15 Jul 22. AW149 Successful Guided and Unguided Rocket Firing Trials. In Q4 2021, Leonardo’s AW149 multi-role helicopter undertook weapon firing trials to optimise the military capability of the aircraft. Free-flight unguided rockets and laser guided rocket salvos were fired at a test range in an undisclosed European country. These trials took place during hover, diving flight and forward flight, both day and night. Over several weeks, the firing trials clocked around 70 flight hours. During this time, over 200 guided and unguided rockets were fired. The firing conducted was undertaken in a variety of conditions and from a standoff distance of 3.5 to 4km, in line with the firing range’s limitations. Data was gathered using engine, airframe and weapon pylon instrumentation as well as an abundance of external and aircraft mounted cameras. The evidence gathered was used to expand the weapon flight envelope. The firings confirmed excellent clearance between armament and airframe as per the military design of the platform. The data is also used to further enhance the pre-launch aiming algorithms and “weapon solutions” stored within the aircraft’s mission system computer.
Lee Evans, Experimental Test Pilot at Leonardo Helicopters UK, piloted and conducted some of the firings. He commented, “It was great to test the integrated mission and weapon systems that give the AW149 a true multi-role battlefield capability. The AW149’s tactical radar and EOD enables rapid and efficient acquisition and subsequent prosecution of the target. Furthermore, the AW149 is ideally suited as a weapon platform as its agility allows rapid ‘turn to target’ manoeuvring. The precise handling qualities allow the pilot to rapidly achieve pre-launch constraints and ultimately to successfully engage a target”.
The AW149 is an advanced platform equipped with latest generation system technologies, equipment and weapons to deliver multi-role mission effect on the modern battlefield. Coupled with unparalleled safety and performance, and high levels of survivability and crashworthiness, this provides military customers with a highly effective, survivable and cost-effective capability. An Open Systems Architecture enables the rapid and low cost integration of new equipment to meet evolving military requirements and the rate at which these trials have been able to progress demonstrates the benefits this capability brings.
14 Jul 22. RAF chief says drone swarms ready to crack enemy defenses.
Royal Air Force’s experiments with drone swarms show they can overwhelm enemy defenses, and the concept would be ready for action in a war, according to the U.K. military service’s chief of staff.
Air Chief Marshall Sir Mike Wigston told the Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference 2022 in London this week that the RAF’s 216 Test and Evaluation Squadron and the Rapid Capabilities Office trialed five drone types in 13 experiments with various payloads and equipment over three years. The work yielded enough insights for the service to declare an “operationally useful and relevant capability,” using its current fleet of drones, he said.
“We are exploring new models of capability delivery and accelerated production ‘when we need them’ rather than ‘in case we need them,’ from the twin jet 3D-printed Pizookie, to commercially available large drones fitted with novel payloads, to large quadcopters,” Wigston said.
The problem of overcoming enemy air defenses is a key obstacle to employing military power from above. Planning for air operations increasingly entails ensuring that planes can fly safely in the first place, putting at risk untold amounts of money that militaries have pumped into beefing up their fleets to fourth- and fifth-generation technology.
That conundrum is on display in Ukraine, where Ukrainian and Russian air-defense capabilities are effectively canceling out the other side’s air power arsenal, according to Justin Bronk, a defense analyst with the London-based Royal United Services Institute.
“The fact that air power has ben mutually denied, relatively speaking, in Ukraine by both sides has far more serious implications for us than for either the Russians or the Ukrainians,” he said at the London conference on July 13.
That’s because both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries are ultimately dependent on massive land manpower and artillery, whereas joint forces of the U.K. and other western powers are critically dependent on having air access and air superiority, Bronk said.
Swarming, which means throwing enough expendable drones at a defensive radar and interceptor position so as to overwhelm them, can be effective he said, but only to a point. The idea of small and cheap drones attacking air defenses by way of swarming may not be feasible because those drones lack the requisite range and speed.
“If you want things to go fast and far, they’re going to be jet-propelled and they’re going to cost a fair bit,” Bronk said.
