2 décembre 2019 | International, C4ISR
In the face of unpredictable conflict environment, one of the key considerations of armed forces around the world is to improve their ability to rapidly identify and analyze potential threats, in order to transmit coordinates and information to whomever the appropriate response will come from. In this latest report we describe how in the modern threat environment, the average Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft must be able to find and detect new, evolving threats including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), stealth aircraft, cruise missiles (both supersonic and hypersonic) and electronic warfare systems. As technology improves on combat air systems, Airborne ISR platforms are also needed to evolve to be able to detect and help defend or combat these systems.
Airborne ISR continues to be an incredibly important capability for militaries. Effective ISR enables kinetic assets the resources they need to be successful on the battlefield. Perhaps more than this, ISR is an exceptionally capable deterrent in its own right and modern-day dissemination technology and techniques allows forces to deal with threats before they can cause harm.
Currently the navies of NATO member nations do not have the required number of airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets to provide the information naval fleet commanders need in today's oceanic battlefields. The Navies of NATO member states have three major sources of ISR: satellite photos, ISR drones and search operations performed by specialized, manned electronic warfare aircraft and AWACS aircraft. Most of these airborne assets, however, are land-based. This means ships far out at sea or aircraft stationed far away from friendly airfields will have less access to information from MQ-4C Triton drones or P-8 Poseidon aircraft.
Meanwhile, China's threat to the US Navy's sea control abilities within the Indo-Pacific region is increasing. The PLA's Rocket Force (PLARF) has developed the ability for mass missile attacks on US ships that it can launch from standoff distance. The Russian Navy too, has developed similar capabilities to deter NATO ships from coming close to Russian coastal waters.
Effective airborne ISR will allow the United States and NATO to gain insights along with tactics, techniques and procedures about the air defense systems of their adversaries. It would also provide a non-kinetic way to defeat those air defense systems and passing location data to shooters. As on this date both Russia and China can outpace NATO in a conflict's opening phases.
It is hardly surprising then, that as per the latest study – “Global Airborne ISR Platforms & Payloads - Market and Technology Forecast to 2027” carried out by Amsterdam based Market Forecast, the global market for Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance systems is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.06% between 2019 and 2027. Airborne ISR represents the eyes and ears of modern defense forces, and major U.S. projects such as the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) have attracted attention from leading aerospace and defense companies all over the world. Now, the rest of the world is following suit. This market study also focusses on 20 of the most sought- after aerospace companies in the ISR industry. The report is valuable for anyone who wants to understand the dynamics of airborne ISR industry and the implementation and adoption of airborne ISR services.
http://www.asdnews.com/news/defense/2019/11/28/nato-navies-need-more-airborne-isr
26 mars 2024 | International, Aérospatial
The Army is rapidly pursuing launched effects to deliver surveillance, reconnaissance, targeting, network and lethal capabilities to a modern force.
30 avril 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre, C4ISR
By: Jen Judson HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Army's $2.3 billion unfunded requirements list — or wish list — sent to Capitol Hill includes money to speed up the service's plan to buy a future long-range assault helicopter and efforts to boost lethality, such as outfitting more Stryker combat vehicles with a 30mm gun. The unfunded requirements list is something the military services send to Congress each year shortly following the release of the defense budget request to inform lawmakers on where money would be spent if there was more of it. The lists are usually provided at the request of congressional defense committees. The service has pivoted toward six modernization priorities it deems necessary to modernize the force, and through a rigorous review of every program within the Army by leadership, billions of dollars were found within its $182 billion fiscal 2020 budget to devote to the ambitious efforts within that modernization portfolio. But the Army would spend another $243 million to advance certain modernization efforts if it could, according to the wish list. For instance, if the Army had additional funds, it would want to spend $40 million to buy the XM-913 weapon system — a 50mm gun, ammunition-handling system and fire control — to outfit two next-generation combat vehicle prototypes. The NGCV is the second-highest modernization priority. The service would also want to spend $75.6 million to speed up decision-making on the future long-range assault aircraft, or FLRAA — one of the two future vertical lift lines of effort to replace the current fleet. Gen. John “Mike” Murray, Army Futures Command commander who is in charge of the service's modernization, told Defense News in a March 26 interview at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium that the service would like additional funding to close the gap between what it is seeing now with the two technology demonstrators, which are both flying, and a decision on the way ahead to procure FLRAA. Bell's V-280 Valor tilt-rotor aircraft has been flying for nearly two years, and the Sikorsky-Boeing team's SB-1 Defiant flew last week. The demonstrator aircraft were