La Côte d’Ivoire rejoint le cercle des opérateurs du C295

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  8 mai 2020 | International, Naval

  Here’s the DARPA project it says could pull the Navy a decade forward in unmanned technology

  David B. Larter WASHINGTON – A project inside the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has the potential to pull the Navy's unmanned surface vessel aspirations forward a decade, a senior DARPA official said Wednesday at the annual C4ISR Conference. DARPA's effort to develop a ship designed from the keel up to operate without humans, known as “NOMARS” for “no mariners,” is a separate effort from the Navy's quest to develop a family of large and medium unmanned surface vessels. But the benefits of that program, if successful, could be a giant leap forward for the concept the Navy is developing, said Mike Leahy, who heads the Tactical Technology Office at DARPA. The Navy “will only be able to go so far with where the technology has matured,” Leahy said. “What we're able to do is link to that group [developing USVs for the Navy], get information about what missions they are trying to accomplish, the sizing and other constraints, feed that into NOMARS project so that we can take the same class of ship – looking at the same ideas in terms of a hull form – and when we are successful we can dump that right into their tranche and pull that forward a decade from where it might have been on a traditional path.” The Navy and DARPA have been closely linked in efforts to develop unmanned platforms but DARPA's NOMARs will remain an independent effort, Leahy said. The Navy has “been involved in the source selection, they're involved in the testing we're doing, so that we can make sure that information is flowing,” Leahy said. “But we will reserve the right to take risks that may not be in the direction they want to go. Because sometimes learning what does not work is even more valuable than what does. “The physics is going to tell you what you need to know, and you can't cheat it.” Maintaining separate lines of effort is important because DARPA has the freedom to fail whereas failure in an acquisition program has higher stakes, he said. “NOMARS is going and looking at ‘Can I take people completely off ships,'” he explained. “That's a risky endeavor. We don't know if we're going to be able to do that. We don't know if that's going to pan out. You would not want to link an acquisition program directly to that.” Another Option The Navy is currently pursuing both a large and medium unmanned surface vessel that can perform missions for the surface Navy as a means of increasing aggregate naval power without wrapping a $2 billion hull around 96 missile tubes, as Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday has said publicly, referencing the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Maintaining separate lines of effort is important because DARPA has the freedom to fail whereas failure in an acquisition program has higher stakes, he said. “NOMARS is going and looking at ‘Can I take people completely off ships,'” he explained. “That's a risky endeavor. We don't know if we're going to be able to do that. We don't know if that's going to pan out. You would not want to link an acquisition program directly to that.” Another Option The Navy is currently pursuing both a large and medium unmanned surface vessel that can perform missions for the surface Navy as a means of increasing aggregate naval power without wrapping a $2 billion hull around 96 missile tubes, as Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday has said publicly, referencing the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. https://www.c4isrnet.com/2020/05/06/heres-the-darpa-project-it-says-could-pull-the-navy-a-decade-forward-in-unmanned-technology/

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  22 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - July 21, 2020

  AIR FORCE Raytheon Co. Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $375,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for a miniature self-defense missile. The contract provides for the research and development of a flight-test ready missile. The first task order is $93,380,234. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by October 2023. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $26,712,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA8651-20-D-0001). ARMY Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia (W9124L-20-D-0006); Calibre Systems Inc., Alexandria, Virginia (W9124L-20-D-0007); Janus Research Group LLC, Evans, Georgia (W9124L-20-D-0008); Tec-Masters Inc., Huntsville, Alabama (W9124L-20-D-0009); and Yorktown Systems Group Inc., Huntsville, Alabama (W9124L-20-D-0010), will compete for each order of the $247,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide support to the Fires Center of Excellence; all commands on Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and Army Futures Command, to develop and produce training strategies, doctrine, concepts, instruction and products for the current and future force. Bids were solicited via the internet with 12 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 20, 2025. U.S. Army Field Directorate Office, Fort Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Walsh Motor City JV, Chicago, Illinois, was awarded a $22,344,000 firm-fixed-price contract for design and construction of a high-voltage substation at Detroit Arsenal, Michigan. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work will be performed in Warren, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of July 16, 2022. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Army) funds in the amount of $22,344,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-20-C-0027). WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES Qbase LLC, Beavercreek, Ohio, has been awarded a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) contract with an overall ceiling of $103,569,634. This BPA contract will provide a broad range of information technology support services for all of the Defense Acquisition University locations. Specifically, the BPA will support the following areas: video services operations, enterprise service desk/regional information technology, transition services, enterprise architecture, enterprise/network infrastructure, enterprise cybersecurity, telecommunications, web application design/development/maintenance and software, data warehousing, acquisition workforce qualification initiatives, systems engineering, talent management system, learning management system, human resources system and hardware installation. No funds are being obligated at the time of the award. The expected completion date is July 22, 2025. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HQ0034-20-A-0008). NAVY POWER Engineers Inc., Meridian, Idaho, is awarded a $60,000,000 maximum amount, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, architect-engineering contract for architect-engineer (AE) services for various electrical engineering projects and related services at multiple locations in all areas under the cognizance of Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work will be performed at various Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and other government facilities within the NAVFAC Pacific area of responsibility, including, but not limited to, Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands (70%); Australia (10%); Hawaii (10%); and other areas under the NAVFAC Pacific area of responsibility (10%). The work to be performed provides for AE electrical services with associated multi-discipline AE support services. AE services include engineering studies; preparation of Department of Defense 1391 documents; plans, specifications and cost estimates/parametric cost estimates, including preparation of design-build request for proposal contract documents or design-bid-build contract documents; functional analysis and conceptual design development; as-built drawings; and post-construction services. Projects may involve new construction, alteration, repair and installation of electrical facilities and systems. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months and work is expected to be completed by July 2025. Fiscal 2019 military construction (MILCON) (planning and design) contract funds in the amount of $10,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by MILCON. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and two proposals were received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-20-D-0003). Transoceanic Cable Ship Co. LLC, Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded an $18,577,008 modification under previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N32205-19-C-3506 to fund the second six-month option period. The option will continue to provide one cable ship (CS Global Sentinel) which will be utilized to lay and repair cable for the Department of Defense worldwide. This contract includes a 12-month base period, two six-month option periods, two 12-month option periods and one 11-month option period. Work will be performed worldwide and is expected to be completed by December 2023. Operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $17,477,326 are obligated and will expire at the end of fiscal 2020. Other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,099,681 are obligated and will expire at the end of fiscal 2022. The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N32205-19-C-3506). DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY Applied Physical Sciences Corp., Groton, Connecticut, has been awarded a $10,305,072 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to support a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency research program. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $5,800,000 are being obligated at the time of award, with an estimated completion date of September 2021. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR001120C0138). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2281833/source/GovDelivery/