In addition, getting drones swarms close enough to sophisticated air defenses with a range of hundreds of kilometers requires risky and potentially pricy insertion tactics that negate the widely cited cost benefit of cheap, small drones, according to Bronk.
The Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference brought together military leaders to dissect new air and space power strategies in light of lessons learned from Russia’s assault on Ukraine.
(Source: Defense News)
14 Jul 22. Thales Australia’s Lithgow Arms set to grow with NSW Government grant.
Thales Australia’s Lithgow Arms business is set to grow its advanced manufacturing capabilities with the announcement of a grant from the NSW Government’s NSW Regional Job Creation Fund Round 2.
The funding, valued at $1.12 m, will be matched by Thales Australia and invested in leading manufacturing capabilities that will increase both military and civil manufacturing capacity, create 56 additional jobs and support export growth.
According to the company, Lithgow Arms exports equipment to 17 countries and has provided small arms, weapons systems, logistics and sustainment to the Australian Defence Force for over 100 years.
“it’s great to see the NSW Government supporting NSW Defence businesses like Thales Australia to help ensure critical engineering and manufacturing skills remain in the state.”
“Lithgow Arms is the only small arms manufacturing capability of its type inAustralia and we are proud to be a major eloyer in regional NSW. Our workforce is highly skilled and multi- genertional.”
“Lithgow Arms has a proud 110-year history of sovereign small arms production for Defence and this is part of a plan for the next phase of production
The grant from the NSW Government and matched commitment from Thales Australia follows a $70m investment from the company to enhance the facility, which includes a $6.5m construction to support the design and development of next generation weapons capabilities for use by the ADF and international partners.
14 Jul 22. US Army receives first enhanced M270A2 rocket launch system.
The army has modernised its strike capability after accepting an upgraded rocket launch system into service.
Lockheed Martin has announced the delivery of its first Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) M270A2 launcher to the US Army during a ceremony held at the Precision Fires Center of Excellence in Camden, Arkansas.
The capability, developed in partnership with the Red River Army Depot, features a new 600 horsepower engine, an improved armoured cab, and a Common Fire Control System (CFCS).
These enhancements are expected to enable the deployment of munitions like the Extended-Range GMLRS and the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), supporting operations through to 2050.
The M270A2 is billed as a heavy-tracked mobile launcher, transportable via C-17 and C-5 aircraft enabling Joint All Domain Operations (JADO).
The launcher and its munitions are designed to defeat artillery, air defence concentrations, trucks, light armour and personnel carriers at a greater range.
According to Lockheed Martin, the enhanced MLRS M270A2 launcher can engage and relocate at high speed, reducing detection risk
“This delivery represents a significant milestone for Lockheed Martin as the modernised system will support the army and allied partners for decades to come,” Jay Price, vice president of precision fires at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said.
“Our award-winning Camden facility continues to produce world-class vehicles, and this newest M270A2 launcher will continue our legacy of combat-proven reliability.”
Lockheed Martin recently secured launcher production contracts from international customers, including the United Kingdom. (Source: Defence Connect)
14 Jul 22. The SPIKE Users’ Club has held its annual meeting for the first time since the start of COVID-19 pandemic.
For sixteen consecutive years, the SPIKE Users’ Club Meeting (SUCM) had been held in different host countries around the world; now, after a two-year break due to the pandemic, the meeting was held in Latvia. RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems, the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), and SPIKE Missile Family’s global users came together for a collaborative, face-to-face engagement to strengthen their wider relations and cooperation. Founded in June 2003 by SPIKE user nations, the SUCM has become a unique forum for sharing their practical knowledge and experience using SPIKE missiles, as well as addressing tactical lessons learned from combat scenarios, through maintenance and live-fire trainings
BRIGADIER GENERAL KASPARS ZDANKOVSKIS, Acting Chief of Staff, Latvian Armed Forces, “We were very pleased to host 17th SPIKE User Club in person this year in Latvia, especially after the long COVID break. It is very important that User nations have the possibility to come together, share their experience, challenges and discuss the future. The Users’ conference is an excellent platform for maintaining the nations’ interoperability, enabling the nations to manage joint SPIKE missile stockpiles, joint procurement and mutual support in supplies. SPIKE family systems are the key capability for the Latvian Armed forces and the long-term cooperation with the NSPA and relevant industries is an absolute military requirement.”
