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28 Oct 14. Italian Air Force Experimental Unit Turns to Space. After building up its in-house design capability, the Italian Air Force’s Experimental Flight Unit has set itself a new target ‘space’ with a focus on satellites and sub-orbital flights. A new unit set up in July at the Air Force’s air base here south of Rome is mounting simulations ahead of the day officials hope the Air Force will be flying in ‘near’ space, between 65,000 and 333,000 feet. The Air Force’s Aerospace System Engineering Group is looking at the feasibility of taking off and landing sub-orbital aircraft in Italy. The 12-person team, which is expected to grow to 30, also plans to simulate ballistic missile defense systems and will study the launch of high-altitude balloons for uses including communication and data transmission. “Many of the projects are very ambitious and we are starting with a broad array of aims,” said the group’s head, Maj. Ferdinando Dolce, who pointed to a box in his office that will be packed with electronics, attached to a balloon and launched to an altitude of 30 kilometers next month. The project will be handled in partnership with a Rome university. The new unit joins existing units for experimental flights and dealing with software and technical issues, which make up the Air Force’s Experimental Flight Unit. This in turn works alongside Air Force units tackling new armaments, chemical and health research. The Experimental Flight Unit has already won its spurs in space, after three of its pilots were picked to train as astronauts for the International Space Station program. Satellites will be a key focus for the new group, Dolce said. The unit will look at ways to better plot the course of satellites and avoid collisions as orbits become overcrowded, as well as seeking to improve solar storm forecasting. The launch of mini-satellites from military aircraft will be studied, while flight tests will be carried out on the radar being built by Thales Alenia Space to be used on Mars under a European Space Agency program. The unit will also study how the Air Force can use images from Italy’s Cosmo Skymed synthetic aperture radar satellite to provide coordinates for GPS-based weapons. Dolce said other satellite systems that Italy is procuring could also be studied to see if they can be used for air operations support. Italy has purchased the OPTSAT optical satellite from Israel. Col. Gianluca Ercolani, the head of the Experimental Flight Unit, said the new space initiative was part of an ongoing Air Force plan to exploit in-house research resources, save money and speed up the delivery of new capabilities. The first major result was the electronic jamming defense instrumentation, known by its Italian acronym JEDI, which was designed by the Air Force using off-the-shelf components and flown on a C-27J to jam the transmissions used to ignite roadside bombs. Developed quickly before being deployed to Afghanistan, the JEDI system was given an operational certification in Italy, which arrived faster than a regular certification. The unit is now working on a program to give the C-27J tactical transport aircraft modular, pallet-based, gunship, command-and-control and ISR capabilities. The gunship development is progressing in parallel to a commercial C-27J gunship program launched by Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi, which manufactures the C-27J. The Italian Air Force operates the aircraft. (Source: Defense News)
29 Oct 14. Northrop Grumman Corporation highlighted advances in C4ISR and showcased the future of integrated avionics equipment during an Oct. 28 briefing at the National Press Club. Jeffrey Q. Palombo, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s Land and Self Protection Systems Division, discussed how open architecture designs in integrated avionics equipment can offer a