NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Sponsored By Oxley Developments

www.oxleygroup.com

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28 Feb 19. TE Connectivity’s MULTIGIG RT 3 rugged backplane connector pushes the limit to 25+Gb/s in harsh military applications. Next-gen MULTIGIG RT 3 connector advances VPX with higher speeds, modular design and vibration resistance. TE Connectivity (TE), a world leader in connectivity and sensors, has launched its fastest rugged backplane connector, the MULTIGIG RT 3 connector. TE’s MULTIGIG RT 3 connectors support speeds of 25+Gb/s, making them among the fastest rugged backplane connectors for embedded computing or VPX systems currently on the market. The ruggedized design makes these connectors ideally suited to withstand many extreme military and space environments.

MULTIGIG RT 3 connectors employ quad-redundant contacts — time-tested in the MULTIGIG RT 2-R series — to meet rigorous VITA standards for reliable performance under intense vibrations. This strength in harsh environments is matched by the industry’s lightest design for comparable backplane connectors. Each MULTIGIG RT 3 connector from TE is made of durable, lightweight thermoplastic and copper alloys. In addition to being fast and lightweight rugged backplane connectors, TE’s new MULTIGIG RT 3 connectors integrate easily with other VPX products. They conform to VITA 46 industry standards, making them backwards compatible with legacy OpenVPX systems. Furthermore, their modular design enables numerous configurations by interchanging higher-speed RT 3 connectors with the legacy MULTIGIG RT 2 and RT 2-R connectors.

“We have a long history of working side-by-side with technology leaders to move the industry forward through innovation,” said Mike Walmsley, product manager for TE’s Aerospace, Defense and Marine division. “The MULTIGIG RT 3 connector is the next generation of high-speed backplane connector for rugged applications.”

TE’s MULTIGIG RT 3 connectors are designed for military electronics, C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence [C4]; Information, Surveillance, Recon [ISR]) electronic warfare systems, avionics, ground defense, missile defense and systems designed for outer space.

27 Feb 19. Northrop Grumman plans drop-in replacements for US Air Force next-generation navigation system. Northrop Grumman will replace the legacy LN251 position, navigation, and timing system on the F-22 as part of a contract for the EGI-M programme. Source: US Department of Defense.

Key Points:

• Northrop Grumman is planning drop-in replacements as part of its US Air Force EGI-M programme
• This will help save money by improving modernisation with minimal integration

Northrop Grumman is planning drop-in replacements for legacy positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems as part of its new contract with the US Air Force (USAF). The company announced recently it was awarded a USD59m contract in the fourth quarter of 2018 for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the Embedded Global Positioning System (GPS)/Inertial Navigation System (INS)-Modernization (EGI-M) programme. This will help provide accurate PNT solutions, even in a GPS-denied environment. The lead platforms for the effort are the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and the US Navy’s (USN’s) Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.

Dean Ebert, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems vice-president of navigation and positioning systems, told Jane’s in February that the company will replace the legacy LN251 on the F-22 and the LN251 on the E-2D with an upgraded EGI-M system that will share common cards. The only difference, he said, will be the form factor and the faceplate. Northrop Grumman also has the LN260 on the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Ebert said the F-22 will get a modernised LN300 while the E-2D will get the modernised LN351. He said drop-in replacements will improve modernisation with minimal integration, which he called remarkable from a cost-savings standpoint.

“We’ll have three form factors with fundamentally the same components inside,” Ebert said. “The differences will be merely the chassis size, the form factor, and the faceplate that physically connects to the platform.”

The approval to proceed to the EMD phase follows the Pentagon’s Milestone B approval in October 2018. During the EMD phase, Northrop Grumman will develop the critical hardware and software design for the EGI-M, build hardware for integration and qualification, generate safety and civil certification documentation, qualify the new EGI-M systems to rigorous military standards, and build production units for testing, according to a company statement. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

26 Feb 19. Microsoft workers thumbs down on heads-up displays for war. When does a sensor become a weapon? Networked warfare — this modern vision of combat as nodes of sensors connecting to grids of “battlefield effects” — has expanded both the kinds of information that go into decisions to firing a weapon and the ways in which people can be targeted. As the Pentagon actively brands its mission around lethality, some workers involved in making sensors have called into question their role in making weapons.

In a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and president Brad Smith sent Feb. 22, Microsoft workers called on their executives to cancel the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) contract because it was going to be used as a weapon. The contract, awarded in November and valued at $479m, would provide up to 100,000 customized HoloLens units to the Army for use as a heads-up display on the battlefield.

The HoloLens, on which the IVAS system is being built, is a composite technology. It includes sensors, such as microphones and light sensors and a range of cameras. It includes a holographic display and lenses, creating a vision before the wearer that is mapped onto the world around them, as well as speakers. It is bound together with software and code, creating an experience in the real world not unlike that of playing a first-person video game, with useful information presented on a screen within the wearer’s field of view. The whole unit weighs slightly more than a pound.

It is the use of this technology for war, and especially for reducing the conduct of war to a video game-like experience, that receives special attention in the letter.

“While the company has previously licensed tech to the U.S. Military, it has never crossed the line into weapons development. With this contract, it does,” reads the letter. “The application of HoloLens within the IVAS system is designed to help people kill. It will be deployed on the battlefield, and works by turning warfare into a simulated “video game,” further distancing soldiers from the grim stakes of war and the reality of bloodshed.

The letter writers are even more explicit in the next line, saying plainly, “Intent to harm is not an acceptable use of our technology.”

The word “lethality” has a central place in the Microsoft worker’s letter, which quotes “rapidly develop, test, and manufacture a single platform that Soldiers can use to Fight, Rehearse, and Train. This platform will provide increased Lethality, Mobility and Situational Awareness.” directly from the Army’s contract for IVAS. “Lethality” may scan as just another marketing or branding fad within the Pentagon, but it’s a word with an unsubtle meaning, and one that erodes any distinction between sensors or training tools and weapons.

The context around the quoted passage doesn’t do much to dissuade the notion that HoloLenses acquired in the IVAS program will be a weapons program. The Army states that the impetus for the tech is to “to overcome is an erosion in close combat capability relative to the pacing threats identified in the National Defense Strategy” and then later states “that near-peer threats have capabilities that match, and in some cases exceed the capabilities of American units.”

Specifically, the risk is stated as rivals using technology to “detect, target, and lethally engage before US forces become aware of their presence.” In an earlier era, we might have condensed that to “ambush,” though that doesn’t capture the distance as which sensors work today. The Army also specifically notes that while the fear is near-peer rivals using this technology, the technology itself is being developed both by militaries and by the civilian sector at large. As we already saw with cheap drones, a technology built for the civilian world and then adapted for war can have a surprise impact on the way militaries have to fight.

Before the contract was announced, Microsoft President Brad Smith defended Microsoft’s ongoing work with the Department of Defense in a blog post, saying in part that as a company “we believe in the strong defense of the United States and we want the people who defend it to have access to the nation’s best technology, including from Microsoft.”

In 2018, Google came under fire from its own employees, who objected to their company’s role in designing Project Maven, an artificial intelligence project that identified objects in drone footage. Google responded by sunsetting its work on Project Maven, and unveiling a set of principles for its AI work. The clash between Google’s executives and its workforce over military contracts sent shock waves through the tech sector and the Pentagon, and it was in light of this that Smith published his blog post, affirming that Microsoft would sell AI to the military. In his selling, he used one of the more common framing devices among the military, that having the best technology means saving the lives of the people doing the fighting.

Smith’s post also suggested that employees who objected to working on military projects could be moved off those projects. In the letter sent on February 22nd, the workers rejected to that framing on two grounds. The first is that, because HoloLens started as a civilian technology, workers found themselves in the uncomfortable position of realizing that a tool had been adapted to a weapon after the fact. The second objection was more universal, about the role of workers within a country whose military is an active presence across the globe

“As employees and shareholders we do not want to become war profiteers,” says the letter. “To that end, we believe that Microsoft must stop in its activities to empower the U.S. Army’s ability to cause harm and violence.”

In a Feb. 25 interview with CNN, Microsoft’s CEO responded to the letter, arguing that the responsibility for making decisions about military acquisitions was not on workers or companies individually, but on the people within a democratic society as a whole.

“We made a principled decision that we’re not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy,” [Satya Nadella] told CNN Business at Mobile World Congress.

