Netherlands considers creating tank battalion, but needs funding

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  22 juin 2023 | International, Autre défense

  Nouveautés pour les innovateurs

  Chers innovateurs Canadiens,   Le lundi 19 juin, l'OTAN DIANA a lancé ses trois premiers défis pilotes. Les candidatures sont maintenant ouvertes aux innovateurs de classe mondiale qui ont des idées exceptionnelles pour aider à résoudre des problèmes critiques de défense et de sécurité à double usage.   L'appel aux propositions pilote de DIANA se concentre sur les trois domaines suivants :   Résilience énergétique:     Dans un monde incertain et en constante évolution, il est urgent de trouver des solutions énergétiques plus fiables, plus résistantes et plus efficaces, en particulier à la suite de catastrophes naturelles ou dans les zones de conflit. Le changement climatique et ses conséquences ne feront qu'accentuer ce besoin.   Pour relever ce défi, DIANA recherche donc des solutions technologiques permettant la conception modulaire de micro-réseaux capables de répondre de manière fiable aux demandes d'approvisionnement. Les technologies et les systèmes capables de s'adapter et interopérables avec d'autres systèmes similaires, la production d'énergie renouvelable, le stockage de l'énergie, le matériel et les logiciels pour le conditionnement et la gestion adaptatifs et intelligents de l'énergie, ainsi que les technologies de détection et de protection du système physique et de ses composants contre les cyberattaques malveillantes, sont dignes d'intérêt.   Télécharger l'énoncé du problème ici. (en anglais seulement)   Partage sécurisé de l'information:     Par partage sécurisé de l'information, nous entendons généralement la capacité d'échanger des documents et d'autres informations avec des tiers en toute sécurité, sans risque d'interférence de la part d'acteurs malveillants. Toutefois, s'il est important de protéger le transfert d'informations basé sur des documents dans un environnement de bureau, la tâche est plus simple que de sécuriser de multiples formes de flux d'informations lorsque l'on travaille sur le terrain ou en déplacement, comme c'est souvent le cas pour les secouristes, les forces de maintien de la paix et l'armée.   Pour ce défi, DIANA recherche des moyens de créer un environnement d'information sécurisé et fiable, en mettant l'accent sur les flux de données en direct tels que ceux utilisés pour fournir des vidéos en temps quasi réel, des flux de réalité augmentée, des radios numériques, etc. Les solutions matérielles et logicielles qui fonctionnent sur des réseaux ouverts et qui peuvent fonctionner dans des environnements "austères" ou "défavorisés" présentent un intérêt particulier.   Télécharger l'énoncé du problème ici. (en anglais seulement)   Détection et surveillance:     Les eaux côtières sont vitales pour les intérêts économiques et sécuritaires des pays dont elles touchent les frontières, et essentielles pour tous ceux qui en dépendent pour le commerce, le transport, les loisirs et l'alimentation, par exemple. Pourtant, même aujourd'hui, notre compréhension de l'environnement sous-marin est limitée, notamment parce que de nombreuses méthodes d'observation standard ne fonctionnent pas bien sous l'eau et parce que l'environnement marin est difficile d'accès et qu'il est difficile d'y travailler pendant de longues périodes.   Pour ce défi, DIANA recherche des composants et des systèmes pour la détection et la collecte d'informations dans les zones côtières souterraines. Les applications intéressantes peuvent inclure, sans s'y limiter, de nouvelles techniques et/ou des capacités avancées pour la cartographie des fonds marins, la surveillance des infrastructures sous-marines, le suivi des objets artificiels et de la vie marine, la détection des effets du changement climatique et la visualisation des schémas de vie.   Télécharger l'énoncé du problème ici. (en anglais seulement)   L'appel aux propositions sera ouvert jusqu'au 25 août 2023.  Au cours de la première phase du programme d'accélérateur DIANA, environ 30 innovateurs recevront une subvention de $ 150 000 CAD/ € 100 000 EUR à partir de la fin de 2023. À la fin de la première phase, un nombre plus restreint d'entreprises se verront offrir une subvention supplémentaire pouvant atteindre $ 450,000 CAD/ € 300,000 EUR et seront invitées à participer à la deuxième phase du programme d'accélérateur appelée « Scale ». Au cours de ces six mois, les entreprises se concentreront sur la démonstration de leur solution technologique, sur l'élaboration de stratégies de transition et sur la collaboration avec les investisseurs et les utilisateurs finaux afin d'identifier les voies d'adoption.   Lorsque DIANA aura atteint sa pleine capacité opérationnelle en 2025, il organisera jusqu'à dix programmes de défis par an et aura la capacité d'interagir avec des centaines d'innovateurs chaque année.   Le portail de soumissions est accessible via le site web (en anglais seulement) de DIANA.   Grâce à ce lien et à la page LinkedIn (en anglais seulement) de DIANA, vous pouvez également trouver des informations supplémentaires sur l'initiative et rester informé de toutes les publications et mises à jour de DIANA.   Le ministère de la Défense nationale se réjouit de voir la communauté des innovateurs canadiens participer activement au programme DIANA de l'OTAN et vous souhaite bonne chance dans ce processus.    Note - Toute question relative aux défis DIANA ou à l'éligibilité doit être adressée au programme DIANA de l'OTAN par l'intermédiaire du site web officiel de DIANA, dont le lien est le suivant (en anglais seulement).    