TZVI MARMOR, Vice President and Head RAFAEL’s Precision Tactical Weapons Directorate, “The return of the SPIKE Users club is another indication of the relevance of the system especially in the modern security context. It was an honor to again cooperate with our partners and the global customers. We thank all the delegations for coming and particularly the NSPA and our partners in Latvia for their warm hospitality, high level of professionalism and great coordination leading to a successful event.”
This year, SUCM’s 17th meeting was jointly organized by host user-nation Latvia and the NSPA. It included 19 SPIKE User delegations, and observer nations that participated for internal study purposes. During the SUCM, the Latvian Army launched four SPIKE missiles: two SPIKE LR2 missiles were launched from a portable ground launcher, with one of them launched towards a target beyond-line-of-sight at 5.2 km with the use of the target image acquisition capability. Both missiles hit their intended targets (both in IR and day mode). Additionally, two SPIKE SR shoulder launched fire-and-forget missiles were launched at target at a distance of 1.5km. The innovative SPIKE FIREFLY miniature close combat loitering munition was also demonstrated, extracted from a canister by the maneuvering infantry, in vertical takeoff it engaged targets beyond-line-of-sight. Days before the SUCM, a Latvian Army squad was instructed how to operate the SPIKE FIREFLY and took part in the demonstration. Earlier this year, SPIKE FIREFLY was also demonstrated in the United States at AEWE to US and UK military services among others.
14 Jul 22. Operational Fires Program Successfully Completes 1st Flight Test.
- DARPA program demonstrates novel ground-launched hypersonic missile system capability
DARPA’s Operational Fires (OpFires) program has successfully executed its first flight test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The OpFires system achieved all test objectives, including first ever use of a U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) logistics truck as a medium-range missile launcher, missile canister egress, stable flight capture, and use of U.S. Army inventory artillery fire control systems to initiate the test mission. Lockheed Martin built the system, which includes a Northrup Grumman rocket motor, and conducted the test.
The test demonstrated integrated technology maturation of key enabling components including the first stage rocket motor, missile canister, and missile round pallet (MRP). The MRP is designed for use with the load handling system available on USMC and Army logistics vehicles, eliminating the need for a bespoke OpFires transporter erector launcher (TEL).
“This is a promising step toward a TEL on-demand capability for accurately firing medium-range missiles from highly agile, readily available logistics trucks that are already in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps inventory,” said Lt. Col. Joshua Stults, the DARPA program manager for OpFires. “Our successful agile hardware development approach prioritizes full-scale flight testing that will inform further design maturation this year.”
The primary goal of OpFires is the development and demonstration of a ground-launched two-stage propulsive system capable of employing hypersonic (greater than five times the speed of sound) payloads from ubiquitous U.S. military trucks (the Palletized Load System family of vehicles) that can penetrate modern air defenses and precisely strike time-critical targets. Compatibility with existing command and control, vehicles, logistics infrastructure, and operating environments ensures that OpFires is highly mobile and rapidly deployable.
“The OpFires program is a great example of how DARPA, in partnership with industry, is helping the Department of Defense facilitate rapid development and testing of advanced hypersonic technologies to accelerate the delivery of transformational warfighting capabilities,” said Michael White, principal director for hypersonics in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
The OpFires program will complete an integrated system critical design review in 2022. (Source: ASD Network)
13 Jul 22. U.S. successfully tests pair of Lockheed hypersonic missiles.
The United States successfully tested two Lockheed Martin Corp hypersonic missiles recently, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, amid growing concerns Russia and China have had more success developing their own hypersonic weapons.The U.S. Air Force confirmed it successfully tested its Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) booster on Tuesday off the California coast. Reuters reported the ARRW test earlier on Wednesday in which the booster was carried aloft under the wing of a B-52H before it was launched. In previous tests, the weapon did not detach from the plane.
“This second successful test demonstrates ARRW’s ability to reach and withstand operational hypersonic speeds, collect crucial data for use in further flight tests, and validate safe separation from the aircraft,” Lockheed said in a statement.
