UK: Defence and Security Accelerator funding competitions

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  4 février 2019 | International, C4ISR

  LEONARDO SIGNS DEAL WORTH AROUND €180M TO UPGRADE NATO'S ELECTRONIC WARFARE TRAINING EQUIPMENT

  Leonardo will deliver a range of new equipment to NATO JEWCS, the Alliance agency which supports armed forces training to face hostile electro-magnetic conditions Equipment will cover air, land and maritime domains and also includes a capability for training crews to defend against anti-ship missiles Leonardo's range of contracts in support of NATO signal a leadership position in a number of areas. This leadership position is driving sustainable growth, as laid out in the Company's 2018-2022 Industrial Plan Leonardo has signed a contract worth approximately €180M to provide new electronic warfare training equipment for the NATO Joint Electronic Warfare Core Staff (JEWCS). Leonardo was selected in an international competition and will incorporate technology from partners Cobham and Elettronica. The contract was placed by the UK Ministry of Defence as the host nation for NATO JEWCS, which is based at the Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) in Yeovilton. Equipment will be delivered in tranches over the next 4 years from Leonardo's Electronic Warfare (EW) centre of excellence in Luton, UK. NATO JEWCS is the Alliance agency responsible for the high-tech world of electronic warfare. When NATO forces go on operations, they can expect the enemy to try and disrupt their radars, GPS and communications. Therefore, to train realistically, it is important that NATO Forces experience these effects and practice how to counter them. Part of NATO JEWCS's remit is to improve armed forces training by simulating the effects of an enemy's latest electronic warfare equipment during exercises, creating a ‘hostile environment' in which to train. To deliver the service, NATO JEWCS deploys high-tech EW equipment at training sites around Europe, allowing armed forces to practice their skills in areas such as electronic surveillance and electronic countermeasures while facing true-to-life attempts to disrupt their activity. In delivering this support, it is important that the EW effects being simulated are state of the art, keeping pace with opposing forces' latest tech developments. Leonardo is Europe's leading provider of electronic warfare technology and training and will be providing representative equipment across three domains: air, land and maritime. In the air, highly capable and flexible pod-based EW systems will be supplied for deployment on aircraft, alongside a NATO Anti-Ship Missile Defence Evaluation Facility (NASMDEF). NASMDEF comprises a set of pods that can be installed on aircraft to simulate anti-ship missiles. They allow forces to train in the use of ‘soft-kill countermeasures' which are used to protect ships from incoming threats. Cobham will be Leonardo's principle sub-contractor for these elements. For land and maritime applications, fully ruggedised shelters and vehicles will be provided, equipped with modular and flexible EW simulators, stimulators and jamming equipment. Elettronica will act as Leonardo's principal sub-contractor for these elements. Leonardo's electronic warfare expertise includes designing and manufacturing protective and ISR (Intelligence Surveillance and Recconaisance) equipment for UK and allied aircraft such as the Eurofighter Typhoon and AW159 helicopters, delivering specialist EW training at its Academy in Lincoln and investing in the development of the latest generation of countermeasures such as the anti-IED ‘Guardian' system for troops on the ground and the ‘BriteCloud' decoy for fighter jet pilots. This contract to upgrade electronic warfare equipment is just the latest example of Leonardo's on-going provision of security technology and expertise to NATO. Leonardo is the Alliance's cyber security mission partner, working with the NATO Communications and Information Agency to protect more than 70,000 Alliance users around the world from cyber-attacks. The Company has also provided a significant amount of equipment and support for the NATO Air Command and Control System (ACCS). In October 2018, Leonardo received the NATO Science and Technology Organization's (STO) Scientific Achievement Award for its contributions to the development of a promising new approach to modelling, simulation and training. Leonardo has also provided over 50 air defence radars to multiple Alliance member countries under the NATO Security Investment Programme (NSIP) and has delivered its ‘Guardian' counter-IED (improvised explosive device) systems to protect NATO vehicles operating in Afghanistan. https://www.leonardocompany.com/en/-/nato-protezione-elettronic-warfare-training-academy

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  14 avril 2020 | International, Naval

