Sponsored By Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
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27 Oct 22. Venus Aerospace Benchmarks New Hypersonic Engine. Venus Aerospace, a startup developing both hypersonic drones and full scale, hypersonic passenger aircrafts, just became the first company in the world to get room temperature storable liquid fuels to operate in a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE). Detonation engines provide higher performance as compared to a typical rocket engine. Our vehicles can go faster and further than existing systems with the same amount of fuel. Rotating detonation means the supersonic combustion happens continuously inside the engine, and our video shows the detonation wave moving around the engine at supersonic speeds. Engine testing was completed at Venus Aerospace Headquarters, located on Spaceport Houston, after 3 months of testing. The test stand was designed and built over 12 months, and all within 18 months of relocating the company from California to Houston. Proving this technology is a critical step for bringing reusable high speed commercial travel to the general public in a number of years. “Venus Aerospace continues to impress me with both their intentional approach to technology progression and buying down operational risk in years, not decades,” says Jim Bridenstine, former NASA administrator, military aviator, and U.S. Congressman. “This important milestone regarding the rotating detonation rocket engine technology represents a key advancement towards real flying systems, both for defense applications and ultimately commercial high-speed travel. And they’ve done it in the context of building a world-class team and work experience – one that can move quickly but also with an eye towards flight test, certification, safety, and production.”
When operational, the Venus “Stargazer™” will connect distant cities of over 5,000 miles in under an hour. Venus will begin hypersonic RDRE flight testing with a 20-foot drone to support both national security and internal technology development.
Only a few companies and academic institutions have achieved rotating detonation, and Venus Aerospace is the first company to demonstrate this particular room-temperature storable propellant combination, which will allow hypersonic flights to be further, faster, and more often. “We now have both the technical knowledge and engineering to fully advance into next steps of development and flight testing,” says Dr. Andrew Duggleby, CTO and co-founder of Venus Aerospace. “In parallel, we have advanced our aerodynamics, avionics, and heat management technologies. Now it’s time to start putting all the pieces together, first with our small Mach 5 drone, and ultimately the Mach 9 “Stargazer™”, our full-scale passenger plane, which will have dual usage for both commercial and military applications,” says Duggleby.
“Since closing our initial funding in January 2020, Venus Aerospace has continued to push forward technology while building an incredible team, backed by world-class investors,” says Sarah “Sassie” Duggleby, CEO and co-founder. “It’s been exciting to watch our team continue to execute and buy down risk, while also creating a “people-first” culture. This is just the beginning of incredible milestones for our team, and I’m excited to see what the future holds for Venus Aerospace.”
About Venus Aerospace
Venus Aerospace is an early stage, deep tech company. Founded by Sarah “Sassie” Duggleby and Dr. Andrew Duggleby, Venus is building dual use hypersonic drones and spaceplanes for 1-hour global missions. Passengers will fly around the world and back home in time for dinner. For more information, head to our website, https://www.venusaero.com/. (Source: PR Newswire)
27 Oct 22. DOD Prototyping EV Chargers for Fleet, Personal Vehicles.
As electric vehicles continue to transform the ground transportation landscape across the nation, the Defense Department will need to provide EV chargers to enable on-installation EV usage.
The Defense Innovation Unit has partnered with the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and the Army Reserve to pilot installation of modern EV charging technology across eight military bases in the United States.
Leveraging a combination of Level-2 and Level-3 chargers, which offer the midrange and fastest charging capabilities, respectively, this pilot project will enable charging for both government and privately owned vehicles, said Benjamin Richardson, DIU Energy Portfolio director.
Once the on-base charger installation phase is complete, DIU will run a yearlong analysis to measure usage; uptime; vehicle types, be they government or personal; wait times; and mean time to repair, Richardson said.
The project will also evaluate the viability of “charging-as-a-service” payment models, wherein personal vehicle charging revenues defray DOD EV infrastructure investments, he said.
“By increasing the number of chargers on military bases, DOD is creating the infrastructure needed to expand EV usage, which will minimize carbon emissions in the long run,” he said. “Upon successful completion of the pilot, DOD partners intend to rollout chargers to other bases across the United States.”
DIU received 44 responses to the EV Charger Project solicitation. A panel of DOD subject matter experts facilitated a rigorous commercial solutions opening and down-select processes, resulting in the selection of seven vendors for the EV charging effort, Richardson said.
“The Navy-DIU EV pilot serves to advance innovation with key partners across Navy Installations by testing and implementing solutions to challenging electric vehicle infrastructure goals,” said Keith Benson, director of Energy-Navy Installations Command. “This effort builds upon existing Navy workplace charging policies; aligns with Executive Order 14057 and delegation of authorities; and represents the first Navy Energy Program pilot with DIU.”
