La ministre Anand fait le point avec les intervenants de la Défense nationale sur les progrès accomplis pour moderniser les Forces armées canadiennes et relever les défis de demain en matière de sécurité

Sur le même sujet

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  14 mai 2018 | Local, Aérospatial

  RCAF working toward new sniper pod placement on CF-188 Hornet

  Chris Thatcher In a two-by-three metre wind tunnel at the National Research Council of Canada's (NRC) aerospace research centre in Ottawa, aerospace engineers are gathering data for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) this week to validate the placement of the sniper pod on the centreline station of the CF-188 Hornet. “For this configuration, we are running at close to takeoff and landing speeds to simulate the take off and landing of the F-18, about 100 metres per second or almost 200 knots,” explained Melissa Richardson, an aerodynamics research officer and the project manager for the testing process, as wind whipped over the inverted nose landing gear and sniper pod. The CF-188 fighter jet has carried a certified sniper pod on the left side of the fuselage, below the engine intake, since the aircraft were upgraded in the early 2000. But lessons from recent operations over Libya in 2011 and Iraq and Syria between October 2014 and March 2016 convinced pilots they would have a better view of possible targets with the centerline placement. “We found a lot of our missions revolved around looking at the ground, monitoring areas of interest and targets for missions that are four to five hours long,” said Capt Tom Lawrence, a CF-188 pilot and the project officer for fighter weapons and equipment. “When [pilots] are manoeuvring their aircraft, there is a chance of the aircraft actually masking the targeting pod. Putting [it] on the centre of the aircraft allows a larger field of regard.” Rather than bank left to maintain focus on a target, the new placement should ensure an uninterrupted view of the ground or target aircraft, “taking that frustration out of the pilot's mind,” he said. “They can just focus on the imagery and the task at hand.” Lawrence said it could also make it easier for pilots to employ weapons and assess battle damage effects. The purpose of the wind tunnel tests is to measure the aerodynamics created by the nose landing gear on the sniper pod mounted behind it at times when it is most exposed to turbulence, said Richardson. Among concerns before the tests began were the effect of significant vibration on the pod and the possibility of debris being kicked up by the wheels and striking its protective glass shield. “[We need to] make sure the aircraft is safe to operate with the sniper pod on this new location. That means it can take off and land without excessive vibration, that the loads are still within acceptable limits,” explained Capt David Demel, the certification authority with the RCAF's Technical Airworthiness Authority. “This is the goal of the current wind tunnel test, to confirm that before we move to the flight test phase in Cold Lake in the September timeframe.” A second a high-speed equivalent test will be conducted by the NRC at its high speed trisonic wind tunnel in about three weeks, using a six per cent scale model, that will include ensuring engine intake airflow is not affected. Test pilots with the Operational Test and Evaluation Unit in Cold Lake will then recertify operational airworthiness of the sniper pod in its new placement. While the testing facilities are being provided by the NRC, the vibration data is being gathered and analyzed by Bombardier, which has provided some of the instrumentation. The sniper pod and landing gear were installed in the wind tunnel by L-3 MAS, which will have the task of mounting the pods in the new location on the entire CF-188 fleet–including the 18 F/A-18 Hornets the government is negotiating to buy from the Royal Australian Air Force–once approved. “We're all collaborating on the project as it goes through each phase, from technical airworthiness to operational airworthiness,” said Lawrence. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/rcaf-planning-new-sniper-pod-placement-cf-188-hornet/

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  25 février 2020 | Local, C4ISR

  Pentagon Briefs Industry On 5G Experiments

  By PAUL MCLEARY PENTAGON: Close to 300 companies logged on to a “virtual industry day” with Pentagon leadership last week as the military scrambles to build its own 5G networks. The challenge: moving fast enough to keep up with commercial innovation — but cautiously enough to keep China out. The event, led by DoD's technical director for 5G, Dr. Joe Evans, marked a starting point for shaping a forthcoming Request for Prototype Proposals planned in the coming weeks. The companies selected will then start work later this year on a series of 5G experiments at four bases across the United States. Those experiments are intended to help the individual armed services to refine what it is they need, and what they need to ask from industry, as the Pentagon pumps hundreds of millions of new funding into 5G programs across the department. The experiments run the gamut from logistics to sharing information between radar systems, and each service will play a role in testing out what industry offers. Hill Air Force Base in Utah will develop 5G dynamic spectrum sharing capabilities between airborne radar systems and 5G cellular systems. The Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia and Naval Base San Diego will test out a smart warehouse concept, while virtual reality training systems will be tested at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The RPP will be issued through the National Spectrum Consortium, an industry group established under a five-year, $1.25 billion Other Transaction Authority contract with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Emerging Capabilities and Prototyping. Only vetted companies who belong to the consortium will be considered for the work. The effort is part of a wider push within the government to develop homegrown tech, and quickly. President Trump's top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, told reporters Friday the White House is planning a 5G meeting in April with top technology companies in an effort to ensure Huawei does not cornere the global market on the technology. “We're going to have a lot of them in the White House to have a discussion,” Kudlow said, though the event hasn't been officially announced. The Pentagon fiscal year 2021 budget requests $449 million in research and development for the 5G next generation information communications technology program, $249 million more than provided by Congress last year. While the Pentagon is paying to run these initial tests, the individual services will ultimately be responsible for paying to 5G technologies once they're matured, adding another budget line at a time when no one expects defense accounts to rise for the foreseeable future. When that happens, 5G will compete “with all other infrastructure upgrades that the services already have planned for their installations and for the systems that operate on them,” said Morgan Dwyer, a former Pentagon official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “So, how quickly DoD can deploy 5G is really a function of how much utility the technology provides to the services and how willing they are to trade-off other capabilities in order to prioritize 5G instead.” https://breakingdefense.com/2020/02/pentagon-briefs-industry-on-5g-experiments