As Google discovered last year, as much as CEOs might like to imagine a clean division between their employees’ roles as worker and citizen, the people making their products may see no such distinction. For a Pentagon eager to court Silicon Valley, it is likely no longer enough to speak of how the technology it buys will protect war fighters. Instead, it may have to start talking about how to sell a mission of lethality to workers that never want their technology used with intent to harm. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)

27 Feb 19. New era for Australian air combat and industrial capabilities. Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and Defence Industry Minister Steven Ciobo have announced a major step-change for Australia’s air combat and defence industrial capabilities with the unveiling of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System. Designed for global defence customers by Boeing Australia, it is the company’s largest investment in a new unmanned aircraft program outside the US. The aircraft will complement and extend airborne missions through smart teaming with existing military aircraft.

A model of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System was unveiled at the Australian International Airshow by Minister Pyne and Australia’s Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Leo Davies, AO, CSC. As a research and development activity, the Australian government and Boeing will produce a concept demonstrator called the Loyal Wingman – Advanced Development Program that will provide key learnings toward the production of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System.

Ministers Pyne and Ciobo said the research and development opportunity was a further demonstration of the Australian government’s collaborative and maturing relationship with Australia’s defence industry as well as international recognition of the nation’s strength and capabilities.

“The partnership will produce a concept demonstrator of a low cost, unmanned ‘Loyal Wingman’ aircraft, capable of operating in concert with Air Force’s fifth-generation air combat capability,” Minister Pyne said.

Minister Pyne said this was a major milestone for Australia’s agenda to develop a competitive and sustainable defence industry, with high-end industrial, manufacturing, research and development capabilities.

“This will be Boeing’s first unmanned aircraft designed and engineered in Australia and represents the company’s largest investment of its kind outside of the United States,” he said.

The Boeing Airpower Teaming System is expected to:

• Provide fighter-like performance, measuring 38-feet long (11.7 metres) and able to fly more than 2,000 nautical miles;
• Integrate sensor packages onboard to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions and electronic warfare; and
• Use artificial intelligence to fly independently or in support of manned aircraft while maintaining safe distance between other aircraft.

Marc Allen, president of Boeing International, welcomed the announcement, saying, “This aircraft is a historic endeavour for Boeing. Not only is it developed outside the United States, it is also designed so that our global customers can integrate local content to meet their country-specific requirements.”

These comments were echoed by Kristin Robertson, vice president and general manager for Boeing’s autonomous systems division, who said, “The Boeing Airpower Teaming System will provide a disruptive advantage for allied forces’ manned/unmanned missions.

“With its ability to reconfigure quickly and perform different types of missions in tandem with other aircraft, our newest addition to Boeing’s portfolio will truly be a force multiplier as it protects and projects air power.”

Minister Ciobo said that Boeing will seek to team with large, medium and small Australian businesses and partner with research organisations, including universities and the Defence Science and Technology Group.

“The development and demonstration of this air vehicle will create around 100 new high-technology jobs in aerospace engineering and design in Australia, as well as wider job opportunities across the supply chain,” Minister Ciobo said.

“This proposal could lead to another exciting step forward in Australia’s defence export strategy and provide our allies with critical capabilities based on Australian ingenuity.”

Defence will invest around $10m per year, up to $40m, to evolve development of this concept. (Source: Defence Connect)

24 Feb 19. The new combat drones Australia will use to launch airstrikes on militants overseas – after spending years building them in secret.

• A top-secret combat drone capable of carrying bombs is set to be unveiled today
• Defence Minister Christopher Pyne will unveil the drone at aerospace trade show
• Yet-to-be-named drone is collaboration between RAAF and Defence Department
• The aircraft is the size of a jet and capable of flying several thousand kilometres

A top-secret Australian combat drone capable of carrying bombs will be unveiled on Wednesday after being constructed in secrecy.

Defence Minister Christopher Pyne will reveal the yet-to-be-named unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at the Avalon aerospace trade show outside Melbourne.

The unmanned craft, which is roughly the size of a traditional jet fighter, was developed in Brisbane by aerospace giant Boeing in collaboration with RAAF and the Defence Department, ABC News reported.

While details of the ‘Loyal Wingman’ project remain scant, it’s understood the primary purpose of the drone is to conduct electronic warfare and reconnaissance missions in ‘risky’ terrain.

The UAV is said to be capable of flying up to several thousand kilometres, and can also carrying sensors or electronic warfare equipment on its underside.

