17 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial
By THERESA HITCHENSon April 16, 2020 at 7:15 PM
WASHINGTON: ‘Flying cars' using electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technology could be in full-up production for Air Force use in moving cargo and people within three years, says Air Force acquisition head Will Roper.
Such a capability, Roper enthused, would give the US military the ability to undertake missions “in three dimensions that we normally do in two,” giving the services “much greater agility.” This is why the Air Force program for investing in commercial firms now pursuing eVTOL vehicles is called “Agility Prime,” he noted.
The Air Force will take a first look at vendor offerings in a virtual pitch event at the end of the month, with a focus on small eVTOL vehicles that could be used for missions involving transport of only a few people.
Roper told reporters today that the size of any future Air Force vehicle buys would depend on what missions eVTOL vehicles prove capable of carrying out. “If it's helping us to do logistics at the edge, we could end up buying these in higher quantities. If it's things like security and rescue, it will be smaller quantities,” he explained.
Roper has previously said he envisions large flying cars for carrying cargo, as well as smaller vehicles for Special Operations-type missions.
But no matter what, Roper added that he expects that granting commercial producers Air Force safety certifications and allowing them to rack up flying hours under Agility Prime “will really help accelerate domestic use of these vehicles and [allow some companies to] get FAA certification sooner that it would have come if we had not interjected ourselves into the market.”
The Agility Prime program will hold a “virtual launch event” April 27 to allow vendors to showcase their capabilities and interact with potential investors from both the private sector and the military, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) announced earlier this week. Roper, who will give a keynote, said the event originally had been planned as a live demonstration of capabilities by chosen vendors at the annual South By Southwest music festival in Austin that was scheduled for March 13-22, but cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The objective of the event is to reinforce the Air Force commitment to partnering with industry, investors, and the interagency to help ensure there is a robust domestic capability in this new aerospace sector,” AFLCMC explained.
Agility Prime is designed as a “challenge” where eVTOL vehicle makers compete in a series of demonstration that ultimately could result in a contract for full-scale production. According to documents provided for potential competitors on the program website, the Air Force is asking potential vendors to be able to complete a flight test by Dec. 17. In the first round, companies will need to demonstrate the following specifications:
Roper said the second round of the competition would be dedicated to larger vehicles for cargo, and multiple people.
Agility Prime is a unique effort that involves a number of service entities working together, including AFLCMC, the Program Executive Office for Mobility, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability (AFWIC) office, AFWERX, and the new AFVentures office that serves as an intermediary between vendors and venture capital providers.
Roper said that besides helping to move the US into a prime spot in an emerging marketplace, he intends Agility Prime to also serve as an example to the commercial sector that the Air Force is serious about being “a good innovation partner.”
One of the hallmarks of Roper's term as Air Force acquisition chief has been his focus on figuring out how to leverage commercial research and development to help DoD ensure that it can stay ahead of China in the pursuit of new technology — arguing that innovation is the new battlefield.
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/roper-sees-air-force-flying-cars-in-production-by-2023
11 octobre 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Austria's plans for an evacuation of its citizens from Israel by military aircraft on Wednesday were thwarted when its only available C-130 Hercules had a technical failure, forcing the country to book seats on a commercial flight instead.
17 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial
"The Legion Pod uses an advanced IRST technology that gives 4th generation fighters the ability to 'see' stealth aircraft that traditional radar cannot," says an Air Combat Command spokesperson. By THERESA HITCHENSon July 16, 2020 at 3:37 PM WASHINGTON: The Air Force is a step closer to fielding the Legion Pod infra-red search and track (IRST) system on its F-15 and F-16 fleets — a passive sensor that gives pilots a long-range ability to track stealthy aircraft without giving away their own presence. The Lockheed Martin-built IRST system just passed two major testing milestones: the first shot of an AIM-9X air-to-air missile from an F-15C Eagle using the Legion Pod for targeting; and the first flight of an operational F-16 Fighting Falcon with the Legion Pod, Air Combat Command announced Tuesday in a press release. “This is exceptionally important, as the Legion Pod uses an advanced IRST technology that gives 4th generation fighters the ability to ‘see' stealth aircraft that traditional radar cannot,” an Air Combat Command spokesperson says in an email. Because it uses infrared to track an airplane's heat signature, the system isn't affected by radar jamming. Further, IRST systems are passive, meaning the Legion Pod can act without emitting any radiation of its own that might allow an enemy to recognize they are being targeted. The Air Force is driving toward initial operational capability (IOC) for the Legion Pod by the end of the year, under a rapid testing program managed by the Operational Flight Program Combined Test Force (OFP CTF). The unit is unique in that it reports both to Air Combat Command and Air Materiel Command, and is empowered to do developmental and operational testing at the same time — unlike traditional sequential testing programs. “The OFP CTF's work on the Legion Pod is done differently than the traditional acquisitions method,” Lt. Col. Thomas Moser, the unit's commander, says in the press release. “We actually started testing the pod in a Pre-Developmental Test (DT) phase in early 2019 and got it to an eighty percent solution before it ever entered the official developmental phase. This ultimately allowed us to go through the developmental and operational testing quicker. What would normally take several years has been reduced to eighteen months from the start of DT to expected fielding.” The Air Force selected the Legion Pod to equip the F-15C fleet in 2017; and Lockheed Martin received a contract for the system from prime contractor Boeing in 2018 for development and low-rate initial production of 19 pods. “Currently, we are under contract for 38 LRIP systems,” Lockheed Martin spokesperson Dana Edwards Szigeti tells Breaking D in an email. “The next generation Block II systems are also under development with the U.S. Navy and we look to transition that to Legion Pod for the U.S. AF and Air National Guard over the next few years. Block II significantly increases system performance.” The new F-15EX jets also will be compatible with the pod, according to Boeing's program manager Prat Kumar — although there isn't a formal contract yet. The system is based on Lockheed Martin's IRST21 sensor, also being used by the Navy in its Block III F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleet. In addition, Lockheed in May received an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract, worth up to $485 million, that will allow the US military services and allies to buy the IRT21 sensor, as well as other sensor products such as the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod and the LANTIRN Extended Range pod, for five years at pre-set price points. That contract vehicle will allow the Air Force to equip the F-16 fleet with the Legion Pod, Edwards Szigeti said. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/07/lockheeds-irst-stealth-detection-pod-passes-af-milestones/
9 février 2023 | International, Naval, C4ISR
Inmarsat Government is trusted with upgrading the primary MSC afloat network from Ku-band VSAT to the Global Xpress Ka-band under a 10 year, $578M Follow-On contract with the DISA