14 May 21. Germany expects ‘wave’ of new Eurotank partners after September conference. German defense officials expect to sign up new European partners for the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System following a September conference in Berlin devoted to the effort, according to a government report to parliament.
The close-hold document, dated March and obtained by Defense News, notes that the international event is meant to initiate an “opening wave” of interested countries from the European Union, NATO and elsewhere – provided that Germany and France agree on the prerequisites.
One known applicant for the new tank program is the United Kingdom. In April, Germany officials made a point of saying that defense-acquisition leaders from Berlin and London had discussed cooperation on the program, with France still seemingly on the fence about admitting outsiders.
Still, Paris agreed in principle with the idea of extending the circle of observer countries, which could lead to selected countries becoming full partners later on, the report notes, citing the outcome of a Feb. 5 German-French Defense and Security Council meeting.
Building a new tank for Europe is considered here something of a home game for German industry, namely Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, and lawmakers have been eager to keep tabs on the progress. France’s Nexter is also part of the team, under a joint venture with Krauss-Maffei, dubbed KNDS.
That conglomerate was initially front and center on the MGCS program, though Rheinmetall has since managed to snag a supporting role.
The effort is among a raft of planned investments that have yet to be anchored in the German government’s budget plans, however. The defense ministry plans to request lawmakers’ approval to proceed in the last week of June, days before the parliamentary recess.
According to the report to the Bundestag, contracts in eight development areas are up for funding later this year: “mobility test bed,” “main effector, ammunition and turret,” “overall protection,” “collaborative combat,” simulation test bed for crews,” “automated navigation and mobility,” “automated fire sequence” and “improved sensor suite.”
The nations plan to hash out additional, high-tech features in a round of contracts in 2023, the document states. They are “barrel-launched (non-) line-of-sight missile,” “high-energy laser system,” “high-power electromagnetics,” “unmanned combat aerial vehicle” and “hyper velocity missile integration.”
The government’s report responds to a request by lawmakers for information about any information relating to the MGCS program and another Franco-German effort, the Future Combat Air System. Lawmakers in both countries have been eager to carve out the largest possible piece of industrial participation for their national companies.
Officials largely dismissed a question by lawmakers about coupling the two high-profile programs to achieve a parallel time line. The approaches, technologies and industrial context are simply too different, they argued. Still, Berlin considers its industrial stake in both programs by closely coordinating across relevant agencies.
(Source: Defense News)
10 May 21. Hanwha to Propose K21 Based Tank for Indian Army. The Republic of Korea’s Hanwha Defense appears ready to propose a candidate to address the Indian Army’s requirement for a light tank. India’s Defense Ministry issued a Request for Information dated 22 April 2021 describing its intent to acquire 350 light tanks.
The RFI described a new generation combat platform of less than 25 tonnes “along with performance-based logistics, niche technologies, engineering support package, and other maintenance and training requirements.”
This would be produced in India. The initiative is viewed as a response to the tensions in Eastern Ladakh of the northern mountainous regions and the China’s People’s Liberation Army fielding of its ZTQ-15 light tank. An RFI reflecting a similar need had been issued in 2009 but did not proceed.
Hanwha Defense has a developed a version of its successful K-21 Infantry fighting Vehicle, the K21-105, which mounts a 105mm tank gun turret on the K-21 tracked chassis. This was offered as a candidate for the US Army Mobile Protected Firepower vehicle requirement in a collaboration with the US firm SAIC. The design incorporated a CMI Defense 105mm stabilized gun turret with automatic loading providing 8 rounds per minute firing rate. Equipped with advanced day/thermal sights, digital fire controls, and able to incorporate a panoramic sight it can precisely engage targets to 4 km. The gun uses standard NATO ammunitions, as well as the Ukrainian-designed cannon launched laser-guided Falarick 105 ATGM. With a crew of three the vehicle offers tank level firepower in a compact, highly mobile configuration well suited for operations in restricted terrain. The Indian Army RFI further states “the main armament should feature a modular and upgradable weapon system with capability to destroy varied threats and feature multiple weapons for anti-aircraft and ground role with a remote control weapon station. The tank should employ modern advance multipurpose ‘smart munitions’ including gun tube launched anti-tank guided missiles and auxiliary power unit, preheater, environment control unit and anti-drone capability, UAV jammers, and be net enabled.
