8 août 2018 | International, C4ISR

Raytheon builds massive radar development facility complete with robotic helpers

ANDOVER, Mass. — Raytheon has built a new massive radar development facility — complete with robotic helpers — to assemble and test its newest radars, but the facility's design will take the company's radar work well into the future.

Meeting visitors at the door of the $72 million addition to Raytheon's Andover, Massachusetts, radar production facility is a small square robot flashing purple light, offering a verbal welcome before scooting off to its docking station across the expansive room.

The Automated Guided Vehicle whisks past an enormous, yellow robotic arm that takes on a life of its own as it inspects the side of an array with a laser, chooses a tool and a part, and gets to work assembling a component.

Raytheon will build its AN/SPY-6 radars under contract with the U.S. Navy in the new facility. The company brought its first array under contract there in June, only 18 months after the company decided to begin the project to build the new 30,000-square-foot center.

The development facility was partly driven by Raytheon's need to build its AN/SPY-6 missile defense radars. It needed a larger facility and near-field ranges to test and calibrate the large arrays.

Full Article: https://www.defensenews.com/land/2018/08/07/raytheon-builds-massive-radar-development-facility-complete-with-robotic-helpers/

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2 août 2018 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

Air Force’s future ISR architecture could feature drone swarms and hypersonics — with AI underpinning it all
By: Valerie Insinna POZNAN, Poland — The Air Force's ambitious new ISR strategy calls for a sensing grid that fuses together data from legacy platforms like the RQ-4 Global Hawk, emerging technologies like swarming drones, other services' platforms and publicly available information. And deciphering all of that data will be artificial intelligence. Such a system may sound like something out of a sci-fi book, but the service believes it could be in service by 2028. In a July 31 interview, Lt. Gen. VeraLinn “Dash” Jamieson, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for ISR, explained the Air Force's new “Next Generation ISR Dominance Flight Plan,” which lays out the service's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance goals for the next 10 years. In the past, “when we fielded a sensor, we fielded a sensor to answer a question,” Jamieson said. What the ISR flight plan tries to accomplish is far more extensive: “How do I get the data so I can fuse it, look at it and then ask the right questions from the data to reveal what trends are out there?" “We have to do all of that at the speed of relevance — meaning at warfighting speed — so that our decision cycle has shrunk,” she added. “We get our effects in and out, and we create chaos and confusion in the adversary. Once he gets behind, it is extremely difficult to actually catch up.” Full article: https://www.c4isrnet.com/air/2018/08/01/air-forces-future-isr-architecture-could-feature-drone-swarms-and-hypersonics-all-with-ai-underpinning-it-all/
5 mai 2021 | International, Aérospatial

British military aircraft must hit net-zero carbon target by 2040, says Air Force chief
“That will require additional investment. It will require me diverting investment from equipment and platforms into infrastructure and into how we operate,” says Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston.
27 avril 2018 | International, Aérospatial

Thales et trois groupes comptent équiper le future drone MALE
PARIS (Reuters) - Quatre groupes européens, dont le français Thales, ont annoncé mardi leur intention de coopérer pour doter le futur drone de surveillance européen de fonctions avancées de traitement de données et de communications. L'italien Elettronica, l'allemand Hensoldt, l'espagnol Indra et Thales précisent dans un communiqué commun avoir signé un protocole d'accord pour fournir des fonctions de renseignement, de surveillance, d'acquisitions de cibles et de reconnaissances (Istar) au futur drone en préparation par leurs quatre pays. "L'équipe est ouverte à la coopération avec d'autres entreprises", soulignent les quatre groupes. La phase de développement du drone MALE (haute altitude longue endurance) devrait démarrer en 2019. Airbus Defense and Space, Dassault Aviation (premier actionnaire industriel de Thales) et l'italien Leonardo avaient signé le contrat d'étude de définition en août 2016. Thales apportera son expertise dans les systèmes de missions de défense en se basant sur les technologies de connectivité, de big data (traitement massif de données), d'intelligence artificielle et de cybersécurité, fait valoir Patrice Caine, PDG du groupe français, cité dans le communiqué. (Cyril Altmeyer, édité par Matthieu Protard) https://www.capital.fr/entreprises-marches/thales-et-trois-groupes-comptent-equiper-le-futur-drone-male-1284701

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Raytheon builds massive radar development facility complete with robotic helpers

Sur le même sujet

British military aircraft must hit net-zero carbon target by 2040, says Air Force chief “That will require additional investment. It will require me diverting investment from equipment and platforms into infrastructure and into how we operate,” says Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston.

British military aircraft must hit net-zero carbon target by 2040, says Air Force chief
“That will require additional investment. It will require me diverting investment from equipment and platforms into infrastructure and into how we operate,” says Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston.