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UNITED KINGDOM AND NATO
26 Mar 20. UK Land Environment Future Support for armoured vehicles. The Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) Vehicle Support (VS) Future Support Team (FST) is considering a fresh approach on the contracted support model that it uses to undertake support for the current portfolio of tracked and wheeled equipment’s, including all future vehicles entering the portfolio, such as but not exclusively, AJAX, BOXER, Warrior CSP and Challenger 2 LEP. This programme is currently within the pre-concept phase and the FST would like to inform the market of its intentions. Previously in March 2019 the team released a request for information (RFI) to the marketplace, this prior information notice (PIN) supersedes this. The contracted support model may include post design services (PDS), spares, repairs, embodiment, manufacture across the full fleet of armoured vehicles. This PIN has been issued to inform the market early; FST intends to hold industry day(s) to enhance and refine its strategy and will publish notice of these days to allow all participants to engage. This PIN is not a means to seek formal expressions of interest; that opportunity may become available in the future through a contract notice published on Defence Contracts Online and the Official Journal of the European Union. (Source: U.K. MoD)
25 Mar 20. COVID-19: Rapid Sanitising Technology.
Unique Identifier IFA019.
Ambulances must be thoroughly cleaned once a patient with suspected COVID-19 has been transported. These cleaning times can take up to 45 minutes and have to be undertaken at cleaning centres which can be some distance away. This puts a strain on an already busy and pressurised service as the vehicles cannot be used until cleaning is completed.
We are looking to identify, develop and demonstrate rapid sanitising technologies. All projects will be required to undergo practical assessment at Dstl Porton Down and a live demonstration on an ambulance, provided by the Welsh Ambulance Service.
Innovations must be suitable for rapid deployment to clean public sector vehicles following the transport of patients with the COVID-19 virus. Ideally systems will have wider applicability than just ambulances, which might include buses, trains, and other blue light services or even in hospital wards / rooms.
Systems which are mobile, allow ease of operation and maintenance, are robust and reliable are of particular interest.
If your idea relies on use of decontaminants, it must be able to fully wet a complex surface for a given contact time to ensure it’s decontaminated effectively. If you do not have access to a suitable decontaminant, please specify this in your proposal.
Efficacy will need to be demonstrated via a short process of trials/experimentation, to include definition of tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) to ensure selected options are used effectively for specific applications. We need ideas that can rapidly be developed and tested with potential to be scaled and used across the UK over the coming months.
Direct contracts will be placed by the SBRI Centre of Excellence. DASA will be handling the assessment of your proposal and will be passing proposals to the SBRI Centre of Excellence for contract placement. There may be occasions where additional funding subsequently becomes available. In these circumstances, DASA reserves the right to offer contracts under the standard terms and conditions subsequent to the original awards.
The information you provide to us as part of your proposal, that is not already available to us from other sources, will be handled in confidence. As part of the assessment process, DASA reserves the right to disclose on a confidential basis any information it receives from you, to any third party engaged by DASA for the specific purpose of evaluating or assisting DASA in the evaluation of your proposal. Appropriate confidentiality agreements will be put in place.
In providing your proposal you are consenting to these provisions.
If you have an idea but you are not sure if it is what we are looking for, please contact a DASA Innovation Partner.
Submit your proposal here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/defence-and-security-accelerator-how-to-submit-a-proposal (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
25 Mar 20. Reduced-Burden Area Biosurveillance.
Unique Identifier IFA018.
Biosurveillance enables us to more rapidly detect Biological Warfare Agent (BWAs) incidents and helps to reduce the potential impact by enabling decision makers to develop the best course of action for deployment of medical countermeasures and other protective measures.
We are looking to identify technologies to provide static detection at sentry points or to be deployed as a networked system that could be analogous to the size and function of the Man-portable Chemical Agent Detector (MCAD) or GID3. Solutions should be capable of providing biosurveillance capability to fixed bases with good infrastructure, e.g. Main Operating Bases (MOB) and Sea Port of Disembarkation (SPOD), as well as forward locations with lesser infrastructure e.g. Forward Operating Bases (FOB).
Our end goal is to create an automated all-in-one detection system with integrated aerosol collection, sample processing and identification in as small a system as possible. We are therefore looking for projects which will either develop components (e.g. aerosol collection, sample processing or identification) which could be eventually integrated into a system, or integrate pre-existing components into an all-in-one system. Because the final system needs to provide high confidence outputs in order to support rapid decision making, we are not interested in options based on generic detection technologies (e.g. fluorescence, LIDAR etc). We need the solution to be able to provide specific detection of individual threat agents.
