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18 Aug 22. I See You But You Don’t See Me. As part of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Coded Visibility (CV) programme, which is looking to develop tailorable, tunable, safe obscurants that will provide an asymmetric advantage to warfighters, it has selected multiple teams of researchers to move the programme forward.
“The teams we selected aim to develop new types of non-hazardous obscurant particulates that can be tailored to provide asymmetry – that is to allow US and allied forces to see the enemy through the plume in one direction, while the adversary is unable to see through the plume in the opposite direction,” said Rohith Chandrasekar, CV program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office.
“A passive asymmetry approach will likely require multiple obscurant materials deployed in specific ways to allow one-way vision through the plume,” said Chandrasekar.
“We are also exploring a more fundamental challenge of demonstrating active asymmetry, which only requires a single obscurant material, but one that can be tuned in real time to potentially enable dynamic control of its properties after being deployed and in cooperation with sensors.”
The Raytheon Technologies Research Centre has been selected to develop new obscurants composed of multiple particulates with tailored properties and demonstrate asymmetric vision capabilities in lab, pilot, and field tests.
Northeastern University, Signature Research, and Georgia Tech Research Institute were chosen to investigate new tunable particulates and associated active modulation mechanisms to demonstrate asymmetry on-demand in lab and pilot tests.
The full teams are as follows:
Passive asymmetry – Raytheon Technologies Research Center, teamed with Rice University and Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).
Active asymmetry – Northeastern University, teamed with City University of New York, University of Pennsylvania, and Polaris Sensor Technologies Signature Research, teamed with Duke University Georgia Tech Research Institute, teamed with Georgia Tech. (Source: Armada)
17 Aug 22. Robust, fast, and scalable solution for mobile command posts. Today’s global security challenges are subject to fundamentally new frameworks. The emergence of new risks and threats, as well as their management, continue to affect the global political security situation. Military systems must therefore be adaptable in all domains – land, sea, air, and in multi-domain operations, also known as cyberspace. Applications with integrated C4ISTAR systems, such as the aircraft, satellites, ships, and ground vehicles used by international forces, gather immense quantities of information. Processing, analyzing, and transferring this data represents a growing challenge.
The synchronization, consolidation, and distribution of the collected data often takes place in specially equipped vehicles as well as container systems that can be quickly relocated. These systems allow the creation of infrastructure for emergency services within a very short time, even in the most remote regions. Mobile command posts or FOBs (forward operating bases) require scalable solutions with reliable data, signal, and power connections. Suppliers who can respond flexibly to this need are at an advantage.
As a partner with more than 80 years of experience in the production of connection solutions and cable assemblies, ODU offers an interface that is easy to use, extremely robust, and scalable. It is specifically designed for users and manufacturers of military vehicles and their subsystems.
The Expanded Beam Performance version of the ODU AMC® Series T is an advanced fiber-optic solution that ensures high-end transmission characteristics over a high number of mating cycles. Its excellent optical performance remains unchanged even when subjected to mechanical stress and harsh environmental conditions. This solution combines the advantages of a conventional expanded beam solution, such as insensitivity to dirt, scratching, and vibration, with the high-performance attenuation values of a physical contact (<0.3 dB). Compared to conventional expanded beam technologies, it allows three to four times the number of glass fibers to be integrated in the same space. Accordingly, the number of interfaces and overall footprint are reduced, while the transmission capacity is increased by a factor of four.
The new ODU AMC® Series T offers numerous advantages thanks to its innovative 3-in-1 locking mechanism with separately sealed electrical and mechanical components. Depending on the connected subsystem, the user can select the appropriate locking variant (break-away, push-pull or thread-lock). The reliability and flexibility of these connector systems – combined with their weight savings, robustness and ease of handling – can be critical survival factors in extreme cases, as can the secure transmission of high data volumes.
16 Aug 22. US NSWC delivers new Expeditionary Cary-On system for warfighters. The Expeditionary Carry-On Network (ExCON) kit provides SIPRNet, NIPRNet and VoIP connectivity. Credit: US Naval Sea Systems Command. The US Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) has delivered a new command and control (C2) kit, called Expeditionary Cary-On (ExCON) system. It was handed over to the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Expeditionary Support Unit Two (EODESU2).