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  24 février 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  MDA Embarks On A New Generation Of Missile Defense

  Jen DiMascio The Pentagon is in the midst of a massive upgrade of its Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, designed to protect the U.S. against an attack by an ICBM. The new Next-Generation Interceptor (NGI) would modernize GMD, arming it with an all-up round that can counter more sophisticated ICBMs. In pursuing the new program, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will end the planned purchase of 20 current-generation GMD Ground-Based Interceptors (GBI), after already having canceled a key aspect of that system, the Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV). While it works on NGI, the MDA also intends to supplement its defense of the U.S. against ICBMs with shorter-range interceptors that provide regional defense. The change in course will not be cheap. GMD itself has cost more than $68 billion over its lifetime. In its fiscal 2021 budget request, the MDA is asking for $664 million in fiscal 2021 for NGI and another $4.3 billion through fiscal 2025.It is an amount that will grow over time and that some worry could pull funding from other urgent priorities, as the type and number of missile threats from other countries evolves to include more sophisticated ballistic missiles and hypersonic weaponry. The MDA is poised to issue a classified request for proposals to sponsor two contractors through a preliminary design review (PDR) of a new interceptor and kill vehicle—the part of the interceptor that defeats an incoming missile while in space. MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill says the agency plans to award contracts by the end of 2020, with the intention of starting testing in the mid-2020s and putting NGIs in silos by 2027, 2028 or beyond. “Right now we're funded through PDR, and you know there's plenty of arguments out there that you [have] got to go all the way to the [critical design review (CDR)]. We'll have that conversation when the time is right,” says Hill. The release of the budget solidifies a plan that has been slowly percolating in the background. Last March, Boeing was put on notice after the RKV—a projectile launched by the GBI booster that is tasked with locating and defeating the incoming ICBM in space—did not meet the needs of its CDR. The Government Accountability Office noted problems with the program meeting its cost and schedule goals “with no signs of arresting these trends.” By August 2019, Mike Griffin, the Pentagon's top research and engineering official, stopped work on the RKV after the MDA had spent more than $1 billion to develop it, as it was not proving to be reliable. These RKVs were to ride atop the next 20 GBIs, a project overseen and integrated by Boeing, which Congress had approved in 2018 after a spate of North Korean missile tests. In concert with ending the RKV, Congress rerouted that funding to the NGI, and the MDA conducted a review of options for the interceptor. Coming out of that assessment, budget officials say they will not buy the 20 new GBIs as the military embarks on NGI development. New NGIs are so far being planned to be placed in silos that were to be inhabited by GBIs, according to Hill. “The current intention is for the Next-Generation Interceptors to be able to work with both current and future sensor systems,” says MDA spokesman Mark Wright. From a security standpoint, existing GBIs will still protect the U.S. from foreign missile threats, says Hill, but he adds that over time their reliability will begin to fall off. While the NGI program works its way through development, the MDA plans to supplement GMD with a layered network of theater-range systems—the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) and the Aegis Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 2A—to fill any gaps in defending the U.S. from North Korean missile attacks. “What this budget really does for us is it starts to say, ‘Let's take advantage of these regional systems that have been so successful and are very flexible and deployable,'” Hill says. In 2020, the MDA will test the SM-3 Block 2A missile against an ICBM. “When we prove that we can take out an ICBM with an Aegis ship or an Aegis Ashore site with an SM-3 Block 2A, then you want to ramp up the evolution of the threat on the target side, right? We'll want to go against more complex threats,” Hill says. That