3 avril 2023 | International, Terrestre
Ukraine to buy 100 Rosomak armored vehicles from Poland
Kyiv will pay for the rides with EU and US aid funds, according to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
2 avril 2019 | International, Aérospatial
U.S. Air Force to Develop AI-Powered Combat UAV
Author: Mike Rees
The U.S. Air Force has announced that its Office of Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation at the Air Force Research Laboratory is working on fielding a prototype Autonomous Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle as an Early Operational Capability as early as 2023.
The program, known as Skyborg, and the SDPE office have issued a request for information to industry to conduct market research and concept of operations analysis to learn what is commercially available now as high technology readiness level capabilities which can meet the requirements and timeline of the Skyborg program.
Skyborg officially stood up as a fiscal year 2019 funded pathfinder program through SDPE in October 2018, according to Ben Tran, Skyborg program manager.
“There was a lot of analysis that determined what was put into the CRFI,” Tran said. “We've been given the overall objective to have an early operational capability prototype fielded by the end of calendar year 2023, so this is our first step in determining what the current state of the art is from a technology perspective and from a systems engineering perspective to provide that EOC capability in 2023.”
Low cost, attritable, unmanned air vehicles are one way to bring mass to the fight when it comes to addressing potential near-peer engagements in the future, according to Tran.
“We also know there is heavy investment by our near-peer adversaries in artificial intelligence and autonomy in general. We know that when you couple autonomy and AI with systems like low-cost attritables, that can increase capability significantly and be a force multiplier for our Air Force and so the 2023 goal line is our attempt at bringing something to bear in a relatively quick time frame to show that we can bring that kind of capability to the fight.”
Matt Duquette, an AFRL Aerospace Systems Directorate engineer, brings a background in UAV control, autonomy, and modeling and simulation of UAVs, especially teams of UAVs to the effort while assisting the Skyborg program with formulating its approach to the autonomy system and some of the behaviors that the UAVs will have.
“Skyborg is a vessel for AI technologies that could range from rather simple algorithms to fly the aircraft and control them in airspace to the introduction of more complicated levels of AI to accomplish certain tasks or subtasks of the mission,” Duquette said.
This builds on much of the AFRL foundational work with AI shown with programs such as Have Raider and the Auto Ground and Air Collision Avoidance systems, which prove that levels of autonomy in high performance aircraft are not only possible, but also practical.
“Part of our autonomy development is building assurance into the system. You can either build assurance by using formal methods or approaches where at design time, as you develop these autonomous capabilities, you guarantee certain behaviors, or a more practical approach is to assess the capabilities of these behaviors at run time, meaning while they're running on the aircraft. So, those are the capabilities that we're interested in looking at from the experimentation level to see what type of assurance you need in the system so you can mix high and low criticality.”
“We're looking at a range of vehicle performance parameters – mission analysis will help us determine what the final outcome is and the responses from the CRFI will help us understand what the performance is of currently available systems and whether those will meet the needs or not. Everything from keeping up with combat platforms to slower platforms for sensing. There will be a range of possibilities there,” said Patrick Berry, from AFRL's Sensors Directorate, who is supporting the Skyborg program by conducting modeling, simulation and analysis.
Although Skyborg is not scheduled for any particular type of aircraft platform at this time, Tran said the CRFI emphasizes the importance of an open systems architecture, having modularity in the system, not only from a sensing capabilities standpoint, but overall mission systems, as well as the autonomy associated with the mission capability for the platform.
“We've partnered with the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and specifically an organization called the Emerging Technologies Combined Test Force and we're working with them beginning with small, fast-moving UAVs to test the current state of the art in AI and autonomy in those airplanes and the ability for them to autonomously team and collaborate in flight,” Tran said.
Machine learning has progressed greatly over the last few years and we're very inspired by those results and excited by things that are going on in the gaming industry for instance,” said Maj. Ryan Carr, from AFRL's Aerospace Systems Directorate.
“We expect that technology will continue to mature fairly rapidly. What we really need to understand is, ‘How do you take that and do something like bring it to the real world and fly with it for example?' The thing we're trying to get at early on is how to do that safely. We're talking about run-time assurance, working hand-in-hand with the flight test community who have a very long record of safe flight testing. That's really what we want to focus our attention on in this early period,” Carr said.
“We want to do this in a way that builds trust in the system as you go along so that when you get to that EOC, you will have established a baseline of trust so that operational youth will believe what the system will do or believe it's safe. It's not just that end-state capability, it's the trust as you go along,” he added.
Before operational AI innovation can occur, the Air Force must field an autonomous system that meets an immediate operational need and can serve as an iterative platform to facilitate complex AI development, prototyping, experimentation and fielding, and that system is Skyborg, the CRFI says.