The DOD partners selected TechFlow, a San Diego-based company with expertise in renewable energy projects, to complete the first eight pilots.
DIU leveraged its commercial solutions opening to rapidly launch an electric vehicle support equipment program, bringing new vendor partners to the DOD.
“EV technology is not novel, but its use in military installations is, especially when combining Level-2 and Level-3 chargers for overnight and fast-charging use cases within the same military base,” Benson said. “We’re excited to help with the military’s effort to reduce its carbon footprint by making EV charging for government and service members more accessible than ever.” (Source: US DoD)
26 Oct 22. Smith Myers ARTEMIS announces integration with FlySight Open Sight Mission Console software. Global roll out of ARTEMIS product suite focused on SAR role continues with FlySight collaboration. Latest announcement in 35th anniversary year by Smith Myers at EUROPEAN ROTORS, the VTOL show and safety conference, 8-10 November 2022, Cologne, Germany
Meet with our team at EUROPEAN ROTORS 2022, 8-10 November, Cologne, Germany (Hall K_H8 / 1610) and FlySight (Hall K_08/1214)
Smith Myers announces that its ARTEMIS Mobile Phone identification, geolocation and communication sensor is now available as an integrated airborne search solution with FlySight Open Sight Mission Console software.
The agreement, announced ahead of EUROPEAN ROTORS, combines OpenSIGHT-mc and ARTEMIS for deployment in SAR/ISR missions, where the augmented reality engine can be used to optimise search results.
Designed to work with any FlySight hardware options ARTEMIS can detect a phone at extended ranges and provide unique capabilities such as mass-mapping and geofencing to minimise crew workload.
ARTEMIS turns any mobile phone into a rescue beacon, only requiring two antennas to generate a latitude/longitude fix at up to 19 nautical miles (35km), offering a radical and effective alternative to traditional airborne sensors:
- Texting and calls in no service areas
- Possible automatic cueing of EO/IR (Electro -Optical/Infra-Red)
- Deployment as a stand-alone with embedded mapping or integrate with leading mission system providers
- Making missions in low light/ IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) safer and increasing the odds for a positive outcome
- Available in several SWaP configurations for manned/unmanned platforms
According to Andrew Munro, director, Smith Myers: “ARTEMIS allows the operator to search for and geolocate the mobile phones of persons in distress during search and rescue operations and natural disasters. The integration of the location information from ARTEMIS into OpenSight creates a clearer operational picture for the operator and simply put, leads to more positive outcomes.”
The collaboration is the first between Italian-based FlySight and UK-based Smith Myers, both deployed with customers globally across SAR and ISR applications, across rotary and fixed wing aircraft.
Andrea Masini, CTO of FlySight explained the system integration: “The same information can also be exploited directly by the augmented reality engine, where the georeferenced positions are overlayed directly on top of the video together with the localisation uncertainty, thus allowing the operator to use the EO system to confirm the localisation outcome, and can be used to steer the turret automatically in order to frame the desired location, “
ARTEMIS has been in active service saving lives around the world. The global customer base includes deployment with the Royal Norwegian Airforce for Search and Rescue duties with the Leonardo AW101 SAR Queen, and has received many international awards, including the coveted Royal Aeronautical Society Silver medal.
The FlySight team provides solutions for the design and development of state-of-the-art C4ISR systems (Command, Control, Computer, Communication for Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance). The solutions proposed are based on AI (Artificial Intelligence) approaches exploiting the latest cognitive signal processing and adaptive data fusion algorithms. Our applications are researched and targeted for avionics, naval and underwater sectors, providing geospatial situational awareness both for the on-ground and the on-board segments. Real-time PED (Processing Exploitation and Dissemination) is allowed by the integration of our products in already existing architectures thanks to the interoperability of our systems with STANAG and OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards. Moreover, the adoption of Deep Learning methodologies coupled to Augmented Reality enables the definition of disruptive ISTAR (Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) systems. www.flysight.it
About: Smith Myers Communications Ltd is an award-winning UK company specialising in the design, development, manufacture and support of application specific cellular network and handset capabilities for Network Operators, Government Agencies, Law Enforcement, Military, and Search and Rescue organisations. Awards include: Royal Aeronautical Society Silver Medal; ADS Security Innovation Awards, British Engineering Excellence Award, and ICCA (International Critical Communications) Award
26 Oct 22. Teal Drones and Tomahawk Robotics Partner to Simultaneously Control Air- and Ground-Based Vehicles.
Teal Drones, the defense- and security-focused subsidiary of Red Cat Holdings, Inc., announced that it has significantly enhanced the capabilities of its 4-Ship multi-vehicle system through a partnership with Tomahawk Robotics, the leading innovator of common control solutions.