When describing your idea, please use the key performance metrics for the technology options including burden (e.g. size, weight, power, and minimal consumable requirement), timeliness (speed of response), threat agent coverage (including different threat modes that could be tuned according to adversity or endemic threat), throughput, sensitivity, specificity and confidence level(s).
If you have an idea but you are not sure if it is what we are looking for, please contact a DASA Innovation Partner.
Submit your proposal here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/defence-and-security-accelerator-how-to-submit-a-proposal (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
25 Mar 20. Detecting firearms and ammunition through scent.
Unique Identifier IFA016.
Do you have a novel idea that could smell firearms in bags or cargo containers? Do you have a novel idea that could detect ammunition based on the scent released?
Firearms and their ammunition are currently detected through very effective existing screening and detection technologies. However, we are seeking solutions to increase the throughput of items screened through the detection of headspace compounds, thereby reducing the burden on staff without reducing security.
Any solution developed for this challenge will need to be capable of integration with detection equipment currently used for aviation security.
To help you develop your idea, we are offering a representative data set detailing some of the compounds which may be present on firearms and spent ammunition (as a Government Furnished Asset (GFA)). This GFA will be made available to bidders funded in this competition who request it and demonstrate the value it would add to their proposals.
All work must be completed and delivered by 30 March 2021.
What we don’t want:
- minor or incremental developments of current solutions
- solutions which are already commercial products
- literature reviews
- technologies that don’t use headspace compounds for detection
If you have an idea but you are not sure if it is what we are looking for, please contact a DASA Innovation Partner.
Submit your proposal here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/defence-and-security-accelerator-how-to-submit-a-proposal (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
25 Mar 20. Next generation aviation security.
Unique Identifier IFA017.
We are looking for innovators that can help shape the next generation of aviation security, specifically the ability to detect illegal, illicit or contraband items, such as explosives, chemicals or drugs.
Do you have:
- a novel idea that could completely change how aviation security is carried out?
- an innovative concept that could be added to existing aviation security measures?
- an innovation used within another sector that could be adapted for use in aviation security?
We are looking for innovations that could address any aspect of aviation security, from vehicle screening to in-flight supplies, from passenger and bag search to cargo. We are looking for ideas that help to ensure we continue to have one of the safest aviation security ecosystems in the world.
All work must be completed and delivered by 30 March 2021.
What we want:
- innovative solutions that go beyond current solutions used in aviation security
- ideas that facilitate staff to carry out security checks
- solutions that enhance the passenger experience and help airports
- ideas from other sectors that could be moved into aviation security
What we don’t want:
- minor or incremental developments of current solutions
- solutions which are already commercial products
- literature reviews or outputs which are just a report.
If you have an idea but you are not sure if it is what we are looking for, please contact a DASA Innovation Partner.
Submit your proposal here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/defence-and-security-accelerator-how-to-submit-a-proposal (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
25 Mar 20. Advancing less-lethal weapon capability.
Unique Identifier IFA011.
Less-lethal weapons are used by the Police, security services and other law enforcement professionals to deflect the escalation of conflict in potentially hostile situations. It is often more desirable to overwhelm the offender with less-lethal force and thereby minimise the risk to individuals.
Less-lethal weapons are vital in situations where the use of lethal force is prohibited or undesirable or where the rules of engagement require minimum casualties, or where policy restricts the use of conventional force.
We are seeking proposals that demonstrate ideas or concepts that could be developed into prototypes for viability assessment as less-lethal weapons. We seek novel ideas that could be used by law enforcement to do one or several of the below:
- be employed to prevent or reduce a terrorist’s ability to take or maintain hostages
- temporarily neutralise a potentially moving target at between 5m and 50m (with stretch target of 1m to 70m)
- overwhelm the perpetrator whilst maintaining a reasonable level of protection burden on the operatives and/or working dogs
All proposals should demonstrate an understanding of the effects of the innovation/technology on humans to increase the effect it has on the offender whilst minimising the effect to individuals.
Submit your proposal here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/defence-and-security-accelerator-submit-your-research-proposal (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
25 Mar 20. Regenerative medicine at the front line.
Unique Identifier IFA010.
Recently a regenerative medicine research strategy was developed for Defence, based on the following scoping study. One of the research themes identified concerns understanding how the systemic response to severe traumatic injury affects later regenerative capacity, principally focusing on extremity soft tissue.
Regenerative responses are dependent on context. Regenerative medicine must not only be about providing injured tissues with a therapy but also with an environment conducive to regeneration.