Air Force Brigadier General Heath Collins, program executive officer, Armament Directorate, said, “We have now completed our booster test series and are ready to move forward to all-up-round testing later this year.” (Source: Google/Reuters)
12 Jul 22. USAF, Navy Concluding Five-Year Microwave Weapon Test.
The US Navy and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) are wrapping up a five-year joint effort to develop high-power microwave technology capable of knocking out adversary electronics.
The High-Powered Joint Electromagnetic Non-Kinetic Strike (HiJENKS) weapon is undergoing a two-month test at Naval Air Station China Lake, California.
Successor of CHAMP
The microwave weapon is the successor to the Counter-Electronics High-Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP), jointly developed by the AFRL and Boeing a decade ago.
The HiJENKS builds on the CHAMP effort by utilizing contemporary technologies to pack the weapon’s attributes into a miniaturized system better suited for more rugged environments, AFRL high-power electromagnetics division chief Jeffry Heggemeier said.
A CHAMP projectile sends out high-frequency radio waves to disable the “target’s data and electronic subsystems,” Boeing explained in a 2012 press release.
Integrated With JASSM-ER Body?
The weapon used the body of the AGM-86 Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM) to carry the microwave-based payload, The War Zone wrote, adding that the HiJENKS could use the frame of the AGM-158B Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range.
However, Heggemeier said that a platform has not yet been designated for the microwave weapon, adding that it is compatible with a wide range of carrier systems.
“We’ll start looking at more service-specific applications once we’ve done this test that demonstrates the technology,” he said. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/https://www.thedefensepost.com)
11 Jul 22. New Artillery Rounds to Help Army Reach Longer Distances.
A new family of 155mm ammunition is being developed to help the Army achieve its goal of improving the reach of its long-range precision fires. Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and the resulting spotlight on the likely need for ammunition logistics replenishment — the Army had tapped long-range precision fires as one of its top modernization priorities.
The Army’s next generation 155mm artillery ammunition is one part of the campaign to increase the range of its howitzers and its new 58-caliber Extended Range Cannon Artillery platform.
The new cannon is one of 24 new technologies Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville has publicly vowed to field by the end of 2023.
The new family of 155mm ammunition is being developed to increase the maximum range of the current howitzer fleet using 39 caliber length tubes. The 39-caliber fleet will replace the current 14-mile range M795 high-explosive projectile with the 18.5-mile XM1128 base-bleed projectile and replace the current 18.5-mile M549A1 rocket-assisted projectile with the 25-mile XM1113 rocket-assisted projectile.
Base-bleed artillery shells expel gas in flight behind the shell to reduce drag and give them longer range.
The 58-caliber Extended Range Cannon Artillery will be utilizing the XM1210 rocket-assisted, high-explosive projectile — formerly designated XM1113ER — to hit targets out to nearly 45 miles.
As noted in the ammunition descriptions, much of the range enhancement relies on the use of either “base-bleed” or “rocket-assisted” designs.
Kyle McFarland, chief technology officer at General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, said he expects to provide the shell bodies for the XM1128 and is the systems contractor for the XM1113 “all up” projectile.
The base-bleed design features a relatively small amount of propellant on the back end of the projectile. That propellant is ignited by the gun gases and the burning propellant reduces drag on the projectile to provide a modest range extension. The relatively small amount of propellant used in base-bleed designs requires only minor tradeoffs with the explosive payload.
“By contrast, with the rocket-assisted projectile, the back half of the round is going to be filled with a solid rocket motor with a nozzle at the end to direct its thrust,” he said.
“That nozzle has some elements in it that are also ignited by the gun gases, which then ignite the rocket motor. The rocket motor gives you a limited amount of thrust during the initial part of the projectile flight, But, as you get more range extension, you have a greater trade-off with your high explosive,” he added.
The new base-bleed and rocket-assisted projectiles will be assembled at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, where metal components from places like the General Dynamics operations in Scranton, Pennsylvania, are combined with propellant from Nammo Defense Systems in Mesa, Arizona.
Moving any program from development to production provides its share of challenges. In this new family of artillery projectiles, one of the challenges involves providing adequate amounts of propellant for the base-bleed and rocket-assisted projectiles to meet anticipated production quantities.
