13 avril 2023 | International, Aérospatial
UK’s Team Tempest gets $822 million to advance next-gen warplane tech
The new investment is meant to help the government assess which technologies are ready for inclusion in a flying demonstrator by 2027.
18 septembre 2020 | International, C4ISR
Northrop Grumman was awarded a $298 million rapid-prototyping contract to design a new anti-jamming communications satellite payload for the U.S. Space Force, the Space and Missile Systems Center announced Sept. 16.
Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will build a payload for the Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) program, a next generation constellation that will provide secure, jam-resistant, survivable communications for military leadership all over the world.
The new system will be interoperable with the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites currently on orbit. The Space Force wants ESS to have enhanced resilience and cybersecurity capabilities. And unlike AEHF, the new satellites will have polar components to provide communications over the Arctic. Currently, the Enhanced Polar System satellites are used to extend the AEHF network to the polar regions.
The Space and Missile Systems Center could award up to three rapid-prototyping contracts in 2020, according to the Space Force's fiscal 2021 budget request, before selecting a final contractor to build out the constellation.
It's not immediately clear how many ESS payloads would be in the constellation, or what satellites they'll be hosted on.
“Northrop Grumman looks forward to building on more than 40 years of successfully delivering protected satellite communications solutions to our customers,” said Cyrus Dhalla, vice president, communications systems, Northrop Grumman. “ESS is critical to extending our nation's secure satellite communications infrastructure, as it will provide strategic users with assured, uninterruptable connectivity without fear of discovery anywhere on the globe.”
Work is expected to be completed May 2025.
 
					13 avril 2023 | International, Aérospatial
The new investment is meant to help the government assess which technologies are ready for inclusion in a flying demonstrator by 2027.
 
					29 octobre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
By: Jeff Martin GRAPEVINE, Texas — The U.S. Air Force is exploring the logistics of space-based cargo operations under the purview of Air Mobility Command, even as the impact of a new Space Force on the mobility community remains to be seen. “I don't know how it will affect mobility, but most of you know space affects mobility every day,” Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday at the 2018 Airlift/Tanker Symposium outside Dallas, Texas. “Whatever the Space Force is or does, it has to protect our national interest in space,” he said, adding that GPS is critical to the air mobility community. As for what space cargo operations could look like, the previous head of Air Mobility Command, Gen. Carlton Everhart, espoused the possibility of moving cargo using rocketsduring a Defense Writers Group breakfast in August. “Think about this. Thirty minutes, 150 metric tons [and] less than the cost of a C-5,” he said at the time. Apart from cargo operations, such a focuses space presence could help with pre-positioning equipment and supplies in orbit, ready to be dropped to Earth. But in a roundtable with reporters Friday, the new commander of AMC, Gen. Maryanne Miller, said while the command continues to study the possibility, space cargo operations remain at the conceptual stage. “We're continuing, our [planning] community is going to continue to have discussions with the space companies, and we have agreed to just sit with them and just stay up to date with where they're going with their future plans, to just be at the table with them” she said. “We won't commit any resources, but we've committed to work with them to see how quickly they progress through that." One potential would be SpaceX's next-generation reusable BFR rocket, currently under development. During the roundtable, Miller confirmed that the Air Force had spoken to SpaceX about the idea. “They have talked about moving cargo in space, and we've sat down with SpaceX and had that discussion. But it's really just discussion at this point," she said. “Our connection with space is really just going to be at the table with them, to look at how much progress they're making.” As for what type of cargo could possibly be moved, that's still being discussed. But in August, Everhart said he'd be willing to stick “anything” in space. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/airlift-tanker-annual/2018/10/26/us-air-force-explores-space-based-cargo-operations-confirms-talks-with-spacex
 
					5 novembre 2024 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité
Canadian authorities arrest Alexander "Connor" Moucka for alleged Snowflake breach linked to data extortion.