Responses are due 18 June 2021. (Source: AMR)
12 May 21. PLAGF’s Xinjiang Military Command operating ZBL-09 IFV. Chinese state-owned media revealed on 12 May that the People’s Liberation Army Ground Force’s (PLAGF’s) Xinjiang Military Command has begun operating the China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco) ZBL-09 (also known as Type 09) infantry fighting vehicle (IFV).
The platform is the latest in a series of modern military assets delivered to the command in recent months: an indication of the fast pace at which it is being modernised.
Broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported via the Weibo social media platform that the 8×8 vehicle had entered service with an unidentified combined arms brigade, with footage released by the media outlet showing at least one ZBL-09 conducting live-fire drills at an unclosed location near the Karakoram mountain range at an altitude of more than 4,500 m above sea level.
No information was provided about when platform deliveries began but CCTV reported that the exercise, which was aimed at demonstrating the vehicle’s capabilities in a high-altitude environment, had taken place “recently”.
The Type 09 family is the latest series of wheeled armoured platforms to enter service with the PLAGF. The IFV variant is armed with a manned turret carrying a 30 mm cannon believed to be a derivative of the Russian-made 2A42. It can also carry an anti-tank guided missile such as the Red Arrow 73.
(Source: Jane’s)
11 May 21. Is Supacat up for sale? Rumours abound in the bazaars that UK military vehicle specialist Supacat is being stalked by a number of suitors rumoured to be Rafael, Rheinmetall, with whom it does a lot of business in Australia, GDUK or Oshkosh? BATTLESPACE emailed CEO Nick Ames who replied, “As you would expect the shareholders of SC Group, periodically review the business and the best options for it going forward. No decisions have been taken to see a change of control, however should that event arise, we will make sure you are one of the first to know!”
Supacat has a complex share structure with a Cambridge University College believed to have a holding and Lockheed Martin who owns the Licence for the suspension system, receiving Royalties for every vehicle sold and BATTLESPACE understands that the UK MoD has the IP for the upper hamper for some variants of the Jackal. Watch this space! The Editor has followed the story of the Supacat HMT since its inception and actually got the scoop for the Lockheed deal following a tip from one of the original investors!
11 May 21. It’s not easy to upgrade tanks. They’re more than guns on treads. They rely on a series of networked capabilities: GPS receivers that tell operators where they are, radios to communicate with others, and sensors to detect and identify potential threats.
Effectively, each of those capabilities or any upgrade requires a custom installation to ensure the system — and all of its enabling technologies — fits and works with the other computerized equipment on the tank.
But the Army C5ISR Center expects its open standards project to transform upgrades and save significant money over platforms’ lifetimes. The C4ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards approach — or CMOSS — would make replacing or updating capabilities as simple as plugging in a new VPX card — a rugged, standard chip about 1-inch big that’s used for defense applications.
Custom installations would mostly disappear, and the tiny cards would shoulder the bulk of the work to reach the Army’s ultimate goal: an armored vehicle fleet that’s easy to update with the latest competitive technology.
“Due to the modularity, CMOSS enables cost savings through greater competition during the acquisition phase, but there’s also potential for significant cost savings over the entire life cycle, including sustainment,” Jason Dirner, C5ISR Center Intel Technology and Architecture Branch team leader, told C4ISRNET in an interview.
Recall how video game systems like the Nintendo 64 or Sega Genesis used to operate. A single console provided the graphics card, processing, power source, standard ports and common outputs to connect to a display. To play, people inserted a cartridge into the game port. That card contained all the game information, but developers designed it to use the console’s resources.
