UNITED KINGDOM AND NATO
09 Nov 21. RN to begin Type 83 concept work in early 2022. The future destroyer was first announced in the UK’s March Defence Command Paper as part of RN’s shipbuilding plans. The UK MoD has confirmed that concept work on the replacement for the Daring-class Type 45 destroyer, the future Type 83, will begin in early 2022. Confirming the date for the concept phase in response to a written Parliamentary question, Minister for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin wrote: ‘On current plans, Navy Command intends to formally commence the concept phase for Type 83 in early 2022 with the assessment phase to follow in due course.’ The Type 83 is expected to begin replacing the RN’s Type 45 destroyers in the late 2030s. (Source: News Now/Shephard)
08 Nov 21. Airbus and Northrop Grumman Lead Team Seeking to shape NATO’s Future Surveillance and Control. New Atlantic Strategic Partnership for Advanced All-domain Resilient Operations (ASPAARO) brings together nine companies with world-leading capabilities Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) and Airbus Defence and Space, together with seven industrial players, have established ASPAARO, the Atlantic Strategic Partnership for Advanced All-domain Resilient Operations. ASPAARO will bid to undertake the Risk Reduction and Feasibility Studies (RRFS) for the NATO Support and Procurement Agency as part of the Alliance Future Surveillance and Control (AFSC) programme. The feasibility studies are a key milestone in the AFSC programme which aims to support NATO and NATO nations as they consider the Alliance’s future tactical surveillance, command and control capabilities after the current Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) fleet reaches the end of its service life in 2035. Following the delivery of a High-level Technical Concept in 2020 by three of the team members (Airbus, Lockheed Martin and MDA Ltd.), Airbus continues to support NATO in the concept stage of the AFSC programme together with Northrop Grumman and a strong transatlantic team including Lockheed Martin (US), BAE Systems (UK), KONGSBERG (Norway), MDA (Canada), GMV (Spain), Exence (Poland) and IBM (US). ASPAARO offers an unparalleled set of skills and capabilities that will address the threats of today and tomorrow and will fulfil the Alliance’s requirements across all domains. The industry team will leverage its multi-domain concepts, advanced technologies and integrated designs to pave the way to a fully interoperable architecture between NATO nations while further driving innovation through combined access, investments and experience.
“Cutting-edge surveillance and control systems are at the heart of ensuring NATO’s continued operational success to which we are fully committed to. We feel privileged to support this strategic programme for NATO by leveraging our experience and capabilities in multi-domain operations, surveillance and intelligence. With this transatlantic teaming, we are offering our commitment to provide the Atlantic Alliance with the most powerful technological solutions to ensure it stays ahead of the curve in tomorrow’s multi-domain-driven theatres of operation.” said Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space.
Northrop Grumman President of Aeronautics Systems Tom Jones emphasized ASPAARO’s focus on the NATO customer’s mission requirements. “ASPAARO brings together the best industrial capabilities across the NATO community to address increasingly vital surveillance and command and control needs. In a rapidly evolving threat environment NATO needs the strategic advantage that advanced surveillance and control provides; ASPAARO is committed to delivering those unmatched capabilities to the NATO AFSC programme.” A decision on the contract award for the Risk Reduction and Feasibility Studies for NATO AFSC is expected in 2022.
EUROPE
09 Nov 21. Spain has no plans to buy U.S. F35 fighters, defence ministry says. Spain has no plans to buy F35 fighter planes from the United States and remains committed to the European FCAS fighter programme, a defence ministry spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
A report on Nov. 4 in the French business magazine Challenges, citing an analyst at the defence specialist magazine Jane’s, suggested Spain may be interested in buying the F35 fighter from the United States.
However, Spain said it was fully committed to the Franco-German-Spanish FCAS fighter plane project.
“The Spanish government has no budget to enter into any other jet project in addition to the one that is already in place. We rule out entering the F35 project. Our investment commitment is in the FCAS,” the defence ministry spokeswoman told Reuters. (Source: Google/Reuters)
13 Oct 21. Serbia plans to acquire two C-295 military transport aircraft. Serbia’s government said it plans to order two C-295 medium tactical transport aircraft manufactured by Spain’s Construcciones Aeronauticas, a subsidiary of Airbus
“We expect to sign a contract for the procurement of two C-295 transport aircraft and the procurement of a larger number of H-145M helicopters,” the government quoted defence minister Nebojsa Stefanovic as saying during a meeting with Spain’s defence ministry armament and material director-general Santiago Ramon Gonzalez Gomez earlier this week.
