24 juillet 2020 | International, Naval
By: David B. Larter
WASHINGTON — A small fire aboard the U.S. Navy's next Ford-class carrier John F. Kennedy has prompted builder Newport News Shipbuilding to shut down all welding this week as the shipyard investigates, according to a statement from Huntington Ingalls Industries, its parent company.
The fire broke out around 10:15 a.m. on Monday and was quickly extinguished by emergency crews, the statement read, resulting in no injuries.
“Newport News Shipbuilding is investigating the cause of this incident,” the statement from HII spokesman Duane Bourne read. “There are no known cost or schedule impacts at this time.
“Newport News Shipbuilding secured all hot work on CVN 79 while the cause of the fire is being investigated and a yard-wide stand down was conducted for fire safety. The Navy and Newport News Shipbuilding will restore hot work on CVN 79 once the investigation is complete and any necessary corrective actions are in place.”
Fire safety has been an area of intense focus for the ship repair and shipbuilding industry since last week's fire on the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard. The fire damaged 11 of 14 decks and gutted the ship's island superstructure, according to a letter from the chief of naval operations obtained by Defense News.
22 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial
Unit prices aren't likely to decrease much, if at all, in the next three lots of F-35 production—now being negotiated, says Lockheed Martin.
19 novembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR
By: Kelsey D. Atherton Russia's Defense Ministry announced Nov. 6 that the nation had extended the range on its drone-carried jammers to 100 km, or over 60 miles. Drones as a platform for, and not just the target of, electronic warfare means that the sight of a flying robot overhead could signal incoming strikes as well as a sudden inability to call for help. “Russia has been using a UAV-mounted cellphone jammer for a number of years now,” said Samuel Bendett, a research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses. The drones operate in a two- or three-vehicle pod with a ground station, collectively grouped as a “Leer-3” system. “When these UAVs fly in teams, one acts as a signal-and-comms relay while another acts as a jammer,” Bendett said. “These Leer-3 systems have been around for about two years at this point.” What is changed is the range of the jammer. The Orlan-10 drones already have a range of 75 miles, which means that, with the latest update on the jammer, the drone pod can interfere with signals up to 135 miles away from where the drone was launched. TASS reports that the 60-mile range is a 3.5 times increase in distance from the initial range. In addition, Bendett said there's a chance this capability, or an earlier version of it, has already been witnessed in conflict. “Ukrainian forces claim to spot Leer-3 systems in eastern Ukraine, while there is potential evidence that Leer-3 was used in Syria as well,” Bendett said. “Russian forces are constantly training with Leer-3 UAVs as they practice adversary signal and cell comms suppression, identification and eventual destruction of the enemy force. In fact, this kind of training is part of the official [tactics, techniques and procedures] in electronic warfare and other forces across the Russian military.” Advancements in electronic warfare are one of the key components guiding the development of autonomous systems for the military. For now, drones are conducting electronic warfare against cellular communications, but it's not hard to imagine the same doctrines applied with new technology. In that scenario, it easy to picture other vehicles transforming into jamming machines on future battlefields ... and maybe even present ones. https://www.c4isrnet.com/newsletters/unmanned-systems/2018/11/16/russian-drones-can-jam-cell-phones-60-miles-away
11 novembre 2024 | International, Sécurité
Over 20 vulnerabilities found in ML open-source tools pose severe risks, including server hijacking and data breaches.