Sponsored By Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
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02 Mar 23. Smiths Detection and GRASP Innovations to collaborate on technology integration. Smiths Detection, a global leader in threat detection and security screening, today announces a collaboration with GRASP Innovations, a solutions provider for aviation security optimisation to allow the integration of GRASPs sensor technology into Smiths Detection’s security checkpoints. The collaboration is part of Smiths Detection’s Ada Initiative that seeks to enable hardware, software and algorithms from different product suppliers to be plugged together using open architecture.
GRASP Innovations uses strategically placed sensors to provide data on passenger flows that allow for better resource allocation and, when used alongside Smiths Detection’s leading security screening equipment, will result in an improved passenger experience and operational efficiency.
Smiths Detection and GRASP Innovations will leverage the capabilities of both companies to integrate GRASP’s solution into Smiths Detection’s end-to-end security checkpoint solutions. The two companies will jointly pursue opportunities within the industry and interact with existing customers to prove the potential added value of this partnership.
Cymoril Métivier, Global Director Digital, Smiths Detection said: “Smiths Detection is committed to helping our customers achieve their security and operational goals; through our collaboration with GRASP we’ll be able to provide our customers with invaluable data to improve safety and operational efficiency to the benefit of operators and passengers alike.”
Robert Schuur, CEO, GRASP Innovations said: “We are thrilled to announce this collaboration. Smiths Detection is one of the greats in our industry, in terms of technology, install base and with experienced leadership. As we’re focused on successfully scaling our business, this initiative comes at the right time for us, to provide Smiths Detection with a unique and powerful solution.”
GRASP and Smiths Detection will be showcasing at Passenger Terminal Expo in Amsterdam 14-16 March (booth: 2340) to provide those interested with an introduction to the shared solution.
01 Mar 23. Ball Aerospace received a subcontract award to support the NOVASTAR program operated by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), located on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. Ball Aerospace will be a core team member of prime contractor, Modern Technology Solutions, Inc. (MTSI).
In addition to Ball Aerospace, the MTSI team includes other companies and multiple small businesses. NOVASTAR is an 11-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity agreement to provide scientific and technical intelligence (S&TI) support to the U.S. Air Force, Department of Defense and other national-level intelligence organizations.
“This is our first collaborative opportunity with MTSI and we look forward to partnering with them on this important mission,” said Steven Smith, vice president and general manager, Advanced Technology & Information Solutions, Ball Aerospace. “We will leverage our decades of experience in data exploitation and analysis, modern cloud-based technologies, and machine learning and artificial intelligence to support decision makers and our warfighters.”
NOVASTAR consolidates numerous development and intelligence analysis service contracts into one comprehensive and flexible S&TI contract. The program supports all NASIC missions and disciplines.
As part of this contract, Ball Aerospace provides technical expertise in several areas, including electro-optical and spectral research and data analysis, systems and software development, and other S&TI support services.
The NOVASTAR contract continues a long relationship between NASIC and Ball Aerospace, which has provided services to the center for more than three decades. In 2019, Ball Aerospace was selected as one of multiple prime contractors on NASIC’s MEGASTAR program, a program to conduct scientific and technical intelligence, spanning multiple mission areas within the center. Ball Aerospace has received numerous prime and subcontract task order awards under this Contractor Teaming Arrangement (CTA) contract.
Powered by endlessly curious people with an unwavering mission focus, Ball Aerospace pioneers discoveries that enable our customers to perform beyond expectation and protect what matters most. We create innovative space solutions, enable more accurate weather forecasts, drive insightful observations of our planet, deliver actionable data and intelligence, and ensure those who defend our freedom go forward bravely and return home safely. Go Beyond with Ball.® For more information, visit www.ball.com/aerospace or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.
About Ball Corporation
Ball Corporation (NYSE: BALL) supplies innovative, sustainable aluminum packaging solutions for beverage, personal care and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ 21,000 people worldwide and reported 2022 net sales of $15.35 bn. For more information, visit www.ball.com, or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter. (Source: PR Newswire)
28 Feb 23. ATR, the world’s number one aircraft manufacturer in regional aviation, has procured latest-generation test benches made by HENSOLDT NEXEYA FRANCE, equipped with the ALYSA simulation solution. These can be used to validate newly developed ATR avionics systems that allow for optimised aircraft approach capabilities, improved aircraft operation and more user-friendly pilot interfaces. The test benches equipped with the ALYSA simulation solution were offered to ATR by HENSOLDT NEXEYA FRANCE as part of a tender and satisfy the Toulouse aircraft manufacturer’s needs in the best possible way in terms of both reliability and cost efficiency.
Using simulation, the safety of new features can be operationally tested even in scenarios in which flight tests could never be conducted, such as serious system failures or errors, an avionics bus overload or extreme weather conditions. Thus, simulation not only helps with testing during product development but also with certification of ATR aircraft.
Simulation is also beneficial in terms of cost efficiency, as it allows for device and software design validation in early project phases – as opposed to at the end of development, when any changes needed may increase costs by a factor of up to ten. Moreover, simulation shortens the duration of flight tests, which account for a significant share of total project cost.