Spain will work to fulfil all that has been promised in connection with the procurement of aircraft, which will be real proof that the two countries are really cooperating in the right way, Gomez said, according to the government’s press release.
The C-295 is manufactured and assembled in the Airbus Defence and Space facilities in Seville and has a capacity for 71 troops or 48 paratroops.
In May, Stefanovic visited the manufacturing facilities of Airbus in Seville in the framework of a visit to Spain to meet the country’s defence minister Margarita Robles. (Source: seenews)
REST OF THE WORLD
08 Nov 21. DroneShield and DIN call for RF disruption proposals. Sydney company DroneShield and the NSW Defence Innovation Network (DIN) are partnering to deliver next-generation drone signal disruption. The DIN has called for expressions of interest (EOIs) from member universities to participate in Stage 1, the initial proof of concept stage, of a portfolio of wireless UAV disruption projects. Closing Date for EoIs is 15 November. This first stage is worth up to $100,000, fully funded by DroneShield and has a three-month timeframe. DroneShield will provide the successful research organisation with sample data for three wireless protocols as an IQ stream. The research organisation will develop innovative wireless disruption algorithms to disrupt protocol communications successfully. The intention is for the research organisation to take a ‘Smart Jamming’ approach whereby the algorithm is based on an assault on vulnerabilities, for example, error correction checksums, messages related to acknowledgements, synchronisation channels, time slots. DroneShield can provide insight into existing research into both detection and disruption of provided protocols.
The successful research proposal should clearly address and demonstrate the following features:
- Ability to provide disruption algorithms that maximise radiated power efficiency, i.e. energy-efficient sophisticated jamming rather than barrage jamming (required)
- Flexibility in application towards near-peer protocols, i.e. the possibility that the algorithm might be able to disrupt near-peer protocols, to maximise the chances that it can be a more scalable algorithm that can be easily adapted to different signals of interest (preferred)
No security clearance is required.
This is expected to lead to Stage 2 of the project with up to $500,000-worth of funding from the Australian Research Council or a similar body, running for 6-9 months from approximately mid-2022. This stage will focus on maturity and expansion of the IP developed in Stage 1.
DroneShield aims to acquire the funding support to complete Stage 2, expanding the number of protocol disruption algorithms.
For further information go to the DIN web site: https://defenceinnovationnetwork.com/droneshield-eoi/ (Source: Rumour Control)
05 Nov 21. NSW government supports development of undersea detection and communications capabilities. The NSW Defence Innovation Network (DIN) Strategic Investment Initiative is expected to commence research into undersea acoustic communications and sensing technologies.
NSW Minister for Industry and Trade Stuart Ayres has recently confirmed that the NSW government will support the development of integrated undersea acoustic communications and sensing technologies, aimed at supporting long-distance covert underwater communications.
The program, pioneered by the NSW Defence Innovation Network (DIN) Strategic Investment Initiative, was kickstarted with $500,000 in funding from the NSW government and the Commonwealth’s Next Generation Technologies Fund.
According to a release from the minister’s office, the project is aiming to develop a prototype built upon orthogonal time-frequency space signalling. Amidst the recent AUKUS announcement, the DIN has welcomed the opportunity to help deliver Australian capability enhancements across artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, underwater capabilities and quantum technologies. The project sheds light on the state’s role in developing future capabilities for the Australian Defence Force, Minister Ayres said.
“This critical covert undersea sensing and communications project will lead to greater opportunities through increased collaboration between industry and academia to commercialise defence technologies and create jobs for the people of NSW,” he said.
The project will draw together expertise from Macquarie University, the University of Newcastle, the University of Sydney, University of Wollongong, UNSW, University of Technology Sydney and Western Sydney University.
Air Vice-Marshal (Ret’d) Kym Osley, NSW defence advocate, explained that the DIN Strategic Investment Initiative was an opportunity for Defence, industry and academia to collaborate to broaden Australia’s defence capabilities in line with the NSW government’s Defence and Industry Strategy: Strong, Smart and Connected. (Source: Defence Connect)
08 Nov 21. DST Group and DMTC call for HISS proposals for OCE STaR Shot. DST Group and DMTC Limited have issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to advance the Human Integrated Sensor System (HISS ) concept in the Operating in CBRN Environments (OCE) STaR Shot. RFP responses close on 17 December 2021. In collaboration with DMTC, the OCE STaR Shot wishes to enhance warfighter capability via the application of advanced biotechnology and data analytics to measure and interpret indicators of chemical and biological (CB) exposure from the human body.
