09 Sep 22. Mobile Fires Programme laid out. During a briefing by Lockheed Martin UK this week, the speaker laid out the UK MoD and DE&S has now formulated the timetable for the Mobile Fires Requirement to buy a new fleet of 116 (max), either wheeled or tracked or mixed fleet of 532 calibre 155mm self-propelled howitzers. There have been 4 RFIs so far.
Initial Gate will be 4th Quarter 2022
PQQ issues Q1 2023 with a 90 day period followed by a 90 day selection process, where there will be a down select for two systems. The systems being offered are believed to be the Hanwha K9-A2 as chosen by Poland, the Rheinmetall RCH 155mm, the Nexter Caesar, BAE Systems Archer, the Rheinmetall MAN truck mounted system and the KMW truck mounted system.
The Assessment Phase will take place between 2024-25 with Production Award in 2026 with 2030 as an ISD. The possibility remains of a ‘winner takes all.’ Of either wheeled or tracked systems, but BATTLESPACE believes that there will be a mixed fleet. The rumours of an upgrade for the AS90 are believed to be unfounded given the inability to support the system. Lockheed Martin said that a new Team Thunder Teammate will be announced at DVD to add to the team which consists of Hanwha, Lockheed Martin UK, Pearson Engineering and Leonardo. The nature of the ammunition remains a key part of Mobile Fires. The teams will offer their own solutions which will be subjected to side-by-side trials. The resupply vehicle will be chosen under a separate Requirement as will the Training package. Lockheed Martin UK will build the turrets at their Ampthill facility and also carry out all the required GVA qualification’s and radio fits.
09 Sep 22. Supacat and MBDA launch concept demonstrator of new Brimstone HMT Overwatch capability for Light Forces at Army Expo. Supacat and MBDA are jointly launching Brimstone HMT Overwatch, a concept demonstrator of a new tactical capability for Light Forces, at Army Expo 2022 on 9 September 2022. The UK high mobility defence vehicle specialist and European missiles group have collaborated to integrate MBDA’s Brimstone precision weapon onto Supacat’s HMT vehicle to equip the Light Forces tactical commander with the organic capability to deliver precision anti-armour effects at long ranges and in volume.
Phil Applegarth, Director of Supacat, said, “Overwatch creates a potent new capability for Light Forces, combining HMT’s all terrain agility with Brimstone’s precision effects, and demonstrates the versatility of both elements”.
Mike Mew, UK SBD Director MBDA UK, said: “This Light Overwatch concept showcases how we can take an in-service platform and rapidly deliver an operational capability that provides a major lethality boost to the front-line, while learning lessons to spiral capabilities for the future. This is a great UK industry example of experimentation, supporting Op MOBILISE, accelerating Future Soldier and alignment with the Land Industry Strategy”
Supacat’s HMT (High Mobility Transport) platform is designed for modularity and equipment integration while Brimstone’s ‘one missile, multi-platform’ versatile design can be integrated onto helicopters, fixed wing aircraft (including fast jets), land vehicles, naval platforms and UAVs.
Brimstone HMT Overwatch provides an all-weather fire-and-forget capability and with low collateral damage in restrictive engagement scenarios. It allows for quick and effective engagement and for enhanced flexibility in mission fit capability options to repel adversary formations and single point targets. It has a salvo launch option to achieve co-ordinated effects on multiple targets during a single mission and includes line-of-sight or non-line-of-sight engagements, third-party targeting and high off-boresight agility. Brimstone also provides best-in-class Insensitive Munitions-compliance for safety.
Brimstone and HMT are each battle-proven with Brimstone achieving over 98% operational success rate in defeating static, moving and manoeuvring target sets including MBTs and other armoured vehicles. HMT is operated by British Forces as `Jackal` and `Coyote` and globally by numerous special forces.
