US Air Force wants industry input for ‘innovative’ ABMS technologies

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  24 novembre 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contracts for November 23, 2021

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  7 octobre 2020 | International, Naval, C4ISR, Sécurité

  DoD Taps Sea Machines for Autonomous VTOL Replenishment Vessels

  Seapower Staff BOSTON — Sea Machines Robotics, a Boston-based developer of autonomous command and control systems for surface vessels, has been awarded a multi-year Other Transaction agreement by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)'s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the company announced in an Oct. 5 release. The primary purpose of the agreement is to initiate a prototype that will enable commercial ocean-service barges as autonomous Forward Arming and Refueling Point (FARP) units for an Amphibious Maritime Projection Platform (AMPP). Under this OT agreement, Sea Machines will engineer, build and demonstrate ready-to-deploy system kits that enable autonomous, self-propelled operation of opportunistically available barges to land and replenish military aircraft. The kits will include Sea Machines' SM300 autonomous-command and control systems, barge propulsion, sensing, positioning, communications and refueling equipment, as well as items required for global deployment. Each modular kit will meet U.S. Navy criteria and will be in compliance with classifications and regulations from the DoD's aviation bodies. The contract includes a concept demonstration phase, with an option for following phases to deploy SM300 Operational Kits. The live concept demonstration is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2020, in Washington state, for which Sea Machines has teamed with FOSS Maritime, a leading maritime transportation and logistics provider based in Seattle. FOSS will provide naval architecture, support engineering and operations management to outfit a remotely commanded deck barge to land helicopters and host a scaled fueling station for aircraft, surface vessels and shore replenishment. Using the SM300, shoreside operators will have remote situational awareness and will be able to demonstrate the capabilities of remote command and control of the vessel, her operating systems and flight deck. Sea Machines is the prime contractor for the multi-year contract and is working closely alongside FOSS Maritime and other significant industry leaders, including Huntington Ingalls, America's largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of professional services, based in Newport News, Virginia, and Bell Flight, a producer of commercial and military, vertical-lift aircraft, based in Fort Worth, Texas, to ensure a successful demonstration. “The AMPP autonomous replenishment systems will solve critical logistics challenges of expeditionary missions. We are pleased to enable this innovative capability, which will increase the effectiveness and flexibility for the U.S. military,” said Sea Machines' Phil Bourque, director, sales. “With Sea Machines systems already working off the waters of four continents, this project is well suited for us and one that we look forward to delivering on for the U.S. government.” “Foss is excited about this new opportunity with Sea Machines.This contract has led to discussions with Sea Machines in a number of other areas where their expertise can help Foss, including bringing more technology to our tug fleet. What they are doing in automation is very interesting and that technology could help our mariners and our vessels safety,” said FOSS's Will Roberts, chief operating officer. DIU's work is part of the DoD's Resilient Expeditionary Agile Littoral Logistics (REALL) Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) project. Funded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense Research & Engineering, the JCTD Program addresses Combatant Command and Joint warfighting gaps through prototyping and demonstration of innovative and game-changing technologies. The following offices are involved with defining performance requirements and developing capabilities for REALL: U.S. Central Command, U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center, Army Engineer Research and Development Center, and the Naval Aviation Warfare Center – Lakehurst. https://seapowermagazine.org/dod-taps-sea-machines-for-autonomous-vtol-replenishment-vessels/

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  2 octobre 2020 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR

  US Army wants help with radios that integrate with augmented reality

  Andrew Eversden ASHINGTON — The U.S. Army wants to know if there are additional radio vendors that can compete on an integration effort involving the service's Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS. According to a request for information posted last week, the Army's Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical is seeking single-channel data radios that can “support and integrate” with IVAS. The IVAS program, led by the Soldier Lethality Cross-Functional Team, provides soldiers with artificial intelligence-enhanced goggles that assist with navigation, targeting, and advanced night and thermal vision. The current vendors are Silvus and Domo Tactical Communications. The RFI states that the Army will need about 100,000 radios, with procurement starting in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 and delivered to soldiers beginning in June 2022. Paul Mehney, communications director for PEO C3T, said there will be multiple awards. “We believe that the technology has matured in the commercial space and we believe that there's additional vendors that can compete. We've also, through the soldier touchpoints, learned about how these radios are going to be potentially used and in what configuration they'll be used,” Mehney told C4ISRNET. “Initially these radios were intended only to be at the squad level to form a squad network. Now we believe that we can bring that up to the platoon level because the waveforms and the radios themselves have matured in the commercial sector to allow us to bring more nodes into the network, and we may even take a look at bringing them up to the company level as well.” The single-channel data radios, working with IVAS, will provide a small form-factor solution to transport Tactical Assault Kit data between dismounted soldiers to increase situational awareness. Responses are due Oct. 7. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/10/01/us-army-seeks-market-research-for-radios-to-integrate-with-augmented-reality/