The US Air Force wants to network all its weapons together. Will simulators be included?

Sur le même sujet

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  27 juillet 2018 | International, Aérospatial

  A long-term future for Robins Air Force Base and US national defense

  By: Sen. David Perdue I grew up in Warner Robins, Georgia. As a member of the United States Senate Armed Services Committee and a former member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I know that Robins Air Force Base is an integral piece of our country's national security. Since 1996, Robins has been home to the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System mission. JSTARS is a platform that helps with intelligence gathering and battle management. JSTARS planes are very much in demand. However, JSTARS is an aging platform. Russia and China have modernized their air defenses to keep America's specialized capabilities, like JSTARS, out of potentially denied airspace. There are growing areas of denied airspace around the world that JSTARS planes simply cannot penetrate. The Obama administration had proposed a JSTARS recapitalization that was on track to leave a significant capability gap. We fought that in the United States Senate and House by pushing for a JSTARS recapitalization that would continue the mission in non-denied airspace with new planes and avoid that gap. Now, President Donald Trump and his national security team have created an opportunity for a long-term solution for both denied and non-denied airspace. The final version of this year's National Defense Authorization Act is supported by President Trump, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. First, the plan in the defense authorization bill secures the future of the JSTARS platform for the next 10 years, including the more than 2,500 jobs that JSTARS supports. Second, the plan accelerates the development of the Advanced Battle Management System, or ABMS, mission, which is a multidimensional platform that can access both denied and non-denied airspace. Third, the Air Force has named Robins Air Force Base as the host base of this new ABMS mission. This means that Robins will be a force for years to come, while providing for our long-term national defense by developing this technology more quickly than we would have been able to do otherwise. Clearly, this is a major win for Robins Air Force Base, the middle Georgia community and for our national defense overall. It provides certainty for the current JSTARS mission for the next 10 years. It accelerates the development of next-generation mission capabilities so desperately needed by our armed forces today. Finally, the Air Force has assured Robins' future role in dealing with modern-day threats by naming Robins the host base of the Advanced Battle Management System. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., is a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/07/26/a-long-term-future-for-robins-air-force-base-and-us-national-defense

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  4 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial

  Le missilier MBDA et Soitec reprennent Dolphin Integration, un spécialiste français des circuits intégrés

  Posté dans Technologie par Laurent Lagneau Alors que l'industrie française de l'armement cherche à limiter autant que possible le recours à des composantes relevant de la Réglementation américaine sur le trafic d'armes au niveau international [ITAR] afin d'éviter toute restriction à l'exportation, il aurait été dommage de voir l'entreprise iséroise Dolphin Integration, spécialisée, avec ses 130 ingénieurs, dans la conception de circuits intégrés et de composants dits virtuels analogiques et numériques, fermer ses portes. D'autant plus que cette PME, créée en 1985, avait été sélectionnée par l'Agence européenne de défense [AED] dans le cadre du programme SOC – System on Chip [.pdf], visant à permettre aux industriels européens de l'armement d'accéder à des technologies « ITAR Free » pour « des petits et moyens volumes à des prix compétitifs. » En outre, elle a mené des projetspour le compte de la Direction générale de l'armement [DGA], via le dispositif RAPID Or, en juillet, faisant face à d'importants problèmes de trésorerie et à un chiffre d'affaires en recul, Dolphin Integration a été placé en redressement judiciaire. Et l'entreprise avait jusqu'à la mi-janvier 2019 pour trouver une solution pour assurer la poursuite de ses activités. Cette mésaventure lui est arrivée alors qu'elle avait l'ambition de devenir un acteur mondial de « la conception et de l'optimisation de circuits intégrés dédiés à la très faible consommation d'énergie » et de s'intéresser aux marchés de l'Internet des objets (IoT), de l'automobile et de la défense. Mais il n'aura pas fallu attendre bien longtemps pour voir la situation de Dolphin Integration s'éclaircir étant donné que le missilier MBDA et Soitec, le spécialiste français de la production de matériaux semi-conducteurs, se sont associés pour reprendre la PME iséroise. Dans le détail, le capital de Dolphin Integration sera détenu à hauteur de 40% par MBDA et de 60% par Soitec. Les deux industriels ont pris l'engagement d'investir 6 millions d'euros ensemble. De quoi permettre d'acquérir « la plupart des actifs de Dolphin Integration », de payer « certaines dettes » et d'opérer une « importante injection de liquidités destinée à financer les besoins en fond de roulement. » Étant déjà un client « stratégique » de Dolphin Integration pour les « applications liées à l'armement depuis 2004 », MBDA va accentuer la coopération industriel avec la PME tout en lui « offrant une perspective commerciale à long terme en matière de circuits ASIC (circuits intégrés propres à une application spécifique) et systèmes sur puces. » « L'investissement de MBDA va renforcer la base industrielle de Dolphin Integration dédiée à l'armement français. Il va en effet lui apporter une source plus stable de revenus liés à la défense ainsi qu'une coopération technologique plus étroite ouvrant à son offre microélectronique spécialisée l'accès à l'ensemble de l'industrie de l'armement française et européenne », a expliqué Antoine Bouvier, le Pdg du missilier. http://www.opex360.com/2018/08/24/missilier-mbda-soitec-reprennent-dolphin-integration-specialiste-francais-circuits-integres/