As the ALYSA test bench supplied to ATR is fully modular and scalable, it can be adapted to any future device, system and system of systems developments in the long run.
The ALYSA solution deployed in the ATR system is based on experience gained by HENSOLDT NEXEYA FRANCE with validation of fly-by-wire technologies (electronic aircraft control) for various aircraft manufacturers.
The solution is also in use in other industries, for example in trains. Additional features, such as a 3D engine, can be integrated thanks to the fully open design. This means test staff can pilot an aircraft equipped with new features while development is still in full swing.
27 Feb 23. Fostering Innovation in the USAF. USAF leaders working to integrate innovation skills across their organizations have a new way to accelerate change. The Innovation Project Leaders (IPL) course offered by BMNT, the company transforming mission-driven innovation, and North Carolina State University is a unique opportunity for leaders to develop innovation capacity by building a cadre of trained, certified innovation professionals. Airmen can now receive the “Complex Problem Solving” Special Experience Identifier (SEI) designation issued by the Air Force for completing the course.
The designation of IPL as a Complex Problem Solving (SEI 9IE) qualifying course is significant for Airmen who complete the training. As the Air Force continues to build the capacity for innovation, SEIs will be one way the Service identifies Airmen for future assignments.
“Students in the course work on command-approved problems using startup methods adapted for the military and other mission-driven organizations,” said Dr. Bull Holland, the course director. “While there is a lot of great innovation training in America’s universities, it’s not always available to service members. We are democratizing that training.”
IPL combines BMNT’s hard-won lessons innovating on the battlefield and in the boardroom with NC State’s first-class entrepreneurship education ecosystem. Course participants learn how to use modern entrepreneurial tools and processes to solve mission-critical problems at speed.
The course is designed for live, virtual delivery in order to maximize the number of students who can attend while eliminating travel costs. Course graduates receive a digital certificate from both BMNT and NC State to use in the process of submitting for the SEI. For more information contact the team at
About BMNT, Inc.: BMNT is an internationally recognized innovation consultancy and early-stage enterprise accelerator that is changing the future of public service innovation. (Source: PR Newswire)
27 Feb 23. What will ChatGPT mean for the US defense industrial base? ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence-enabled chatbot tool developed by U.S.-based AI lab OpenAI. Two months after its launch in November, it became the fastest consumer application in history to reach 100 m active users, and it has already started to have a noticeable impact in business and academia.
The extent to which ChatGPT (or its technological successors and relatives) will have an impact on national security and defense acquisitions is still unclear, as the technology has yet to replace humans in any meaningful capacity. However, based on initial use cases and reactions to the tool, ChatGPT is already creating benefits as well as risks for defense professionals.
ChatGPT, derived from a machine learning-based language model known as GPT-3.5, is considered a groundbreaking form of generative AI. This means that it is capable of interacting conversationally with users and generating detailed human-like responses to questions or prompts in a variety of text formats, proving itself a useful tool across various fields.
For example, across the health care, real estate, public relations, marketing, customer service, and media industries, some companies have started using iterations of generative AI, especially ChatGPT, for various tasks from scheduling appointments to writing articles. ChatGPT has also made headlines for passing a variety of benchmark exams, including correctly answering technical questions for an entry-level Google software engineering job and achieving passing grades on both a law school test and Wharton business school paper.
In the defense sector, both small and large companies have complaints about time-consuming regulations, but smaller businesses sometimes face more difficulties complying with Federal Acquisition Regulation standards due to their unfamiliarity with processes and procedures associated with government contracting. ChatGPT can already help alleviate this problem.
As one YouTube creator has demonstrated, the tool can be used to write the skeleton of a government contract, and while this is not a comprehensive solution, it can certainly assist founders of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB) who already firing on all cylinders to get proposals out and accepted. According to Megan VanHorn, president of Bridge4Acquisitions, ChatGPT is helpful both for drafting content and conducting reviews. She noted that without the right knowledge and experience in the government contracting world, the tool does not produce great results, but when coupled with the right expertise it is a disruptive technology that helps her save clients’ time and money on the path to securing government contracts.
The Department of Defense has also caught on to the benefits of using generative AI to speed up and simplify the federal acquisition process. This year, the DoD’s Chief Digital and AI Office announced that it is prototyping and testing an AI-powered contract-writing capability, called “Acqbot.” The tool is intended to help contracting officers write contracts and manage the contract lifecycle. Currently, the tool is still being developed and requires substantial input data and human supervision.
On the flip side of its potential benefits in the defense sector, ChatGPT also provides cybercriminals with an arsenal of potential use cases threatening the cybersecurity posture of American citizens and the federal government. It is already being used by non-state threat actors, including script kiddies, hacktivists, and scammers, to engage in various forms of cybercrime, but in the future, ChatGPT’s technology has the potential to be harnessed by nation-state actors to conduct cyberespionage, information operations, and cyberattacks to increasingly devastating effect. ChatGPT is easy to use and accessible to users with elementary cyber proficiency levels, lowering the barrier to entry for various criminal actors.