originally funded to help shape the service's requirements for a future vertical lift family of aircraft. The Army also wants additional funding to extend the range of the Q-53 counter-fire target acquisition radar and funding to preserve a new program for a low-Earth orbit, space-based capability to extract data and tactical imagery in denied or contested environments, something that is critical to the Long-Range Precision Fires program, the Army's top modernization priority. Lastly, additional funding would also support rapid prototyping for the next-generation squad weapon—automatic rifle. The service would want an additional $1 billion to address readiness to include $161 million in more aviation training, $118 million in bridging assets and $128 million for mobilization needs. Also included in the readiness funding: money to further enhance interoperable communications with allies and partners, and funds to help restore airfields, railheads and runways in Europe that would enhance better movement. U.S. Army Europe commanders in recent years have stressed the need to build better infrastructure to move troops and supplies more freely in the region and have cited interoperability issues with allies as one of the toughest aspects to overcome in joint operations. Funding would also be used to enhance the Army's pre-positioned stock in Europe with petroleum and medical equipment. In the Pacific area of operations, the funding would also cover needed multidomain operations capabilities and force protection for radar sites and mobile ballistic bunkers. Focusing on lethality requirements, the Army wants an additional $249 million to upgrade more Strykers with 30mm cannons. The service is already up-gunning Strykers for brigades in Europe and recently wrapped up an assessment of the enhanced Strykers to inform a decision on whether to outfit more Strykers with a larger gun. The Army is expected to make a decision within days on whether it will up-gun more Stryker units and how many it plans to upgrade. Additionally, the Army wants $130 million to prototype hypersonic missile capabilities and another $24 million to integrate the Joint Air-to-Ground Munition's seeker and guidance kit into an Army Tactical Missile System. JAGM is the service's Hellfire replacement, and ATACMS will be replaced with the service's long-range precision fire missile — the precision strike missile — currently under development. The Army is also asking for $565 billion for infrastructure improvements both in the United States and in the Indo-Pacific area of operation. Congress reporter Joe Gould contributed to this report. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/global-force-symposium/2019/03/27/armys-23b-wish-list-would-speed-up-future-helo-buy-boost-lethality-efforts/
4 septembre 2018 | International, C4ISR
By: Adam Stone As Navy Cyber Security Division director, Rear Adm. Danelle Barrett casts a wary eye over the rising importance of data as a weapon of war. Data is an ever-more-critical battlefield asset, given the rising internet of things, including a rapidly growing inventory of unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets across the Navy. Protecting all that data from enemy exploitation represents a potentially massive cyber challenge. This spring, the Navy announced “Compile to Combat in 24 Hours,” a pilot project to leverage web services and a new cloud architecture in the service of data security. C4ISRNET's Adam Stone spoke to Barrett about the potential there, and about the emerging IT security landscape in a data-centric military. C4ISRNET: Data has become increasingly valuable, especially in terms of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. How valuable is it? How do you describe the significance of data these days? REAR ADM. DANELLE BARRETT: If you look at what goes on in industry and how they use big data for decision making, to be predictive and proactive: that's exactly the kind of environment that we want to get to. Being able to trust those data, to access the data, expose the data, reuse the data — that becomes actually the hardest part. C4ISRNET: Let's talk about that. Sharing data involves risk. Talk about that risk landscape. BARRETT: The more data that you have out there and the more places you have it, obviously you have an increased attack surface. Adversaries will go after your data to try to get an advantage. So, you want to protect data down to the lowest layer and you want to make sure that you have defense in depth built in, and resiliency to be able to work through any kind of attack or interruption in your data flow. We build our architectures around being resilient using the NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology] model of “detect, react and restore.” You build in as much resiliency as you can. C4ISRNET: Can you say, specifically, how that's done? BARRETT: I'll give you an example of something that we're testing in our architecture to try to improve the data down to the data element layer. We have an effort called “Compile to Combat in 24 Hours.” We're looking at modernizing our afloat architecture and, as we do that, we're decomposing big monolithic applications, if you will, into web services similar to what you'd get on an iPhone: smaller capabilities, smaller web services as opposed to these big monolithic applications. As you do that, you can ensure that you're using standard ports and protocols, so you don't have applications on the ship that are reaching back over nonstandard ports, which would present an increased attack surface. If you can standardize on your ports, you can sense those better and monitor those better. Then you then go down to the data element layer. Say you standardize on extensible markup language, XML, you can then apply the SAML protocol that is inherent to that to protect your data at that lowest layer. We're testing that concept in an architecture now. Full article: https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/08/31/the-rising-importance-of-data-as-a-weapon-of-war/