UK MoD HTCDF contract announcement July 2024

Sur le même sujet

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  7 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Airbus reveals classified LOUT stealth testbed

  Airbus Defence & Space has revealed a more than decade-long research and demonstration effort into very low observable (LO) technologies, conducted as a classified effort for the German defence ministry. Showing its LO UAV testbed – or LOUT – platform at Manching on 4 November, Airbus future combat air system (FCAS) programme manager Mario Hertzog said the company began initial concept work in 2007. This led to a contract award in 2010 to refine configuration and material choices, and the production of a diamond planform demonstrator was completed in 2014. Pointing to the company's long involvement with LO reseach, Hertzog says: “Bringing all our experience into one programme was a logical conclusion.” The chosen configuration used for aerodynamic and anechoic chamber testing since 2014 has a roughly 12m (39.3ft) wingspan and similar length, and is described as a 4t-class vehicle. The subsonic design would use a conventional engine concealed behind a diverterless inlet, and has twin intakes blended into its upper fuselage. A cockpit transparency and sensor apertures also formed part of the testing. The aircraft's exhaust nozzle also is shielded from beneath, with Hertzog noting that such a vehicle would be optimised for use against ground-based air-defence systems. This mission requirement also led the company to hone LO techniques for the vehicle's landing gear doors and centerline internal weapons bay, Hertzog notes. Focus areas have included testing LO materials, including a radar absorbent structure for engine intake ducts, and on assessing radar frequency and infrared signature performance. Modelling work has also been conducted to analyse the likely acoustic characteristics of such a design. Airbus confirms that it has completed contracted work on LOUT, but says additional activities could be conducted. However, Hertzog declines to say whether Berlin could seek a flight-test campaign with such a system. Lessons learned from the LOUT programme will be available for potential adaptation during a long-term evolution activity on the Eurofighter Typhoon, and on a proposed French-German-Spanish FCAS development, Hertzog says. "Stealth is and will remain an enabler for survivability," he notes. https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/pictures-airbus-reveals-classified-lout-stealth-tes-462003/

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  14 avril 2022 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Esper joins venture capital firm Red Cell

  Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has joined the Washington-based venture capital firm Red Cell Partners as a partner and chairman of its national security practice, the firm announced Wednesday.

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  6 novembre 2019 | International, Terrestre

  Here’s the robotic vehicle that will carry equipment for US troops

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has selected General Dynamics Land Systems' Multi-Utility Tactical Transport, or MUTT, for its Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport unmanned ground system program of record. The initial contract for the eight-wheel drive robotic vehicle totals $162.4 million and includes support hardware, user training and technical support. The contract will wrap up at the end of October 2024, according to an Oct. 30 Defense Department announcement. GDLS will produce 624 systems for the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport, or SMET, program under the contract and will begin delivery in the second quarter of fiscal 2021, an Army spokesperson confirmed to Defense News. Four companies were chosen at the end of 2017 to compete to build the robotic vehicle that will help troops carry equipment on the battlefield. A team of Applied Research Associates and Polaris Defense; General Dynamics Land Systems; HDT Expeditionary Systems and Howe & Howe were selected to build 20 platforms each that were issued to two infantry brigade combat teams for testing and analysis of utility in the field. Polaris' MRZR X was evaluated as well as HDT's six-wheel drive Global Hunter WOLF, or Wheeled Offload Logistics Follower. Textron-owned Howe & Howe offered its Grizzly unmanned vehicle, which is powered by an electric engine. HDT's Global Hunter WOLF was recently picked, along with three other teams to include Textron and QinetiQ North America, to compete to build vehicles for the Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light effort. The Army selected those teams from an array of companies chosen to participate in a demonstration event in the fall of 2017 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Other companies that participated in that demonstration included American Robot Company; Lockheed Martin; AM General; Robo-Team NA; and QinetiQ North America. For the SMET program, the Army was looking for a vehicle that can carry about 1,000 pounds worth of soldier equipment. This equates to lightening the load of nine soldiers across an infantry squad. The Army wanted the robots to be able to travel 60 miles over three days and to be able to provide a spare kilowatt hour of power while moving and at least 3 kilowatt hours while stationary. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/10/31/heres-the-robotic-vehicle-that-will-carry-equipment-for-us-troops