  US Navy commissions its last Block III Virginia submarine

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The last of the U.S. Navy's eight Block III Virginia-class submarines has joined the fleet, according to a Navy news release. The attack submarine Delaware didn't have its formal commissioning ceremony because of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, but it will nonetheless start getting ready to enter the deployment rotation. The Block III replaced 12 vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles with two larger 87-inch diameter tubes able to fire larger payloads, each housing six TLAMs. The first Block IV, the attack submarine Vermont, is slated to be commissioned later this month. The Block IV subs primarily add reliability features to the boat that should increase its life span. The Block V, which was awarded last year, adds acoustics upgrades. Eight of the boats will have the Virginia Payload Module. The VPM is designed to triple the Tomahawk cruise missile capacity of the Virginia-class subs, a move designed to offset the pending retirement of the Ohio-class guided-missile subs, which have a 154-Tomahawk capacity. Each Virginia Payload Module sub will have a 40-Tomahawk loadout. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/04/09/the-us-navy-commissions-the-last-block-iii-virginia-submarine/

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  14 janvier 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Four Nations To Be Protected With Lockheed Martin's Next Generation Radar

  MOORESTOWN, N.J., January 14, 2020 – Through partnerships with the U.S. Government, Spain, Japan, and Canada, Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) solid state radar (SSR) technology will provide front-line defense to nations around the world with cutting-edge air and missile defense capabilities. These nations are part of a growing SSR family of 24 platforms, ushering in the next generation of maritime and ground-based advanced radar technology. The basis of SSR is the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR), which the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) selected Lockheed Martin to develop in 2015 with an on-track delivery set for 2020. In 2019 Lockheed Martin's SSR for Aegis Ashore Japan was designated by the United States Government as AN/SPY-7(V)1. What is SSR Technology? SPY-7's core technology is derived from the LRDR program, which has been declared Technical Readiness Level 7 by the U.S. Government. The technology consists of a scalable and modular gallium nitride (GaN) based “subarray” radar building block, providing advanced performance and increased efficiency and reliability to pace ever-evolving threats. As part of its investment into the advancement of SSR, Lockheed Martin built a Solid State Radar Integration Site to conduct detailed testing to prove the maturity of the system and reduce fielding risk. Scaled versions of the LRDR site will be utilized for future radar programs including Aegis Ashore Japan, Canadian Surface Combatant and MDA's Homeland Defense Radar in Hawaii. Solid state offers powerful capabilities to detect, track and engage sophisticated air and missile threats, including the very complicated task of discriminating – or picking out – and countering lethal objects present in enemy ballistic missiles. The Lockheed Martin SSR uses state-of-the art hardware and an innovative software-defined radar architecture to meet current requirements while providing extensibility features to pace evolving threats for decades to come. Its unique maintain-while-operate capability provides very high operational availability and enables continuous 24-hour/7-day week operation. Solid state radar is a multi-mission system providing a wide range of capabilities, from passive situational awareness to integrated air and missile defense solutions. The combined capability and mission flexibility of Lockheed Martin's SSR has gained the attention of new and current users of the Aegis Weapon System, the world's premier air and missile defense combat suite. Meeting the World's Most Demanding Missions While LRDR is the first program to utilize Lockheed Martin's new SSR building blocks, over the past three years Lockheed Martin has consistently been selected in open competitions to equip an additional 24 platforms in four nations. SPY-7 provides several times the performance of traditional SPY-1 radars and the ability to engage multiple targets simultaneously with the latest proven interceptors. Spain's Ministry of Defense stated its preference for Lockheed Martin's technology for its five F-110 class frigates in 2017 and awarded the ship construction order to Navantia in 2019. These ships will host the first-ever S-band variants of the SPY-7 radar for the Spanish Navy. Production will be a collaboration between Lockheed Martin and Spanish company, Indra. When the frigates deploy in 2026 our SPY-7 variant will be integrated as part of the Aegis Weapon System. The frigates will also incorporate the International Aegis Fire Control Loop (IAFCL) integrated with SCOMBA, the national combat system developed by Navantia. Canada's Department of National Defence also selected Lockheed Martin as the naval radar provider for its 15 Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) ships. Lockheed Martin's IAFCL is integrated with Canada's combat management system, CMS 330, developed by Lockheed Martin Canada for the Royal Canadian Navy's HALIFAX Class ships. The program will make Canada the owner of the world's second largest Aegis fleet, and our SPY-7 radar variant will enable CSC to conduct highly advanced maritime missions for decades to come. Mature, Cost-Effective Systems Ready Now Including LRDR, the 24 Lockheed Martin SSR platforms selected to date represent a total of 91 antennas of varying sizes, collectively composed of over 15,000 subarrays. On LRDR alone, Lockheed Martin has produced an equivalent of eight Aegis shipsets to-date. The U.S. Government's LRDR has a planned service life for decades to come and will be supported and maintained throughout that period. This ensures the U.S. and its allies will have a large and stable base of cost-effective logistics and support for many years in the future. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2020-01-14-Four-Nations-to-Be-Protected-with-Lockheed-Martins-Next-Generation-Radar