CMOSS applies that basic approach to the Army’s various platforms.
This plug-and-play method is a key piece of the rapid technology adoption the Army wants to keep its edge with near-peer competitors. Today, it’s no longer feasible to field a capability that will exist unchallenged for two or three decades. Other militaries are looking to exploit weaknesses in American systems for communications and position, navigation and timing, for example.
When the Army buys technologies now, it purchases enough spares to last 30-plus years, explained Dirner. When hardware starts to fail after 5-10 years, the Army replaces it with a spare to maintain the capability. CMOSS makes it easier to develop and integrate upgraded capabilities.
When the original hardware begins to fail, the Army can install a new, better capability by plugging in a new chip. This reduces the amount of spares the Army needs to buy upfront and prevents the service from having to rely on the same tech for decades at a time.
In its current iteration, CMOSS exists as a common chassis on the exterior of the vehicle. The box has a number of slots for different capability cards while establishing shared antennas, processing, power, and position, navigation and timing data. CMOSS would drastically reduce the amount of unneeded redundancy on Army platforms, where each capability often has its own stovepiped collection of supporting technologies.
“On platforms today it’s not uncommon to have a number of unusefully redundant GPS receivers, just because each radio — whether it’s comms, EW [electronic warfare] — has their own embedded GPS capability. So just by sharing that capability, we open the door for SWaP [size, weight and power] savings,” Dirner said.
“Traditionally, we would have a stovepiped solution that … would have to be adapted and installed on each vehicle with some sort of custom kit,” said Ben Peddicord, C5ISR Center Intel Technology and Architecture Branch chief. “Something as simple as an Intel-based computer — the basic Intel processor was being custom packaged for each individual product that was installed on our platform. So the same basic processor might be packaged three or four different ways on each platform, and all that customization added cost and, maybe more critically, time to the schedule.”
The initial goal? To cut SWaP
Dirner and Peddicord have been involved with the CMOSS project since its inception around 2013 to try to reduce the size, weight and power footprint of C5ISR equipment.
“In the past, systems were integrated in a stovepipe manner. And so as a result, you had a lot of unnecessary, redundant equipment on the platform: antennas, processors, displays. And as a result you essentially had consumed all of the size, weight and power [SWaP] that was available,” Dirner.
CMOSS gives that ingrained process a drastic overhaul.
Visually, the most obvious aspect of CMOSS is the chassis, a nondescript box that can vary in size, depending on a tank’s needs. Inside that box are a number of ports where operators swap out VPX cards to provide capabilities. While some ports are designated for specific capabilities — such as PNT — others are open for general use.
“If you went to Best Buy and were to purchase a graphics card for your computer, they come in a standard size and shape, and actually the size and shape of a graphics card that you would buy is similar to the size of these individual cards,” Peddicord said.
Some capabilities may require multiple cards. “The architecture is scalable, so that if you can do it on a single card, great. If you need multiple cards in order to achieve the performance and provide the necessary processing, we provide the plumbing over the backplane [circuit board] to do that, to provide the physical connectivity,” said Dirner.
And if one box doesn’t have enough ports, the Army can add another.
“Bottom line is, you can have multiple chassis if you need them — different shapes and sizes — in the platform, and then you can synthetically build an application which leverages hardware from all of the chassis or also leverages hardware that may not be in the chassis,” said Peddicord. “There will always probably be some specialized pieces of hardware which aren’t suitable or don’t make sense to install in a VPX form factor.”
The benefits of standardization
While less visible, one major advance of the program is establishing pooled resources for the various capabilities installed on the tank. For example, instead of attaching individual antennas for each system that needs one, CMOSS ensures that most — if not all — systems can use the same antenna. It does the same with power sources, processing, displays, and position, navigation and timing data. That drastically reduces the amount of SWaP thesesystems cumulatively require.
