Web Page sponsor Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
Oxley Group Ltd
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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09 Dec 10. Northrop Grumman Corporation supported Valiant Shield 2010, successfully demonstrating capabilities of the Multi-Role Tactical Common Data Link (MR-TCDL) system to provide real-time networking connectivity and exchange data at extremely fast rates via ground, airborne and satellite networks. The U.S. Pacific Command exercise was a 10-day integrated joint military exercise among U.S. military forces, conducted in September near Guam. During a series of 11 flights, MR-TCDL used both line-of-sight and Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) data links to transmit real-time data to Valiant Shield operations center personnel participants at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, and Anderson Air Force Base, Guam.
The MR-TCDL system is built by L-3 Communications Systems-West, Salt Lake City. Northrop Grumman was also supported by Orion Aviation Group of Phoenix. For the exercise, Northrop Grumman integrated MR-TCDL onto a Gulfstream II aircraft and a U.S. Department of Defense Gateway Teleport at Wahiawa, Hawaii, creating a terrestrial network to connect the Gateway Teleport, Hickam Air Force Base and Anderson Air Force Base. The tests demonstrated the system’s ability to reliably transmit data at rates greater than 200 megabits per second between the aircraft and ground sites, dynamically switching data paths between line-of-sight and WGS as necessary to maintain near constant connectivity.
03 Dec 10. Israel Defence Force takes the reins on Tzayad programme. The Israel Defence Force (IDF) has taken over the continued integration of the Tzayad (Hunter) digital army programme (DAP) from manufacturer Elbit Systems, establishing a special branch within the army headquarters (HQ) to oversee the process. The IDF has already created a single digitised division based in the Golan Heights, and is in the process of integrating the DAP into a second division that also serves in Israel’s Northern Command. (Source: Jane’s, IDR)
14 Dec 10. The US Army is planning to issue every soldier an iPhone or an Android cellphone which will provide critical information to soldiers whenever they need it and revolutionise battlefield tactics. Under an army programme, entitled connecting soldiers to digital applications
(CSDA), the army plans to begin fielding phones, network equipment and applications to the first army brigade in February. Future Force Integration Directorate director of mission command Mike McCarthy
said the army was looking at devices ranging from iPads to Kindles.
“What we’re doing is fundamentally changing how soldiers access knowledge, information, training content and operational data,” he said.
The smartphones will let soldiers view real-time intelligence and video from unmanned systems overhead, a