08 Sep 22. Demining Researchers Use Drone-Based, Machine-Learning Detection System. Oklahoma State University, and researchers led by Jasper Baur and Gabriel Steinberg, co-founders of the Demining Research Community, a nonprofit organization bridging academic research and humanitarian demining efforts have been in Oklahoma for two weeks, setting up grids of mines and munitions to train a drone-based, machine-learning-powered detection system. Leveraging what we believe to be the most robust and extensive drone-based imagery dataset of surface munitions, we are training a convolutional neural network (CNN) to detect and categorize over 50 different types of landmines and UXO. Categorizations will include projectiles, anti-personnel landmines, anti-vehicle landmines, 40mm grenades and cluster munitions. This method is designed to work for surface munitions on any environment with munitions ranging from fully visible to heavily obscured. Initial tests yield over 70% accuracy averaged across all objects; some larger targets yield a near 100% detection rate while camouflaged or easily obscured targets often have a lower accuracy. (Source: UAS VISION/YouTube; Demining Research Community)
06 Sep 22. PGZ and MBDA Making Rapid Progress on Mala Narew. PGZ and its subsidiaries, PIT-RADWAR, JELCZ and WZU, working hand-in-hand with MBDA have been making rapid progress on the short-range air defence (SHORAD) solution, known as “Mala NAREW”, with the first two Polish iLaunchers of the system already in Poland undergoing integration and trials ahead of delivery to the customer.
This project aims to deliver rapidly two SHORAD-class fire units equipped with CAMM missiles, integrated with SOLA radar stations and the Polish C2 system.
The “Mala NAREW” units are being adapted to work within one SHORAD class solution. Functional integration of the radar stations, C2 systems and CAMM missile fire control software is going hand-in-hand with the physical integration of subsequent iLauncher with JELCZ trucks chassis. The first training sessions for operators of iLauncher and Polish components of the “Mala NAREW” system has already been conducted.
Sebastian Chwalek, CEO of PGZ S.A. said: “By implementing this program, we strengthen our credibility as a strategic partner for the army, ready to provide advanced air defence systems at record pace. We treat “Mala NAREW” as a test ground before the NAREW program, showing what our capabilities are and how to cooperate with major foreign partner MBDA UK on a joint project. We believe that this relationship will translate into further successes, both for our companies and the armies that will trust us to bring their air defence into XXI century.”
Chris Allam, Managing Director of MBDA UK, said: “We’re proud that the co-operation between MBDA and PGZ achieved the arrival of the first air defence hardware into Poland in an incredibly short timeframe. The successes of the “mala Narew” project are a very positive indicator for the success of PGZ-MBDA co-operation on the wider NAREW project that will include extensive transfer of technology and knowledge to Poland on missiles and launchers.”
The “Mala NAREW” program, in addition to the fire units themselves, also includes a training and logistics package. Under the project, PGZ and MBDA are conducting integration of selected British and Polish elements of air defence systems as well as provide technical support for the ordered equipment at the operational stage. The contract provides for the delivery of the first “Mala NAREW” fire unit this year, and the second in 2023. (Source: ASD Network)
08 Sep 22. Jadara targets manportable anti-tank market with Raptor-LA. Jadara Equipment and Defence Systems has developed a new shoulder-fired rocket launcher designated as Raptor-LA.
Speaking to Janes at ADEX 2022 in Baku where the company unveiled the launcher, Jadara’s Nidal Sejaja said that work on the system commenced around one-and-a-half years ago and had recently completed.
Sejaja described the Raptor-LA as a company-developed product, save for the sighting system, which is common with Jadara’s Nashshab RPG-32. The fin-stabilised 107 mm rocket is a clean-sheet Jadara design, and can penetrate up to 500 mm of rolled homogeneous steel armour, itself protected by an explosive reactive armour, he explained.
Sejaja said that Jadara wanted to develop a wholly made-in-Jordan rocket launcher that offered an enhanced range and armour penetration over existing systems in its portfolio.