An industry source told the publication the drone could also potentially be used to carry bombs one day.

While the drones aren’t expected to be deployed until mid-2020, when they are, they could be used alongside existing RAAF aircraft such as the P-8A Poseidon.

The prototype is the first combat craft of its kind to be designed and developed in Australia in more than half a century.

The unveiling comes after it was revealed last year the Government had chosen the American-produced MQ-9 Reaper as its first remotely operated aircraft system.

The unmanned craft, which is roughly the size of a traditional jet fighter, was developed in Brisbane by aerospace giant Boeing in collaboration with RAAF and the Defence Department. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also announced the government planned on spending $1.4bn on the first of six remote controlled spy planes.

While the cost of the Boeing ‘Loyal Wingman’ remains unclear, the publication said the drone is believed to be the company’s largest investment outside of the US.

If the drones are a success, the Australian-designed aircraft could be exported to other nations one day.

Australia’s first combat drones: what we know so far

• The ‘Loyal Wingman’ project is the first Australian-designed and developed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) craft of its kind.
• It’s estimated that the UAV will be roughly the size of a traditional jet fighter, which is approximately 12metres.
• The purpose of the drones are to conduct electronic warfare and reconnaissance missions – specifically ‘risky’ areas.
• The UAV is designed to fly up to several thousand kilometres.
• The aircraft will have a large payload bay that can carry a sensor or electronic warfare equipment.
• An industry source said the drones could potentially be used to one day carry bombs.
• The ‘Loyal Wingman’ drone comes after the government announced last November they had selected the American-produced MQ-9 Reaper as Australia’s first armed remotely piloted aircraft system.
• Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also announced last year the government was planning on spending $7bn on six American-made unmanned Triton spy planes.
• The cost of the project has not been revealed, but it is believed to be Boeing’s largest investment in drones outside the US. (Source: Daily Mail)

26 Feb 19. Wind River®, a leader in delivering software to critical infrastructure, today announced the release of Wind River Helix™ Virtualization Platform (Helix Platform). The offering combines the company’s industry-leading commercial real-time operating system (RTOS) and embedded Linux distribution into an edge compute software platform, and allows other operating systems to run unmodified within the same framework, providing a software development environment across the Wind River portfolio. From modernizing aerospace platforms to updating industrial infrastructure and advancing autonomous driving, the rise of more sophisticated edge computing across industries means that system developers will need to adapt quickly to modern software and cloud deployment practices, while maintaining dedicated, long-standing software. This paradigm shift to a more modern development approach will bring benefits in terms of flexibility, scope of applications and manageability. But it also brings new design challenges and uncertainties in terms of the pace of change, hardware and software technology choices, as well as future-proofing. As critical infrastructure also become more intelligent, with various forms of artificial intelligence running on edge devices, further layers of complexity and uncertainty are being introduced.

Developers need to know they can meet current project and compliance requirements, and plan their roadmaps, without having to make disruptive changes in the future if new hardware, software, frameworks or cloud services are needed. Helix Platform means legacy software can remain unchanged while running alongside new applications, and it provides all the benefits of a consistent, scalable and agile platform for edge devices.

Helix Platform addresses a wide range of critical infrastructure development needs, from highly-dynamic environments without certification requirements, to highly-regulated static applications such as in avionics and industrial, as well as systems requiring the mixing of safety-certified applications with non-certified ones, such as in automotive. It maximizes ROI and total cost of ownership (TCO) by increasing asset value and reducing operational costs with the following features:

• Robust time and space partitioning leveraging Wind River’s industry-leading RTOS and virtualization technology, safety certified functionality, and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) certification evidence.
• Multi-operating system capabilities enable the consolidation of mixed-criticality workloads, side by side, on a single edge compute platform.
• Consolidation of multiple applications into one platform allows common edge devices to serve diverse system architecture needs, such as low latency control functions on an RTOS alongside Linux-based applications and frameworks, such as machine learning.

“The industry is moving in a direction of heterogeneous systems where the development of many critical infrastructure systems requires both an open source Linux and a proven commercial RTOS, and Helix Platform offers the best of both worlds with VxWorks® and Wind River Linux integrated in a single solution, from a single supplier,” said Jim Douglas, Wind River president and CEO. “Drawing from our rich proven technology heritage and unmatched safety expertise, Helix Platform is a critical building block for how we will continue to accelerate the evolution from automated devices towards more intelligent and autonomous systems.”

