Project Nyx Alpha to boost UK Space Command’s domain awareness

Sur le même sujet

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  15 février 2020 | International, C4ISR

  The next GPS payload will be fully digital

  By: Nathan Strout The navigation payload for the next iteration of GPS satellites has passed its critical design review, contractor L3Harris announced Feb. 11. According to the company, which is designing and building the system, the new payload will provide a more powerful, reliable and flexible GPS signal than previous satellites.The GPS IIIF satellites will follow the first 10 GPS III satellites—the first of which is already on orbit and operational. The Air Force plans to eventually build 22 GPS IIIF satellites. While the GPS III satellites use a 70 percent digital Mission Data Unit, the one in the new GPS IIIF payload will be fully digital. According to L3Harris, the new system will “provide more powerful signals and ensure flawless atomic clock operations.” “The digital payload is flexible enough to adapt to advances in GPS technology and future warfighter mission needs,” said Ed Zoiss, president of L3Harris' space and airborne systems. “Proceeding to the next stage in the GPS IIIF navigation payload development process moves the program closer to supporting evolving Air Force mission requirements.” With the critical design review complete, L3Harris can move forward with final development, test and delivery. The company has contributed navigation technology to every GPS satellite in orbit. While L3Harris is designing the navigation payload, Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for GPS IIIF. The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin more than $1.3 billion to build the first two GPS IIIF satellites in 2018. Critical design review for the platform is expected in March 2020, according to Space Force budget documents released Feb. 10. Once that is complete and the program passes Milestone C in the third quarter of FY2020, the Space Force will begin procuring additional GPS IIIF satellites with annual contract options. Delivery of the first GPS IIIF satellite is expected in 2026. Among their advanced features, GPS IIIF satellites will boast regional military protection capabilities, which allow them to deliver regionally-limited high-power M-Code signals. It will also include new laser retro-reflector arrays that can provide on orbit position determination. Furthermore, the GPS IIIF satellites are being designed to potentially incorporate technology from Navigation Technology Satellite 3, an Air Force Research Laboratory space vehicle that will be used to test a variety of position, navigation and timing technologies. L3 Harris is the prime contractor on that program, which recently passed its preliminary design review. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/02/12/the-next-gps-payload-will-be-fully-digital/

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  3 décembre 2021 | International, Naval

  US Navy, Marines look for training systems with accurate adversaries, ability to track individual performance

  The Navy and Marine Corps want a Peloton-like training system that lets individual service members see their physical and occupational history, strive to demonstrate improvements -- and be able to log in from anywhere in the globe as they move from assignment to assignment.

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  10 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Alaska-based long-range ballistic missile defense radar fielding delayed by a year

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The fielding of a U.S. Air Force radar to detect ballistic missile threats, currently being installed at Clear Air Force Station, Alaska, is delayed by roughly a year, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. Information provided by the Missile Defense Agency in June to the GAO indicated all construction and integration activities for the Long Range Discrimination Radar had stopped in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. While initial fielding was planned for fiscal 2021 and transfer to the Air Force was planned for fiscal 2022, the service is now expected to take ownership of the operational radar in late fiscal 2023. “We did have some fallback in developing and delivery of systems because it requires people to be in close, confined spaces and sitting at computer terminals working through really tough problems like the development of an algorithm,” MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said at the virtually held Space and Missile Defense Symposium on Aug. 4. MDA shut down radar installation efforts due to the COVID-19 pandemic, entering a “caretaker status,” Hill said. “That requires additional work. I mean, you've got a radar that is being built in a tough environment like Alaska — you can't just stop. You have to go in and make sure the radar arrays are protected,” he added. The LRDR is an S-band radar that will not only be able to track incoming missiles but also discriminate the warhead-carrying vehicle from decoys and other nonlethal objects for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System, which is designed to protect the continental U.S. from possible intercontinental ballistic missile threats from North Korea and Iran. Lockheed Martin is LRDR's manufacturer. The program, according to the GAO report, wrapped up its system prototype assessment in an operational environment in FY19, which showed the hardware and software was mature ahead of full-rate manufacturing. That assessment was delayed from FY18, the report noted, after testing took longer due to “required antenna reconfigurations and software fixes to complete.” The fixes resulted in a cost overrun of $25 million and caused a delay in completing a developmental step associated with satellite tracking expected in FY18, according to the report. “While construction was ongoing in [FY19], the program was monitoring risks that could threaten the upcoming transfer of LRDR custody and ownership to the government,” the report stateed. “Specifically the program was focusing on manufacturing of the Array Panels, Sub Array Assembly Suite modules, and Auxiliary Power Group cabinets, as well as ensuring integration on site.” Those issues “depleted schedule margin on the path towards the transfer,” which was scheduled for the fourth quarter of FY20, according to the GAO, and the transfer of LRDR custody to the government was pushed back to the first quarter of FY21 due to radar component production issues. “The good news is construction is back up and running,” Hill said, “and we are delivering those arrays that are going into low-power and high-power testing later this year, so we are pretty excited about that.” According to the GAO, the current test plan for LRDR has just one flight test scheduled in the third quarter of FY21, after two ground tests. The report does not clarify if the pandemic has caused a delay in these tests. The GAO indicated concern about conducting two ground tests before the program's only flight test, as it “increases the likelihood that the models will not be accredited when testing is complete.” As a result, “the performance analysis and the majority of the model validation and accreditation will have to be made concurrently, just prior to the LRDR Technical Capability Declaration,” scheduled for the third quarter of FY21, the report stated. “This increases the risk of discovering issues late in development, which could result in performance reductions or delivery delays.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/smd/2020/08/07/alaska-based-long-range-ballistic-missile-defense-radar-fielding-delayed-by-a-year/