The Raptor-LA has not been developed to meet a specific Jordanian military requirement, Sejaja said, noting that the company will be targeting the domestic and export markets. (Source: Janes)
08 Sep 22. ADEX 2022: Jadara develops new ATGM with Azerbaijan MoD. Jadara Equipment & Defence Systems has partnered with Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) to develop a new anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system.
The company unveiled the Terminator-FM at ADEX 2022 in Baku. Speaking to Janes at the event, Jadara’s Nidal Sejaja said that work on the system started around 2021 and is production ready after what he described as successful trials that saw it engage targets at its maximum stated range of 5 km. The system has a minimum engagement range of 200 m.
The work, split between the two partners, sees the 152 mm calibre, tandem hollow charge missile supplied by the Azerbaijani MoD, and the launcher components by Jadara. Sejaja said that there are plans to move production of the missile to company facilities in Jordan.
According to Sejaja, Terminator-FM uses an undisclosed guidance system that was of a new design. Although unable to disclose specific details, he said that it uses semi-automatic, laser beam riding technology. (Source: Janes)
06 Sep 22. NIOA, SureFire team up for rifle suppressors project. The Queensland-based company has partnered with the US-based manufacturer to deliver rifle suppressors to New Zealand’s military and police forces.
NIOA has penned a distribution agreement with high-performance illumination and tactical tools manufacturer SureFire, as part of a contract to supply rifle suppressors to the New Zealand Defence Force and NZ Police.
SureFire is expected to leverage its experience providing equipment to special operations units, including the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
In exchange, NIOA would be responsible for providing in-service support and facilitating future acquisitions of sound suppressors and muzzle devices.
“SureFire is one of the defence industry’s most respected brands,” Fraser Winskill, NIOA regional business manager, New Zealand, said.
“I’ve personally used SureFire suppressors on deployment and training with the NZDF. Their reputation speaks for itself.
“We are proud to partner with SureFire in providing our defence and police forces with the world’s best equipment so they can do their jobs safely and effectively no matter their mission set or operational environment.”
Barry Dueck, vice president of SureFire’s suppressor division, welcomed the opportunity to work with NIOA in New Zealand.
“We are pleased to join with NIOA in New Zealand and look forward to continuing our mission to provide our allied defence and law enforcement customers with the highest-quality equipment,” he said.
This latest contract builds on NIOA’s work supporting the delivery of various weapons systems, including personal protection weapons, sniper and anti-materiel rifle systems and ancillaries, hand and special effects grenades, and night-fighting equipment and optical systems. (Source: Defence Connect)
05 Sep 22. Saab’s MSHORAD System Successfully Demonstrated with Live Firing. Saab has conducted the first Mobile Short-Range Air Defence (MSHORAD) live system firing for an audience of various national delegations. In a series of firings, the system identified, tracked and engaged several targets.
The firings took place during August 30 in Karlskoga, Sweden. Potential customers from 15 nations attended the live firing. A total of five successful firings were performed from the RBS 70 NG Mobile Firing Unit on the MARS-S330 vehicle against a variety of targets, including a drone and an elevated helicopter airframe. During one firing scenario the vehicle mounted sight was taken off and reconfigured as a man portable firing unit. A night firing was also conducted against a towed target.
“These successful firings proves that we have a fully operable mobile air defence solution. These firings highlights the value of a single supplier being able to deliver everything from radar to the firing unit, including a GBAD C2 solution. The combination of our Giraffe 1X radar and the RBS 70 NG Mobile Firing Unit is the perfect match for a solution with first-class range, altitude coverage and detection,” says Stefan Öberg, head of Saab’s business unit Missile Systems.
