US State Dept OKs possible sale of Apache helicopters to Poland for $12 bln -Pentagon | Reuters

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  15 octobre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  General Atomics Awarded Contract for Manufacture of Hypersonic Glide Body Prototypes

  San Diego, CA, October 14, 2019 - General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that it has been awarded a contract from Dynetics Technical Solutions (DTS) for the manufacture and production of subassemblies for the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB). GA-EMS will provide cable, electrical, and mechanical manufacturing to support DTS' three year contract award from the U.S. Army Hypersonic Project Office, part of the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, to produce 20 prototype glide bodies with an option for additional quantities. “We bring expertise in manufacturing highly complex systems, a long standing relationship with Sandia National Laboratories, and prior experience on the Block 0 glide body, to this high priority national security program,” stated Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. ”Hypersonic weapon systems will provide our nation with the ability to strike strategic targets across the globe. We look forward to working with DTS to deliver this strategically important capability to the warfighter.” “For over a decade, we have been working directly with Sandia National Laboratories to support the research and development of hypersonic weapon systems for the Army and Navy,” continued Forney. “We have provided design analysis, flight test planning and execution, and manufacturing services for ground and flight hardware for the prototype hypersonic glide body that has already completed successful test flights. We are pleased to now play an important role in transitioning this technology from the lab to the field.” GA-EMS will manufacture its portion of the glide bodies at its San Diego, CA, Huntsville, AL, and Tupelo, MS facilities. About General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) Group is a global leader in the research, design, and manufacture of first-of-a-kind electromagnetic and electric power generation systems. GA-EMS' history of research, development, and technology innovation has led to an expanding portfolio of specialized products and integrated system solutions supporting aviation, space systems and satellites, missile defense, power and energy, and processing and monitoring applications for critical defense, industrial, and commercial customers worldwide. For further information contact: EMS-MediaRelations@ga.com View source version on General Atomics: http://www.ga.com/general-atomics-awarded-contract-for-manufacture-of-hypersonic-glide-body-prototypes

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  25 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre

  Défense aéroterrestre : dossier envoyé aux 170 000 contacts COGES le 11 juin prochain.

  #COGES #missile #drone #H160M #ALAT #aéroterrestre #Guépard Air&Cosmos finalise son dossier du 5 juin "Matériels de défense aéroterrestre". Cette édition d'Air&Cosmos bénéficiera d'une sur-diffusion exceptionnelle et ciblée : Diffusion à tous les abonnés papier et numérique d'Air&Cosmos magazine Diffusion à tous les contacts exposants, visiteurs et délégations partenaires du COGES/Eurosatory. En partenariat avec le COGES, la version numérique de cette édition du 5 juin sera en effet incluse dans la newsletter du COGES du 11 juin 2020 expédiée à 170 000 contacts. Diffusion dans l'espace Partenaires presse du site web d'Eurosatory. Voici le détail du dossier : Emploi des drones au sein de l'Armée de Terre. Interview du Comalat, le Général Bertrand VALLETTE d'OSIA Infographie détaillée de l'Airbus Helicopters HIL (H160M) "Guépard" Le Guépard et son MCO Mistral 3 : l'arme anti-drones de MBDA https://air-cosmos.com/article/dfense-aroterrestre-dossier-envoy-aux-170-000-contacts-coges-le-11-juin-prochain-22966

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  8 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  GA-ASI Demonstrates AI Driven Targeting Computer with AFRL’s Agile Condor Pod

  General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., with the support of SRC Inc., successfully integrated and flew the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Agile Condor Pod on an MQ-9 Remotely Piloted Aircraft at GA-ASI's Flight Test and Training Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota The Agile Condor Pod provides on-board high-speed computer processing coupled with machine learning algorithms to detect, correlate, identify, and track targets of interest. With this capability, the MQ-9 is able to identify objects autonomously utilizing its on-board Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor and GA-ASI's Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Defense contractor SRC, Inc. developed the Agile Condor system for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), delivering the first pod in 2016. It's not clear whether the Air Force conducted any flight testing of the system on other platforms before hiring General Atomics to integrate it onto the Reaper in 2019. The service had previously said that it expected to take the initial pod aloft in some fashion before the end of 2016. High-powered computing at the edge enables autonomous target detection, identification and nomination at extended ranges and on-board processing reduces communication bandwidth requirements to share target information with other platforms. This is an important step towards greater automation, autonomous target detection, and rapid decision-making. GA-ASI will continue to work with AFRL to refine the capability and foster its transition to operational constructs that will improve warfighters' ability to operate in contested or denied environments. “Sensors have rapidly increased in fidelity, and are now able to collect vast quantities of data, which must be analyzed promptly to provide mission critical information,” an SRC white paper on Agile Condor from 2018 explains. “Stored data [physically on a drone] ... creates an unacceptable latency between data collection and analysis, as operators must wait for the RPA [remotely piloted aircraft] to return to base to review time sensitive data.” “In-mission data transfers, by contrast, can provide data more quickly, but this method requires more power and available bandwidth to send data,” the white paper continues. “Bandwidth limits result in slower downloads of large data files, a clogged communications link and increased latency that could allow potential changes in intel between data collection and analysis. The quantities of data being collected are also so vast, that analysts are unable to fully review the data received to ensure actionable information is obtained.” This is all particularly true for drones equipped with wide-area persistent surveillance systems, such as the Air Force's Gorgon Stare system, which you can read about in more detail here, that grab immense amounts of imagery that can be overwhelming for sensor operators and intelligence analysts to scour through. Agile Condor is designed to parse through the sensor data a drone collects first, spotting and classifying objects of interest and then highlighting them for operators back at a control center or personnel receiving information at other remote locations for further analysis. Agile Condor would simply discard “empty” imagery and other data that shows nothing it deems useful, not even bothering to forward that on. “This selective ‘detect and notify' process frees up bandwidth and increases transfer speeds, while reducing latency between data collection and analysis,” SRC's 2018 white paper says. “Real time pre-processing of data with the Agile Condor system also ensures that all data collected is reviewed quickly, increasing the speed and effectiveness with which operators are notified of actionable information.” At least at present, the general idea is still to have a human operator in the ‘kill chain' making decisions about how to act on such information, including whether or not to initiate a lethal strike. The Air Force has been emphatic about ensuring that there will be an actual person in the loop at all times, no matter how autonomous a drone or other unmanned vehicle may be in the future. An Air Force Research Laboratory briefing slide showing a concept of operations for how a drone might use Agile Condor to sense and avoid threats autonomously Still, developments such as Agile Condor will significantly reduce the amount of necessary human interaction in various parts of the targeting process, as well as general intelligence collection and initial analysis, and potentially much more, as time goes on. It could also fuse various forms of sensor data and other available intelligence together to specifically weight possible areas of interest over others and prioritize certain targets. The Air Force has also said that this system could use these capabilities to enable drones to navigate and detect and avoid potential threats automatically, including at times when its links to a control center or the GPS satellite navigation system are disrupted or blocked entirely. Sources: Press Release; The Drive https://www.uasvision.com/2020/09/07/ga-asi-demonstrates-ai-driven-targeting-computer-with-afrls-agile-condor-pod/