But the real innovation of the program may be establishing that open suite of standards for the various interfaces at the hardware, software and network layers. Vendors adopt those standards, ensuring that any new capability card will plug into the chassis and be interoperable with the various technologies on the platform, while pulling what it needs from other cards or pooled resources.
Currently, even connections that can plug into each other may not be truly compatible, leading to confusion and possibly damage. CMOSS standardizes connections, reducing the likelihood that a user will plug a card into the wrong slot and damage the port.
“We surveyed the community — both government and industry — to identify which standards exist that satisfy the requirements, and then we adopted them wherever we could. If they weren’t a direct fit, we adapted them if needed. And then only as a last resort would we author our own specification,” Dirner said.
CMOSS may have started to address SWaP concerns, but it quickly became clear that the project will have major implications for rapid tech insertion.
“That drastically reduces the time to integrate these capabilities on our tactical platforms,” said Dirner.
Past stovepiped solutions required a significant installation process for individual antennas, processors, displays and more. Finding space for all that equipment was a challenge. With common standards, less customization is needed to add new technologies. The center is working to create a Universal A-Kit, a common tool set for upgrades or replacements.
Linking up beyond the Army
The C5ISR Center is also working to make sure it can integrate capabilities developed by other services. The center participates in the Sensor Open System Architecture Consortium, an organization established by the Air Force to tackle the same problems CMOSS is made to solve. The consortium helps government and industry develop open standards for the C5ISR community.
“If the Army, for example, has a gap and the Air Force or the Navy has a capability or system that can fill that gap, we want to be able to take that and be able to rapidly integrate that into our platforms rather than reinventing the wheel,” said Dirner.
While the Army is building CMOSS primarily as a chassis for ground vehicles, its standards and technologies can easily apply to a pod, aircraft or vessel. Again, the key innovation isn’t the chassis, but the adoption of open standards for plug-and-play capabilities. Dirner expects a variety of chassis — maybe one platform only needs three slots, while another could use 10 or more. The important aspect is that teams can quickly integrate chip capabilities with virtually any platforms using CMOSS.
The Army tested CMOSS at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico last year, installing the chassis on a Stryker vehicle. The service was able to install an anti-jam antenna and plug in a new PNT card to test out that capability.
CMOSS is one of several projects included in Capability Set ’23, the Army’s effort to add new technologies and equipment to its tactical network every two years beginning in 2021. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
12 May 21. Rheinmetall Kodiak to be the Bundeswehr’s new combat engineer vehicle – order worth around €295m. Rheinmetall has scored another major success with its Kodiak armoured engineer vehicle. The German Bundeswehr has awarded the Düsseldorf-based technology group an order for new combat engineer systems. On 14 April 2021, the Budget Committee of the German Parliament approved the project. The Federal Office for Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support, or BAAINBw, has now signed a contract to this effect with Rheinmetall for the manufacture and delivery of a total of 44 armoured engineer vehicles, with a gross value of around €295m. The first system is due to roll off the assembly line in 2023, with delivery to be complete by 2029. Furthermore, the order encompasses a number of additional products and services relating to training and logistics necessary for commissioning and in-service support, including training courses and resources, for example, as well as documentation, measuring and testing equipment, spare parts and special tools.
Rheinmetall Kodiak – a true ‘pioneer’
Known in German as the Pionierpanzer 3 Kodiak, the vehicle is based on the Leopard 2. It is specially designed to meet the needs of modern combat engineers. Today, more than forty Kodiak armoured engineer vehicles are in service around the world, specifically in Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Singapore. In addition to the Bundeswehr, a number of other European and NATO nations have recently expressed an interest in the system. Moreover, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Singapore all augment their Leopard 2 fleets with the Büffel/Buffalo Bergepanzer 3 armoured recovery vehicle – another member of Rheinmetall’s Leopard 2-based family of fighting vehicles.
