11 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial
By: Valerie Insinna
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to create an air-launched drone that carries its own smaller weapons, a concept that brings to mind a lethal Russian nesting doll packed with missiles.
If successful, the new UAV — called LongShot — could allow high-value manned aircraft like fighters and bombers to hang back at standoff distances while the drone moves forward and strikes multiple targets using its own air-launched weapons.
DARPA announced Feb. 8 that it had awarded contracts to General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for the first phase of the program, during which the companies will create preliminary designs.
“The LongShot program changes the paradigm of air combat operations by demonstrating an unmanned, air-launched vehicle capable of employing current and advanced air-to-air weapons,” said Lt. Col. Paul Calhoun, a program manager for DARPA's Tactical Technology Office. “LongShot will disrupt traditional incremental weapon improvements by providing an alternative means of generating combat capability.”
Under the LongShot program, DARPA plans to explore multimodal propulsion, which the organization sees as key to the drone's concept of operations.
“An air system using multi-modal propulsion could capitalize upon a slower speed, higher fuel-efficient air vehicle for ingress, while retaining highly energetic air-to-air missiles for endgame target engagement,” the Defense Department stated in fiscal 2021 budget material. That way, the UAV gets the benefit of being able to traverse longer ranges, while the weapons it launches have a higher probability of destroying their intended targets.
If LongShot's development is successful, the weapon could “significantly” extend the range at which a manned aircraft can engage a target while also reducing the risk to human pilots, DARPA stated in a news release.
DARPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the value of the contracts or the future schedule of the program, although it noted in a release that companies will build and fly full-scale demonstrators during a future phase of the program. During those tests, companies will prove their LongShot UAVs are capable of controlled flight and launching weapons.
DARPA started the LongShot program in FY21, requesting $22 million to begin conceptual design work.
According to budget documents, the LongShot UAV could be either launched from an external hardpoint on a fighter or the internal bay on a bomber. Both the Air Force and Navy could be potential future customers.
25 décembre 2024 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
PyPI packages "Zebo" and "Cometlogger" downloaded 280+ times, exfiltrate data with obfuscation and anti-detection.
5 novembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, C4ISR
By: Tom Kington ROME — Italy has spent slightly more than €5 billion (U.S. $5.7 billion) on defense procurement in 2018 and launched a series of new programs, a newly released spending document has revealed. Published months behind schedule, the Defence Ministry document also states that the ministry's overall budget, which includes its contribution to procurement as well as funds for personnel and maintenance and operations, stood at €13.8 billion this year, up from €13.2 billion the year before. The total budget for procurement combines a €2.3 billion contribution from the Defence Ministry funding with a €2.8 billion top-up from Italy's Ministry of Economic Development, which has long shored up acquisition funding. A chart published in the document shows that procurement funding from the defense ministry has risen 83 percent from €1.5 billion in 2008, and overtook Defence Ministry procurement in 2016 for the first time. The figures are contained in Italy's annual defense spending document, which is due to be examined by the Italian parliament's defense commission next week and has been seen by Defense News. The document breaks down spending per program in 2018 and lists new programs receiving funding for the first time, including four new Chinook helicopters for special forces troops, which will cost €528 million over nine years. Launch funding is also allotted for the purchase of a third pair of U212 submarines for the Italian Navy, a program due to cost a total of €2.35 billion. There is also launch funding for a second pair of Cosmo Skymed Second Generation radar satellites which will cost a total of €212 million. Also included in the budget is funding to launch the purchase of a new submarine rescue vessel which will cost a total of €424 million. Usually published in the spring, the release of the budget overview has been held up by a change of government, which saw a center-left administration replaced in June by a populist coalition. The new government's defense budget plans are yet to be finalized as the overall state budget is still being worked on, but a source has already told Defense News that €450 million are to be trimmed from planned spending to help fund social welfare programs. The programs to be put on ice during 2019 are NH-90 helicopter acquisitions and the CAMM-ER missile program, while plans to move the headquarters of individual military services in Rome under one roof in premises on the outskirts of the capital have been scrapped. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/11/02/italy-spends-57-billion-on-military-procurement-in-2018
10 décembre 2019 | International, Terrestre
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has picked two active protection systems to evaluate next fall for possible applications on a variety of ground combat vehicles. A Rheinmetall and Unified Business Technologies team received an $11 million contract from the Army to provide its StrikeShield APS system for the evaluation. And a DRS and Rafael team received a similar contract to participate, the Army confirmed to Defense News. After evaluating two active protections systems — StrikeShield and Rafael's Trophy VPS — in a 2018 demonstration, and determining neither were the right fit for an interim APS capability for the Stryker combat vehicle, it appears the door is opening back up for that capability. It is likely the solution the Army is evaluating from DRS and Rafael is Trophy VPS, Rafael's lighter version of its Trophy APS system that is being fielded on Abrams tanks. The Army found interim APS solutions for both its Abrams tanks and Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, but the service has struggled to find one for the Strykers. The service moved quickly over the past several years to field combat vehicle protection against rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank-guided missiles while it develops a future system. The service's new evaluation effort — conducted through the its new Vehicle Protective Systems (VPS) program office — will begin in October 2020 at Redstone Test Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “It provides a pathway to potential utilization of the system on vehicles in the current Army vehicle fleet as well as vehicles fielded in the future,” according to a Rheinmetall statement issued earlier this month. The Army will evaluate StrikeShield “as part of a larger effort to characterize APS performance against a wide variety of anti-armor threats,” Rheinmetall's statement read. “This significant contract award represents the first funded APS testing the Army will undertake of the StrikeShield system.” Rheinmetall and UBT funded the previous evaluation of the system for Stryker at the invitation of the Army. Based in Unterluess, Germany, Rheinmetall has been pushing to get its active defense system in front of the Army and under consideration for integration into U.S. combat vehicles for several years. The company seemed poised to be selected as the interim solution for the Stryker prior to the Army's demonstration last fall. The Army also considered Herndon, Virginia-based Artis Corporation's Iron Curtain APS for Stryker through a more extensive evaluation, but decided in August 2018 not to move forward in fielding it to Stryker units. The new round of evaluations considers limited characterizations focused on platform agnostic testing to garner additional data on hard-kill APS, the Army told Defense News in a written statement. The APS will be installed on a vehicle agnostic test riq, the service said, to inform APS considerations for “multiple ground combat platforms.” “The results of this activity will be leveraged to inform the Army's approach to future hard kill APS acquisitions,” the service added. While the Army has looked and, in some cases, acquired APS for the Stryker, Bradley and Abrams, it is also considering what protection systems are needed for its armored multipurpose vehicle, mobile protected firepower capability and Bradley's future replacement, the optionally manned fighting vehicle (OMFV). The evaluations are scheduled to start at the beginning of fiscal 2021 and will last roughly six months. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/12/09/us-army-picks-two-vehicle-protection-systems-to-evaluate-realm-of-the-possible