ChatGPT still has a long way to go before it can be relied upon for the most important tasks in national security or defense contracting. The information it produces is displayed confidently yet is often unreliable without further verification—ChatGPT is incapable of acknowledging potential misinformation. OpenAI’s own FAQ page notes that ChatGPT sometimes produces incorrect or biased answers, and it has limited knowledge of anything that occurred prior to 2021. Some software developers have even banned ChatGPT answers because it often generates code with substantial errors, an obstacle to individuals using ChatGPT for either good or nefarious purposes.
Given the extent of its limitations, the reality is that the current version of ChatGPT will not revolutionize national security or government contracting immediately. Nevertheless, government contractors and the DoD workforce should develop a better understanding of the pros and cons that AI and ML-based capabilities will bring to their industry in the coming years.
When chatbots get even “smarter,” defense professionals who were shrewd enough hone their awareness of advances in AI such as ChatGPT will be most poised to take advantage of the technology’s benefits and defend against its security risks. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
22 Feb 23. India to integrate indigenous IRSTs into fighter aircraft. India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is testing an indigenous infrared search and track (IRST) system that has been developed for the Indian Air Force (IAF) Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk2. HAL told Janes at the Aero India 2023 show in Bangalore, held from 13 to 17 February, that the Tejas Mk2 variant is expected to feature an internally mounted IRST sensor alongside a missile approach warning system (MAWS), and an improved cockpit. Kaushik Sorabh, HAL LCA Mk2 project manager, said the design of the IRST is similar to the Passive Infrared Airborne Track Equipment (PIRATE) IRST system, which was built primarily for the Eurofighter Typhoon platform and developed by Eurofirst, a consortium led by Leonardo. Sorabh added that, like the PIRATE, HAL’s new passive-ranging IRST is a long-range dual-band system that is capable of tracking multiple targets with a large field-of-view (FoV). The IRST is equipped to handle air-to-air and air-to-ground target tracking. (Source: Janes)
27 Feb 23. US Navy submarine SSN 778 receives new AM 3D printer. The printer can help sailors in repairing equipment, such as pipe leaks and enclosures for new electrics, in real time. The US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has installed a new additive manufacturing (AM) 3D printer on the Virginia-class submarine USS New Hampshire (SSN 778).
The new Markforged X7 field edition printer is a polymer-based additive manufacturing system.
It was developed by NAVSEA’s AM Research and Development Programme (NAVSEA 05T) in collaboration with Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Philadelphia, NSWC Carderock, and Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Newport.
The new printer will help the US Navy sailors in repairing various equipment, including pipe leaks and enclosures for new electrics, in real-time.
Capable of printing high-durability carbon fibre reinforced nylon, the new printer allows sailors to maintain forward deployment and increases their self-sustainment capabilities.
This printer was chosen for installation on this Virginia-class attack submarine due to its ability to remain stable in simulated shipboard scenarios.
According to SSN 778’s crew, the onboard members did not receive any in-person training on this new Markforged X7 printer but rather learnt using the provided documentation.
It allowed sailors to independently set up a 3D printer and its print parts along with conducting general maintenance, calibration and troubleshooting issues.
The detailed instructions were produced by the engineers from NUWC Newport, NSWC Philadelphia and Carderock, based on learning experiences from previous 3D printer installs.
NAVSEA AM assistant programme manager Lewis Shattuck said: “This system can be used to produce most of the currently approved Technical Data Packages that are available for sailors on the Joint Technical Data Integration site.
“These parts have been identified by NAVSEA engineers and fleet to address a variety of needs including standard or preventative maintenance, temporary replacements, quality of life products, drill props, tools and fixturing.”
Last year, the US Navy’s Wasp-class ship USS Bataan received its first permanent 3D printer. (Source: naval-technology.com)
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Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley offer a range of Military Marine NVG friendly LED lighting that includes navigation lights and controls, flight deck landing lights and interior compartment lighting. Our lighting products are used by Navies around the world including our own Royal Navy on UK Aircraft Carriers, Canadian Frigates, Swedish Submarines, Australian Surface vessels and Submarines, on board French Naval Carriers and in Naval Gun Turrets.
https://oxleydevelopments.cmail20.com/t/t-l-cdhkulk-yujhutkljd-r/
The technology is extremely energy efficient and built robustly, with proven long life. The lighting is NVG friendly, dimmable and programmable to allow for operations with aircraft pilots using military night vision goggles. They offer superior design giving high reliability for the most demanding environments with high sealing and the ability to meet the most stringent EMC standards.
https://oxleydevelopments.cmail20.com/t/t-l-cdhkulk-yujhutkljd-y/
Oxley are proud to say that we are working in partnership with SeaKing to enable a control panel to be offered with our LED Navigation Lighting. All of Oxley navigation lights have been specifically developed for vessels over 50 metres.
Contact Marcus Goad on 07850 917 263 for more information or to arrange samples.
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector. Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components. Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training. The company’s long experience of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
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