Andy Davis, chief technology officer at Nammo Defense Systems, said the XM1128 base-bleed round has approximately 3 pounds of propellant mass at the back end, while the XM1210 rocket assisted round has approximately 12 pounds of propellant.
Davis likened the propellant production process to “making a cake.”
They take liquid polymer, an oxidizer, which is the ammonia perchlorate, and a fuel like aluminum powder and put it in a mixer, he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“It’s essentially very similar to a KitchenAid mixer you might have in your house, except we have two blades that spin,” he said.
Just like baking a cake, they pour in the liquids, and add the solids in a little bit at a time because if they are put in all at once they are left with something resembling wet sand, he said. They mix it for about 20 hours.
He continued: “What you get at the end of that mixing is uncured propellant, which basically looks like uncooked cake batter. We then pour that into the molds that will make these rocket grains and put them into an oven for a certain amount of time — three days or so — and out pops cured rocket grains.”
Unlike throwing a log on a fire where all surfaces would burn, a second molding step is used to inject an inhibitor, basically a rubber coating with no oxidizer, that helps limit burning only to specific surfaces needed for performance, he added.
“We will eventually ship the propellant to General Dynamics for integration into the rocket motor hardware that gets threaded on the back of the shell,” he said.
Both the rocket-assisted and the base-bleed projectile rounds are made the same way, in the same mixer, he added.
“The modes are different because the base-bleed grains are little squat doughnut-shaped grains, while the range extension grains are about 12 inches long. So, there is a slightly different formulation for the propellant, but the processing is identical.”
Early discussions with the Army had pointed to the possibility of a requirement for 1 m rounds of XM1128s over 10 years — at a rate of 100,000 rounds a year — along with 100,000 rounds of XM1113s.
There is the potential for foreign military sales that could double those quantities, Davis said.
But here’s where the numbers started to get challenging, Davis noted. Until now, all that propellant was produced in a single 50-gallon mixer capable of producing a total of only 500 to 550 pounds of propellant per batch.
“It was going to be impossible to support those [projected] acquisition quantities with that mixer,” he said.
In recognition of that reality, the company invested in the development of a new facility that includes a 300-gallon mixer capable of producing nearly 3,500 pounds of propellant per batch.
“What we did is to build a facility where I can meet the Army’s demand out of a single mixer,” Davis said. “If demand increases, I can essentially knock down one wall, double the size of the building and put in a second mixer,” he said.
Nammo could even go to a larger 420-gallon mixer, or run two mixers under the same roof, he said.
“Not only are we also building a mix building, but you also have to have the facilities to grind the oxidizer into a smaller particle size to help control the burn rate,” he said.
“I need a facility to do that grind work. I need a facility to cast the uncured propellant. I need an oven building to cure the propellant. So, in this project, we’re building nine buildings that will basically run as a factory in a factory,” he said.
The new facility was officially opened on May 25.
Col. Anthony Gibbs, project manager for combat armament systems in the Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition, at the opening said it was “a really important day for the Army,” noting the service’s renewed emphasis on long-range precision fires.
The new Extended Range Cannon Artillery will effectively double the range of the service’s current capabilities, he said.
“Now, that’s a big deal,” he asserted. “And what we have in development right now, two of the projectiles … the XM1113 and the XM1128 … these things work with the propulsion system that Nammo provides, working in concert with the cannon to help us to extend that range,” he said
The Army will be increasing the range of its current fleet of howitzers by about a third, he said.
“So, a 33 percent improvement just with these new projectiles that are going into the field,” he said.
The Extended Range Cannon Artillery platform, which is still in development, has shot about 45 miles, more than doubling the range of its predecessors.
“That is a really big deal as we put that capability out there into the field,” Gibbs said.
“Critical to this effort to deliver this new capability by next year is not just the development, but it’s also the production. And that’s what this facility really represents,” Gibbs said, referring to McConville’s deadline for fielding the system.
The Army hasn’t produced a rocket assisted projectile since the late 1980s, he added.
The M549A1 has served the Army well. It has been a very reliable high performing projectile. But it’s nearing the end of the expected service life, he said.