The burden of tissue damage associated with severe traumatic injury can lead to a dysregulation of a variety of systems including immune, metabolic and haemostatic responses. A better understanding of this context and what happens to, for example, the viability, production, differentiation and migration of cells involved in repair and regeneration after severe trauma will be important for the development of novel early regenerative strategies.
We are seeking proposals that either:
- look to understand the effect of the systemic milieu on regenerative processes, either endogenous or therapeutic
or
- investigate an approach to modulate the systemic environment after severe injury with subsequent assessment of an appropriate outcome variable associated with wound regeneration.
Proposals should take into account the context in which medical care is likely to be delivered in the future as therapeutic concepts should be appropriate for use early after injury in austere environments.
Submit your proposal herehttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/defence-and-security-accelerator-submit-your-research-proposal
This IFA will close 31 March 2020 at midday. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
EUROPE
26 Mar 20. Eurofighter and F-18 Jets Said to Replace Bundeswehr Tornadoes. From 2025, the Bundeswehr’s aging Tornado fleet will be replaced by up to 90 additional Eurofighter jets and 45 F-18 fighter planes from the US manufacturer Boeing, Handelsblatt and other German media reported today, adding that the F-18 will be procured for both electronic warfare and nuclear strike missions. The internal plan prepared by the Bundeswehr has already been discussed with industry, according to the dpa news agency, but Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) has yet to approve the plan. If approved, Handelsblatt reported, Germany would buy 30 F-18E/F Super Hornets to replace the Tornado in the nuclear strike mission, as modifying a US fighter would be faster and simpler than modifying the Eurofighter, assuming the US government would accept. In addition, Germany would also buy 15 EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft to replace the Tornado ECR variant. Additional Eurofighters would take on the other missions now carried out by the Tornado fleet, mainly reconnaissance and ground attack. The relatively large number of at least 78 additional Eurofighters — but possibly over 90 – will be attained because additional new aircraft will also be bought as replacements for older Tranche 1 Eurofighters.
The Bundeswehr currently operates a total of 234 combat aircraft, including 141 Eurofighters from Airbus and 93 Tornado jets built by the European Panavia consortium. The Tornado, which was launched almost 40 years ago, is intended for air attack, tactical reconnaissance and electronic warfare – as well as for nuclear strike using American-supplied gravity nuclear bombs.
There has been a long controversy about the Tornado’s successor, which involves a double-digit billion euro amount over the years. The plan now being negotiated is intended to reconcile security policy requirements with industrial policy, which among other things involves strong Bavarian interests. The Airbus armaments division has its headquarters in Bavaria, Eurofighters are finally assembled in Manching. Either way – a future federal government will only make the final decision on the timeline.
The project is also politically difficult because of the “special role” of the Tornado: NATO’s nuclear deterrent concept provides that allies have access to US nuclear weapons in the event of war, i.e. they must be able to carry the bombs to their destination. Officially never confirmed, but a kind of open secret: 20 thermonuclear B61 gravity bombs from the US armed forces are to be stored in Büchel air base, in the Eifel region, can be fitted to the German Tornados in case of war. (Source: defense-aerospace.com)
26 Mar 20. Covid-19: Czech IFV contract threatened by budget cuts. The Czech Republic is preparing big cuts in defence spending and strategic contracts in its state budget as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. “I do not think we need the new tracked infantry fighting vehicles [IFVs] immediately but we need other items for this war [against Covid-19],” Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said during a government press conference on 17 March. Czech Finance Minister Alena Schillerová told Czech TV on 21 March that the first step would be for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to postpone CZK3bn (USD116.5m) worth of contracts that were to be awarded this year. (Source: Jane’s)
USA
26 Mar 20. Lockheed and Bell will compete head-to-head to build US Army’s future attack recon aircraft. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin-owned company, and Bell have been selected to build and fly Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) prototypes for the U.S. Army in a head-to-head competition, according to a March 25 Army statement.
The Army is planning to procure both a FARA and Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) that will slowly replace the current fleet of Sikorsky-manufactured UH-60 Black Hawks utility helicopters and Boeing-made AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. The service plans to initially field both in the 2030s.
FARA will fill a critical capability gap currently being filled by AH-64E Apache attack helicopters teamed with Shadow unmanned aircraft following the retirement of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters.
The service has tried and failed three times to fill the gap with an aircraft.
The Army had selected five teams to provide FARA designs last spring: AVX Aircraft Co. partnered with L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, Bell, Boeing, Karem Aircraft and Sikorsky.