The offering comprises VxWorks along with its virtualization technology, integrated with Wind River Linux and Wind River Simics® for system simulation. It meets the stringent safety-certification requirements of the DO-178C, IEC 61508, and ISO 26262 safety standards. Helix Platform is operating system-agnostic, providing the capability to run any unmodified guest operating system, such as Microsoft® Windows®, roll-your-own, and others. It also provides multi-core hardware support and availability on the latest Arm®, Intel®, NXP®, and Xilinx® silicon platforms that enable both 32- and 64-bit guest operating systems.

26 Feb 19. Cells form the cornerstone of life, and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is researching ways to create the building blocks of novel materials. In a new cooperative agreement with the Army Research Laboratory, Lockheed Martin material scientists will work with industry and Army scientists who design microbes to edit single-cell organism DNA. They will investigate a range of capabilities, particularly those that can improve defense optical technology and coatings.

“Cells efficiently create all sorts of materials, like a spider’s silk or a butterfly’s iridescent wings. We want to harness nature’s process to better protect people,” said Melissa Rhoads, senior research manager and Lockheed Martin lead for the project. “Biodesign exists today, but it doesn’t exist at the scale and to the quality of defense standards.”

Biology and technology intersect in the field of biodesign. Some fashion houses even use the sustainable technology to develop fabrics for clothing, but Lockheed Martin sees potential to mature the science to a more precise level. This maturation requires collaboration between ARL and Lockheed Martin and leverages commercial advances from companies such as Ginkgo Bioworks.

Scientists often look to nature to provide inspiration, and those ideas can help lower the cost of optical technologies. For example, telescopes use lenses to filter out unwanted light or to get a clearer image. However, a squid lens is able to filter and focus light in compact package due to molecule-based design and varied refractive index. In another example, melanin protects humans and animals alike from the Sun’s UV rays. So melanin—or similar molecules with protective functions—could be another natural substance attracting the study’s attention.

“We can’t manufacture that kind of capability, so Lockheed Martin will try nature’s way,” Rhoads said. “Harnessing the power of self-assembling materials is sustainable, affordable and can be much faster to produce than artificial methods. As much potential there is for biodesign, the maturity of the materials technology is still low, so our five-year study will advance this field significantly for precision science.”

The $10m, five-year agreement uses the name Self-Assembly of Nanostructures for Tunable Materials and will leverage the Army’s Open Campus model to enable collaboration between university, small-business, Army and Lockheed Martin scientists and engineers. Partnerships across industry and government groups have grown from programs like the National Science Foundation’s SynBERC and the Department of Defense’s Applied Research for Advancement of Science and Technology Priorities.

26 Feb 19. Ultra Electronics, 3eTI announces it is now an Integrator and Gold Channel partner with Milestone Systems, the globally leading open platform provider of IP video management software (VMS). The marriage of 3eTI’s proven VirtualFence platform and the Milestone systems will ensure that its DoD customers are able to utilize best-performing VMS solutions with a fully compliant government-certified video management platform.

The protection of critical infrastructure depends on effective perimeter security. 3eTI’s VirtualFence platform is already a proven solution, deployed by the DoD to detect unauthorized individuals approaching and breaching established physical or virtual security thresholds. It is the first perimeter security solution to achieve the DoD Red Team endorsement and an Information Assurance Approval.

Now, the integration of Milestone XProtect® video management technologies with VirtualFence means customers will have even more functionality in support of their missions, including enhanced automatic alerting and intelligent video analytics.

“These products meet the stringent security and assurance requirements demanded by the DoD, so deploying them as an integrated solution will save agency customers a significant amount of time and expense,” says Charlene Mowery, Ultra Electronics, 3eTI vice president of global business and marketing.

Mowery continued, “This agreement enabled the implementation of highly effective perimeter security solutions without the need for additional systems engineering or separate information assurance accreditation, so we are now looking forward to expanding our already substantial work with the UK Navy and supporting the implementation of this technology into other DoD agencies.”

“Ultimately, this partnership is about helping our government customers secure the nation’s critical infrastructure, by allowing them to access two first-class technologies as a unified solution,” says Walter Coady, Milestone key account manager, federal systems.

