9 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial
The future of war is a synergy in euphemisms, launched as a co-branding event. AeroVironment — maker of missile systems, including the one-way guided flying “switchblade” missile — announced May 7 that it is partnering with Kratos, maker of target and combat drones. The desired effect is cheap but smart drones to launch cheaper but smart missiles. It's an attempt at answering a question that has plagued the United States since the dawn of the jet age: As the costs of piloted craft go up, can anything be done to restore a numerical advantage in the sky?
“AeroVironment tube-launched small unmanned aircraft and tactical missile systems to be integrated with Kratos high-speed, low-cost attritable drones to dramatically enhance situational awareness and system effectiveness,” reads the announcement. Switchblade is tube-launched, and it flies like a small unmanned aircraft up until the point where it hits its target and explodes. “Tactical missile system” is the formal term, though it's also known as a kamikaze drone or a suicide drone. Its flight time is too short to lump it in with the larger category of “loitering munitions,” but they're kindred spirits in function. As sensors got cheap and powerful and small, smart missiles with drone-like navigation systems became possible.
The high-speed low-cost attritable drone made by Kratos is the Mako, an adaptation of the company's BQM-167 Aerial Target. Like the roughly $900,000 apiece target it's based upon, the Mako is designed to be cheap enough that it can be fielded in numbers and replaced without straining the Pentagon's budget. (In 2017, the combat-capable Mako was pitched as costing between $1.5 million and $2 million each. Not cheap in most senses, but relative to the going rate for a fifth-generation fighter, it's a bargain.)
Taken together, the Switchblade and the Mako could be “attritable aerial assets,” flying things that are useful, but not so expensive that losing them drastically alters the ability of commanders to direct fights or of pilots to win them. Cheap and flying alone doesn't win much on its own; the craft have to prove that they can actually perform the tasks assigned them.
Here, here is that crucial synergy.
Kratos and AeroVironment are working together to see if the Mako can launch, communicate with and control Switchblades. The larger drone would serve as a node in a network between a human and the airborne munition. The exact location of control, between the drone and the flying munitions and the human directing them, is unclear. Would the Switchblades seek targets based on what the Mako's sensors could spot? Would that information get relayed to the human controller in time to approve of or call off the strike?
These are questions that can be answered in the course of a development. If the combination of drone mothership and munition wingmates works, it could reduce the overall material cost of conducting an airstrike, while likely leaving unchanged the potential human toll.
https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2019/05/08/smart-drones-to-command-and-launch-smarter-missiles
15 juillet 2022 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité
Officials have said the Terrestrial Layer System-Brigade Combat Team program will help defeat threats on an increasingly digital battlefield.
28 février 2020 | International, C4ISR
By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany – The German defense ministry has designated radio specialist Rohde und Schwarz as the national lead toward the development of a tactical radio for European land forces. The designation follows German lawmakers' approval late last year to join the European Secure Software Defined Radio, or ESSOR. The project aims to unify radio equipment operated by land forces on the continent, eventually replacing national variants with a common system. Having hardware that allows multinational troops to communicate seamlessly on the battlefield is a key premise of the European Union's push for greater military prowess. The ESSOR program, founded in 2008, is managed by OCCAR, a pan-European defense-acquisition agency. Besides Germany, the other members of the radio program are Finland, France, Italy, Poland and Spain. Their national industry leads are, respectively, Bittium, Thales, Leonardo, Radmor and Indra. All companies are represented in the a4ESSOR joint venture. Rohde und Schwarz joins the effort as the “Operational Capability 1” phase, centered on a high data rate waveform, has been underway since 2017. That stage “defines the joint development and updating of an interoperable, trustworthy, robust and wideband radio waveform for connected armed forces,” the company said in a statement. The Munich-based company plans to bring its SOVERON D radio to the program, which is slated for delivery to the German armed forces sometime this year. The European radio program also has its feet in the pool of PESCO initiatives, designed to foster multinational defense projects within the bloc by ways of subsidies from the envisioned European Defence Fund. Under the EU umbrella, officials hope to develop additional waveforms, “for example for specific use cases for air-based operations,” reads the Rohde und Schwarz statement. The U.S. Joint Tactical Radio System's software communication architecture serves as the blueprint for ESSOR, according to the program management agency. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/2020/02/27/germany-picks-its-lead-vendor-for-european-tactical-radio-program
24 août 2020 | International, Naval
Geoff Ziezulewicz While the U.S. Navy has spent nearly $3 billion to improve shipyard maintenance performance in recent years, “the shipyards continue to face persistent and substantial maintenance delays that hinder the readiness of aircraft carriers and submarines,” according to a government watchdog report released this week. Three-quarters of the 51 aircraft carrier and submarine maintenance periods from fiscal 2015 to 2019 were completed late, resulting in 7,425 days of delays, according to the report by the Government Accountability Office. The Navy's four shipyards — in Portsmouth, Virginia; Kittery, Maine; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Bremerton, Washington — provide vital maintenance that includes ship overhauls, nuclear refueling, alterations and refits, among other duties. The aircraft carrier maintenance periods that ended late exceeded their deadlines by an average of 113 days, the GAO reports, while submarine maintenance periods ending late missed the mark by an average of 225 days. Such availabilities last anywhere from six months to three years, and when they don't end on time, it gums up the entire system, delaying other maintenance periods, deployments and other needs. The main factors leading to the tardiness had to do with shipyard workforce performance and having enough people to perform the vital work, the GAO found. Unplanned work, or tasks identified after finalizing maintenance plans, was also cited as a significant factor resulting in the delays. While the Navy has taken steps to address such delays, the sea service has yet to fully address the unplanned work and workforce factors causing the majority of delays, according to the GAO. https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2020/08/21/watchdog-75-percent-of-sub-and-aircraft-carrier-maintenance-ended-late-in-recent-years/