Powered by a 1,100-kW engine, the vehicle’s well-balanced chassis assures outstanding mobility commensurate with the Leopard 2 A7V. Thanks to its excellent off-road capability, the Kodiak is fully capable of keeping up with today’s high-mobility combat formations. Furthermore, a newly developed force protection package makes it one of the best-protected systems of its kind.
An outstanding feature of the Kodiak is the three-part excavator arm centrally mounted at the front of the vehicle. This central arm concept offers the advantage of giving the crew a better overview during excavation work. It also allows the vehicle to operate in narrow confines while enabling maximum reach with minimal dependence on the orientation of the vehicle. This simplifies and shortens the operation, thus contributing to the safety and security of the crew. The system’s high-performance articulated excavator arm can also pick up and set down heavy loads. Moreover, a multitude of different tools are available that can be switched from the safety of the fighting compartment.
The Kodiak also features a bulldozer blade with adjustable cutting and tilt angles. If required, all of the exchangeable tools – including optional mine-clearing equipment not ordered by the Bundeswehr – can be loaded onto multi-hook lift changing pallets, a standard item of Bundeswehr equipment.
Mounted at the front of the vehicle, the versatile winch system is equipped with two capstan winches that can be used independently of each other. During operation, this assures maximum flexibility coupled with absolute reliability. A single soldier can quickly bring the comparatively light winch cables to the object with no need for special equipment or tools, thus minimizing the time spent outside the highly protected fighting compartment.
During daylight hours as well as in conditions of limited visibility, six cameras mounted on the excavator system, the bulldozer blade and the front and rear of the vehicle support the three-person crew while on the move or conducting combat engineering operations. Crewmembers can access the camera view that is important to them on their own monitor. The cameras make it possible to change tools and carry out a full range of combat engineering operations without exiting the vehicle. If necessary, an auxiliary power unit can provide electricity when the main engine is switched off, simultaneously powering the heating and air conditioning unit for the fighting compartment.
For self-defence, the Kodiak is equipped with a state-of-the-art 76mm smoke/obscurant grenade launcher as well as a remotely controlled “Natter” weapon station. Developed by Rheinmetall, the weapon station can be armed with either with a machinegun (7.62mm x 51 or 12.7mm x 99 (.50 BMG) or a 40mm automatic grenade launcher.
Besides its prime function as a mainstay combat engineering system, the Kodiak can of course also be utilized in a disaster relief role. Last year, the Dutch armed forces deployed the Kodiak and the Bergepanzer 3 Büffel/Buffalo to fight forest fires and other wildfires on the German-Dutch border in early summer.
10 May 21. Rheinmetall plants roots in Michigan. Germany’s Rheinmetall has a new subsidiary and it is planting its roots in the heart of American vehicle-manufacturing territory.
American Rheinmetall Vehicles (ARV) opened its new facility in the DC3S complex in Sterling Heights, Michigan, as it prepares to compete to replace the U.S. Army’s Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle with an optionally manned one, according to a May 10 company statement.
The company has been preparing to compete in the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program for years, unveiling its Lynx 41 next-generation fighting vehicle in Paris, France, in the summer of 2018.
Rheinmetall then teamed with Raytheon to submit Lynx as its offering for OMFV in the fall of 2019, but was unable to deliver its prototype vehicle to the Army on time and was eliminated from the competition. Only General Dynamics Land Systems was able to get its bid sample in by the deadline.
With only one competitor, the Army canceled the program and embarked on a fresh attempt with a different strategy: One that has a digital design phase in order to refine characteristics needed in a future vehicle ahead of bending any metal.
Rheinmetall remains locked in with Raytheon, but has added Textron and L3Harris to the team as well. Bids were due last month.
The company is competing with other major prime contractors like GDLS, incumbent BAE Systems and a team of Oshkosh Defense and South Korean defense firm Hanwha as well as smaller or non-traditional businesses like Mettle Ops and Point Blank Enterprises.