MSHORAD is Saab’s response to the new battlefield era, with evolved airborne threats such as the advent of drones, unmanned aerial vehicles and other advanced airborne weapons. MSHORAD is a vehicle-integrated solution that can identify, counter and neutralise air threats quickly, effectively and decisively. The system consists of the Mobile Radar Unit, based on the Giraffe 1X radar, the Mobile Firing Unit, based on the RBS 70 NG, all connected with Saab’s GBAD C2. (Source: ASD Network)
31 Aug 22. UK seeks new RCVs for explosive ordnance disposal. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is seeking to procure 50 medium-sized remote-controlled vehicles (RCVs) as part of project Dartrose. A total of GBP25m (USD29m) is available for the procurement, which includes 10-year through-life maintenance, the MoD announced on 25 August. The contract is expected to start on 25 March 2024. The MoD had not responded to questions at the time of publication. In October 2020 a request for information (RFI) was issued for project Dartrose to inform the potential acquisition and support of ‘Remote Controlled Explosive Ordnance Disposal Vehicles’. The Remote Controlled Vehicles Delivery Team (SAM RCV DT) will be responsible for the acquisition, the RFI added.
The team stipulated a requirement for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) RCVs that weigh approximately 60–140 kg, with only minor modifications expected. The provision of ‘Train the Trainer’ maintenance is also required. Deliveries were scheduled to run from 30 September 2021 to 29 September 2026, the RFI noted. (Source: Janes)
05 Sep 22. Spanish, German companies start work on hypersonic missile interceptor. Spanish and German missile manufacturers are leading an effort to develop a new hypersonic defense interceptor as part of the European Defence Fund’s initial batch of sponsored projects.
In July, the European Union announced the awardees of its first slate of EDF-funded projects, which included 61 research-and-development projects and over 1.2bn (U.S. $1.23bn) in government funds.
Among the higher awards is the European Hypersonic Defence Interceptor (EU HYDEF) program, which will cover the concept phase to develop an endo-atmospheric interceptor, according to European Defence Fund documents. The program will run for 36 months and is expected to cost nearly €110m ($110.2m). The EU will contribute a maximum of almost €100 m to the effort.
Spain’s Sener Aerospacial Sociedad Anonima is coordinating the EU HYDEF program, while Germany’s Diehl Defence is serving as the overall technical lead, company officials said.
The goal is to build a “European interceptor targeting the 2035+ threats, along with weapon and sensor systems,” per the EU fact sheet. Sener, Diehl, and their partners will work to develop and demonstrate the HYDEF interceptor.
At this point, the EU HYDEF program remains in a negotiation phase with the European Commission and participating member states, said Fernando Quintana, Sener’s weapon systems director. Those negotiations will eventually lead to a grant agreement to transfer the pre-allocated funds to the industry team, he told Defense News. The program management body remains to be determined, he added – either the European Commission itself would oversee the effort, or else the intergovernmental Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR).
The project is related to the an effort dubbed Timely Warning and Interception with Space-based TheatER surveillance, or TWISTER, running under the banner of the PESCO program, short for Permanent Structured Cooperation.
The end goal of the interceptor program is to field a countermeasure that could eventually be integrated into an air defense system of systems capable of early warning, tracking, and interception of high-performance airborne threats, including ballistic missile defense (BMD) and hypersonic vehicles. “This system of systems is precisely what several European countries, including Spain, under the leadership of France, are developing in TWISTER,” Quintana noted.
A European Commission official declined to comment on specific EDF projects, citing ongoing grant agreement negotiations, but stated that while the commission does not itself link EDF proposals to existing PESCO projects, EDF applicants can choose to refer to a specific PESCO effort in their research or development process.
In addition to overall coordination, Sener will lead elements of the work related to guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) systems, along with communications, and actuators and aerodynamic control, Quintana said. Its work on EU HYDEF will be informed by its involvement in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) forthcoming controlled space re-entry vehicle, the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), and the agency’s future “Space Rider” uncrewed orbital spaceplane. Both of those vehicles will reach hypersonic speeds during re-entry, Quintana noted. Sener also provides the actuation and control subsystems for MBDA’s METEOR air-to-air missile and Diehl’s IRIS-T interceptor.