24 Feb 19. Latvia’s LMT developing UTM system based on 5G mobile network. Latvia’s LMT Innovations – a branch of a mobile telephone operator in Latvia – reports is it is working on developing a new UTM system baged on 5G communications to allow for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. According to a new posting the company’s website: “We believe that the most safe and successful real-time communication can be done through the mobile network, particularly in the 5G network, that’s specifically created for UAV-to-UAV (U2U) and UAV-to-Infrastructure (U2I) communication. It follows that mobile operators can play a major role in the development of UTM platforms. LMT is currently working together with the public and private sector to lay the foundations for such an ecosystem.

Some of the planned functionality of the platform includes:

• safe LLA (low level altitude) communication network for UAS
• population density information
• UAS tracking
• a detect and avoid system
• real-time communication throughout all the flight (BVLOS)

“For drone integration into airspace to happen smoothly and safely, all UASs used for both commercial and recreational purposes will have to use the UTM platform to provide information on their flight plan and ongoing fights. Telecommunication operators are in a unique position to inject data available to them, thereby adding an additional layer of both data and coverage to provide heightened security. In developing this project we’ve come to the understanding that there are many stakeholders that are interested and involved in creating an excellent UTM infrastructure. That’s why we are currently open to collaboration with partners interested in developing new ideas, experimenting, iterating, and working together to implement the vision of a mobile network-enabled UTM solution.” (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)

25 Feb 19. Kittyhawk launches customised airspace flight operations tool. Kittyhawk has announced the launch of its Dynamic Airspace Customizable airspace tool which “enables teams to see their authorizations, key locations, and critical points of interest in a single unified view. This is airspace designed to meet the needs of commercial UAS operations.”

According to the company: “With the launch of Kittyhawk Dynamic Airspace™, we’re bringing a new level of compliance to drone operations while also giving our customers more control over THEIR airspace — and by definition — their workflows, their reports, and their risk tolerance…While going through the LAANC approval process with the FAA last year, we started building our own airspace product with direct FAA data sources and UAS Facility Map content. But we didn’t just want to give you airspace — our goal is to give you YOUR airspace. Kittyhawk Dynamic Airspace enables your team to look at your airspace, see your authorizations, your locations, your annotations, and the points of interest relevant to your company.

“We have combined our patent-pending airspace technology with Kittyhawk engineering and design to create an elegant and simplified airspace experience with colors, advisories, warnings, weather, and alerts that reduce noise and give a clear operational picture of your airspace. This is a foundational element that combined with our API will enable us to do things like send actionable compliance alerts — not if your people simply fly in controlled airspace, but if they fly in controlled airspace without proper authorization or operate outside of that authorization.”

“Once you put Dynamic Airspace into action across your drone program, each map layer will immediately add valuable situational awareness to your operation and for your team. Each map layer is a segment of your compliance whether you’re looking at controlled airspace or one of your LAANC authorizations. In addition to all of the critical airspace layers that you need for planning and flying safely in the national airspace (from special use airspace to UAS facility maps), you’ll find a whole host of new layers coming to YOUR maps.”

“Straight out of the gate we’re introducing LAANC-as-a-Layer™ and you’ll be able to see current and upcoming authorizations on your map anywhere you’re accessing Kittyhawk including Android, iOS, and the new Kittyhawk web dashboard. Coming soon, we’ll be introducing a whole host of layers including COAs, waivers, missions, flights, and UTM data.”

The company says it is also working on new tools for customers to define areas of operation with details around buildings, facilities, and critical infrastructure to give their operation a new way to view their airspace when planning, flying, streaming, and reporting. (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)

25 Feb 19. Australian start-up plans Blockchain-based drone ID trials by year end. Adelaide-based Wright Technologies aims to conduct field trials of its Blockchain-based drone identification and tracking system before the end of the year. Last year the fledgling company won the International Grand Prize at the ActInSpace innovation contest, which is initiated by the French Space Agency (CNES) with support from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the ESA Business Incubation Centres network. According to Wright Technologies CEO and co-founder Kosta Canatselis: “We’re working on being able to understand what device is where with absolute certainty with something called proof-of-location,” he said. “In the context of air safety and security, airspaces at the moment are very closed off and restricted because of the danger of having drones there and not being able to understand where they are

Wright Technologies is based at the University of South Australia’s Innovation & Collaboration Centre.