The Army is expected to choose up to five prime contractor teams this summer to design rough digital prototypes. The Army will award up to three contracts for a detailed design and prototype phase that will include options for low-rate initial production. The service will select one vendor to go into production.
ARV is expanding by almost 28,000 square feet with room for over 30 team members that will support the OMFV offering, the statement reads.
The facility includes two high bay areas that will be used for a hardware and software integration lab and a prototype build area “as the program progresses,” according to the statement.
“Driven by strong and consistent growth, this early investment initiative demonstrates ARV’s commitment to the OMFV program and the U.S. Army,” the statement notes.
“The investments we are making in our operations are a strong reflection of American Rheinmetall Vehicle’s position in the marketplace and positive outlook for the future,” Matt Warnick, ARV’s Managing Director, said in the statement. “I’m excited that our team and new facility are well-positioned to fully support the Lynx OMFV offering and look forward to continuing to change the landscape of the U.S. defense industrial base by introducing next-generation manufacturing capabilities and creating new, quality U.S. jobs.” (Source: Defense News)
07 May 21. British Army outlines how Boxer will fill Warrior capability gap. The British Army’s head of strategy Brigadier John Clark shared more detailed information on how the Boxer Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) will fill the capability gap left by the decision to cancel the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (CSP) during a Thursday press briefing.
In the Defence Command Paper, released earlier this year, the British Army announced plans to retire the Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) by 2025 and no longer proceed with the planned Warrior CSP upgrade programme.
In its place, the Army said it would accelerate the procurement of the Boxer MIV, prompting questions from defence observers about how the 8×8 wheeled vehicle would fill the role performed by the tracked Warrior IFV.
During the press briefing, Clark said that the army was ‘under no illusions’ that Boxer is different from Warrior and shed more light on how the acceleration of the Boxer programme would work.
Clark said: “We’re clear that Warrior is going, we are trying to accelerate Boxer… now, part of that is about bringing forward the introduction of the platform to the army, part of it is about working out what more we might be able to do in order to make it more IFV-like.”
The Brigadier added that the British Army was not trying to ‘recreate’ Warrior with the Boxer vehicle but was rather trying to ‘design’ a different way of fighting wars through a combination of Apache attack helicopters, the upgraded Challenger 3 Main Battle Tank, Ajax reconnaissance vehicle and Boxer.
He said the army was looking at the ways those vehicles could be integrated and help to orchestrate a push towards warfighting that is more focused on the deep battle.
The army is still working through the details, but Clark added: “We’re not saying that Boxers replacing Warrior; we’re saying we’re getting Boxer, a really well protected, mobile platform, it’s something that is very digitally connected, which is part of the whole equation.
“…The function that the infantry fighting vehicle gives us we’re very clear about, but there are other ways in which you can deliver the overall effects of the suite that we have at the moment.”
The UK had planned to upgrade the Warrior with a new CTA International 40mm cannon and various other improvements. The UK has already purchased the cannons destined for the Warrior CSP programme as it is the same cannon as is used on the Ajax reconnaissance variant.
The fate of the cannons that were previously destined for Warrior is unknown, however, several potential turret solutions using the same cannon have already been integrated onto Boxer should the British Army wish to go down that route.
In 2019, the UK signed a £2.3bn deal for the procurement of 508 Boxer MIVs from Artec – a consortium of Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegman. Under the order, the army will receive troop-carrying, ambulance, command and specialist carrier variants of the vehicle.
The planned Boxers will be fitted with a Kongsberg Protector RS4 remote weapon station. (Source: army-technology.com)
10 May 21. Asylon and Boston Dynamics Integrate Ground Robots into DroneCore. Asylon, Inc. has announced its partnership with the world-leading robotic research and development company Boston Dynamics to integrate their unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), Spot, into the Asylon DroneCore Robotic Perimeter Security platform.
