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  31 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  U.S. Air Force Launches Three-Year Fielding Plan For Skyborg Weapons

  Steve Trimble July 07, 2020 The next combat aircraft to enter the U.S. Air Force inventory will not be a manned sixth-generation fighter or even the Northrop Grumman B-21. By fiscal 2023, the Air Force expects to deliver the first operational versions of a new unmanned aircraft system (UAS) called Skyborg, a provocative portmanteau blending the medium of flight with the contraction for a cybernetic organism. The Skyborg family of aircraft is expected to fill an emerging “attritable” category for combat aircraft that blurs the line between a reusable UAS and a single-use cruise missile. July 8 award date for Skyborg contracts Leidos is managing autonomy mission system As the aircraft are developed, Skyborg also will serve as the test case of a radical change in acquisition philosophy, with ecosystems of collaborative software coders and aircraft manufacturers replacing the traditional approach with a supply chain defined by a single prime contractor. The Air Force also plans to manage the Skyborg aircraft differently than other UAS. Although Air Combat Command (ACC) is considering the Skyborg family as a replacement for pre-Block F-16s after 2025 and MQ-9s after 2030, the aircraft is not likely to fit neatly into an existing force structure with dedicated Skyborg squadrons. “Even though we call Skyborg an attritable aircraft, I think we'll think of them more like reusable weapons,” says Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics. The Skyborg is an attritable weapon, which means key components such as the jet engine will be designed with a short service life. Credit: AFRL via YouTube The Skyborg propulsion systems—including expendable subsonic and supersonic jet engines—will be rated with a fraction of the service life expected of a fully reusable UAS or manned aircraft. “We'll do whatever number of takeoffs and landings they're ‘spec'd' for, and then we'll attrit them out of the force as targets and just buy them at a steady rate,” Roper says. Starting in fiscal 2023, a concept of operations for a formation of four Lockheed Martin F-22s will include Skyborgs as part of the manned aircraft's load-out. “I expect that the pilots, depending on the mission, [will] decide: Does the Skyborg return and land with them and then go to fight another day, or is it the end of its life and it's going to go on a one-way mission?” Roper explains. In some cases, the pilot may decide a target is important enough that it is worth the loss of a Skyborg, even if its service life has not been used up, he adds. As the concept evolves, a diverse array of Skyborg aircraft designs will likely find roles beyond the air combat community, Roper says. “I don't think it'll just be fighters,” he says. “I think they'll fly with bombers. I think they'll fly with tankers to provide extra defensive capability. That's what I love about their versatility and the fact that we can take risks with them.” Skyborg is often presented as the epitome of the “loyal wingman” concept, in which one or multiple UAS are controlled or managed by a manned aircraft to perform a variety of surveillance, support and strike tasks during a mission. But the aircraft also could have the ability to operate independently of a manned aircraft, with the capability to launch and recover hundreds of such systems without the need for runways or even bases. The Kratos XQ-58A, which achieved first flight in March 2019, is one of several potential members of the Skyborg UAS family. Credit: U.S. Air Force “If [China and Russia] know that they have to target only tens or even hundreds of ports and airfields, we have simplified their problem,” says ACC chief Gen. Mike Holmes. The new class of attritable aircraft, he says, are designed so that “we can still provide relevant high-tempo combat power to be freed up from a runway.” If Skyborg is the future, it begins on July 8. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is due on the second Wednesday of this month to award a contract to start developing the first in a family of experimental UAS bearing the name Skyborg. The AFRL already has a stable of potential concepts. The Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie, which has flown four times since March 2019, is the most visible example of the AFRL's Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology platform. Meanwhile, the Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Platform--Sharing project quietly kept several UAS industry leaders involved in design studies, including Boeing, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Each company selected will be awarded a contract with a maximum value of $400 million over a five-year ordering period. But the core of the Skyborg program is the software; specifically, the military aviation equivalent of the algorithm-fed convolutional neural networks that help driverless cars navigate on city streets. In announcing Leidos on May 18 as the Skyborg Design Agent (SDA), the AFRL selected the same company that delivered the software “brain” of the Navy's Sea Hunter unmanned surface vehicle, which navigated from San Diego to Honolulu in 2018. As SDA, Leidos' role is to deliver a software core that uses artificial intelligence to learn and adapt as the aircraft flies. The autonomy mission system core—as integrated by Leidos from a combination of industry and government sources—will be inserted into multiple low-cost UAS designed by different companies, with each configured to perform a different mission or set of missions. That is how the Skyborg program is set up today, but that is not how it started. Roper created the original “Skyborg” term and concept when he led the Strategic Capabilities Office within the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2012-17. Roper transferred Skyborg to the AFRL, where it was renamed Avatar. A year after taking over Air Force acquisition in 2017, Roper changed the name back to Skyborg and created a program office in October 2018. In March 2019, Roper revealed the Skyborg concept to a group of reporters a week before the AFRL issued the first request for information to industry about the program. At that time, Skyborg was still organized more traditionally, with plans to select a single contractor to serve as a prime integrator. By early 2020, program officials reorganized Skyborg into modular hardware and software subcomponents built on an open architecture that requires no prime integrator. As the acquisition strategy has evolved, so has the Air Force's thinking about how to use the Skyborg family of systems. “The whole idea was [that] the contested environment is going to be challenging, it's going to be uncertain, and so it makes the most sense to have something that doesn't have a pilot in it to go into the battlefield first,” Roper says. “But once you agree that's a self-evident operational concept, it opens up the door for a lot of nontraditional thinking for the Air Force.” After a 2-3 year experimental phase, the AFRL plans to deliver an early operational capability in fiscal 2023. Follow-on operational Skyborgs could be funded within the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) project or through a separate program of record. The Skyborg concept even has links to the Air Force's architecture for the Advanced Battle-Management System (ABMS). “Attritable-ONE,” which is defined as having “multirole attritable capabilities,” is one of about 30 product lines in the ABMS architecture. “Skyborg and the AttritableONE teams are closely coordinated for planning and collaboration purposes,” the AFRL informed industry in response to questions about the Skyborg solicitation. The aircraft supplier must deliver a highly flexible design. Leidos, the design agent, will provide the autonomous mission system that will serve as the pilot, flight control computer and mission systems operator for the aircraft. But the “size, weight, power and cooling details for the Skyborg core autonomy system have not been finalized,” the AFRL told the bidding companies. “The majority of the system will be software-based and integrate with the sensors onboard the host aircraft,” the AFRL says. “Extensive collaboration between the Skyborg system design agent and the participants in this [contract] is expected.” https://aviationweek.com/ad-week/us-air-force-launches-three-year-fielding-plan-skyborg-weapons