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  2 octobre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Virtual reality training — for pilots, maintainers and more — expands in 2020

  By: Stephen Losey One of the top priorities of Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, the newly minted head of Air Education and Training Command, will be expanding the Air Force's experiment with virtual reality training. So far, the Air Force has had success with Pilot Training Next, which uses VR, biometrics and artificial intelligence to better teach aspiring pilots how to fly. Webb is eyeing similar technologies, under the name Learning Next, to improve other forms of technical training. This could include teaching airmen how to maintain aircraft, fly remotely piloted aircraft or perform other technical tasks. These programs allow students' education to proceed more at their own pace, since they are based on competency and are not tied to a timetable, Wright said. A student who already has the fundamentals down can skip the basics and go right to what he or she needs to learn. AETC is now in the process of broadening Pilot Training Next, which has been a demonstration, to the next phase of wider experimentation, Webb said. He and Maj. Gen. Craig Wills, commander of the 19th Air Force, are working on plans to expand Pilot Training Next. By next summer, Webb wants to have set up Pilot Training Next elements at several squadrons, though it wouldn't be across all undergraduate pilot training bases. A few classes after that, Webb expects, Pilot Training Next will be expanded to all UPT bases. The Pilot Training Next expansion will likely be done methodically, at one base first, Webb said, though he would not say which base AETC is looking at. “What has happened in our last couple of years with Pilot Training Next has been an explosion, out of the box, of innovation,” Webb said. “Make no mistake, the Air Force wants this inculcated as fast as we can go,” he said. AETC is already in the “nascent stages” of testing VR and other technology-enhanced training for maintenance and other technical training as part of Learning Next, Webb said. Maintenance Next is a particular priority and is happening on an experimental basis at Kelly Field at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, he said, and using VR for RPA training is also proceeding. As the VR pilot training shows, such programs can accelerate in a hurry, he said. Ethics Webb also wants to cultivate an “environment of excellence, professionalism, ethics and character development” during his time at AETC. Webb, who was previously commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, pointed to the ethical clouds that have fallen over parts of the special operations community in recent years. For example, the Navy relieved the entire senior leadership team of SEAL Team 7 earlier this month over what it described as leadership failures that resulted in a breakdown of good order and discipline while deployed. AFSOC took a hard look at itself, Webb said, to make sure it doesn't allow similar lapses to fester. “For a leader, you can never ... talk about core values enough,” Webb said. “If I had to look myself in the mirror from my last command, I can tell you my team knew our mission and vision of priorities backwards and forwards.” But while airmen at AFSOC understood Air Force core values, he acknowledged he didn't always articulate those values in his everyday “walk-around, talk-around” encounters. That can create problems if leaders assume airmen already know about the core values, he said. When a unit starts to feel the pressure from high operations tempos and a lack of resources, Webb said, that “get-'er-done” mentality can lead to bad decisions if airmen don't have a firm foundation of the Air Force core values. “If you don't have a firm foundation, you can go to a dark place with that ... ‘find a way to yes' mentality,” Webb said. “We've got to always talk about professionalism and ethics, and also always talk about our core values. That will be a capstone” of his time at AETC. Webb said he plans to continue with AETC's recent improvements in how special warfare airmen are recruited and trained, which included standing up the new Special Warfare Training Wing and the special warfare-focused 330th Recruiting Squadron. More work needs to be done to “normalize” and fine-tune those units, and more firmly fold them into AETC's everyday culture, he said. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/09/16/virtual-reality-training-for-pilots-maintainers-and-more-expands-in-2020