will require upgrading the combat system used by Aegis ships so it can process data from new sensors and engage with a missile. Adding the ability to launch SM-3 Block 2A missiles on ships or from Aegis Ashore sites will give combatant commanders the additional flexibility they have sought, he adds. A future commander could then choose to launch a GBI, THAAD, SM-3 or, when it is ready, NGI. Such an interim solution using regional systems is still far from a reality. The Pentagon is requesting $139 million in its fiscal 2021 budget to “initiate the development and demonstration of a new interceptor prototype to support contiguous U.S. defense as part of the tiered homeland defense effort,” the MDA's budget materials state. That involves developing hardware and software and conducting demonstrations leading to a flight test in fiscal 2023. One other potential gap in the missile defense architecture is in Pacific-based radars that would have cued GBIs to protect against an attack on Hawaii. The “Pacific radar is no longer in our budget,” Hill says. Today, forward-deployed AN/TPY-2 radars and a deployable (sea-based X-band) radar work with the GMD system in that region. Plus, Aegis ships can be repositioned, he adds. “We realize we need to take another look at that architecture,” he says, which will focus on the Pacific region. Missile defense experts are not unsupportive of the effort to build a new NGI. But they do question whether the cost will leach funding for other important priorities. Frank Rose, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, points out that GBIs are built using 1990s technology and as a development prototype tasked for an operational mission. That means that requirements such as reliability, survivability and suitability were afterthoughts. Despite the sound logic involved in moving toward a new interceptor, “I see a couple of challenges,” he says. That includes that the Pentagon's budget request was flat for fiscal 2021, a trend likely to continue. In the years ahead, the military will have big bills for its nuclear modernization budget and to recapitalize its conventional forces, which will hit about the time budgets for NGI would need to swell to support procurement of the system. Meanwhile, in the near-to-midterm, the U.S. is likely to be dealing with a limited North Korean threat. Over time, the threats will grow in number and sophistication. Given challenges with the budget—not to mention technical challenges with developing a successful kill vehicle—Rose wonders if that money could be applied elsewhere. Kingston Reif, director of disarmament and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association, is skeptical the MDA can deliver an NGI on its current timeline. “Congress must be extremely wary of allowing the Pentagon to repeat the mistakes that have plagued the GMD system in the past,” he says. “In particular, the development, procurement and fielding of the NGI should not be schedule-driven but based on the maturity of the technology and successful testing under operationally realistic conditions. Accelerating development programs risks saddling them with cost overruns, schedule delays, test failures and program cancellations—as has been the case with the GMD program and other missile defense programs to date.” The expansion of U.S. homeland missile defense may be viewed as a provocation by Russia and China “and likely prompt them to consider steps to further enhance the survivability of their nuclear arsenals in ways that will undermine the security of the United States and its allies,” Reif says. “The costs and risks of expanding the U.S. homeland defense footprint in this way greatly outweigh the benefits.” But like all proposals, it will be up to lawmakers to decide and is likely to be a point of interest in the year ahead. “This is the single biggest muscle movement in the 2021 budget proposal, and Congress will be scrutinizing carefully whether the administration has a compelling vision and realistic funding stream for the short, medium and long term,” says Tom Karako, director of the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/missile-defense-weapons/mda-embarks-new-generation-missile-defense

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  7 septembre 2023 | International, C4ISR

  Army approves next phase for augmented reality device

  Over the next 18 months, the Army will add in cloud technology and review a feasible, affordable production plan for the device.