25 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial

The U.S. Navy’s New Drone Could Team Up With Stealth Fighters

The U.S. Navy is spending $13 billion buying 72 MQ-25 Stingray tanker drones for its 11 aircraft carriers. The idea is for the Boeing BA-made MQ-25s to refuel manned fighters, extending their range while also relieving the fighter squadrons of their own tanking duties.

But the MQ-25 always had potential to be more than just an aerial-refueler. With its stealthy airframe and high endurance, it could be a surveillance plane and even a light strike platform, too.

At least one fleet community isn't waiting for the Navy and Boeing to adapt the MQ-25 to other missions. The fleet's airborne command-and-control weapons school at Naval Base Ventura County in Point Mugu, California, already thinks of the Stingray as more than a tanker.

Robbin Laird, a military analyst and writer, spoke to Cmdr. Christopher Hulitt, the head of the school, and summarized the conversation at Second Line of Defense.

Laird and Hulitt's main point is that the Navy is acquiring new aircraft with highly-sophisticated communications systems and sensors. The F-35C stealth fighter. The E-2D early-warning plane. The MQ-4C high-altitude drone. And the MQ-25.

Where before, E-2s would fly over a maritime battle, detecting targets and relaying commands to fighters, now a new system is coming together. The F-35C, E-2D, MQ-4C and MQ-25 all possess the qualities of a sensor- and command-and-control platform. So instead of passing information just one way—from an E-2 to a fighter—in coming years info could begin moving in all directions.

An F-35C in stealth mode might detect an enemy ship using its passive sensors and beam, via secure datalink, the target's general location to the nearby MQ-25 that just refueled the F-35C. The MQ-25 could hand off the data to an E-2D. The E-2D crew could instruct the operators of an MQ-4C to steer their drone toward the enemy ship's location.

Once the MQ-4C pinpoints the ship, the E-2D could then pass the targeting data back to the F-35C as well as to other allied vessels and planes, all of which could fire missiles. Imagine this whole process happening in minutes.

“It is about deploying an extended trusted sensor network, which can be tapped through various waveforms, and then being able to shape how the decision-making arc can best deliver the desired combat effect,” Laird wrote.

The Navy hopes to deploy the first MQ-25s as early as 2024.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2020/05/22/the-us-navys-new-drone-could-team-up-with-stealth-fighters/#9bc4fd875e2e

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20 mai 2022 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

L’Europe se dote d’un hub d’innovation de Défense
DÉFENSE L'Europe se dote d'un hub d'innovation de Défense Les ministres de la Défense des pays membres de l'Agence européenne de Défense (AED) ont approuvé la création d'un pôle d'innovation de Défense de l'UE, « Hub for EU Defence Innovation » (HEDI), en son sein, mardi 17 mai 2022, lors du comité directeur de l'agence. Approuvée par le Conseil européen, la « Boussole stratégique » préconisait, parmi 12 priorités, la création d'un tel pôle en 2022, dont les travaux préparatoires ont commencé en mai 2021. À la fois « catalyseur et amplificateur », HEDI opérera à la croisée des initiatives déjà lancées par l'AED et en cohérence avec le fond pour l'innovation de l'OTAN (DIANA). Ce hub se concentrera sur les priorités établies par l'Europe en matière de développement capacitaires, de recherche et développement et de compétences, de technologies et de production. Ce hub d'innovation de Défense est supposé monter en puissance afin de mettre en place un « HEDI 2.0 ». Une des premières étapes consiste à faire partager les bonnes pratiques en termes d'innovation et à organiser un 1er « European Defence Innovation Day » le 31 mai prochain. La mise en place d'ateliers, de groupes d'études et de rencontres annuelles ou semestrielles entre chercheurs et organisations doit contribuer à établir une image commune de l'innovation de défense européenne. A terme, HEDI pourrait piloter plusieurs actions comme une version améliorée de l'actuel Prix de l'innovation de défense de l'AED, le financement de preuves de concept et de démonstrateurs, ou encore l'organisation de conférences et de salons thématiques. Agence Europe et Forces Operations Blog du 18 mai
5 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR

US Space Force to establish new acquisitions command in 2021
Nathan Strout WASHINGTON — The U.S Space Force plans to stand up a new command to oversee all of the service's acquisitions in 2021, although that timeline is dependent on identifying the space-related parts of the other military branches that will be transferred into the nation's newest service. The Space Force announced in June that it will be made up of three field commands — Space Operations Command; Space Training and Readiness Command; and Space Systems Command — with the latter charged with developing, acquiring and sustaining systems for the Space Force. Space Systems Command will oversee both the Space and Missile Systems Center, which currently procures most of the service's space-related platforms, and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office. “We anticipate standing that up in 2021, probably sooner rather than later. We're working on those final details,” Space Force Vice Commander Lt. Gen. David Thompson said during a Defense One event Oct. 1. Notably, Space Systems Command is set to become the new home of the Space Development Agency in October 2022, bringing the ambitious organization under the Space Force's purview. The agency was launched in 2019 and has quickly moved forward with plans to establish a mega-constellation of satellites operating in low Earth orbit. The agency's planned transport layer — a space-based mesh network comprised of satellites connected by optical intersatellite crosslinks — is set to play a major part in the Pentagon's Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept. The new command will act as a unifying force, said Thompson, removing unnecessary duplication between organizations while encouraging healthy competition in some areas. “We're not going to duplicate, but we're certainly interested in the energy that comes from competing ideas and competing designs and competing approaches to a problem,” he explained. Unifying space acquisitions and activities under a single service was a major justification for the establishment of the Space Force. However, details on which organizations, functions and platforms will be absorbed has been scant, as talks continue between the services and Department of Defense leadership. “The absolute final decision hasn't been made,” Thompson said. “We have been engaged in this process for several months now. We're getting close to the decisions that need to be made in terms of transfer of some of those functions and capabilities.” “There is a tremendous amount that the Space Force and the Air Force and the Army and the Navy working together with [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] have already agreed on,” Thompson added. “One is the capabilities and forces that will stay in place where they are to continue to do the activities that are space-related, the set of activities that are prepared to move over; and then there's a couple, there's a few, units and functions left that we haven't reached full agreement on, and we're in the process of finalizing the data and the information that will allow the decision-makers to decide the final disposition — whether they'll stay or whether they'll move to the Space Force.” The Space Force largely completed this process with the Air Force in the spring, said Thompson, with 23 units or functions selected for transition into the new service. Much of the planning and execution of that transfer has already been completed, and the Space Force has gone on to identify other organizations and capabilities that should be brought into their fold, including two Air Force units and two more from the intelligence community. Plans are expected to be finalized for the other services in the near future, with Thompson teasing that an announcement was likely before the end of the year. “The target that the leadership in the DoD has given us is we want to be able to make decisions so that we can execute planning in FY2021 and begin facilitating moves in 2022,” he explained. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/10/01/the-space-force-to-establish-new-acquisitions-command-in-2021/
12 septembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial

RTX jet engine problem ripples across global aerospace industry | Reuters
Aerospace suppliers and airlines around the world warned of rising costs and a squeeze on plane capacity after U.S. engine maker RTX disclosed that a rare manufacturing flaw could ground hundreds of Airbus jets in coming years.

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