“Completion of this facility couldn’t come at a better time, not only to meet our modernization priorities, but also because what we see going on in Ukraine right now,” Gibbs said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine once again highlighted not only that it’s important to have a trained and ready force, but also to have domestic production capability so industry can scale up when needed, he said.
“We are now once again being called on to serve as the Arsenal of Democracy. And so far, we have answered that call and moving forward, this facility is going to help us do that,” Gibbs said.
(Source: Defense News Early Bird/National Defense)
11 Jul 22. Lockheed delivers airborne laser LANCE to Air Force Research Lab. LANCE is the laser weapon system part of the Air Force’s SHiELD program. Lockheed Martin today revealed that it delivered a compact directed energy weapon to the Air Force Research Lab in February, a key milestone in the service’s effort to equip a tactical fighter jet with a laser capable of shooting down anti-aircraft missiles.
“It is the smallest, lightest, high energy laser of its power class that Lockheed Martin has built to date,” Tyler Griffin, a company executive, told reporters earlier this month in the run up to the Farnborough Air Show. “It is a critical benchmark in developing an operational laser weapon system in the airborne domain.”
While the Pentagon has pushed forward a number of different directed energy weapons in recent years, the value of this one, dubbed LANCE, is its minimal space, weight and power requirements. “It’s one-sixth the size of what we produced for the Army going back to just 2017,” Griffin added, referring to the Robust Electric laser Initiative program.
The LANCE acronym stands for “Laser Advancements for Next-generation Compact Environments.” Lockheed got the initial contract to design, develop and produce LANCE in November 2017 as part of the Air Force’s Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) program.
That effort has three components: in addition to LANCE, there is a beam control system, built by Northrop Grumman, which directs the laser on its target, as well as a pod that is mounted on the aircraft. Boeing is responsible for that pod subsystem, which the Air Force said it received in February 2021.
Kent Wood, acting director of AFRL’s directed energy directorate, said in a statement to Breaking Defense that the subsystems delivered under SHiELD “represent the most compact and capable laser weapon technologies delivered to date.”
“Mission utility analyses and wargaming studies are ongoing, and will help determine how these subsystems and/or an integrated laser weapon system might potentially be used. Specific targets for future tests and demonstrations will be determined by the results of these studies as well,” he continued.
With the laser delivered to the Air Force, Griffin said the next step will be to start integrating the weapon itself with the thermal system that manages LANCE’s heating and cooling.
When asked about when the weapon will be fired, Griffin deferred to the Air Force. Wood, the AFRL official, told Breaking Defense the service has not made any final decisions for “follow-on activities.”
“A variety of potential applications and platforms are being considered for potential demonstrations and tests, in partnership with our warfighter stakeholders,” he said. “At this time, no decision has been made on a specific application or platform for these follow-on activities, no flight demonstration is funded and there is no direct transition plan into a program of record.” (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
11 Jul 22. Byrna Sells its 40mm Legacy Business to Facta Global of Canada. Byrna Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: BYRN) (“Byrna”, “the Company”, “we” or “us”) is pleased to announce that it has sold the IP and tooling underlying its legacy 40mm business to Facta Global of Canada for an undisclosed sum including both cash and future royalty payments to Byrna on all 40mm BIP’s sold globally. Byrna will retain the exclusive rights to sell the 40mm BIP in the U.S. and South Africa. Byrna suspended sales of the 40mm round almost a year ago due to production problems at its third-party contract manufacturer, Micron Products. Since July of last year, Byrna has been unable to meet the demand from its legacy 40mm customers.
Blunt Impact Projectile (BIP)
With the sale of the tooling and intellectual property to Facta Global, the BIP is back in production (at Facta Global’s production facility) and Byrna will be able to start supplying its iconic 40mm “BIP” to its law enforcement customers throughout the United States as soon as July. The reintroduction of the Byrna BIP, coupled with Byrna’s recent acquisition of Fox Labs (the manufacturer of the most powerful pepper spray for law enforcement) and the introduction of the Byrna TCR, gives Byrna a full complement of less-lethal products specifically designed for law enforcement.
