UK competition watchdog approves $7.3B Viasat-Inmarsat merger

Sur le même sujet

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  3 novembre 2020 | International, Naval, C4ISR

  Viasat to supply Britain’s future frigate with satellite communications tech

  By: Andrew Chuter LONDON — Progress toward boosting the British Royal Navy's frigate numbers with a new class of ship continues to advance, with the Babcock International-led consortium contracted to build the warships adding on satellite communication supplier Viasat to its list of subcontractors. A deal to supply ultrahigh-frequency satellite communications for five general-purpose frigates being built for the Royal Navy has gone to Viasat UK, the company announced Nov 3. Viasat is based in the U.S. and was ranked No. 69 on Defense News' latest list of the top 100 defense companies around the world. Ultrahigh-frequency SATCOM is a mission-critical capability that will provide the Type 31 with beyond-line-of-sight, secure, integrated voice and data services. The deal is the latest in a sequence of contract awards by Babcock over the last few months. This time last year, the Ministry of Defence hired the firm to design and build a British version of the Danish Iver Huitfeldt-class warship. About 75 percent of the Type 31 subcontracts have now been awarded, and Babcock remains confident the program is on schedule despite problems presented by the coronavirus pandemic. The Viasat deal follows a recent announcement from BAE Systems that it had come to an agreement with Babcock to deliver two Bofors 40 Mk4 and one Bofors 57 Mk3 multipurpose gun systems per ship. BAE said its Karlskoga facility in Sweden will deliver the weapons in 2023 and 2024. All of the major supply chain contracts on Type 31 have been decided, including the Thales Tacticos-based combat management system; MTU main engines and diesel generators; Renk main reduction gearboxes; MAN Energy Solutions propellers and propeller shaft lines; and Raytheon Anschutz's warship-integrated navigation and bridge system. Babcock and its partners BMT, Fraser Nash, OMT and Thales — collectively known as Babcock Team 31 — are to start construction of the first 6,000-ton warship next year, with 2027 set as the year it's to enter service. A covered construction hall capable of holding two Type 31s is progressing at Babcock's Rosyth shipyard in Scotland, where the Royal Navy's two 65,000-ton Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers were recently completed. All five of the new frigates are due to have been completed — at an average cost of £250 million (U.S. $324 million) per ship — by 2028 to replace aging Type 23 frigates. Babcock announced in August that it had weeks earlier successfully completed the preliminary design review of the entire ship. BAE is also building Britain's Type 26 anti-submarine warfare frigate. The company has a contract for the first three warships, with the Royal Navy having an eventual requirement for eight vessels. As for Viasat UK, the SATCOM contract is the second defense deal it has secured in the last few days. Last week the company announced that, along with CDW UK, it had been awarded a two-year technical innovation contract for command, control and communication support for a program known as Lelantos. The agile experimentation initiative is to empower the headquarters of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in Gloucester, England, with superior decision-making, cross-domain integration and fast maneuver in a conflict. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/11/03/viasat-to-supply-britains-future-frigate-with-satellite-communications-tech

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  9 juillet 2022 | International, Aérospatial

  Thales : un atelier d’excellence pour le Rafale

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  25 juin 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Airspace Launches Galaxy Drone Security Solution

