NATO’s newfound knack for hefty bulk buys has arms maker RTX perked up

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  29 décembre 2024 | International, Aérospatial

  Ukraine says it struck drone depot in Russia's Oryol region

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  23 août 2018 | International, Terrestre

  Army EOD soldiers will soon get a whole new kit — and new robots

  By: Todd South BETHESDA, Md. — The explosive ordnance disposal community has played a key role in operations in recent wars, and that role will only grow as the Pentagon shifts its focus to major combat operations against near-peer threats. With that growing role, the equipment those EOD technicians carry with them will change, too. At the National Defense Industrial Association's annual Global EOD Symposium recently, multiple speakers focused on how the community has spent the past two decades primarily working the improvised explosive device threat. But they cautioned that old and new threats will emerge in major combat. Repeated throughout their comments was the admonition that the community must be “full EOD, not just IED.” To meet that mission, the Army is turning to technology to help fill the gaps. Pat McGrath, chief of the materiel development branch for Army Training and Doctrine Command's EOD concerns, laid out some of the new items in the works. Army EOD teams will soon have three aerial drones, soldier-borne sensors, tiny “nano” helicopter drones and tethered Unmanned Aerial Sensors at their disposal. The enhanced render safe kit will also include binocular night vision devices, lightweight dismounted X-ray machines, lightweight electronic countermeasures, and lightweight mobile detectors for radiation and chemicals. The Army needs 176 kits and expects to have initial operational capability by 2021, McGrath said. Full article: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/08/22/army-eod-soldiers-will-soon-get-a-whole-new-kit-and-new-robots

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  5 octobre 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Army chooses Raytheon, Lockheed to mature new missile defense radars

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has picked Raytheon and Lockheed Martin to continue on the path to develop a next-generation air and missile defense radar following a concept design phase that looked at four different companies' technology, according to company representatives. The Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium awarded contracts to four companies to come up with designs to help inform the Army's requirements for the Patriot AMD radar replacement a year ago. Because of their previous involvement, it came as no shock both Raytheon and Lockheed received contracts for the Lower Tier Air-and-Missile Defense Sensor. Northrop Grumman and dark horse Technovative Applications, based in Brea, California, were also awarded contracts. Raytheon is the manufacturer of the legacy Patriot system, and Lockheed Martin spent years developing a system to replace Patriot, from which the Army ultimately walked away. That system — the Medium Extended Air Defense Systems — is still in development with Germany. After spending years debating when and how it would replace its current Patriot system's radar with one that can detect threats coming from any direction, the Army decided to hold a competition for a brand-new 360-degree, lower-tier AMD sensor in early 2017. Replacing the radar becomes evermore critical as the Army looks at dealing with different threats: ones that fly slower, faster or maneuver differently. According to the Army's Air and Missile Defense Cross-Functional Team lead, Brig. Gen. Randall McIntire, the service is trying to move quickly to procure a radar more capable than the current one; any future radar must fit into the future Integrated Air and Missile Defense framework. The AMD CFT is part of the Army's new four-star organization — Army Futures Command — tasked to get after the service's top six modernization priorities. AMD is fifth on that list ahead of soldier lethality and behind the network. Each priority has an assigned CFT to manage modernization efforts. The concept design contracts were given a period of performance of 15 months, so the downselect to Raytheon and Lockheed came slightly early. Congress has mandated that the Army by 2025 find a way to produce a 360-degree radar, accelerating the service's effort to bring something online. The Army will get a capable radar over time, McIntire told Defense News in an Oct. 1 interview, but it might be worth quickly fielding a radar and then building capability into the system over time. McIntire noted that while a 360-degree capability is a top priority, there might be some key performance parameters that rank higher such as more efficiency and better range. “We are proud to be selected as one of the companies to move forward to the Technical Maturation and Risk Reduction phase for the Lower Tier and Air Missile Defense Sensor that will provide the United States Army the ability to detect, identify, track and report aircraft and missiles,” a Lockheed spokesperson said in an Oct. 3 statement to Defense News. Raytheon spokesman Mike Nachshen told Defense News that the company is entering the technology-maturation and risk-reduction phase of the program with a brand-new radar, rather than an upgraded Patriot radar. The capability was designed from the ground up using gallium nitride technology and a staring array, rather than a rotating one, to provide constant 360-degree coverage, according to Nachshen. The company has its own GaN foundry. Raytheon expects to begin discussions with the Army over the next few weeks to determine how the radar's performance will be evaluated, the timeline of the phase and how much the Army plans to invest. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2018/10/04/army-chooses-raytheon-lockheed-to-mature-new-missile-defense-radars