Six small simulation companies rack up $1M contracts after ‘Shark Tank’-style pitches to US Air Force

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  15 octobre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  The US Army is building a ‘cloud in the sky’ for its aviation fleet

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army is building what is essentially a “cloud in the sky” for its current aviation fleet as it prepares the aircraft to fight alongside a future fleet under development, according to Brig. Gen. Thomas Todd, the program executive officer for Army aviation. The general spoke to Defense News in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference. The current fleet won't dissolve into thin air when future helicopters are fielded, and they will be expected to fly together in operational environments across multiple domains. The Army is aiming to field a future attack reconnaissance aircraft and a future long-range assault aircraft by 2030. “We have to figure out a way to host a common server so that we can store data, process data and transport data quicker,” Todd said. “So while they work on the future vertical lift architecture, we still have to make the enduring fleet, that will fly alongside it, work and be capable.” So the Army is building an Aviation Mission Common Server, or AMCS, that is a stack of storage, data processing and transport capability “that's very much a flying cloud, if you will,” Todd said. The AMCS “will reside inside every aircraft. It has to reside in every aircraft because there has to be onboard processing and storage power,” Todd said, adding that it will be the engine that drives the associated user interface and apps as well as provide connectivity to the network overall. The user interface will be built upon the technology developed by Northrop Grumman for the Victor-model Black Hawk. The "V" model is an L-model UH-60 with a digital, modern cockpit like the "M" model, the latest Black Hawk variant, but not with an M-model price tag. Additionally, the interface in a V model can take on new capability through apps like a smartphone. The V model wrapped up its initial operational test and evaluation in September at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, Brig. Gen. MacMcCurry, who is the Army G-3/5/7 aviation director inside the Pentagon, told Defense News in a separate interview. He reported the tests went well and the service looks forward to building out the fleet. The Army is currently assessing integrating the same user interface into Mike-model Black Hawks, according to Todd. The effort to build the server is part of a larger effort to ensure the current fleet is ready to fight in multidomain operations. The Army wants to obtain multidomain dominance by 2035. “We took a look at Army Futures Command's guidance on exactly what those combat aviation brigades would have in them and what would be enduring. For example, the Apache would be there indefinitely,” Todd said. “We also found that the requirements for data, the transport of and use of was exponential. So ultimately it's a problem that exists for the entire fleet, so we need to get after, at a minimum, making the enduring fleet compatible with future vertical lift, if not more capable.” There are several cross-cutting initiatives for the current fleet to make the aircraft more agile, interoperable, survivable and integrated in multidomain operations, Todd said, and the network will play an integral role. For example, the Army is working with the network community to replace its AN/ARC-201 radios with radios with the TSM waveform, which will improve and comply with future air-to-ground radio communications, according to Todd. There is also work being done within the position, navigation and timing community and with the Air Force to develop antennas, processors and software that hep the current fleet to survive battle, Todd added. And the service is working to improve power sources onboard aircraft. “There is a huge demand requirement coming, a demand signal for onboard systems and the power requirements of those is exponential. So given that it's not linear and it's going to grow exponentially, we have to get after alternative means,” Todd said. The same team that is in charge of the Improved Turbine Engine Program — which will replace engines in Apaches and Black Hawks and be the engine for the future attack reconnaissance aircraft — is looking at supplemental power units, upgrades to generators and upgrades to batteries to better power onboard systems that may not require the main power system anymore, Todd said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/2019/10/15/the-us-army-is-building-a-cloud-in-the-sky-for-its-aviation-fleet

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  16 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Dassault Aviation au service des armées

