New Sonar Sees Underwater From The Air, Promising To Transform Anti-Submarine Warfare

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  30 janvier 2019 | International, Naval, Terrestre

  The Marine Corps wants three types of amphib vehicles ― including one with a 30mm cannon

  By: Todd South The Marine Corps is looking to plus up the firepower aboard its new amphibious combat vehicle with a 30mm cannon. Officials with Marine Corps Systems Command posted a request for information on the government website FedBizOpps on Monday. The ACV will replace the aging assault amphibious vehicle, which entered service in the early 1970s. The Marines want three variants of the ACV ― a command and control configuration, a recovery and maintenance setup and ACVs with 30mm medium-caliber cannons. The older AAV had space for a 40mm grenade launcher, but in direct vehicle-on-vehicle fighting the 30mm cannon offers fast, high-volume direct fire. BAE Systems was selected in 2018 to produce the ACV, which is expected to reach initial operational capability by fiscal year 2020. The company has built amphib vehicles for the military since 1941. The ACV is a chief “connector” from ship to shore for Marine amphibious operations. it will include mine resistant ambush protected-level armor, and able to “negotiate two-foot significant wave height and four-foot plunging surf,” according to Program Executive Office-Land Systems. The 30mm-cannon arming follows suit with making existing and future ground combat vehicles more lethal. The Army began upgunning its Stryker vehicles with a 30mm cannon, replacing its twin .50-caliber machine guns. In 2018, the Army also put in place the common remotely operated weapon station for the Javelin missile on the Stryker, keeping soldiers inside the vehicle when firing the missile. Those upgrades began first in Germany as a counter to increased capabilities in the Russian ground formations. The Marines have also started upgrading their light armored vehicle, also a decades-old platform, to include a better powerpack, drive train and digitized instrument panels. Late last year the Corps was still only looking at two ACV variants, according to official postings: the turreted assault vehicle and the command and control version. At the annual Modern Day Marine Military Expo at Quantico, Virginia, John Swift, program director for BAE's amphibious vehicles, told Marine Corps Times that they expect to have 30 vehicles built by the end of summer 2019 to go through testing and modifications as the Corps decides the composition of the ACV fleet. Those will be basic testing platforms. This most recent posting gives some indications of what the Corps needs. Most recently the Corps was asking for 704 ACVs when full production begins in 2022. Those are expected to be done within six years. And a previously ongoing contract with another company to perform survivability upgrades on an estimated 392 AAVs was cancelled last year in a move of funding from that program to more rapid modernization priorities. The legacy AAV is a tracked vehicle, while its replacement will be an eight-wheel vehicle. https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2019/01/29/the-marine-corps-want-three-types-of-amphib-vehicles-including-one-with-a-30mm-cannon

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  7 octobre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  DARPA wants a robotic satellite mechanic launched by 2022