“The real challenge is operating in these environments after a contamination event has occurred, and supporting our Defence personnel and capabilities to undertake their operations in those scenarios,” according to Dr Peter Shoubridge, Chief Land Division DSTG. “A particular area of focus for us at the moment is enhancing situational awareness.”
Therefore, DMTC and DSTG are working together to seed a self-contained program of work to advance the HISS concept. The August 2021 RFI scanned the Australian scientific ecosystem for key capabilities, technology and expertise in this area. The vision is to create a HISS that:
- Amalgamates outputs from wearable on/in body sensors with advanced data fusion and analytics approaches
- As a system, assimilates both subtle and overt sensor derived cues of Chemical/Biological (CB) exposure/infection
- Identifies the threat within hours of exposure and gives the wearer warning well before deleterious symptoms begin to manifest
To achieve the proposed vision, a hybrid sensing approach is required with analytics approaches that can handle data of differing format, temporal resolution, and uncertainty, and still identify patterns of exposure from the complicated baseline of normal bodily function, normal progression of infection and responses to non-CB threat external stimuli.
The HISS will allow countermeasures to be enacted with greatest effect while also buying crucial time for key operational decision-making. There will also be significant civilian opportunities across the health, first responder, industry occupation health and safety and law-enforcement sectors.
This RFP release addresses one of the core future focused problems Defence and DSTG are prioritising as part of the More, Together Defence Science and Technology strategy – the sort of problem that can’t be solved alone or without significant advances in science, technology and research. DMTC and DSTG want to collaborate with industry and academia to solve this challenge.
HISS RFP documentation is now available, including a Guidance Document and Response Template. Please submit responses to this RFP using the Template provided, to .
https://dmtc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HISS-RFP-Guidance-Document-FINAL.pdf (Source: Rumour Control)
07 Nov 21. Bangladesh Navy to buy five naval ships from the United Kingdom. According to information published by “The Daily Star” website on November 7, 2021, Bangladesh will buy five naval ships from the United Kingdom to modernize the armed forces as part of the Forces Goal 2030 program. Forces Goal 2030 is a military modernization program of the Bangladesh Armed Forces which began in 2009 and was revised in 2017, designed to the capabilities of the three services of the Bangladesh armed forces: the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. The primary focus of the modernization program is the reformation of the military organization, expansion of the forces, the transformation of the indigenous defense sector to support research and manufacturing, and the acquisition of modern military weapons. For the Bangladesh Navy, the aim of the Forces Goal 2030 program is to transform Bangladesh Navy into a modern, well-equipped three-dimensional force capable of conducting multi-domain operations. Under the program, the Navy has witnessed significant growth in firepower and weapon manufacturing capabilities. The expansion of the Navy’s surface fleet and force size is going on simultaneously. As of 2020, the navy acquired two submarines, eight frigates, six corvettes, eleven patrol vessels, and a significant number of other surface combatants. As of 2013, about a third of the military hardware procured under the plan has been for the Bangladesh navy. It procured two refurbished Type 053H2 (Jianghu III) frigates from China in 2014. Two United States Coast Guard High Endurance Cutters joined the BN in 2013 and 2015 which are being used as patrol frigates. Two Type 056 corvettes joined the BN in 2016 while two more were ordered in July 2015 and they are awaiting commissioning. Two Durjoy-class large patrol craft (LPCs) were built in China and joined the BN in 2013. Two more ships of the same class with dedicated ASW capabilities were commissioned in 2017. Five Padma-class patrol vessels have been commissioned into the navy in 2013. Besides, multiple indigenous built LCUs and LCTs have been added to the navy. Bangladesh Navy also bought an ex-Royal British Navy Roebuck-class survey vessel and two ex-Royal British Navy Castle-class offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) which were converted to guided missile corvettes in 2011. British Military Assistance Team had been in Bangladesh as instructors for many years. The two Navies are also cooperating closely while most of the ships of Bangladesh Navy (BN) have been procured from Royal British Navy thereby facilitating BN to achieve commendable capability. Royal Navy has also provided technical advice in setting up important BN infrastructure such as BN Dockyard. (Source: News Now/forces.net