8 novembre 2023 | International, Naval
Spain’s Navantia teams with Australian shipbuilders for corvette offer
The Tasman class of vessels would be manufactured at a new shipbuilding hub in Western Australia, according to the company.
11 juin 2018 | International, Terrestre
This Army unit will be first to test an exoskeleton that lightens combat load
By: Todd South
Soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division will be the first to test the long-awaited exoskeleton that developers say can reduce injuries, carrying loads and help troops move around the battlefield with ease.
The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center partnered with the division in February to identify, evaluate and transition exoskeleton technology to the Army.
NSRDEC has led exoskeleton efforts for the Army for a number of years. One of the more advanced products that will soon hit the division is made by Lockheed Martin.
Army Times spoke recently with company officials about the ONYX device, which will go through phases of testing, beginning as early as this fall.
The first phase will include a six-month “development effort” in which researchers work on “quality of life” portions of making the knee- and hip-focused device fit comfortably and correctly to the soldier's body, said Keith Maxwell, senior program engineer for the company's exoskeleton technologies.
That will be done with 10th Mountain soldiers later this year.
And that's not the only high-tech gear that 10th Mountain soldiers will be testing. They're one of two units, along with the 101st Airborne Division, that will take robotic vehicles to act as gear mules into the formations later this year.
That's part of the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport program. The program has four vehicles being evaluated by those Army units and a yet-to-be identified Marine Corps unit at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
For the ONYX, 10th Mountain soldiers will evaluate the changes as they develop an exoskeleton “concept of operations.”
A second phase will include a cycle that starts in early 2019 to add in faster, quieter actuators to the device; those will also be tested by 10th Mountain soldiers.
Then a third round will test for ruggedized operation before the Army decides if or when the tech will be fielded. Officials estimate the device could be ready for fielding as early as 2021.
The most challenging movements of climbing, especially with a load, up stairs or mountain faces, present strain on the endurance and strength of a soldier but also put them in a position for significant injury to their back, hips or knees.
The exoskeleton allows a soldier to transfer the weight of the load from his or her frame to the device.
Much of the work began years before with the Human Universal Load Carrier, or HULC. But that system was too bulky and required more power, which meant more batteries. More batteries meant more weight, which could cancel out the benefits of transferring load bearing, Maxwell said.
So, with the ONYX, developers incorporated changes made in systems that came after HULC – removing added power requirements and adding technology that had been used in the medical field by B-Temia for people with extremity injuries.
Last year, a University of Michigan study by their Human Neuromechanics Laboratory showed reduced fatigue using the knee-stress relief device that is part of the ONYX exoskeleton called the FORTIS.
The university had four participants carry a 40-pound backpack at different speeds on a treadmill at a 15-degree incline.
All showed reduced exertion when using the exoskeleton, according to the study.
While the ONYX device has shown considerable promise in clean environments, the big step will be ruggedizing it for fieldwork, Maxwell said.
“That's the hardest part of all, ruggedization,” Maxwell said.
And that's a matter of time and investment.
“None of the stuff we're facing is insurmountable,” Maxwell said.
Waterproofing the device is paramount, he said. The standard is for it to be submersible to three feet of water for 15 minutes.
While the current device focuses on the lower body, which carries most of the load and presents most soldier injury problems, there are technologies that are coming from this research that could eventually work their way into upper body support and possibly the TALOS suit that is being developed by Special Operations Command.
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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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16 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Autre défense
Opinion: How To Break Exponential Pentagon Cost Growth
James Chew The recently published viewpoint “Can the Pentagon Spend More Smartly?” (AW&ST Aug. 31-Sept. 13, p. 58) highlights the consequences of increased dependence on technology to maintain an edge. In fact, the core issue of the exponential growth in cost associated with the linear growth in technology capability is highlighted in Norman Augustine's 1982 book Augustine's Laws. Specifically, two of “Augustine's laws” focus on what needs to be avoided within the Defense Department acquisition community. One of the laws states: “In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy three and a half days each per week, except for leap year when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day.” Additionally, the book highlights the Defense Department's growing dependence on electronic systems with this law: “After the year 2015, there will be no airplane crashes. There will be no takeoffs either, because electronics will occupy 100% of every airplane's weight.” Even if these laws seem outlandish, the book's underlying lessons still ring true today. For decades, the Pentagon was the driving force behind the development of microelectronics until, interestingly, the commercial sector ultimately ended up in the driver's seat. To share a little history, the Army-funded Micromodule project was the precursor of the integrated circuit and the Very-Large Scale Integration project created today's electronic design automation companies and resulted in the development of multichip wafer fabrication technology. The fact is, today's microelectronics technology would not exist, or would almost certainly be less sophisticated, if not for a few brave and visionary Defense Department project officers. The electronics industry is likely the most visible and significant example of a commercial market that not only transitioned from but significantly advanced technology developed by the U.S. military. Without the government investment, the device on which I am writing this article, and the one on which you are reading it, would perhaps not exist. There are lessons to be learned from both the public and private sectors, and best practices from each can certainly be applied cross-functionally to optimize outcomes. For example, the commercial electronics industry has enabled electronic systems companies to develop high-quality, sustainable and modernizable products on a “can't-miss-Christmas” schedule. Much of the industry's success is due in large part to an adherence to “first-pass success” and the computational software tools and processes that enable it. These tools and processes have been developed by companies that invest significant portions of their annual sales—some up to 40%—into research and development (that is “IR&D” to you in the Pentagon) and are a result of the intense competition within the unforgiving consumer electronics market. These tools and processes, which have institutionalized the product development practice of “emulate before you fabricate,” make up the foundation of on-schedule, on-cost product development. The best-case scenario is that the current Defense Department and defense industry electronic development process matches up with the commercial electronics development process, where they both seek to achieve “first-pass success.” Even if all things were equal, which they aren't, the commercial timeline would still be around 30% that of the defense timeline. Eliminating the need for prototype hardware and the associated tests and reworks is a major reduction in design time and cost. So, after so many years of funding research into electronic design and development, why have the Defense Department and defense industry turned away from the commercial processes that stemmed from that investment? Why aren't these processes being adopted? Congress appreciates that transitioning to commercial electronics best practices is the basis for the much-desired firm, fixed-price acquisition. The fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, reinforced by the fiscal 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, has an entire section on transitioning to commercial electronics best practices. Program offices and some individuals within the defense industrial base are seeking to better understand the commercial industry-proven way to design electronics that reduce design schedules by at least 70%, producing “first-pass success” electronic system designs that are immediately sustainable and agilely modernizable. The answer is out there—adopt commercial best practices to save time and money. With nontraditional companies entering the picture (what's the name of that space company?), the public sector should have plenty of motivation to implement tools and processes that are prevalent and successful in today's private sector. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/budget-policy-operations/opinion-how-break-exponential-pentagon-cost-growth