The Army laid out a handful of mandatory requirements that the vendors had to meet and also a list of desired requirements for initial designs, Col. Craig Alia, the Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team chief of staff, told reporters last year.
The service also looked at the vendors’ execution plans and evaluated timing as well as funding profile requirements.
“The ones that were selected were clearly meeting the mandatory requirements and were in the acceptable risk level of the execution plan and the desired requirements,” Dan Bailey, who is the FARA competitive prototype program manager, added. The prototype program falls under the purview of the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center’s Aviation Development Directorate.
Lockheed unveiled its design — Raider X — at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in October 2019. The company’s design uses its Raider X2 coaxial technology with a focus on how it will perform “at the X.”
“One thing that always comes out is the importance of this aircraft at the X,” Tim Malia, Sikorsky’s director of future vertical lift light, told Defense News in an interview last fall. “The ‘X’ is defined by the Army as the terminal area where they actually have to go do the work, do the reconnaissance, do the attack mission. The operation at the X is really critical for this program and for this platform.”
That’s where Raider X comes in. It’s a slightly larger version of the Raider coaxial helicopter that Lockheed has been flying for several years at its West Palm Beach, Florida, flight test center.
“Through our mature S-97 RAIDER technology demonstrator, we continue to optimize our FARA solution, which will provide the Army with an integrated weapon system that combines speed, range, maneuverability, survivability and operational flexibility,” Andy Adams, Sikorsky’s vice president of future vertical lift, said in a March 25 statement. This approach is driving down risk and will result in an aircraft solution that is capable of executing the Army’s joint all-domain operations.”
Bell revealed its design — the Bell 360 Invictus — which is based on 525 technology. But its design features several key differences, including its size in order to adhere to the Army requirement of 40-foot in diameter rotor blades.
The design includes a single main rotor helicopter in a four-blade configuration, a low-drag tandem cockpit fuselage and transportability in a C-17.
“Bell is proud to continue work on the Bell 360 Invictus as part of the Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft Competitive Prototype competition,” Keith Flail, Bell’s vice president of advanced vertical lift systems, told Defense News on March 25.
“We have made significant investment and begun manufacturing in order to preserve the Army’s schedule for FARA CP and we are thrilled to continue our work on the Invictus,” he said. “Bell’s approach from the beginning has been tailored to deliver the advanced performance required without excessive complexity in order to get critical capability in the hands of the warfighter quickly and affordably.”
The AVX and L3 team was the earliest to unveil its design for the FARA competition at the Army Aviation Association of America’s annual summit in Nashville, Tennessee, in April 2019. The design uses AVX’s compound coaxial and ducted fans technology. The companies said its single-engine design meets 100 percent of the Army’s mandatory requirements and 70 percent of its desired attributes.
Karem announced it would team with Northrop and Raytheon and came out with its design at AUSA — its AR-40 — with a single main rotor, tilting compound wings and a rotating tail rotor.
Boeing was the last to reveal its design, coming out with it March 3. The company’s clean-sheet design featured a hingeless, six-bladed, high-solidity main rotor; a four-bladed conventional tail rotor; and a propeller on the back.
The prototype aircraft are expected to start flying in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, and the flight test is expected to run through 2023. The engineering and manufacturing development phase is expect to begin in FY24. (Source: Defense News)
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American Panel Corporation
American Panel Corporation (APC) since 1998, specializes in display products installed in defence land systems, as well as military and commercial aerospace platforms, having delivered well over 100,000 displays worldwide. Military aviators worldwide operate their aircraft and perform their missions using APC displays, including F-22, F-18, F-16, F-15, Euro-fighter Typhoon, Mirage 2000, C-130, C-17, P-3, S-3, U-2, AH-64 Apache Helicopter, V-22 tilt-rotor, as well as numerous other military and commercial aviation aircraft including Boeing 717 – 787 aircraft and several Airbus aircraft. APC panels are found in nearly every tactical aircraft in the US and around the world.
APC manufactures the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Large Area Display (LAD) display (20 inch by 8 inch) with dual pixel fields, power and video interfaces to provide complete display redundancy. At DSEI 2017 we are exhibiting the LAD with a more advanced design, dual display on single substrate with redundant characteristics and a bespoke purpose 8 inch by 6 inch armoured vehicle display.
In order to fully meet the demanding environmental and optical requirements without sacrificing critical tradeoffs in performance, APC designs, develops and manufactures these highly specialized displays in multiple sizes and configurations, controlling all AMLCD optical panel, mechanical and electrical design aspects. APC provides both ITAR and non-ITAR displays across the globe to OEM Prime and tiered vetronics and avionics integrators.
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