6 février 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, C4ISR
In a surprise announcement, the U.S. Navy revealed on Tuesday that it had successfully flown tests involving unmanned versions of the EA-18G Growler electronic attack fighter. The tests involved a single manned EA-18G controlling two unmanned versions of the same aircraft, opening up the possibility that the U.S. Navy could fly armed unmanned aircraft sooner than originally thought.
The test, conducted by the U.S. Navy and Boeing, was undertaken by the U.S. Navy's flight test wing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. According to a C4ISRNET, a single EA-18G Growler controlled two unmanned Growlers in the air.
The test is notable for several reasons. One, the Navy was not known to be working on unmanned systems other than the MQ-25 Stingray, a future drone tanker set to join the fleet in the mid-2020s. Second, the ability to convert a manned fighter such as the EA-18G Growler into an unmanned aircraft was also previously unknown.
The EA-18G Growler is an electronic attack airplane. The EA-18 is based on the F/A-18F Super Hornet, has a crew of two, and is designed to escort Super Hornets on high risk air strikes. The Growler carries both a jamming pod designed to interfere with enemy radars and communications, preventing enemy air defenses from acquiring inbound aircraft and coordinating their attacks. The Growler also carries HARM anti-radar missiles, which detect the probing beams of enemy air defense radars and follow them to their source, destroying them. Without radars to guide them, many types of air defense missiles become unusable in combat.
The Growler's electronic warfare mission is particularly high risk, placing the jet and its crew between the strike fighters it escorts and enemy missiles. That makes it a good candidate for the unmanned mission, where the loss of an aircraft won't result in the loss of a crew.
The Growler and the Navy's main strike fighter, the Super Hornet, share 90 percent of their parts and systems. This makes it simpler to maintain both aircraft and allows the Growler to keep up with Super Hornets on missions. It also likely means that the Super Hornet can be unmanned, and possibly controlled by other Super Hornets.
This test also reinforces the Navy's seriousness about unmanned aviation. The service caught considerable flak in the 2010s after testing the X-47B unmanned aerial vehicle—and then promptly shelved it. The service greenlighted the new MQ-25 Stingray carrier-based drone, but made it a tanker instead of a fighter or strike aircraft. Now we know that there's been an interest in unmanned aviation all along. But instead of building new unmanned aircraft, the Navy decided to leverage its fleet of hundreds of manned aircraft, devoting resources into converting them into unmanned platforms.
Now it seems unmanned aircraft will almost certainly be an important weapon in the Navy's arsenal for future missions. Although drones can be controlled by crews on the ground on the other side of the planet, enemy electronic attack forces will be doing their best to interfere with U.S. forces, attempting to jam communications between a drone and its controllers. A manned aircraft could control multiple drones, providing instructions through unjammable short range communications.
For now, it's still important to have a human around.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a30771030/growler-unmanned-navy/
12 mars 2024 | International, Aérospatial
The Pentagon stopped accepting deliveries of the newest F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in summer 2023 as software problems snarled the jets' latest upgrades.
6 septembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army faces problems on multiple fronts when it comes to sending business to small companies, the head of Army Futures Command said Wednesday. Gen. John Murray said small businesses struggle under a procurement system that can take years, and then struggle to scale their businesses to meet the Army's needs. “There is a lack of trust [on the part of small businesses] that the government can sustain [a] small-business model,” Murray told the audience at the third annual Defense News Conference. “The way we do budgeting, [program objectives memorandum] POM cycles and all that — a small business can't survive. We're going to have to prove to small businesses that we can adjust our POM cycles to meet their needs. “And from the small business perspective, there are only a few ways that they can scale to the size we are talking about in terms of production. One of those ways is partnering with a traditional [defense contractor], so that's going to be a challenge going forward.” Murray's comments come as the Army tries to engage with a range of partners — from universities and small businesses to the traditional prime contractors such as Raytheon and General Dynamics — to find ways to integrate new technologies into the force. The outreach to small businesses at Army Futures Command is about finding new ways to get after the challenges the service faces, Murray said, but that in and of itself comes with challenges. “This outreach to small business is not because there is anything wrong with traditional defense primes, it's really an outreach to find new ways to solve our problems,” he said. “I've been in the Army 37 years, and I think about solving our problems a certain way. I guarantee a lot of these small businesses think about how to solve problems a different way. “Part of the challenge I have with small business is comfortably describing our problem to them. I can't talk in acronyms, I can't talk with 37 years of experience, I need to talk very clearly and very plainly.” Murray said his teams have staged events aimed at the private sector, such as a recent one where startups gathered to figure out how to move artillery shells 250 meters using autonomous unmanned systems. Such events have been instructive, he noted. Ultimately, however, the Army will choose the business that best meets the service's requirements, he said. “What it really comes down to is what are our problems and where is the best place — whether that's small business or a university or a traditional prime — where is the best place to solve that problem,” Murray said. https://www.defensenews.com/smr/defense-news-conference/2019/09/04/the-us-army-faces-struggles-working-with-small-businesses/
15 avril 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
DÉFENSE «Nous nous adaptons de façon encore plus réactive à l'évolution des menaces» : entretien avec Joël Barre Joël Barre, délégué général pour l'armement, accorde un entretien au Figaro. Il aborde les innovations de rupture dans le domaine militaire, qui doivent permettre d'anticiper les menaces et d'y faire face. L'Agence de l'innovation de défense (AID) mène une réflexion prospective ; la DGA « fait maturer des technologies, y compris des technologies de rupture, car ce sont celles qui pourraient connaître une accélération subite et créer la différence », explique Joël Barre. Parmi les nouveaux champs de conflictualité, figure notamment le spatial. « Nous nous dotons d'un programme spécifique, Ares, qui vise à assurer notre maîtrise de l'espace. Il s'agit de renforcer nos moyens de surveillance. Nous allons placer des caméras à bord de nos satellites de télécommunication Syracuse 4 en 2021 et 2022. Elles seront capables de détecter un objet qui s'approche. Nous allons aussi développer des moyens d'action : nous avons un projet de satellite guetteur pour surveiller de manière étroite l'orbite géostationnaire, avec le lancement d'un démonstrateur prévu en 2023 », détaille le délégué général pour l'armement. L'Intelligence Artificielle (IA) représente également une rupture technologique à anticiper. « Dans le domaine de l'IA, nous avons un projet « Man Machine Teaming » confié à Dassault Aviation et Thales pour l'aide au pilotage des avions de combat. Ce programme est quasiment achevé et il faut en tirer des leçons pour prévoir l'installation de l'IA dans les avions de combat du futur, dès les prochains standards du Rafale et dans le SCAF ». Le Figaro du 15 avril