2 novembre 2018 | International, Terrestre
By: Todd South
The Marines want an unmanned vehicle capable of keeping up with its rifle squad and conducting squad resupply to unburden the grunt.
A Request For Information recently posted on the Federal Business Opportunitieswebsite keeps options open, telling interested industry partners that the mode could be a “robotic applique” on existing systems, a remote-controlled vehicle or a fully autonomous transport.
The system must carry between 500 and 1,000 pounds to outfit up to a 15-Marine unit. While the main objective is for the vehicle to move with the squad through inconsistent terrain, a nice bonus would be if it could manage intra-squad resupply, according to the posting.
It must run on rough roads and off road, go for between eight hours and three days, fit inside an MV-22 Osprey when fully loaded, and fit on a light tactical trailer in ground transport.
The system also must push out 1- to 3-kW of power to recharge and run squad systems.
The Marine Corps Rapid Capabilities Office wants information from industry by Nov. 13.
Marines participating in the Advanced Naval Technologies Exercise at Camp Pendleton, California, in May saw vehicles that might fit some of the requirements in operation during urban training sessions.
As far back as 2016, Marines were testing a tracked version of the Multi-Utility Tactical Transport, which could carry weapons systems or gear but at a lower rate than this current request. At the time, the MUTT could haul 600 pounds on land and 300 pounds while running amphibious for about 15 miles before power ran down.
This latest posting falls closely in line with an existing program in the Army known as Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport, or SMET.
The SMET program has accepted four submissions of similarly capable vehicles for testing by the 10th Mountain Division, 101st Airborne Division and an unidentified Marine unit at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
All four of those submissions are standalone vehicles that use either wheeled or tracked methods of movement.
The Army expects to pick the contract winner by 2020 after extensive field tests.
2 mai 2022 | International, Aérospatial
A U.S. Navy proposal now under review would establish a dedicated training center for aircraft pilots and maintainers in foreign militaries, a service official said at Aviation Week's Military Aviation Logistics and Maintenance Symposium here on April 27.
3 août 2020 | International, C4ISR
Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's top IT official provided an update July 30 on a wide range of ongoing initiatives underway at the department as it continues to grapple with a remote workforce amid the coronavirus pandemic. Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy highlighted several ongoing projects related to artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing, while also discussing the department's Commercial Virtual Remote Environment that's allowed nearly 1 million Department of Defense employees to collaborate while working from home Here's a roundup of what Deasy told reporters: Cloud developments The Defense Department has struggled for more than a year to procure its enterprisewide cloud, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, a platform DoD leadership has continuously said will break down data silos and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities. But, as Deasy has stated repeatedly, JEDI is not going to be the DoD's only cloud. “Cloud has always been much more than JEDI,” Deasy said. Work on the JEDI cloud, which was awarded to Microsoft in October last year and subsequently protested by Amazon Web Services, is on hold after a federal judge issued an injunction earlier this year upon determining it was likely the DoD erred in its evaluations of the two tech companies' proposals. The DoD is taking corrective action on the award, with Deasy saying the department intends to re-announce the winner “probably sometimes towards the very end of August, barring any last minute, unforeseen additional issues that are raised.” In the meantime, the DoD has stamped the Air Force's Platform One cloud offering as an enterprise service, giving DoD components a certified place to go for DevSecOps, Deasy said. “What the big message there was, we actually for the first time had designated a cloud across DoD that could be used for a common way of doing DevSecOps,” he said. AI and JADC2 The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is pivoting to focus on Joint All-Domain Command and Control, a Pentagon-led effort to connect sensors and shooters. Through its Joint Common Foundation, Deasy said, the JAIC has tools and capabilities to develop AI capabilities at scale. “That has now allowed us as we've matured to say: ‘What we've always known we really need to ... get JAIC focused on is the joint all-domain space,‘ ” Deasy said, adding that the center is looking at joint fires, the electromagnetic spectrum and strategic mobility. The JAIC, he said, is working on a cognitive assistant to deliver commanders relevant data from the hoards of information that come from the battlefield to quicken decision-making. But he added that the JAIC will expand into other areas of joint all-domain operations. “JADC2 is made up of a bunch of different areas ... including electromagnetic spectrum, how do we move forces, how do we target,” Deasy said. “But right now it's all about how do you take streams of information and allow the machine and human to interact together to make better decisions.” The new chief data officer In June, the DoD announced that former Special Operations Command chief data officer Dave Spirk would become the DoD's new CDO. Deasy told reporters July 30 that Spirk will focus on “strengthening data governance, interoperability, and data protection across the department,” which he went on to describe as a “major effort.” “The chief data officer is on a directed, 90-day listening tour where he is talking to senior leaders in the Pentagon, war fighters and at the combatant commands, industry and academia to assess the overall department's progress,” Deasy said. “At the conclusion of the 90-day tour, Dave will provide a written assessment with a plan of action.” Deasy added that a DoD data strategy will be released “in the coming months.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/07/31/pentagon-cio-provides-updates-on-several-it-initiatives/
1 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
By Connie Lee The COVID-19 pandemic is putting particular stress on the Army's second- and third-tier suppliers, said the service's secretary April 30. The Army is racing to ensure its manufacturing supply chain is able to stay afloat amid economic challenges posed by the virus, said Ryan McCarthy. “Some of these are small companies [that have] 15,000 people, and you get a couple people sick, you shut the whole company down,” he said during a virtual event hosted by Brookings Institution. The supply chain will "be a challenge for us months and months ahead.” The pandemic is also hurting overseas manufacturing in areas such as Mexico, Europe and East Asia, where the Army has little influence, he noted. The service is working with the State Department to figure out how to keep overseas workers employed and keep the supply chain running, he said. “We are limited in our ability to affect them and get them back to work,” McCarthy said. “It presents challenges that are far beyond our reach and ... influence, so we're going to have some real heart-to-hearts with manufacturers going forward.” Despite these issues, the Army is continuing to prioritize modernization, he said. Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said the service is moving forward with weapons assessments, noting that it was recently able to conduct a successful hypersonic weapons test. As part of its plan to keep up with great power competition, the service is pursuing 31 new signature systems. “Over half of our procurement budget is going towards these new weapon systems,” McCarthy said. “We've got to put them into formation. Much of our iron is 50 years old. That probably is the prime area where we put the most energy.” Meanwhile, the Army is collaborating with other organizations in search of a vaccine. There are 10 to 15 top potential vaccine candidates worldwide that are in various stages of maturity, McCarthy said during a Pentagon briefing the same day. To speed up the timeline, the service plans on investing in the ones that seem to be moving the fastest, he noted. “We can double down and invest in the fastest horse, if you will, in this 15 candidate race, and then that compresses the timeframe that will ultimately get you to the answer and bring a vaccine to life,” he said. “You'll hear ranges on how fast it can go.” Some of these vaccines are currently in human trials, with the bulk of the work slated for summer and early fall, he noted. “It's moving faster than probably any point in history because of the extraordinary collaboration that's going on today,” he said. However, this may involve accepting some risks in the process, McConville noted at the briefing. “You can save time by taking risks,” he said. “You may get ready to produce something, and that horse may not get to the final race and that may not be the most efficient use of money, but by taking risks, you can really move things very, very quickly.” https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/4/30/covid-hurting-army-small-businesses