  A l'occasion du bilan d'étape dressé par Madame Florence Parly, ministre des Armées, au sujet de la réforme du maintien en condition opérationnelle (MCO), Dassault Aviation tient à rappeler sa fierté de servir les armées françaises en apportant un soutien quotidien aux flottes de Rafale, de Mirage 2000, d'ATL2 et de Falcon de surveillance maritime. Saint-Cloud, le 15 octobre 2020 – A l'occasion du bilan d'étape dressé par Madame Florence Parly, ministre des Armées, au sujet de la réforme du maintien en condition opérationnelle (MCO), Dassault Aviation tient à rappeler sa fierté de servir les armées françaises en apportant un soutien quotidien aux flottes de Rafale, de Mirage 2000, d'ATL2 et de Falcon de surveillance maritime. La décision du ministère des Armées de verticaliser le MCO du Rafale et de l'ATL2, avec les contrats RAVEL et OCEAN, permet d'assurer aux forces aériennes françaises une disponibilité optimale de leurs flottes. Gr'ce à la mise en service de RAVEL depuis 18 mois, Dassault Aviation et ses partenaires industriels, dont Thales, assurent ainsi une disponibilité de 76% des Rafale, soit une valeur supérieure aux 73% prévus contractuellement. La qualité de ce service va encore s'améliorer au fil du temps, comme prévu, avec notamment la mise en place d'un système d'information b'ti en coopération avec les opérationnels par Dassault Aviation ; un outil qui s'appuie sur l'expertise de Dassault Systèmes en matière de gestion/analyse des données et qui sera basé sur sa technologie Cloud et son logiciel EXALEAD. © Dassault Aviation – A. Pecchi « Je m'assure en permanence de la satisfaction de l'armée de l'Air et de l'Espace et de la Marine nationale dans le soutien que leur apportent les équipes de Dassault Aviation. En confiance avec elles et avec la Direction de la maintenance aéronautique, nous recherchons sans cesse toutes les possibilités d'amélioration du soutien qui leur est apporté », a déclaré Éric Trappier, P-DG de Dassault Aviation. Gr'ce à l'étroite coopération avec les personnels des bases aériennes, les équipes de Dassault Aviation sont aussi très fières d'avoir poursuivi efficacement, durant ces derniers mois, le soutien des forces armées, malgré le confinement lié à la crise COVID-19. À PROPOS DE DASSAULT AVIATION Avec plus de 10 000 avions militaires et civils livrés dans plus de 90 pays depuis un siècle (dont 2 500 Falcon), Dassault Aviation dispose d'un savoir-faire et d'une expérience reconnus dans la conception, le développement, la vente et le support de tous les types d'avion, depuis l'appareil de combat Rafale jusqu'à la famille de business jets haut de gamme Falcon en passant par les drones militaires et les systèmes spatiaux. En 2019, le chiffre d'affaires de Dassault Aviation s'est élevé à 7,3 milliards d'euros. Le Groupe compte 12 750 collaborateurs. https://www.dassault-aviation.com/fr/groupe/presse/press-kits/dassault-aviation-au-service-des-armees/

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  7 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Airbus reveals classified LOUT stealth testbed

  Airbus Defence & Space has revealed a more than decade-long research and demonstration effort into very low observable (LO) technologies, conducted as a classified effort for the German defence ministry. Showing its LO UAV testbed – or LOUT – platform at Manching on 4 November, Airbus future combat air system (FCAS) programme manager Mario Hertzog said the company began initial concept work in 2007. This led to a contract award in 2010 to refine configuration and material choices, and the production of a diamond planform demonstrator was completed in 2014. Pointing to the company's long involvement with LO reseach, Hertzog says: “Bringing all our experience into one programme was a logical conclusion.” The chosen configuration used for aerodynamic and anechoic chamber testing since 2014 has a roughly 12m (39.3ft) wingspan and similar length, and is described as a 4t-class vehicle. The subsonic design would use a conventional engine concealed behind a diverterless inlet, and has twin intakes blended into its upper fuselage. A cockpit transparency and sensor apertures also formed part of the testing. The aircraft's exhaust nozzle also is shielded from beneath, with Hertzog noting that such a vehicle would be optimised for use against ground-based air-defence systems. This mission requirement also led the company to hone LO techniques for the vehicle's landing gear doors and centerline internal weapons bay, Hertzog notes. Focus areas have included testing LO materials, including a radar absorbent structure for engine intake ducts, and on assessing radar frequency and infrared signature performance. Modelling work has also been conducted to analyse the likely acoustic characteristics of such a design. Airbus confirms that it has completed contracted work on LOUT, but says additional activities could be conducted. However, Hertzog declines to say whether Berlin could seek a flight-test campaign with such a system. Lessons learned from the LOUT programme will be available for potential adaptation during a long-term evolution activity on the Eurofighter Typhoon, and on a proposed French-German-Spanish FCAS development, Hertzog says. "Stealth is and will remain an enabler for survivability," he notes. https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/pictures-airbus-reveals-classified-lout-stealth-tes-462003/