +49 211 473-4157 View source version on Rheinmetall : https://www.rheinmetall-defence.com/en/rheinmetall_defence/public_relations/news/latest_news/index_25344.php
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17 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Air Force Acquisition Chief: Reaper Replacement Plan Should Come in FY ’22 Budget Request
The Air Force is conducting a study that will inform how the service will continue its critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions as it begins to phase out production of its MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial systems, acquisition chief Will Roper said March 10. The service plans to reduce the General Atomics Aerospace Systems Inc.-developed MQ-9 Reaper combat lines from 70 to 60 by eliminating 10 contractor-operated lines while maintaining all MQ-9 aircraft in the fiscal year 2021 budget plan. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) member Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) sought clarity on why the production line would be reduced in a Tuesday hearing on Capitol Hill. “Why the major change in plans, and how will the Air Force address its ISR gap?” he asked. Roper told the committee that the Air Force is planning to build the “next generation” of ISR drones with a mixture of options, including “more high-end, unique” systems that will require lots of money to ensure their survivability, as well as commercial platforms that can “push the price point down” and provide attritable systems for added capacity. “We're doing studies now to see what our mix could be, and I anticipate that will be one of our major decisions in our FY '22 budget for the Air Force,” Roper said during the hearing. The study is being led by the Air Force's Program Executive Office for ISR and Special Operations Forces at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, he told a small group of reporters after the hearing. He expects it to be complete before the end of the fiscal year to inform the service's FY '22 Program Objective Memorandum (POM), which is currently in development, he added. “It's a really great time to give [PEO ISR & SOF] an innovative program because as their portfolio appears to be trending down ... it's important that they have something that's the new version of them that's innovative, that's indicative of their future,” he said. The Air Force has to work on dropping the cost of the counter-violent extremism mission, both in manpower and unit price, Roper said. He added that employing commercial drone services in the defense industry could help smaller, newer companies begin to scale their production while offering the service a “much lower, much cheaper” way to sustain cost. “Working with the Defense Department, you don't need the kind of production capacity that the globe does, so we're a pretty good first stop,” he said. He also told the committee that while the Reaper had “undeniable overmatch in a low-end fight and has certainly saved many lives, ... as we look to the high-end fight, we just can't take them into the battlefield.” Roper warned that if the Defense Department does not move quickly to engage builders of large UAS, the market could go the same way of small, hobbyist UAS and be saturated by Chinese products, as was seen with DJI's Phantom drone. The service's ISR portfolio could look very different in FY '21 if Congress approves its proposed FY '21 presidential budget request, released Feb. 10 (Defense Daily.) It includes the retirement of 24 Block 20/30 RQ-4 Global Hawks, including three EQ-4B drones equipped with Northrop Grumman's Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) system, as well as reducing the MQ-9 lines. In order to provide sufficient levels of ISR with the divestment of the Global Hawk 20/30 assets and reducing MQ-9 combat lines, the Air Force will maintain and modernize the U-2 [Dragon Lady ISR aircraft] and the Global Hawk Block 40 fleets and maintain 60 government-owned/government operated MQ-9 combat lines, the Air Force previously told Defense Daily. The service also plans to procure one Bombardier E-11A BACN-enabled aircraft through the five-year future years defense plan (FYDP), with plans to bring the total fleet up to eight by FY '26. One E-11A aircraft suffered a fatal crash in Afghanistan last month, leaving the Air Force with three in its current inventory. Vela also asked whether the Air Force's proposed MQ-9 retirements could affect other services operating the Reaper. Marine Lt. Gen. Steven Rudder, the service's deputy commandant for aviation, said during the hearing that while the Marines recently welcomed their first MQ-9 operators at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, he is also looking at the “wide-open” unmanned systems industry for the service's next generations of drones. “We hope to be able to continue to operate with the Air Force,” he told Vela. However, “We're ready to step out on our own system,” he added. https://www.defensedaily.com/air-force-acquisition-chief-reaper-replacement-plan-come-fy-22-budget-request/budget/