NSWC PCD personnel from various specialised areas, such as software, hardware, networks, tests, logistics and fielding coordinators worked together to deliver the systems.
ExCON is an on-the-move, roll-on-roll-off, rapidly deployable, small form factor system. It is compatible with any vessel of opportunity.
The new system has been delivered to fulfil EODESU2’s requirements for a man-packable, lightweight communications to support operations in expeditionary and amphibious environments.
NSWC PCD communications support activity lead Chiyan Ng said: “It supports an agnostic transport capability which enables deployed tactical users to access Department of Defence (DoD) information network services across commercial internet using transport paths such as hotel Wi-Fi, cellular networks, and broadband global area networks and any internet service provider.
“It provides Secure Internet Protocol Router network (SIPRnet), Non-classified Internet Protocol Router network (NIPRNet), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Voice over SIPRnet and video teleconferencing services.”
After delivering the system, NSWC PCD fielding team conducted three different phases of installation.
It involved system operational verification tests, ExCON systems installation and training, conducted during the last week of delivery.
The C2 kit, including ExCON Systems 14 and 15, are part of Joint and Expeditionary Command and Control (JEXC2) Family of Systems (FoS), consisting of infrastructure, information technology and communications equipment.
Furthermore, the systems are developed to meet the needs of the Shore and Expeditionary Integration Programme Office (PMW 790), within the Programme Executive Office C2, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I). (Source: naval-technology.com)
15 Aug 22. Cellula successfully completes demonstration missions using hydrogen fuel cell powered AUV. Cellula Robotics Ltd. is excited to announce the successful completion of various demonstration missions using the hydrogen fuel cell powered autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), Solus-LR.
The missions, executed in Vancouver’s Indian Arm inlet on July 15th, demonstrated the remarkable autonomous launch of a micro-AUV from Solus-LR while submerged and underway. Following the launch, the micro-AUV surfaced and transmitted a status message to Solus-LR’s command and control center via Iridium satellite. The operation was the first of its kind and demonstrated near real-time, over-the-horizon communications from a submerged AUV.
The demonstration was observed by representatives from Trusted Autonomous Systems (TAS), the Royal Australian Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Defence Research Development Canada (DRDC), Defence Science & Technology Group (DSTG Australia) and the Minister of State for Trade, Vancouver-Fraserview, George Chow, as part of Cellula’s ongoing work with TAS’ SeaWolf program.
Built on a research and development project originally sponsored by DRDC under the All Domain Situational Awareness (ADSA) Science and Technology (S&T) Program that developed Solus-LR, the mission re-enforced the capabilities and potential of a long-range, hydrogen fuel cell powered AUV designed for submerged missions in excess of 2,000 km.
CEO of TAS, Professor Jason Scholz said: “We were extremely impressed to see these novel technologies, particularly the hydrogen fuel-cell succeed in sea trial conditions. This type of power provides an additional viable option to diesel, battery-only and nuclear propulsion. Cellula Robotics continue to impress on the SeaWolf program, along with the contributions of our many Australian partners in the consortium. We aim to continue to develop this capability option for Defence consideration.”
About Cellula Robotics Ltd.
Engineering solutions, intelligent systems.
Cellula Robotics Ltd. is a proudly Canadian, privately owned, world leading marine technology company specializing in turnkey design and production of subsea robotic systems. Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, Cellula employs 70 staff with a dedicated team of highly-skilled engineers, designers, and technicians. Cellula’s extensive experience in projects that require integrated mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, and software elements in a subsea environment is evident in its wide client base spanning over the defence, mineral exploration and oil & gas sectors. Cellula prides itself in having developed and implemented a rigorous ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System that continues to meet and exceed client expectations.
For more information, please go to www.cellula.com.