Facta Global, founded in 2012 by an ex-military and a former Canadian Special forces (Joint Task Force Two) member, is one of the leading law enforcement training organizations in Canada. Facta works closely with law enforcement agencies throughout Canada as well as with the Canadian Military, providing innovative less-lethal tools and training with one mission – to save lives. Since its inception, Facta Global has partnered with Byrna technologies (previously Security Devices International) as the Canadian distributor of the BIP and as a subject matter expert for the 40mm line. For many years, Facta Global was SDI’s largest customer. With this sale, production of the 40mm BIP is transferred to Facta Global’s manufacturing facility in Canada. For the US market, final assembly will handled by Byrna.
Bryan Ganz, CEO of Byrna, stated, “I could not be happier to see Facta Global take over production of the BIP. They have been a great partner over many years, and no one has more experience with the 40mm BIP than Facta Global. This is truly a win-win situation in which Byrna gets a steady reliable supply of 40mm BIPs for its law enforcement customers and Facta Global get the rights to what is arguably the best 40mm technology on the market today. With law enforcement being 100% of Facta’s business and only a few percent of Byrna’s business, it makes sense for Facta to acquire ownership of the BIP. At the same time, Byrna gets an asset off its balance sheet that it was not using and in return gets a lump sum cash payment and a steady stream of royalty income for the next eight years.”
Facta Global, understands that operational environments, missions, and requirements are constantly changing, but the one constant is to give law enforcement officers a strategic and operational advantage in all encounters. The BIP provides just such an advantage. It’s a known fact that the BIP 40mm impact projectile is not only the safest round on the market today, but also the only round that produces the maximum energy with least impact at all operational distances.”
About Byrna Technologies Inc.
Byrna is a technology company, specializing in the development, manufacture, and sale of innovative non-lethal personal security solutions. For more information on the Company, please visit the corporate website here or the Company’s investor relations site here. The Company is the manufacturer of the Byrna® SD personal security device, a state-of-the-art handheld CO2 powered launcher designed to provide a non-lethal alternative to a firearm for the consumer, private security, and law enforcement markets. To purchase Byrna products, visit the Company’s e-commerce store. (Source: PR Newswire)
12 Jul 22. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. is participating at the Farnborough International Airshow 2022 in the United Kingdom where it will introduce the Ice Breaker: a 5th generation long-range, autonomous, precision-guided missile system, enabling significant attack performance against a variety of high-value land, and sea targets. Ice Breaker is a multi-service solution, across air, land, and sea domains.
This unveiling comes one year since the introduction of the Sea Breaker, which serves as the naval and land-based version of the all-encompassing Ice Breaker. The Ice Breaker offers a full scope of commonality, incorporating not only the land and naval platform application, but now across all domains, with enhanced capabilities.
The missile will be displayed in full-scale and officially unveiled at the exhibition.
11 Jul 22. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) recently completed the preliminary design review for a high-energy laser prototype that will feature an architecture scalable to more than a megawatt for the U.S. Department of Defense. The review establishes the company’s technical approach for precise, low-cost, speed-of-light technology for military operations.
“This is an important step in the ability to combine high-power laser beams into a single beam that can be scaled for maximum power,” said Robert Fleming, vice president and general manager, strategic space systems, Northrop Grumman. “We’re on track to demonstrate the technology, leveraging our decades of experience in the field.”
In March 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Northrop Grumman a $72m contract under the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI) to demonstrate a high-energy laser prototype using Northrop Grumman’s coherent beam combining technology.
The company will test the prototype at progressively higher powers later this year to prove the coherent beam combining design.
11 Jul 22. New Army camo to debut in November. An SA Army divisional exercise planned for November will incorporate the “public debut” – for want of a better word – of a new work dress 19 months after it became known the landward force planned to replace its daily uniform.
CArmy Lieutenant General Lawrence Mbatha is reported by the senior landward force communication officer as informing SA Army headquarters staff of this during a recent “communication period” in Pretoria.
“The new camouflage uniform will mainly be for operational utilisation internally and externally. The first roll-out is planned to be displayed during the divisional exercise on 24 November 2022,” the three-star is reported as saying by Colonel Sammy Mosiane, SSO Army Communication.