Sener and Diehl have long had a “close industrial relationship,” working on both the air-to-air and surface-launched medium range (SLM) IRIS-T variants, Quintana said. “The success of this air defense missile, and the experience gained by the companies in its development, was the basis for both Sener and Diehl to consider the opportunity to jointly develop a much higher performance missile, such as the one proposed in EU HYDEF,” he said.
Meanwhile, Diehl is responsible for coordinating the “system of systems” component, as well as the interceptor systems’ engineering and design, Sinikka Salchow, company lead for the EU HYDEF program, told Defense News. Diehl is also responsible for upstage design and system simulation, as well as upstage guidance, navigation and control, Salchow said in an email. The missile components seeker and signal electronics will likewise fall under the German company’s purview.
The company will apply its experience from the IRIS-T SLM interceptor as well as from Raytheon’s Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Block 2B program to the EU HYDEF project, particularly related to multimode and multispectral seeker technology. Diehl Defence has more than 18 years of experience in the R&D field on hypersonic technologies, as well as on ballistic missile defense projects, Salchow noted.
Eleven additional partners are part of the EU HYDEF consortium. They include: Spain’s Navantia; Escribano Mechanical and Engineering, GMV Aerospace and Defence, Instalaza S.A., and the Ministry of Defence’s Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial Esteban Terradas; Poland’s Instytut Techniczny Wojsk Lotniczych and Warsaw Institute of Aviation; Czech Republic’s L.K. Engineering; Norway’s Nammo; Sweden’s Ruag Space; and Belgium’s Sonaca Group. (Source: Defense News)
05 Sep 22. USAF’s ShOC-N lab supports assessment of ATLAS system.
The system has been developed as part of the DARPA-sponsored programme ASTARTE. The US Air Force (USAF) 805th Combat Training Squadron’s (CTS) Shadow Operations Center-Nellis (ShOC-N) has conducted an advanced technology assessment to minimise joint-fire execution time.
The test was executed with the US Army’s Mission Command Battle Lab (MCBL).
It was carried out as part of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Air Space Total Awareness for Rapid Tactical Execution (ASTARTE) initiative, held at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) in Nevada, US.
ASTARTE provides effective airspace operations and automates the ability to deliver a common, real-time operational picture of airspace in/above the Army’s division to minimise the time needed to execute joint fires.
DARPA selected Raytheon to support ASTARTE by developing an artificial intelligence-based (AI) system to resolve airspace deconfliction issues.
This led to the development of the Airspace Tactical Automation System (ATLAS).
805th CTS commander lieutenant colonel John Ohlund said: “To aid in product development and maturation of ATLAS, ShOC-N collaborated with MCBL to organise, plan, and test a simulated battlespace designed to replicate airspace complexities inherent in a joint area of responsibility.
“ShOC-N’s modelling and simulation team utilised Modern Air Combat Environment to transmit blue air tracks over the Army Persistent Experimentation Network to MCBL.”
All the blue air tracks sent from ShOC-N were received by the Air Defence Systems Integrator and Tactical Airspace Integration System at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, resulting in the test’s success.
Another test was also conducted with the US Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command at Fort Eustis, Virginia, which yielded similar results, after being connected to the One Semi-Automated Force ground forces simulation.
In the next ATLAS test, which is scheduled to be conducted this autumn, the team expects a fully integrated modelling and simulation environment that uses the Theatre Battle Management Core Systems and software systems for planning and executing military airborne missions. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
05 Sep 22. Poland to order 48 Krab howitzers for nearly $800m. Poland will order 48 more AHS Krab self-propelled howitzers and 36 accompanying vehicles from local arms producer Huta Stalowa Wola for 3.8bn zlotys ($797m), National Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Monday.
“This is a second contract, the first was concluded in 2016, and is still being implemented … the contract value is 3.8bn zlotys,” Blaszczak said.
In 2016, the Polish military ordered 96 self-propelled howitzers from Huta Stalowa Wola to be delivered by 2024.