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  31 janvier 2019 | Local, Aérospatial

  FLIR Systems Acquires Aeryon Labs for $200M

  Acquisition Expands FLIR's Unmanned Systems Solutions with Advanced Airframes, Sensors, and Flight Management Software for Government and Defense Customers WILSONVILLE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2019-- FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR) announced today that it has acquired Aeryon Labs Inc., a leading developer of high-performance unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for the global military, public safety, and critical infrastructure markets for $200 million. Aeryon's vertical takeoff and landing quad-copter airframes integrate multiple sensors, including FLIR thermal technology, to provide users with immediate high-resolution intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. Based in Waterloo, Canada, and with offices in Denverand Salt Lake City, Aeryon Labs was founded in 2007 and is a leading designer and manufacturer of mission-focused Group 1 UAS solutions built around aircraft under 20 pounds. Aeryon's family of UAS are deployed by 20 militaries in over 30 countries around the world, including the United States Department of Defense. Aeryon develops UAS solutions that includes hardware, embedded software, ground control stations, sensors, software for flight operations, as well as supporting services for its global customers. “The acquisition of Aeryon Labs reinforces our long-term strategy to move beyond providing sensors to the development of complete solutions that save lives and livelihoods,” said Jim Cannon, President and CEO of FLIR Systems. “This acquisition, coupled with our acquisition of Prox Dynamics in 2016, greatly increases our unmanned systems solutions capabilities, expanding beyond nano-UAS into Group 1 UAS solutions for military. We intend to continue to invest and build this area of our business and broaden our capabilities as we view unmanned and autonomous solutions to be a significant opportunity for organic growth in the coming years.” Rugged, reliable, and field-proven, Aeryon's SkyRanger UAS are rucksack portable and can be deployed in minutes by a single operator. SkyRanger UAS are renowned for operating in demanding environments and inclement weather, including at high altitudes, gusting winds, and rain and snow. The latest additions to the SkyRanger family of aircraft establish a new benchmark for small UAS performance and reliability. Now with a modular and open architecture, end users and third party developers can create tightly integrated payloads and software systems for the SkyRanger platform, enabling rapid solution development, onboard artificial intelligence, and autonomous operations. “We're thrilled to join the FLIR family and to have a large, growth-oriented technology company as our new home,” said Dave Kroetsch, Co-founder and CTO of Aeryon Labs. “As drone technology and its markets evolve, customers are seeking UAS as just one component of a broader solution. While Aeryon has been evolving in that direction for the past few years, being part of FLIR Systems brings a path to include our hardware and software technologies in much bigger solutions than would have ever been possible on our own.” Aeryon Labs is now part of the FLIR Government and Defense Business Unit's Unmanned Systems and Integrated Solutions division. The transaction is expected to be $0.02 dilutive to FLIR Systems' 2019 earnings due to anticipated product development investments, and accretive thereafter. FLIR Systems' management will discuss this strategic acquisition during its 2018 Q4 earnings call scheduled for February 13 at 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. About FLIR Systems Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon, FLIR Systems is a world-leading maker of sensor systems that enhance perception and heighten awareness, helping to save lives, improve productivity, and protect the environment. Through its nearly 3,700 employees, FLIR Systems' vision is to be “The World's Sixth Sense” by leveraging thermal imaging and adjacent technologies to provide innovative, intelligent solutions for security and surveillance, environmental and condition monitoring, outdoor recreation, machine vision, navigation, and advanced threat detection. For more information, please visit www.flir.comand follow @flir. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may contain words such as “anticipates,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” and “believes” and similar words and expressions and include the assumptions that underlie such statements. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, and projections based, in part, on potentially inaccurate assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and FLIR Systems does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release, or for changes made to this document by wire services or Internet service providers. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190128005367/en/ Source: FLIR Systems, Inc. http://investors.flir.com/index.php/news-releases/news-release-details/flir-systems-acquires-aeryon-labs-200m