The first inkling of new apparel for soldiers came from an extended Army command cadre conference in Potchefstroom in April 2021. Those present reportedly had sight of “concept designs”. Reasons given for replacing the daily dress of the majority of soldiers, as well as personnel in other services and divisions, included the existing camouflage pattern and uniform design being “compromised and old fashioned” and not “catering for the African body profile”. “No female design available” was given as another reason for replacement.
Mbatha did not elaborate on the “divisional exercise” referring only to progress with establishing four modern brigades in the landward force.
He included the new formations in his list of successes presented to staff, telling them there was progress on “fully established and functional headquarters”. Modern brigades include a mechanised one at the Combat Training Centre (CTC) in Lohathla; a motorised one in South Kensington, Johannesburg; an airborne one in Bloemfontein with what is called a light modern brigade in Thaba Tshwane. (Source: https://www.defenceweb.co.za/)
11 Jul 22. USAF’s B-2A releases B61-12 JTA using new nuclear capability RATS. The Radar Aided Targeting System (RATS) enhances weapon guidance precision in GPS-degraded surroundings. The US Air Force’s (USAF) B-2A Spirit stealth bomber aircraft has released B61-12 joint test assembly (JTA) using a new nuclear capability.
The demonstration was conducted as part of a capstone test at the Tonopah Test Range on 14 June.
It was led by the 72nd Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES) in collaboration with the 509th Bomb Wing (BW), Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC), Boeing and Sandia National Labs.
Known as Radar Aided Targeting System (RATS), the new nuclear tactic can only be tested on a B-2A bomber aircraft.
This capability enhances weapon guidance precision in surroundings with reduced global positioning system (GPS) availability.
USAF 72nd TES B-2 weapons flight commander captain David Durham said: “We flew multiple sorties testing RATS capability over last nine months and collected test points on its performance.
“Using RATS for JTA release demonstrated what new capability brings to the warfighter.
“This test was also the first release of the production unit of B61-12 JTA.”
The team also conducted a flight test for the RATS Application Tool, which was designed by the 72d TES.
This tool helps the aircraft pilot by providing an early indicator of RATS’ functionality while further validating that the system is operating correctly before the weapon is released.
72nd TES lead analysis software developer master sergeant Matthew Gibson said: “Due to the success of this product, we’ve received requests to build tools for other in-flight capabilities from the 509th BW and 325th Weapons Squadron.”
The future B61-12 JTA releases will be conducted during annual Weapon System Evaluation Programme flight tests, under the surveillance tests of the US Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
08 Jul 22. Minotaur II+ rocket explodes seconds after launch from Vandenberg SFB. This was the first test to support development of the USAF’s new Mark21A Reentry Vehicle. Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) has reported that the first test launch of the Minotaur II+ rocket resulted in an explosion shortly after lift-off. The rocket exploded around 11 seconds after its launch from the Test Pad-01 in VSFB, California at 11:01pm on 6 July.
According to the VSFB, the explosion did not cause any injuries and the debris from the explosion was contained to the launch pad’s immediate vicinity.
Space Launch Delta 30 vice-commander and launch decision authority for this launch colonel Kris Barcomb said: “We always have emergency response teams on standby prior to every launch. Safety is our priority at all times.”
The VSFB claimed that an investigative review board has also been established to find out the cause of this explosion.
The unarmed test launch, which was scheduled for 7 July, marks the first test to support the development of the US Air Force’s (USAF) new Mark21A Reentry Vehicle (Mk21A).
This re-entry vehicle will support the future LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Both the Mk21A and LGM-35A Sentinel are being developed by the US Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC).
The ground-based strategic deterrent (GBSD) ICBM was designated as LGM-35A Sentinel by the US Department of the Air Force (DAF) in April this year.
According to AFNWC officials, this test launch aimed to demonstrate the relevant payload technologies and preliminary design concepts of the weapon system in an operationally realistic environment.
Developed by Northrop Grumman, the new weapon system LGM-35A has been designed to replace the ageing Minuteman III ICBM.
The old Minuteman III has been in service with the USAF for more than five decades. (Source: airforce-technology.com)