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  30 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  America’s F-22 stealth fighter may be limited in Asia-Pacific conditions, China’s J-20 designer says

  Aircraft has been sent to the region but was designed for combat in Europe, which could affect its capabilities, according to Yang Wei China's answer to the Raptor has yet to be put to the test in a real combat situation, military expert notes Minnie Chan Published: 12:00am, 30 Jul, 2020 America's F-22 Raptor stealth fighter was designed for combat in Europe but is now being used in the Asia-Pacific, according to a top Chinese aircraft designer, who says the different conditions will limit its capabilities there. Yang Wei, general designer of China's first stealth fighter the J-20, said the twin-engine F-22s could face the same challenges in the region as the F-4 fighter-bombers the Pentagon sent to the Vietnam war between 1965 and 1973. “The complex environment and political constraints in Vietnam caused the F-4 to almost fail to show its high-speed performance and over-the-horizon combat capabilities,” Yang wrote in a paper published in Chinese aeronautics journal Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica last month. He said the F-22, a tactical fighter inspired by the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union, was designed for battle in Europe and could face similar problems now that it had been deployed in the Asia-Pacific. Yang did not draw any comparisons between America's F-22 and China's J-20 both fifth-generation, twin-engine heavy fighter jets and of a similar size. But military experts said his remarks indicated that the J-20 Weilong, or Powerful Dragon, was clearly seen as China's answer to the F-22. Comparing the two, Song Zhongping, a military commentator in Hong Kong, said the J-20's biggest advantage was that it was developed later, meaning its designers could learn from the F-22 – including how to fix shortcomings, and what type of new technologies could be used to optimise the aircraft. “The F-22 was originally designed for combat with the former Soviet Union, or today's Russia, in Europe, but now the Raptor's main opponent is the [People's Liberation Army] in the Asia-Pacific,” Song said. “China's J-20 was inspired by the F-22's deployment. The Chinese aircraft designers used the Raptor as a rival and the F-35 [stealth multi-role fighter] as a tactical opponent to help them to come up with a more practical and capable fighter jet.” Both the F-22 and the J-20 have a ceiling of 20km (12.4 miles) and a maximum speed of over Mach 2 (2,470km per hour, or 1,535mph) – faster than the speed of sound. The F-22 has a comparatively shorter range – with a combat radius of 800km (497 miles), while the J-20's large internal fuel tank can sustain a longer combat radius of 1,100km (684 miles). But Beijing-based military expert Zhou Chenming noted that the J-20, which entered service in 2017, had yet to be put to the test in a real combat situation. Andrei Chang, founder of influential military magazine Kanwa Asian Defence, said that in contrast, the F-22's combat capabilities had been seen, most recently last year when the stealth fighters were sent to Qatar as tensions rose with Iran. “The operation of the F-22 has been perfected since it joined the US military in 2005. The Raptor has taken part in countless actual combat situations around the globe, including in the Middle East, Singapore and Okinawa in the Pacific,” Chang said. A military source close to the PLA believed the J-20 could counter the F-22 in a one-on-one combat situation, but said far fewer of the fighter jets had been made compared to America's Raptors. “At the moment China has about 60 J-20s – just one-third of the total number of F-22s,” said the source, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. “Now the US has deployed hundreds of F-35s to the region, so it's an even bigger threat to China,” he added. With F-22s being deployed to the Asia-Pacific region – and as relations worsen with Washington, including over the disputed South China Sea – Beijing has stepped up development of its new stealth fighter. Mass production of the J-20B began earlier this month. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3095219/americas-f-22-stealth-fighter-may-be-limited-asia-pacific

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  5 mars 2019 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR, Autre défense

  UK Defence Secretary announces £11million boost to chemical defences

  On the eve of the Salisbury Novichok poisoning anniversary, the Defence Secretary has allocated £11million of additional funding to bolster the UK's response to chemical attacks. The range of measures announced by the Defence Secretary include: Developing plans to deploy drones and robots into potentially hazardous areas, putting personnel in less danger and identifying threats faster. Boosting the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory's ability to analyse substances, by investing in new technical capabilities. Keeping the UK at the forefront of medical advances to combat the effects of chemical agents. The decision means the UK will remain a global leader in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) defence. Around the world, there is evidence of these threats increasing and it is vital the UK can meet them. Last year, the Syrian regime launched chemical attacks on its own people, which led to the UK striking several weapons facilities alongside American and French partners. At home, the UK has seen the longest chemical clean-up in living memory, in Salisbury and Amesbury. Unmanned vehicles will conduct more testing and identification, decreasing the risk posed to humans through contact with nerve agents. This capability will be developed over the coming years. The funding will increase the speed and accuracy with which the potential origins of substances can be analysed, helping the authorities identifying attackers faster and improving public safety. It will also allow faster decontamination and recovery of vehicles and assets, as well as improvements to counter radiological and nuclear threats. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: After the Novichok attack in Salisbury a year ago, the nation turned to the Armed Forces and expert scientists. From the investigation to the clean-up, the military and everyone involved in the operation have worked tirelessly to decontaminate the streets of Salisbury. Britain and its allies have also demonstrated that they will take a stand against the use of chemical weapons, from the sanctions enforced on Russia following the reckless use of Novichok to the strikes against the chemicals used by Syrian regime. We recognise we need resilience to face evolving threats which is why we have invested £11million into ensuring we have a world-leading capability. Standing Joint Commander (UK) Lieutenant General Tyrone Urch said The decontamination work in Salisbury and Amesbury over the last 12 months has been a complex and daunting challenge for the Armed Forces. All of the personnel involved demonstrated adaptability, professionalism, resilience and courage; they have been absolutely first-class and lived up to their world-leading reputation. This investment will allow us to further improve our expertise and, most importantly, keep the public safe. This funding will be available in the new financial year and invested straight into programmes that will benefit DSTL scientists and the Armed Forces. It is in addition to the £48million announced by the Defence Secretary last year to develop a new Chemical Weapons Defence Centre. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defence-secretary-announces-11million-boost-to-chemical-defences