18 décembre 2024 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR
DND warns availability of Canadian military equipment is dropping
Canadian Armed Forces equipment readiness continues to drop
29 octobre 2019 | International, Aérospatial
The US Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane lands after spending two years in space
By: Valerie Insinna
WASHINGTON — In the early morning hours of Oct. 27, the U.S. Air Force's X-37B spaceplane landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a record-breaking 780 days in orbit.
What was the Boeing-made plane doing in space for the two years it spent circling Earth? On that point, the Air Force is characteristically elusive, describing the X-37B's activities as “on-orbit experiments” in a news release.
“The X-37B continues to demonstrate the importance of a reusable spaceplane,” Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said. “Each successive mission advances our nation's space capabilities.”
According to the Air Force, the unmanned spaceplane is unique because it allows scientists to test experimental technologies in space for long periods of time.
One of those technologies confirmed to be on board the X-37B is the Advanced Structurally Embedded Thermal Spreader, or ASETS-11, created by the Air Force Research Laboratory to “test experimental electronics and oscillating heat pipes in the long duration space environment,” the service said in 2017.
“This program continues to push the envelope as the world's only reusable space vehicle. With a successful landing today, the X-37B completed its longest flight to date and successfully completed all mission objectives,” said Randy Walden, head of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. “This mission successfully hosted Air Force Research Laboratory experiments, among others, as well as providing a ride for small satellites.”
X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 5 ended at 3:51 a.m. after the spaceplane landed on the runway of Kennedy's shuttle landing facility on Sunday. That mission began Sept. 7, 2017, when the X-37B took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket — marking the first launch of the X-37B by Elon Musk's space company.
So far, the X-37B has spent 2,865 days on orbit cumulatively over its five missions, with four of those missions extending past the 270-day on-orbit duration requirement to which the plane was designed.
The Air Force plans to launch a sixth mission in 2020 out of Cape Canaveral.
The service has two X-37Bs, which Walden characterized as “workhorses” during a Oct. 24 event, according to Breaking Defense. When asked whether the Air Force should buy additional spacecraft or execute a follow-on order, Walden was noncommittal.
“The data is still out,” he said, adding that the two existing X-37Bs are “doing quite well.”
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9 février 2018 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR
Safran contributeur majeur du projet « OCEAN2020 » retenu par la Commission Européenne pour l’Action Préparatoire de Recherche de Défense
Boulogne-Billancourt, le 7 février 2018 Safran est l'un des principaux membres du consortium OCEAN2020 qui a remporté l'appel d'offres majeur associé à l'Action Préparatoire de Recherche de Défense (PADR) de la Commission Européenne pour 2017. Doté d'un montant de 35 millions d'euros, le projet de la Commission Européenne porte sur un démonstrateur technologique attestant de la valeur opérationnelle de systèmes de drones de tous milieux (drones aériens, de surface et sous-marins) dans un environnement maritime. Le consortium OCEAN2020, mené par Leonardo, a remporté cet appel d'offres en fédérant des industriels de toutes tailles, des partenaires académiques et des représentants étatiques de 15 pays de l'Union Européenne. L'équipe gagnante réalisera deux démonstrations de mise en oeuvre de nouveaux moyens de surveillance et de systèmes intégrés de traitement de l'information dans le cadre d'exercices navals européens, en Méditerranée en 2019 puis en mer Baltique en 2020. Au cours de ces opérations navales, Safran déploiera son drone Patroller dans une configuration de surveillance maritime. Seul drone à voilure fixe de longue endurance engagé dans ces démonstrations, le Patroller sera équipé d'une nouvelle chaîne de mission comprenant un radar de surveillance maritime, un système d'identification automatique des navires (AIS) et la boule optronique EuroflirTM 410 de Safran déjà présente sur sa version terrestre. Les informations recueillies par cet ensemble multi capteurs seront transmises aux systèmes de combat de plusieurs navires et aux centres d'opérations. Safran contribuera aux innovations du projet OCEAN2020 en développant une fonction d'autonomie de mission pour drones navals. Des traitements embarqués permettront au Patroller de détecter et de suivre automatiquement un navire suspect dans sa zone de recherche et de réunir de l'information (vitesse, trajectoire, taille, immatriculation, images-preuves...) afin de faciliter le travail des opérateurs de mission. Ces nouvelles capacités fonctionnelles sont déterminantes pour mener à bien les opérations de surveillance des Marines et agences européennes réalisées avec des drones. Thierry Dupoux, directeur de l'innovation chez Safran Electronics & Defense, a déclaré : « Nous sommes fiers de poursuivre notre feuille de route sur les chaînes de mission drone pour les applications de surveillance maritime. C'est une chance de déployer nos compétences pour contribuer à construire un projet européen d'envergure dans la R&D de défense. » L'Action Préparatoire de Recherche de Défense est un programme de recherche de 3 ans de la Commission Européenne visant à tester, à travers plusieurs projets, les mécanismes de financement de la R&T de Défense par le budget de l'Union Européenne. Elle préfigure le lancement d'un programme-cadre de soutien de la recherche de défense à partir de 2021. https://www.safran-electronics-defense.com/fr/media/safran-contributeur-majeur-du-projet-ocean2020-retenu-par-la-commission-europeenne-pour-laction-preparatoire-de-recherche-de-defense-20180207
