27 octobre 2024 | International, Aérospatial
France, Germany to hammer out next steps for delay-prone FCAS warplane
A top French acquisition official stresses the aircraft's envisioned role in nuclear deterrence.
28 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial
US Space Force schedules pitch day for spring 2021
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center will host a Space Force Pitch Day in spring 2021. While the current plan is to host the event in person in Los Angeles, California, SMC noted that it may move to a virtual environment due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Air Force first introduced its pitch days in March 2019, and has since held several to find “defense unicorns” — nontraditional companies with innovative solutions that lack the resources and know-how to secure Department of Defense contracts. Inspired by the popular television series “Shark Tank,” select companies are given the unique opportunity to present their solutions to acquisition leaders, who are then able to award Small Business Innovation Research grants.
“Space Force is committed to procuring things differently. We continue to recognize the need for faster and smarter methods to quickly identify, procure and develop military space solutions. Space Pitch Day is one way SMC is bridging the gap between small businesses and the military,” said Maj. Ryan Pennington, project lead of SMC's deputy space ventures.
A major draw of the events is the responsiveness, giving smaller companies the chance to forgo the traditional, lengthy DoD contracting process. The Air Force boasts that on its first pitch day, the service awarded a contract within three minutes of seeing the presentation. During the first Space Force Pitch Day in November 2019, the Air Force issued $9 million to 12 companies.
“The inaugural Air Force Space Pitch Day last year was very successful. Although SMC is hosting its second pitch day event, it really is the first under the USSF. We are excited to host another event that enables us to grow and leverage small-business innovation into thriving ecosystems,” said Roberta Ewart, SMC's chief scientist. “The next SMC Space Force Pitch Day event will have the same focus and that is to open doors for innovative technologies and ideas and then create transition on-ramps into the USSF enterprise and architecture. We are fielding tomorrow's Space Force faster and smarter and we do this by changing the way we buy things.”
SMC has laid out 11 focus areas for the upcoming Space Force Pitch Day:
- Innovation in early missile detection and warning
- Space situational awareness
- Space communications
- Space visualization
- Multidomain command and control
- Data mining
- Operations within electronically contested environments
- Artificial intelligence
- Responsive launch systems
- Space logistics
- Protection of critical space assets
Interested companies can register and submit their proposals at www.spaceforcepitchday.com.
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25 juin 2019 | International, Aérospatial
Telefónica Combines Drones with IoT Sensors for Wildfire Warning System
Posted By: Malek Murison The combination of drones and wildfires isn't usually a productive one. Emergency teams tasked with fighting them are often disrupted by opportunistic aerial photographers. But the technology has also proved to be a useful situational awareness for fire crews. Drones can cover ground quickly and provide an indication of a fire's scale and threat, reducing the need to put emergency teams in danger. Full article: https://dronelife.com/2019/06/20/telefonica-combines-drones-with-iot-sensors-for-early-fire-detection/
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18 septembre 2020 | International, C4ISR
Space Force issues $298M contract for new anti-jamming satellite design
Nathan Strout Northrop Grumman was awarded a $298 million rapid-prototyping contract to design a new anti-jamming communications satellite payload for the U.S. Space Force, the Space and Missile Systems Center announced Sept. 16. Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will build a payload for the Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) program, a next generation constellation that will provide secure, jam-resistant, survivable communications for military leadership all over the world. The new system will be interoperable with the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites currently on orbit. The Space Force wants ESS to have enhanced resilience and cybersecurity capabilities. And unlike AEHF, the new satellites will have polar components to provide communications over the Arctic. Currently, the Enhanced Polar System satellites are used to extend the AEHF network to the polar regions. The Space and Missile Systems Center could award up to three rapid-prototyping contracts in 2020, according to the Space Force's fiscal 2021 budget request, before selecting a final contractor to build out the constellation. It's not immediately clear how many ESS payloads would be in the constellation, or what satellites they'll be hosted on. “Northrop Grumman looks forward to building on more than 40 years of successfully delivering protected satellite communications solutions to our customers,” said Cyrus Dhalla, vice president, communications systems, Northrop Grumman. “ESS is critical to extending our nation's secure satellite communications infrastructure, as it will provide strategic users with assured, uninterruptable connectivity without fear of discovery anywhere on the globe.” Work is expected to be completed May 2025. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/09/17/space-force-issues-298-million-contract-for-new-anti-jamming-satellite-design/