As the post-COVID world begins to take shape, security and remote access monitoring have emerged as board-level concerns. However, traditional security systems can be inefficient, outdated, and costly. Asylon is adding value to these existing systems with its Robotic Perimeter Security system and 24/7 Robotic Security Operation Center (RSOC) for teleoperation and mission assurance. Asylon has developed and integrated aerial and ground robotic systems into the automated Remote Perimeter Security platform known as DroneCore.
In reference to the new partnership, Michael Quiroga, Chief Revenue Officer at Asylon said,
“Asylon is on a mission to build an ecosystem of advanced technologies to help our customers modernize their security postures. As such, we’re proud to enter into this partnership agreement with Boston Dynamics as we add their UGV to our best-in-class robotic security services. The coupling of air with ground robotics is a natural progression and unlocks enhanced observe and report security automation. As true modernization requires strong partnerships, our platform ecosystem partners will enable the most advanced robotic perimeter security solutions for our current and future customers.”
The Asylon security drone is designed to provide organizations with the fastest response to emergencies and alarms. Through automated security patrols, the drone can integrate with advanced sensors or detect anomalies by itself that require a response, such as intruders or overheating machinery, and enable human response teams to be appropriately prepared for potentially dangerous threats. The Asylon 24/7 RSOC delivers customers superior service and real-time mission assurance round-the-clock so that customers get the most of the DroneCore platform. Plus, the drone’s base station, DroneHome, is equipped with a robotic arm to autonomously replace low batteries, with a swap time of only 3 minutes, so that organizations can respond quickly in the case of an emergency.
To complement the aerial surveillance offered by Asylon’s automated security drone system, the partnership with Boston Dynamics to deliver a mobile and versatile DroneDog will provide customers with unprecedented automated ground and aerial surveillance. Boston Dynamics is focused on creating robots with advanced mobility, a mission that began over 30 years ago, to deliver functional and highly mobile robots. Unlike ground robots that run on wheels or tracks, Spot’s legged design makes it capable of traversing uneven and unpredictable terrain with organic, life-like motion. Its capabilities allow for organizations to employ safer and more efficient security operations while its 14KG capacity allows for organizations to add modules and features to meet their needs and multiple units can be applied for advanced perimeter monitoring.
Powered by the proprietary Asylon DroneIQ software system, ground and aerial security robots can be programmed to conduct routine patrols or respond to alarms triggered by Internet of Things (IoT) connected alarms. Because the robots are field-programmable, they support long-term software development and upgrades. The intelligent machines are capable of supporting multiple payload options for both aerial and ground assets to collect actionable data to improve security while the 24/7 RSOC delivers immediate remote control, monitoring, and intelligence services. These data driven solutions help unlock AI and prescriptive analytics for anomaly detection across multiple sites. From anywhere in the world, the DroneCore system can be controlled and the video feed can be viewed in real-time. To date, Asylon has launched, managed, and tracked over 10,000 automated drone missions through their platform for their customers.
This combination of technology makes Asylon the only American, full-service robotic perimeter company. The aerial drones have been designed, developed, and manufactured in Philadelphia, PA while Boston Dynamics designs and develops in Waltham, MA, and manufactures in the US.
Currently, an Asylon Fortune 500 customer is in the process of deploying three DroneDog systems for testing and evaluation to add complementary capabilities to their automated aerial drone security system. This customer and others who are following suit have interest in expanding to multiple sites throughout the United States. Limited early release of the news generated significant interest among other Fortune 500 customers who have already signed letters of intent to purchase and deploy DroneCore upon its full release. Asylon will be holding an online demonstration of the DroneCore system during the first week of May.
Until now, security has often meant deploying expensive cameras alongside multiple 24/7 guard posts and patrols. Security guards are too often thrown into dangerous and undefined situations. The full-service DroneCore package allows for real-time video monitoring, automated patrols and response missions, and powerful EO/IR aerial and ground vantage points to equip security personnel with the data they need to launch informed responses to potentially dangerous and hazardous situations. (Source: UAS VISION)