The AHS Krab has a maximum firing range of 40 kilometres.
Russia’s invasion on Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation” has raised security fears among many former eastern bloc countries, and NATO member Poland has vowed to boost defence spending to 3% of gross domestic product and more than double the size of its army to deter any attacks.
At the end of May, Polish radio said Poland had given Ukraine 18 AHS Krab self-propelled howitzers. ($1 = 4.7691 zlotys) (Source: Google/Reuters)
02 Sep 22. Pentagon seeks commercial tech for hypersonic test vehicle.
The U.S. Department of Defense is seeking to leverage private investment in commercial hypersonic vehicle technology to demonstrate a high-speed test aircraft. The Defense Innovation Unit published a notice this week seeking proposals from commercial industry for a hypersonic test vehicle to help alleviate the strain on the Pentagon’s testing infrastructure through a program called Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities, or HyCAT. The organization, which works with non-traditional companies to push commercial technology to military users, plans to select providers by the end of this year and aims to fly the aircraft sometime in the next two years, according to a Sept. 1 posting.
DoD is on track to spend about $15 bn between 2015 and 2024 developing hypersonic systems, which can fly at speeds greater than Mach 5, or about one mile per second. That investment is spread across about 70 programs led by the military services and their research labs, which are largely testing weapon systems, but are beginning to consider the technology for high-speed cargo transport and presidential airlift applications.
Testing infrastructure has been a significant limiting factor in the development process, with most major programs conducting only a few trials each year. Barry Kirkendall, DIU’s technical director for space, told C4ISRNET in a Sept. 1 interview that the ideal testing cadence for these programs is closer to one flight per week.
The goal of HyCAT, he said, is to help push the department toward that target using commercial technology to free up some of that infrastructure and leverage the test aircraft to validate new materials and systems. The program is not only seeking air vehicle designs, but is also interested in associated technologies, like hypersonic propulsion systems and advanced materials.
“This whole effort is to try to innovate and get past some of these log jams that we have that have been building up over the last decade or so,” he said.
For HyCAT, DIU is partnered with the Pentagon’s Joint Hypersonics Transition Office and the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering’s principal director for hypersonics, Mike White. Kirkendall said the research and engineering office approached DIU in March — about a month after senior Pentagon leaders met with industry executives to discuss impediments to fielding these capabilities — to explore opportunities to work with commercial companies who are advancing hypersonic technology with private investor funding.
“Here at DIU, we’ve made a lot of good things happen with investor money,” Kirkendall said, noting that not only does HyCAT help address DoD’s testing issues, it strengthens its relationship with the commercial hypersonics market.
HyCAT is open to international industry, he said, adding that the organization expects to see interest from companies in Japan, Australia, Norway and India.
Ryan Weed, DIU’s program manager for HyCAT, said there has been some skepticism within the department about whether there is a real commercial market for hypersonic technology, but he thinks that mindset is changing. One sign of that shift is a $60 m deal the U.S. Air Force struck in 2021 with Atlanta-based startup Hermeus Corporation to support the company’s development of a hypersonic passenger vehicle. The service has said the work could inform plans for future high-speed cargo or presidential transport aircraft.
“I think the fact that they put money towards this and are getting serious about possibly supporting a program of record in this area,” he said in the same Sept. 1 interview. “I think that’s a huge shift in mindset.”
Weed said he expects the number of companies interested in the project to land “in the dozens.” DIU expects to choose multiple providers, but he said the full scope of the effort and the cost to the department will depend on the responses.
“We’re kind of like, ‘We want to tag along with you, but we don’t want to drive the boat,’” he said. “We’re not trying to develop a program that only has military applications and is only supported financially from the DoD.”
HyCAT is one of three new hypersonics-focused projects at DIU. Weed declined to discuss the other opportunities in detail, but said they will likely be announced fairly soon and center more on technology development and exploration of new concepts for operating hypersonic systems. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)