The startup is also a finalist in next month’s AD100,000 Blockchain Innovation Challenge, which will be held as part of the ADC Global Blockchain Summit in its home state of South Australia from March 18-20.

Canatselis said GPS on its own was not secure and could be “spoofed”.

He said his tamper-proof Blockchain technology would be particularly valuable in applications dealing with the freight of high-value goods. “With autonomy, as soon as you can start increasing the level of trust between different stakeholders you can start letting go of human interaction,” Canatselis said. “Basically how Blockchain works is there is an immutable ledger (a record that cannot be changed) where all the actions are recorded and you can start seeing things like a drone delivering something to a house, proving it has been to the house and then releasing payment and things like that.

“Proof-of-location is a problem that exists – there’s a few other companies trying to do it as well – but our big differentiator is that we are able to operate on resource constrained devices such as drones and small devices that other competitors out there aren’t able to do.” (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)

25 Feb 19. A high tech MOD site in North Wales is set to become a hotbed of military innovation thanks to a new agreement between two of the UK’s leading scientific and engineering organisations. The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), which develops cutting-edge science and technology to keep the UK safe from harm, has opened an office within the Defence Electronics and Components Agency (DECA) in MOD Sealand in North Wales.

The two MOD executive agencies have agreed to look at various new, innovative ways in which they can work together across a range of science, technology and engineering areas to make MOD equipment programmes more cost effective, more resilient for longer and better suited to the operational needs of the UK Armed Forces, in particular.

Dstl has set up a ‘pathfinder’ function within DECA’s main facility at MOD Sealand to begin planning for the rapid establishment of a joint Dstl/DECA collaboration team.  This will see staff from both organisations taking part in  exchanges, apprenticeship opportunities, education, continuing professional development, ‘best practice’ benchmarking visits and inter-Agency networking.

Over time they intend to find new ways of working to support the UK Government’s Prosperity Agenda through collaboration with industry, wider Government and the devolved Governments of the UK, as well as allied and partner nations.

Gary Aitkenhead, Dstl Chief Executive, commented: “This is an exciting venture and will further enable Dstl to optimise and expand its capacity and capability through working with our strategic partners. It also provides Dstl with a firm presence in North Wales with significant opportunities for our employees and those seeking a science and technology career in the region. We will also be looking to grow our supply chain network in the North West and in Wales, and look forward to developing relationships with high quality business there.”

Geraint Spearing, DECA Chief Executive, said: “This initiative provides both Agencies with a fantastic opportunity to collaborate in supporting UK MOD and deliver effective, sustainable solutions into the future.  We are looking forward to working closely with Dstl through this partnership, focussing not only on technologies and support solutions, but also importantly on skills development which is high on our agenda both regionally and nationally.”

DECA has a long and illustrious history in providing specialised services in support of UK Defence ensuring delivery of repair, maintenance, overhaul, upgrade and managed services for in-service and future military platforms across Defence. Most recently, securing a further £500m assignment to provide pivotal avionic and aircraft component support to the RAF and Royal Navy’s new F-35 fast jet aircraft which will fly from RAF Marham and the UK’s two new aircraft carriers.

Dstl is an executive agency of MOD, run along commercial lines. It is one of the principal government organisations dedicated to science and technology in the Defence and security field, with six sites: at Porton Down, near Salisbury; Portsdown West, near Portsmouth; Fort Halstead, near Sevenoaks; Sandridge, near St Albans; Langhurst, near Horsham; and, Alverstoke, near Gosport. Dstl works with a wide range of partners and suppliers in industry, in academia and overseas.

25 Feb 19. HAL unveils Unmanned Wingman concept. India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) unveiled its Unmanned Wingman concept at the Aero India 2019 exhibition held in Bangalore from 20–24 February. The Unmanned Wingman concept is currently envisioned to be a 6 m-class, low-observable, multipurpose unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) with an endurance of up to 80 minutes and a range of 800km, although its size can be scaled up for greater endurance or payload capacity should there be a customer requirement. The development is an effort led by HAL with industry partners, including a local start-up called NewSpace Research and Technologies (NRT), to develop low-cost platforms that can provide on-call support to forward-deployed combat aircraft operating in contested airspace. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

25 Feb 19. SOF teams demo wearable flight systems. Key Points:

• SOF personnel may soon be able to turn ‘jetpacks’ from science fiction into reality, as wearable jet propulsion technologies appear to be advancing
• A variety of jetpacks are being considered by SOF components around the world, including USSOCOM and French COS

Long a concept used in fiction – notably by James Bond in the 1965 movie Thunderball- jetpacks may be advancing to the point of having operational use for armed forces in missions such as insertion or extraction, or for providing overwatch. Still, the technology and concepts are in their infancy.