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24 avril 2020 | International, C4ISR
Top Air Force general defends Advanced Battle Management System from critical report
Valerie Insinna A report by a government watchdog that slammed the Air Force's major command-and-control program did not include key classified information and was outdated by the time it was released last week, the service's top general said Wednesday. On Friday, the Government Accountability Office delivered a scathing report on the Air Force's Advanced Battle Management System, which seeks to overhaul the U.S. military's command-and-control infrastructure so that any platform will instantly and seamlessly be able to share data with another weapon system on the battlefield. The problem, according to the GAO, is that the Air Force has not provided enough detail on exactly what technology it needs, how it plans to field it and how much it will cost. But speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein said the agency did not have access to key information that may have fleshed out the service's plans. “There is a bit of latency to the reporting,” Goldfein said. “Two things I would offer is that they were not able to get to our December ABMS demo. So they didn't actually ... see in real time what we were connecting.” The other problem, Goldfein said, is that the organization was not cleared to receive information about the classified portions of the program. “That makes it challenging because if the technology you're moving forward, if a lot of it is in the classified realm — if a lot of it, quite frankly, was in the space realm — and the GAO doesn't have access or clearance to be able to look at it, then the report is going to be on a very small portion of what the Advanced Battle Management System really is,” he said. In an email to Defense News, GAO director Marie Mak disputed Goldfein's characterization of the report, saying that the organization has a full understanding of past and present ABMS efforts, including the December exercise and numerous classified discussions. “Those discussions did not change our finding that the Air Force still does not have an overall plan for ABMS, a point which they openly acknowledged and in fact concurred with our recommendations,” she said. “The Air Force still needs to develop an overall plan, to include preliminary costs and schedule. Without some type of overall plan in place, it will be difficult for the Air Force to prioritize this program among the acquisition efforts within the Air Force.” When Goldfein became the Air Force's chief of staff in 2016, he made connecting the joint force one of his major priorities. Since then, the service has canceled efforts to replace legacy aircraft that play a role in battlefield management, such as a recapitalization of the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft. Instead, it has put its financial resources toward ABMS, which it envisions as a family of systems that will be more survivable than a direct replacement for JSTARS aircraft or other assets. The service tapped Preston Dunlap to manage the ABMS effort in 2019. It then conducted its first set of technology demonstrations in December, where it tested 28 different technologies, with 26 of them proving to be successful. However, some lawmakers have remained skeptical about the Air Force's approach and lack of transparency. In March, Republican Sen. David Perdue called for the Air Force to deliver an analysis of alternatives and capability development document — two pieces of documentation typical to defense acquisition programs. “The development of ABMS is encouraging, but we need to make sure Congress has proper oversight throughout the process,” said Perdue, whose home state of Georgia is the location of Robins Air Force Base, where ABMS is slated to be based. Goldfein did not directly address one of the GAO's major complaints: that the program is at greater risk for schedule delays and cost growth because it does not have a firm business case that spells out capability requirements and cost. But he acknowledged that the Air Force has to do more to share information with Congress and the GAO in a timely matter. However, the pace of the ABMS program may also require lawmakers and the GAO to put in more time to keep updated on the effort's progress, he said. “The GAO has got to keep up ... and we've got to help,” Goldfein said. “This is not a poke or criticism. We've got to help them. We've got to help Congress. We've got to help think tanks. We've got to help others realize that we are moving out and we are developing capability faster than we've ever developed capability before. We're connecting things faster than we've ever connected them before.” “Every four months we are connecting new capabilities that have never been connected. That's a hard one to deliver a report on, but I'm eager to sit down with the GAO and get them up to speed.” Updated on 4/23/19 at 11:45 a.m. with comment from the GAO. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/04/23/top-air-force-general-blasts-critical-advanced-battle-management-system-report/