  By: Nathan Strout   The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is on track to announce a new commercial partner for its robotic servicing payload by the end of the year, with plans to have a spacecraft in orbit in 2022. “I'm standing here with a smile on my face. The program is moving forward and things are looking good and we're very hopeful,” Joe Parrish, program manager for the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Spacecraft program at DARPA, said at the 2019 Global Satellite Servicing Forum Oct. 1. “We're looking to launch RSGS in late 2022.” RSGS is intended to deliver a GEO spacecraft with a payload consisting of two large 2 meter arms and a number of tools that will allow it to perform maintenance and other work on satellites in GEO. The spacecraft will perform four main functions in space: inspection, orbital adjustments, anomaly resolution and installation of self-contained payloads. With a host of cameras onboard, RSGS will be able to inspect other satellites. This can help operators on the ground diagnose problems and inform in-orbit repairs. It can also use its arms to capture a satellite and move it, either to a new orbit or to dispose of it. DARPA envisions RSGS being able, again using its arms, to install new payloads on existing satellites, replacing legacy hardware and augmenting its mission for years to come. And, of course, RSGS will be available to traverse the GEO landscape to help satellites that fail to deploy correctly. “If somebody launches up into GEO while we're up there and a solar array fails to deploy or a reflector or antenna fails to deploy, we can come galloping to the rescue,” said Perrish. “The benefit is not to demonstrate robot arms waving around in space. The benefit is to increase the resilience of our infrastructure in space.” While DARPA is developing the payload with robotic arms, according to Parrish, DARPA needs a commercial partner to build the spacecraft that will house the payload and carry it around in orbit. “We're looking for the partner to provide the spacecraft bus — so using a heritage GEO bus that may have had some tailoring for RSGS requirements, integrating the payload and the spacecraft bus together, procuring and launching that integrated spacecraft to GEO, and then providing mission control center for operations for a long period of time,” explained Parrish. Parrish said that the full project would be turned over in due time to the commercial partner to operate RSGS for fun and profit. But DARPA has hit some stumbling blocks in securing that commercial partner. In 2017, Orbital ATK sued DARPA to stop it from developing what it saw as competition to its own satellite servicing space vehicle. While that effort failed, the company's efforts to develop its own satellite servicing program have continued. Orbital ATK was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2018, and now the Northrop Grumman subsidiary SpaceLogistics is preparing to launch the first satellite life extension vehicle into space in the coming weeks. Then, in January, Maxar Technologies' Space Systems Loral pulled out of an agreement with DARPA to build the spacecraft to host the RSGS payload as the company moved out of the GEO construction market. DARPA has spent much of the last year working to find a new commercial partner. In May they hosted a Proposer's Day to discuss the program with potentially interested companies, and now Parrish says they expect to announce a partner toward the end of the year. “2019 has been quite a year,” said Parrish. “We are still in source selection for a new commercial partner.” Meanwhile, work on the payload itself is ongoing. The first of two flight robotic manipulator arms is in final assembly and will be shipped to the Naval Research Lab in the next two weeks, where it will be integrated into the payload. The second arm lags the first by about two months, said Parrish, and is currently in assembly. In 2020, all of the components of the payload will be sent to NRL for assembly into the actual payload. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2019/10/03/darpa-wants-a-robotic-satellite-mechanic-launched-by-2022/

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  13 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Raytheon Technologies to train Afghan Air Force pilots

  Orlando, Fla., May 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - The U.S. Army Contracting Command has selected Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a business of Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX), to train Afghanistan Air Force pilots under a three-year contract valued up to $145 million. Raytheon will conduct initial flight training for the U.S. Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation. The Afghanistan Air Force students will go through flight school in third-party nations in Europe and the Middle East. Raytheon will provide tailored training for the Afghanistan Air Force pilots, including classroom, fixed-wing and rotary aircraft instruction. "Raytheon training experts help the Afghanistan Air Force develop a pipeline of skilled flyers and officers," said Bob Williams, vice president of Global Training Solutions at Raytheon Intelligence & Space. "Our program uses the latest training techniques, and a focus on individual mentorship to produce well-rounded officers that will help create a secure future for Afghanistan." The Raytheon Afghanistan Air Force pilot training program began in 2010. The original mission for basic flight proficiency has expanded to advanced aircraft qualifications and flight techniques. Raytheon's focus on mentorship and leadership training helps the program maintain a 93 percent graduation rate with every student returned to Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Air Force Pilot Training program was awarded under the Enterprise Training Services Contract vehicle. Raytheon previously announced a related task order for the Aviation Maintenance Training program. About Raytheon Technologies Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. With 195,000 employees and four industry-leading businesses - Collins Aerospace Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense - the company delivers solutions that push the boundaries in avionics, cybersecurity, directed energy, electric propulsion, hypersonics, and quantum physics. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Media Contact Brad Bucher 571.250.2127 rispr@raytheon.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/raytheon-technologies-to-train-afghan-air-force-pilots-301057105.html SOURCE Raytheon Technologies