JetPack Aviation’s JB11 JetPack is being developed under a Co-operative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) signed in 2016 with US Special Operations Command’s (USSOCOM’s) Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC). (Source: IHS Jane’s)

25 Feb 19. RUAG Australia secures international patent for additive treatment tech. RUAG Australia has been awarded full patent rights in Australia, Europe and the US for the use of supersonic particle deposition (SPD) as an alternative aircraft component repair technology. RUAG Australia’s patent application identifies the use of the SPD additive metal technology as a fully certifiable alternative for safe and reliable repairs. According to the patent, SPD is an ideal method for rapidly repairing corroded, worn and damaged components as opposed to repair by traditional methods or outright component replacement. Potential cost and time savings make this solution particularly relevant for the repair of expensive components and for components with long repair/replacement lead times.

Neil Matthews, senior manager of advanced technology and engineering solutions, RUAG Australia, welcomed news of the announcement, saying, “The awarding of this patent underscores our commitment to research and development and the application of emerging technologies to offer reliable and accessible service for commercial aviation customers.”

Australian, European and US patents for “Methods for Treating Aircraft Structures” were awarded in May, October and November 2018, respectively. RUAG has also submitted an application for another patent featuring the use of SPD technology, “Methods for Restoring an Aircraft Frame Element”, which is currently under review.

RUAG Australia is a major industry research center for the development and application of powder deposition technologies focusing on both SPD, sometimes referred to as cold spray, and laser-assisted deposition (LAD) for defense applications.

These technologies offer a number of exciting and cost-effective outcomes, particularly in the areas of geometry restoration and corrosion protection. In addition, these technologies enable the restoration of corroded/damaged metallic components/structures to an acceptable level of structural integrity and functionality. RUAG Australia maintains and operates a fixed and mobile SPD capability as well as a fixed LAD capability.

RUAG MRO International is an independent supplier, support provider and integrator of systems and components for civil and military aviation worldwide. It also develops and supports simulation and training systems and solutions for international trained security forces.

RUAG develops and markets internationally sought-after technology applications in the fields of aerospace and defence for use on land, in the air and in space. Fifty-six per cent of RUAG’s products and services are destined for the civil market and 44 per cent for the military market. The group is headquartered in Bern (Switzerland). It has production sites in Switzerland and in 15 other countries in Europe, the USA and Asia Pacific. (Source: Defence Connect)

22 Feb 19. Defense Department Awards $10m in Funding to Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute. The Department of Defense has awarded $10m in funding to the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII), with an option of $20m more over the upcoming five years to lead the digital future of manufacturing Feb. 21. This award is part of a new multi-year follow-on agreement with a ceiling of $60m of government funding.

The Department of Defense will continue the strategic partnership with DMDII for the long term as part of the effort to reform DoD for greater performance and affordability in support of the National Defense Strategy.

“The Department of Defense wants to reaffirm our strategic relationship with the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute. We are working together to develop cutting-edge digital technology and investing in a robust research and development infrastructure to promote global competitiveness on the part of U.S. manufacturers,” stated Robert Gold, Director, Technology & Manufacturing Industrial Base. Founded in 2014, DMII has invested approximately $94m in more than 60 applied research projects nationwide. DMDII collaborates with the U.S Army’s Rock Island Arsenal, the nation’s largest government-owned weapons manufacturer. With the aim of getting equipment to U.S. Warfighters quickly, the arsenal and DMDII have used 3-D modeling to assess the arsenal’s manufacturing processes.

“American manufacturing must remain competitive since it underpins national and economic security,” said Tracy Frost, Pentagon’s director of the DoD Manufacturing Institutes and its Manufacturing Technology program.

DMDII’s mission is to enable United States manufacturers to make every part better than the last. That requires production lines to be embedded with software and sensors that connect to a network. The ability of manufacturing equipment to send and receive data in real time will enable the equipment to improve the manufacturing processes while learning from every part produced.

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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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