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  10 août 2020 | International, Terrestre

  Heavy robotic combat vehicles put to test in the Colorado mountains

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army grappled with the challenge of incorporating heavy robotic combat vehicles into its formations during a monthlong experiment at Fort Carson, Colorado, coming away with a clearer path to bringing robots into the fold. Still, the service is years away from ground robots seamlessly fitting in with units. The Army has been evaluating the performance and possible utility of heavy RCVs for more than a year through the use of robotic versions of M113 armored personnel carriers, but the experiment at Camp Red Devil on Fort Carson is the most complex to date. “We're taking a lot of technology, we're experimenting and this experiment was 100 percent successful,” Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, who is in charge of the Army's combat vehicle modernization efforts, told reporters in an Aug. 6 briefing. “The whole purpose was to learn where the technology is now and how we think we want to fight with it in the future.” Coffman said that doesn't mean all of the technology was successful or that everything performed perfectly. “Some [technology] knocked our socks off, and some we've got a little bit of work to do. But that is why we do these things, so we can do it at small scales, so we can learn, save money and then make decisions of how we want to fight in the future.” Going the distance In part, the Army is tackling a physics problem as well as a technology challenge involving the distance between the robot and the controller, Coffman said. But the service has found companies that can create waveforms to get the required megabytes per second to extend the range in the most challenging environments like dense forested areas, he added. During the experimentation, Coffman said, the Army tested the waveforms. “We went after them with [electronic warfare], we saw they were self-correcting, so that if they're on one band, they can switch to another,” he said, “so we have a really good idea of what is in the realm of the possible today.” The service was also able to almost double the range between controller and robot using the waveforms available, he explained. “If you could extend the battlefield up to 2 kilometers with a robot, then that means that you can make decisions before your enemy came, and it gives you that trade space of decisions faster and more effectively against the enemy.” The Army was also very pleased with the interface for the crew. The soldiers were able to located themselves and the robots, communicate among themselves, and see the graphics that “just absolutely blows us away,” Coffman said. The software between the robot and control vehicle — a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle — “while not perfect, performed better than we thought it would,” Coffman said. The software also allowed the robot move in front of the control vehicle by roughly 80-1,000 meters as well as identify hotspots and enemy locations. “I didn't know how that was going to work,” Coffman said. “There were some challenges that we had, like getting exact granularity at distance, but the ability that we could identify hotspots and enemy positions I thought was absolutely exceptional.” As a side experiment, the Army also tested a robotic version of the Stryker Dragoon infantry combat vehicle, which is equipped with a 30mm cannon and uses the same software and hardware in control vehicles, Coffman noted. The experiment included live fire. In the heavy RCV surrogates, the target recognition worked while stationary, but part of the challenge the Army is tackling is how to do that on the move while passing information to a gunner, he added. Work on stabilizing the system for multiple terrains also needs performed, but that was indicative of using clunky, old M113s and turning them into robots rather than having a purpose-built vehicle like the RCV Medium and RCV Light. The Army awarded contracts to a Textron and Howe & Howe team to build the RCV-M, and a QinetiQ North America and Pratt & Miller team to build the light version late last year and early this year. Those are being built now. Training on the system also proved to be much easier than anticipated. Coffman said he asked how long the operators need to train, and was surprised to hear they need roughly 30 minutes to learn. “I thought it was going to take them days, but our soldiers are so amazing and they grew up in this environment of gaming.” What's the Army's next step? Now that the first major experiment is done, the Army plans to build up to a company-level operation in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 at Fort Hood, Texas. The experiment will also include four medium RCV prototypes and four light RCVs. While the experimentation at Fort Carson was focused on cavalry operations where the robots served more in a scout mission and proved they could be effective in a reconnaissance and security role, the experiment in FY22 will move the robots into more of an “attack and defend” role, according to Coffman. A new radio will be added to increase range as well as a tethered UAV and more leap-ahead target recognition capability that uses algorithms trained on synthetic data that is “truly cutting-edge,” Coffman said. After each of these experiments, he added, the Army reaches a decision point where it decides how to proceed, whether that is more experimentation or a fielding decision. “We have enough information tactically and technically that I believe we can move forward to the second experiment,” he noted. Following the second experiment, the Army will reach a decision point in FY23 on whether to move the effort into an official program of record. Once that is decided, an acquisition strategy would be identified if the decision is to move forward, according to Coffman. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/08/07/heavy-robotic-combat-vehicles-put-to-test-in-the-colorado-mountains/