About Trusted Autonomous Systems
Trusted Autonomous Systems (TAS) is Australia’s first Defence Cooperative Research Centre. It is uniquely equipped to deliver research into world-leading autonomous and robotic technologies. Its goal: to enable trusted and effective cooperation between humans and machines. TAS aims to improve the competitiveness, productivity, and sustainability of Australian industry through industry-led projects with real translation opportunities to move technology rapidly from universities into industry and ultimately into leading edge capability for the Australian Defence Force. The SeaWolf program phase 1 is undertaken on behalf the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Warfare Innovation Navy (WIN) Branch. (Source: PR Newswire)
12 Aug 22. Lessons from tech industry can curb digital fratricide on battlefield. Division operate Stryker vehicles equipped with Warfighter Information Tactical Increment 2 networked systems as part of the Network Integration Evaluation 15.1 test for record at Fort Bliss, Texas. WIN-T Inc 2 provided soldiers with mobile high-bandwidth satellite connectivity and is critical to Army Mission Command Modernization.
The more the U.S. military leans on wireless networks, the more congested they become. Unfortunately, the modern battlefield is experiencing critical system outages – with troops increasingly at risk – because we are unintentionally jamming our own networks.
This digital fratricide is not a problem that can be solved by radio discipline or rationing commanders’ access to live video feeds.
Instead, the solutions need to be baked in from the start by Department of Defense acquisition staff that demand products be designed and built to intelligently sip, not guzzle, precious bandwidth.
On America’s frontlines, the internal battle over bandwidth has reached a critical mass. In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, every military branch is pouring an immense amount of money into high-tech drones with high-definition cameras. Unfortunately, every time a General wants to see the enemy in 4K HD video, mesh networks become so congested that frontline warfighters cannot communicate with each other on conventional radios. Fortunately, American tech companies have already deployed commercial solutions to solve the problem.
Self-driving cars, for example, generate far more data than even the most reliable 5G network can handle. In the early days of autonomous vehicles, software engineers had to hand-carry large hard drives on and off the cars on a “sneakernet” just to be able to analyze a day’s route. In time, engineers advanced a concept known as “data decimation” where only the relevant data segments and alerts would have to be extracted from a car, thus becoming more efficient with the network’s scarce resources.
Beyond autonomous vehicles, the video game industry has already partnered with hardware manufacturers to bring the power of the Cloud into disconnected devices, which eliminates another tax on networks. Industry calls this method ‘edge computing’ and Pentagon leadership frequently speak about the need for greater intelligence at the tactical edge. But both the defense and tech world are talking about the same solution: the objective is to avoid bandwidth overload by colocating artificial intelligence and machine learning software within handheld devices, robots, and sensors.
There are equally impactful operating system techniques, like “compute orchestration,” that effectively turn a dozen cell phones into one single supercomputer when linked on a secure platform. These practices need to be enforced as a technological standard for the battlefield internet of things; however, such techniques are only now being considered in the Department of Defense.
There are three major obstacles preventing these solutions from being adopted in time to maintain America’s competitive advantage in the AI arms race.
The first is the assumption that old techniques can solve new battlefield problems. Senior leaders and prime vendors appear surprised that the network is suffering through major bandwidth constraints, and current mitigation measures are focused on the promise of 5G. Even so, it is prohibitively difficult and expensive to deploy new cell towers in austere environments. Furthermore, those towers won’t help much when communications are actively contested by a highly effective, $100 radio jammer.
The second obstacle is awareness. The Pentagon must have an understanding of the problems already solved by America’s innovative tech experts so the commonplace solutions can be fed into the Defense Department’s requirements process. The National Security Commission on AI’s Final Report made it very clear that the Department is not moving fast enough, and the widening gap between what’s revolutionary in U.S. Defense and what’s common in the tech industry has reached a crisis point.
More specifically, it has taken 10 years for the Defense Department to get savvy on the “Clouds of War.” But even though those programs are just starting to get organized on their requirements, the industrial world has already started to shift computing back to the tactical edge, and we cannot afford to wait another 10 years for the Pentagon’s buyers to catch up.
