MBDA unveils Land Precision Fires family

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  15 août 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  DARPA Invites Proposals For Active-Flow-Control X-Plane

  By Graham Warwick DARPA has formally launched a program to build and fly an X-plane designed around active flow control (AFC), potentially eliminating the need for moving control surfaces. Designing from the ground up around AFC, rather than modifying an existing aircraft, is expected to yield performance and operational benefits. A broad agency announcement (BAA) was released on Aug. 12 for the first two of four planned phases of the Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (Crane) program. A proposers' day is scheduled for Aug. 26 and proposals are due to be submitted by Nov. 8. A budget of $21 million is available for multiple awards under the 12-month Phase 0, which will focus on the aircraft design process and understanding the trade space. DARPA expects performers to enter this phase with multiple candidate configurations and flow-control approaches. Each Phase 0 contract will end with a conceptual design review for one or more configurations. Phase 1 will continue to mature up to two concepts and is expected to involve component-level testing and demonstrations to inform a system requirements review. This nine-month phase is planned to culminate in a preliminary design review for the proposed X-plane. DARPA plans to downselect to one performer at the end of Phase 1 in second-quarter fiscal 2022 and award a contract for Phase 2 detailed design. This is planned to conclude in a critical design review and lead to a go/no-go decision in the second quarter fiscal of 2023 for Phase 3 building and flying of the X-plane. First flight is planned for the third quarter of fiscal 2024. DARPA wants a “tactically relevant scale aircraft,” the BAA says. This may include a “clean-sheet design or modification of an existing aircraft.” The agency expects substantial use of off-the-shelf components for the flight demonstrator so that program resources can be focused on AFC development and testing. AFC modifies the flow field around the aircraft using mechanical or fluidic actuators. The BAA specifically excludes using large external moving surfaces, mechanical vectoring of engine exhaust or other traditional moving aerodynamic control surfaces. AFC applications identified in the BAA include eliminating moving control surfaces for stability and control and improving takeoff and landing performance, high-lift flight, thick-airfoil efficiency and high-altitude flight. Proposers may identify additional applications and benefits. A NATO technical study involving Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and academic institutes in the U.S. and UK identified that an unmanned combat aircraft with AFC could have stealth and other potential performance benefits during the ingress and egress phases of a strike mission. https://aviationweek.com/defense/darpa-invites-proposals-active-flow-control-x-plane

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  23 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

  US spy satellite launched into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base

  By: The Associated Press VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — A powerful Delta 4 Heavy rocket carrying a U.S. spy satellite lifted off Saturday from California. The rocket propelled the National Reconnaissance Office satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 11:10 a.m. Pacific time, arcing over the Pacific Ocean west of Los Angeles as it headed toward space. The outer boosters of the rocket separated about four minutes into flight, followed shortly by separation of the central first-stage booster and successful ignition of the upper stage. As is customary with classified payloads, United Launch Alliance webcast the liftoff only until the aerodynamic fairing covering the payload was discarded. Details of the mission, dubbed NROL-71, were not released. The launch had been repeatedly delayed since late last year for various reasons including a hydrogen leak, high winds and a problem with ground communication equipment. The National Reconnaissance Office is responsible for U.S. intelligence satellites. United Launch Alliance is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The Delta 4 Heavy stands 233 feet (71 meters) tall. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/01/20/us-spy-satellite-launched-into-orbit-from-vandenberg-air-force-base/

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  18 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Air Force needs more data before making a decision on enhanced KC-46 vision system

  Kent Miller and Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Within a few weeks, the Air Force will have the data it needs to make a decision on whether to install an interim version of the KC-46′s troubled remote vision system, the head of Air Mobility Command said in a Sept. 10 interview. In April, the Air Force and KC-46 manufacturer Boeing signed off on an agreement to replace the tanker's Remote Vision System — the series of cameras that provide imagery to the boom operator during refueling operations — with a newly designed system, called Remote Vision System 2.0. Boeing has agreed to develop and install RVS 2.0 on its own dime, but it has also proposed installing an enhanced version of the original system, eRVS, before then. But AMC commander Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, who viewed a demonstration of the eRVS system during a Sept. 4 visit to Boeing Field in Washington state, isn't sold on the upgrade just yet. “The most important thing is, we cannot slow down getting RVS 2.0 into the airplane. So eRVS can't slow us down if we were to accept parts of that,” she told Air Force Times. “And then we want to make sure if we're going to put it on the airplane, that it actually gives us some tangible capabilities with respect to boom operator workload and capability with respect to opening up the envelope for actually doing operational air refueling, or it gives us a great enhancement getting ready for 2.0.” The Air Force and Boeing began flight testing the eRVS this summer. The demonstration shown to Van Ovost, which compared the original RVS to the enhanced version, revealed “some sharpening of the picture with respect to how the boom operator saw the airplane” in day and nighttime conditions, she said. But those improvements in image quality need to be weighed against the time it will take to retrofit the existing KC-46 planes in service with the new eRVS components. “Do we have to ground airplanes for a while to put the put the modifications in?” Van Ovost said. “What's the worth of the modifications compared to the operational envelope it's going to open up for our boom operators?” The Air Force is set to receive the full set of test data within the next few weeks. Once it has the answers to those questions, the service will be ready to decide whether to field eRVS. If the Air Force decides to incorporate the enhanced system, Boeing can start making those upgrades in the second half of 2021, said Mike Hafer, Boeing's global sales and marketing lead for KC-46. Boeing also remains on track to incorporate RVS 2.0 on KC-46s coming off the production line in late 2023 or early 2024, he said. The Air Force intends to purchase 179 KC-46s during the program of record. The first tanker was delivered to the service in January 2019. Boeing is locked into paying any costs associated with the KC-46 that exceed the $4.9 billion firm fixed-price ceiling on its 2011 contract with the U.S. Air Force. So far, Boeing will have spent more than $4.7 billion in company funds on the KC-46 program — almost equivalent to the Air Force's own investment in the program. The deal on RVS 2.0 capped a yearslong dispute over the original system, which the Air Force argued did not provide enough fidelity to boom operators in certain lighting conditions, resulting in incidents of operators accidentally scraping the boom against the receiver aircraft. Van Ovost said the main goal of the trip to Boeing Field was to better understand the progress on RVS 2.0 and whether the final design specifications agreed to in April would meet the needs of tanker operators in the field. Van Ovost described the performance of the original RVS as something the Air Force “couldn't live with” but said she “was pretty encouraged about the collaboration of the team, and how far they've gotten with the requirements of RVS 2.0.” “I'm encouraged that we are on a path to get a fully qualified tanker,” she added. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/afa-air-space/2020/09/16/air-force-needs-more-data-before-making-a-decision-on-enhanced-kc-46-vision-system/