https://www.unmannedsystemstechnology.com/2019/03/u-s-air-force-to-develop-ai-powered-combat-uav/
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10 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial
General Atomics to conduct test flights of SeaGuardian drone in Japan
BY BEN SAMPSON ON 9TH JULY 2020 General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is to validate its SeaGuardian unmanned drone for use by Japan's Coast Guard Service in mid-September in a series of test flights. The long endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) SeaGuardian is a variant of the MQ-9 Reaper drone and features lightning protection, composite materials, and sense and avoid technology. The 79 ft (24 m) wingspan aircraft can fly for up to 40 hours at up to 50,000 ft. The validation flights, which will be conducted in partnership with Asia Air Survey (AAS) are expected to run for approximately two months and will include support from the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) at its Hachinohe base in Aomori Prefecture. The flights aim to validate the wide-area maritime surveillance capabilities of RPAS for carrying out the Japan Coast Guard's (JCG) missions, such as search and rescue, disaster response, and maritime law enforcement. According to the JCG, the flight validation will be conducted in accordance with “the policy on strengthening maritime security systems,” using drones to perform maritime wide-area surveillance using new technology. “We're pleased to support the JCG's goals of validating SeaGuardian's maritime surveillance performance,” said Linden Blue, CEO of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. “We know there is a need in Japan and worldwide for affordable, long-endurance airborne surveillance in the maritime domain.” The SeaGuardian system features a multi-mode maritime surface-search radar with inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging mode, an automatic identification system (AIS) receiver, and high definition – full motion video sensor equipped with optical and infrared cameras. This sensor suite enables detection and identification of surface vessels over thousands of square nautical miles. The aircraft's Raytheon-supplied SeaVue surface-search radar system provides automatic tracking of maritime targets and correlation of AIS transmitters with radar tracks. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' SeaGuardian and SkyGuardian RPAS are designed to operate in all-weather and are built to achieve Type Certification based on STANAG (NATO standard) airworthiness compliance. https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/defense/general-atomics-to-conduct-test-flights-of-seaguardian-drone-in-japan.html
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21 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR
Pegasus Imagery: Imagining a smarter future
by Tania Moffat Initially created to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance solutions for the military, drone technology has had difficulty transitioning to commercial use. Military drones are not well-suited to interact with civilian aircraft and consumer models do not have the necessary range or technology. Alberta-based Pegasus Imagery believes it has bridged the technology gap between military and consumer applications. The company provides real-time intelligence and data solutions at scale to the emergency management, public safety and energy sectors. Owner Cole Rosentreter became an entrepreneur after a parachuting accident cut his decorated 15-year military service short. A paratrooper with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) he actively served on several deployments, including three in Afghanistan. During his tours, he witnessed how drone technology was able to help soldiers work safer, smarter and more effectively. “It was a natural choice to make my next mission to support the guys on the front lines here at home,” he said. Bridging the tech gap Hyperion, the company's long-range drone, was designed to deliver continual airspace awareness during flight and to deliver these solutions at scale. It is based on two prototypes used in commercial contracts earlier this year for the Alberta government, law enforcement, conservation and the energy sector. The aircraft is capable of carrying multiple sensors on a single flight, including connected voice and data comms. In addition to its ability to supply thermal imaging and aerial mapping, it is equipped with military-grade sensors and communications equipment, able to capture and deliver real-time electro-optical and infrared video through a secure connection. “We build our own drones to meet the needs of the market. All of our aircraft are manufactured in Canada and use only components and technology developed in North America,” said Rosentreter, explaining the company's commitment to information security. The first of these drones are already in the manufacturing stage of development. Timing is everything Transport Canada's June 2019 release of its remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) regulations were serendipitous for the company and provided a road map for the integration of drones into the national airspace system. Pegasus Imagery has identified benchmarks and critical areas of interest that it needs to be able to fly beyond visual line of sight (BLVOS) in Canada. This ability is required for the pilots to collect data at scale. Pegasus holds a unique special flight operations certificate from Transport Canada authorizing operations up to 2,000 ft in all restricted airspace across Canada. Pegasus is also working with Transport Canada and early adopters on BVLOS trials in uncontrolled airspace starting in 2020. Since relocating to the Edmonton International Airport last March, the airport authority has become a close partner, helping the company to transition from aircraft development into the trials and beyond. Partnering with commercial aviation The Helicopter Association of Canada expects to see a net loss of 7,000 pilots by 2035. With personnel shortages looming, drones can free up pilots to work where they are most needed. “We are not here to replace jobs; we are here to make jobs more efficient for the people doing them. It's about playing to everyone's strengths. We excel at persistent monitoring and information sharing that enables manned aviation to fly more. “For example, in a wildfire situation, drones can gather data 24 hours a day from above the fire and not put pilots in danger. Very few aircraft fly at night near a wildfire, and the night shift is a natural place to start filling that information void. We're going to see this transition to daytime use as well. By flying a few thousand feet higher than the helicopters, bird dogs, and waterbombers, the real-time information provided allows those pilots to respond where they are needed most,” explained Rosentreter. Drones are also well suited to detecting fires over large areas of land within minutes. “When you look at the root cause of wildfires, you see that from the time a fire starts to when it is detected can be anywhere from minutes to days,” Rosentreter continued. Alberta has 127 lookout towers for fire detection, it is a massive infrastructure and personnel investment. Officers look for smoke on the horizon, but often by the time a fire is big enough to do that, it is too large to be put out by a single helicopter team. The length of time between fire detection and the point where it can no longer be actively engaged and suppressed can be very short. “Unmanned aircraft can operate 24-7 at scale to detect a fire in minutes allowing for the immediate deployment of the best resources,” he further explained. Additionally, after a fire, drones are also able to offer 3D mapping of the affected areas to assist with recovery methods. Rosentreter is passionate about the service Pegasus Imagery is providing. “First responders have the mission of keeping our communities, environment and economy safe here at home. We can provide the tools to assist them. Their mission is really our mission.” https://www.skiesmag.com/news/pegasus-imagery-imagining-a-smarter-future