  Source: Airspace Systems Inc. Airspace Systems today introduced Airspace GalaxyTM, the first family of fully-automated, always-on airspace security solutions that accelerate the integration of drones into cities and protects people and property -- on the ground and in the air -- from clueless, careless or criminal drone operators. The new Airspace Galaxy security platform combines input from multiple sensors to detect drone activity at long-ranges, instantly identifies authorized and unauthorized flights, assesses risk, and if necessary and permitted, deploys an autonomous mitigation system to safely capture and remove an unauthorized or malicious drone. “We created Airspace to accelerate the integration of lifesaving drone technologies while giving communities the ability to ensure safe and secure skies,” said Jaz Banga, Airspace co-founder and CEO. “Galaxy is the first crucial step toward creating the trusted environment required to unlock the full potential of drones.” The airspace security company also today announced that cybersecurity veteran David DeWalt has invested in Airspace through the NightDragon Fund, and joined the Airspace board of directors as Vice Chairman. Additionally, Airspace announced that former Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Huerta has joined the company's board of advisors. Airspace developed the Galaxy security platform for business, public venues, government, law enforcement, and the military to protect people, property, and IP from harm. Galaxy was recently deployed to detect and identify drone activity behind the scenes for Major League Baseball during the 2018 World Series games in Boston and Los Angeles, for the San Francisco Police Department in support of the U.S. Navy to protect its annual San Francisco Fleet Week, and in Sacramento for the 36th annual California International Marathon. And in the fall, during the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's BLACK DART live-fire exercise, Galaxy was the only airspace security solution to deliver a fully autonomous drone mitigation capability – from takeoff to landing – capturing both stationary and moving targets. “Airspace security is a prerequisite to realize the full potential of the drone economy,” said Huerta. “We are on the verge of many great things that drones can do for us, but without the kind of safety and security Airspace Galaxy offers, we are just one terrible event away from stalling what could be a thriving, multi-billion dollar industry.” We believe in the good that drones can do Drones have already proven critical in disaster response. Firefighters have used them to monitor ongoing fires to focus their efforts, keep themselves safe, and help them save lives. Emergency teams have used drones to survey damage after natural disasters, deliver supplies, and find missing people. But as drones get smaller and cheaper, the potential physical and cyber threats grow exponentially. And regardless of whether a damaging drone event is caused by the naïve or nefarious, the results will be the same: progress derailed, and benefits denied. Airspace developed the Galaxy software platform to protect people, property, and IP by stopping drone threats before they happen. Galaxy: Mobile, Modular, Simple to Operate The critical first step in airspace security is accurate long-range detection of drone activity. As a modular system, Galaxy options include the ability to configure detection based on a customer's site- and mission-specific requirements and includes identification of all types of drones, both signal and non-signal emitting. The Airspace sensors detect anomalies operating from ground level to 400-feet and beyond in the sky, and cover up to a 25-mile radius. Detection comprises three primary functions: radio frequency (RF) sensors that use drone-to-operator communication links to legally identify a drone's unique identifier and launch location, a camera array to minimize false alarms and improve localization, and communication alerts to the Galaxy operator. Galaxy then fuses data from multiple sensors into a single, easy-to-use graphical user interface that is coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to create actionable intelligence for the system to handle automatically or with human override. Users can log in from a browser on their desktop or mobile device to see all pertinent information. Finally, if necessary and permitted by law, the Airspace mitigation option dispatches the Airspace Interceptor drone with a single click. Using advanced guidance systems and powered by AI, the Interceptor autonomously locks onto identified rogue drones and heads them off at high speed without human guidance. Trusted and deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Airspace Interceptor fires a Kevlar net to neutralize and capture unauthorized or malicious drones, and then delivers them to a safe place, preventing damage to either people or property. “Thinking about security in two dimensions is antiquated -- it's just not good enough to keep the bad guys out today,” said DeWalt, who has led two of the biggest companies in cybersecurity – McAfee and FireEye – and is now Delta Air Lines chairman of Safety & Security. “Today you have to protect in three dimensions – basically create an airspace security dome over everything -- events, your company – your entire city.” Among many other positions, DeWalt is the founder of cybersecurity platform NightDragon Security and the managing director of early-stage investor AllegisCyber. He sits on the boards of several cybersecurity firms, including Optiv, Callsign, and Claroty, and he has served on the Department of Homeland Security's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee since 2011. DeWalt was president and CEO of McAfee between 2005 and 2012 and was CEO of FireEye between 2012 and 2016. “David's and Michael's experience across the cybersecurity and aviation industries is incredibly relevant to our mission to create autonomous airspace security and our vision of a world of safe and secure skies open for business and social good,” said Banga. “They are both equally strategic assets for Airspace.” Airspace began producing Galaxy solutions that are now ready to deploy in three configurations after raising a $20-million Series A round led by Singtel Innov8 Ventures in March 2017. The company was founded in 2015 by a team from Apple, Google, and Cisco Systems, and backed by SterlingVC – the venture capital arm of the New York Mets – as well as Shasta Ventures, Granite Hill Capital Partner, Singtel Innov8, and S28 Capital. http://www.asdnews.com/news/aerospace/2018/12/20/airspace-launches-galaxy-drone-security-solution