The final obstacle is the incongruity of software and the Defense Department’s procurement system. The U.S. government has spent decades optimizing procurement around physical things and billable hours. As a result, the best GovTech software today ends up being bundled in hardware or a “black box” (like a slick new drone).
Unfortunately, the natural side-effect has been an explosion of vendor lock-in and data silos, which prevents the best software from getting into the hands of the warfighters at the point of need. Instead, program executive offices tasked by Congress to procure these essential technologies should strive to unbundle hardware and software so that interoperability can liberate the tactical edge from data silos.
Everyone close to the Defense Department’s data challenges understands the features of digital fratricide. A solution is within reach if we can build consensus and drive action to deploy industrial techniques like data decimation, edge computing, and compute orchestration to protect the networks that our warfighters rely upon. And it is incumbent on the Pentagon’s acquisition officials to empower those serving at our nation’s frontlines. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
11 Aug 22. CENTCOM Launches Competition For Innovation from Troops. The ‘Shark Tank’-like competition will pull solutions from active-duty personnel for possible use in the field. U.S. Central Command is launching a contest to elevate new technology solutions to military problems. But rather than reach out to industry and established defense contractors, the command is asking service members to submit ideas for possible scale up across the broader U.S. military.
The effort, dubbed Innovation Oasis, is open to all active service members, reservists and National Guard members, as well as all DOD civilians, until September 16, 2022. Judges include executives from Google, SpaceX, and NASA, as well as senior uniformed leaders from across the U.S. military.
“In the US military, we sometimes think of innovation as a function that we sprinkle on top of our plans once they’re developed, or this function that comes in as we’re developing a new idea. Well, that’s not going to work. Innovation has to be part of who we are,” Col. Joe Buccino, a CENTCOM spokesperson and executive producer of the Innovation Oasis, told reporters Thursday.
The effort is modeled after a competition at Fort Bragg called Dragon’s Lair, in which service members offer up new technologies that address big problems they’re facing. Some of the previous entrants in Dragon’s Lair include a formula that can predict the interior layout of buildings from satellite images and an AI helicopter pilot program that learns by observing human operators.
The winners of the Innovation Oasis competition, which concludes in October, will have the “opportunity to implement their idea across the command,” according to a statement from CENTCOM.
That opportunity doesn’t automatically mean that a solution will be implemented or deployed across the broader U.S. military, and the Defense Department has not always been successful moving good ideas into active use. But Buccino said the command does have a path to help the Pentagon use the ideas that come from the competition.
The CENTCOM science and technology office will first consider the solution and how it would help that command. From there, “We’re laying inroads and we’ve already started laying inroads with the [Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, now part of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office,] and the [Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.] So we’re laying the groundwork,” said Buccino. (Source: glstrade.com/Aol Defense One)
12 Aug 22. Australia launches supercomputing capability. The rapid data processing capability is tipped to support the development of modern weapons systems, including technology promised under the AUKUS agreement.
Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles has officially unveiled “Taingiwilta” — an advanced supercomputing capability developed with the support of the US Department of Defense’s High Performance Computing Modernisation Program.
Taingiwilta — launched at the Defence Science and Technology Group site at the Edinburgh Defence Precinct in Edinburgh, South Australia — is reportedly capable of processing data up to a m times faster than a standard computer.
The technology is expected to support the design, development and analysis of next-generation weapons and national security systems.
This is tipped to include the Royal Australian Navy’s future nuclear-powered submarines, quantum technologies, and artificial intelligence systems as part of the AUKUS technology-sharing agreement.
Taingiwilta, which means “powerful” in the language of the Kaurna people, is housed in a purpose-built secure facility called “Mukarntu”, meaning “computer”.
“For much of the work done by our Defence scientists, data is critical,” Minister Marles said.
“But even more important than the data itelf, is the ability to rapidly and reliably analyse and process that data.
“This high-performance computing facility provides a secure and sovereign capability to do just that.”
Minister Marles added the technology would also support stronger collaboration with international partners. (Source: Google/Defence Connect)
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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.
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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.
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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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