Pentagon, intelligence community eye cloud collaboration

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  13 décembre 2019 | International, Naval

  Thales integrated sonar suite selected for Spanish Navys New Multi-Mission Frigates

  November 12, 2019 - The General Directorate for Armament and Material (DGAM) and the naval shipyard Navantia have selected Thales technologies for the Spanish Navy's five new multi-mission frigates. The vessels' anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability, based on two world-class sonars, the CAPTAS 4 Compact and the BlueMaster, and the BlueScan digital acoustic system, will be integrated through Navantia Combat Management System SCOMBA F110 and will enable the service to conduct maritime surveillance, search and protection missions in any theatre of operations. To protect their maritime territory and security interests around the world, States need to counter all types of threats in any environment or theatre of operations. Naval forces need reliable, high-performance systems to assert national sovereignty and accomplish their ASW missions with optimum effect. The choice of Thales technologies, which have been extensively proven in service with navies around the world, provides the highest levels of protection available today. BlueScan is a collaborative ASW solution that processes significantly higher volumes of sonar data from various different platforms to provide the operator with a complete overview of the acoustic situation in real time. The solution leverages Big Data analytics and artificial intelligence technologies to bring naval forces a tactical advantage. Under this contract, key underwater acoustics technology will be transferred to Spanish industry, in particular for the supply of the TUUM-6 digital underwater communication system and acoustic arrays. “After two years of talks with the Spanish Navy and Navantia about this contract to equip five F110 frigates, we welcome Spain's decision to join other NATO countries (the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Norway) and Australia in placing their trust in Thales for their anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities. To help their naval forces conduct their missions in today's heightened underwater threat environment, Thales has invested for many years in Australia, France and the United Kingdom to develop a unique set of digital sonar data processing and analytics technologies. Given the complexity of the underwater environment and the level of sophistication of the adversary, digitalisation and data fusion techniques are the only effective way to counter undersea threats in the 21st century. With our Spanish partners, and with Navantia in particular, we are very pleased to have the opportunity to strengthen our cooperation on this programme, in which local industry will play a significant role in producing, integrating and maintaining the systems alongside the Spanish Navy." Alexis Morel, Vice President, Underwater Systems, Thales • Thales sonars and acoustic systems will provide the Spanish Navy's five F110 frigates with a latest-generation anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability. • The key components of the integrated suite are the BlueMaster (UMS 4110) and CAPTAS 4 Compact sonars, the TUUM-6 underwater communication system, and the BlueScan digital acoustic system already in service with other European navies. • Spanish industry partners will supply some of the high-tech equipment under a decisive transfer of technology programme put in place by Thales. View source version on Thales: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/group/press-release/thales-integrated-sonar-suite-selected-spanish-navys-new-multi-mission-frigates

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  2 octobre 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Future Defense Task Force: Scrap obsolete weapons and boost AI

  Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― A bipartisan congressional panel is recommending that the Pentagon must “identify, replace, and retire costly and ineffective legacy weapons platforms,” and prioritize artificial intelligence, supply chain resiliency and cyberwarfare in order to compete with China and Russia. The House's Future of Defense Task Force's 87-page report issued Tuesday echoed the accepted wisdom that the Pentagon must expand investments in modern technologies and streamline its cumbersome acquisition practices or risk losing its technological edge against competitors. The task force is co-chaired by House Armed Services Committee members Reps. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Jim Banks, R-Ind., who both signaled they'll champion elements of the report in future defense authorization legislation. While lawmakers are broadly in favor, efforts to retire specific platforms often meet resistance on Capitol Hill. On weapons systems, the task force offered some practical steps to this end. Congress, it said, should commission the RAND Corporation, or similar entity, and the Government Accountability Office to study legacy platforms within the Defense Department and determine their relevance and resiliency to emerging threats over the next 50 years. Then a panel should be convened, comprising Congress, the Department of Defense, and representatives from the industrial base, to make recommendations on which platforms should be retired, replaced or recapitalized, the report reads. Investments in science and technology research need to be prioritized nationally, and at the Pentagon level such investments should meet 3.4 percent of the overall defense budget, as recommended by the Defense Science Board. Funding ought to be expanded at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, national and defense research laboratories and partnering universities, the report says. The report recommended that each of the military services ought to spend at least one percent of their overall budgets on the integration of new technologies. The Pentagon must, the report says, scale up efforts to leverage private sector innovation, which is leading the government. The report calls for a tenfold increase in spending for Defense Innovation Unit, AFWERX, Army Futures Command and others ― and more collaborative opportunities like Hacking for Defense. The report calls for a Manhattan Project for artificial intelligence, saying DoD must go further than its increased investment in AI and Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to assist with the transition and deployment of AI capabilities. “Using the Manhattan Project as a model, the United States must undertake and win the artificial intelligence race by leading in the invention and deployment of AI while establishing the standards for its public and private use,” the report's authors wrote. (The Manhattan project is the U.S.-led World War II-era research and development effort that produced the first nuclear weapons.) The report calls for every major defense acquisition program to evaluate at least one AI or autonomous alternative prior to funding. Plus, all new major weapons purchases ought to be “AI-ready and nest with existing and planned joint all-domain command and control networks,” it says. Warning the country's supply chain is one of its “greatest national security and economic vulnerabilities,” the report calls for a national supply chain intelligence center under the Office of Director of National Intelligence and the elimination of single points of failure within DoD's supply chain. The task force, launched last October, includes several lawmakers with practical national security experience: Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., a former Air Force officer who studied technology and policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; as well as Reps. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Michael Waltz, R-Fla., who have served in senior Pentagon policy jobs. HASC members Reps. Susan Davis, D-Calif., Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., and Paul Mitchell, R-Mich., also served on the task force. In a statement, Moulton said the bipartisan plan could be used, no matter the outcome of the Nov. 3 presidential and congressional elections. “America needs a plan to confront the dual threats of Russia's aggression and China's rise. This is it,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/09/29/future-defense-task-force-scrap-obsolete-weapons-and-boost-ai/

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  12 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR

  Thales et Airbus vont moderniser les outils de collecte de renseignements électroniques des armées françaises

  Les trois armées (air et espace, terre, mer) françaises disposeront bientôt de moyens de collecte de renseignements électroniques unifiés, fournis par Thales et Airbus. En matière de collecte de renseignements électroniques, les différentes armées françaises disposaient chacune de leurs propres technologies. Ce sera bientôt de l'histoire ancienne. La DGA (Direction générale de l'armement) a chargé fin 2020 Airbus et Thales de lui fournir des capacités de recueil du renseignement d'origine électromagnétique (ROEM) unifiées. Un contrat d'une durée de dix ans, dont le montant total n'a pas été communiqué. Dans les années à venir, les trois armées (de l'air, de terre et marine nationale) disposeront toutes du même type de capteurs, matériels et logiciels pour capter les communications de leurs adversaires sur les différents thé'tres d'opérations. De quoi améliorer leurs capacités en matière d'écoute, de radiogoniométrie (qui permet de localiser une émission hostile, radar ou radio par exemple) et d'exploitation du spectre électromagnétique, gr'ce à des technologies de dernière génération. Cette unification permettra aussi aux différents corps de mieux se coordonner. La formation des spécialistes en sera, enfin, facilitée. La DGA a passé une première commande fin 2020 pour 160 millions d'euros de matériels et logiciels, qui seront livrés à partir de 2023. Rester au niveau dans la guerre électronique Le système interarmées ROEM tactique sera utilisé sur des véhicules Scorpion en remplacement des équipements tactiques actuels, sur les navires de premier rang de la marine nationale et les avions de patrouille maritime Atlantique 2, et pour la protection de bases aériennes. Airbus et Thales fournissaient déjà certaines briques technologiques de l'arsenal déployé par la France dans la guerre électronique. Le second avait développé le programme Cohorte (système actuel de ROEM tactique utilisé par l'armée de terre), le premier le programme Ramses (Evolution du système d'information stratégique traitant des communications radio et satellite). https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/thales-et-airbus-vont-moderniser-les-outils-de-collecte-de-renseignements-electroniques-des-armees-francaises.N1060094