Teal is one of just a few “Blue UAS List” drone manufacturers authorized to provide equipment to the U.S. military, and one of only two invited to participate in the U.S. Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance Tranche 2 (SRR T2). The ultimate goal of the SRR T2 program is to provide a rucksack-portable, small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) that gives fighters situational awareness beyond the next terrain feature.
Announced in May, Teal’s 4-Ship platform is a multi-vehicle system for defense, government and public safety markets that allows a single operator to simultaneously control up to four of Teal’s Golden Eagle – the first drone mass produced entirely in the U.S. under strict guidelines from the U.S. Department of Defense.
“Our partnership with Tomahawk Robotics takes Teal’s 4-Ship to a whole new level – allowing the warfighter in the field to simultaneously control the Golden Eagle and other unmanned vehicles, such as rovers and robots on the ground, as well as other unmanned aircraft – all within a single application on a single pane of glass,” said Red Cat Holdings CEO Jeff Thompson. “Allowing fighters to coordinate an arsenal of unmanned systems in the air and on the ground gives them a significant advantage in finding and subduing the enemy. This is a game changer.”
In addition, the Tomahawk Robotics partnership allows one operator to hand off control of one or more drones, rovers or robots to another operator without shutting down the operation. For example, one operator may keep his group of drones focused on surveillance of an enemy location while he hands off control of one drone/robot/rover in the group to pursue an enemy who is leaving the location.
The agreement will adopt Tomahawk Robotics’ Kinesis ecosystem as the control solution for both the Teal Air Control (TAC) controller and any subsequent Tomahawk Robotics’ Grip and/or Mimic controllers used by Teal.
Tomahawk Robotics’ Kinesis provides Teal’s Golden Eagle with the following capabilities:
- Multi-vehicle command and control (multiple Teal Golden Eagles) and multi-domain command and control (Teal Golden Eagle paired with unmanned ground vehicles).
- Simultaneous command and control of disparate unmanned systems.
- ATAK information sharing for increased battlefield visualization.
- Handoff of control to a secondary operator (many-to-many control).
- Providing center field of view coordinates for aided target recognition.
- Mission-planner level of semi-autonomy with human-in-the-loop decision making.
- A MOSA framework that delivers AI-enabled capabilities such as Reveal Technology’s Farsight 3D Mapping software, Athena AI’s Object Detection Classifiers, and other third- party advanced features.
“Red Cat and Teal have established themselves as vital partners to the U.S. defense forces in creating small, unmanned aircraft that give fighters in the field the advanced situational awareness that can mean the difference between success and failure,” said Tomahawk Robotics CEO Brad Truesdell. “The integration of our Kinesis AI-enabled control software into the 4-Ship platform holds the potential to create an exceptional multi-vehicle system that can play an out-size role on the battlefield. We are honored to partner with Red Cat and Teal to make this enhanced product available.” (Source: UAS VISION)
25 Oct 22. Aliro Quantum Introduces World’s First Multi-Purpose Entanglement-Based Quantum Network Solution. Aliro Quantum, the first pure play quantum networking company, today announced the availability of AliroNet™, a comprehensive end-to-end entanglement-based Quantum Network solution. This unified solution is used to emulate entanglement-based quantum networks, implement small scale pilots, and deploy full-scale universal entanglement-based quantum networks.
AliroNet is a comprehensive end-to-end entanglement-based Quantum Network solution.
AliroNet™ users include utility companies, telecommunications providers, public sector organizations, enterprises, and researchers who are simulating, designing, piloting, and building the world’s first entanglement-based quantum networks. These universal multipurpose entanglement-based quantum networks coexist with classical networks and are being used to implement unhackable secure communications, interconnects for scaling quantum computing, and distributed quantum sensor networks.
“Aliro continues to experience increased traction with a range of organizations,” said Dr. Prineha Narang, founder and Chief Technology Officer with Aliro. “AliroNet will simplify the ability to simulate, design, pilot, and deploy quantum networks for use in secure communications implementations, quantum computing connectivity, and distributed quantum sensing.”
AliroNet is hardware vendor agnostic and is licensed in three modes of operation. These three modes of operation align with the genuine quantum network rollout stages. Each mode of operation includes Aliro technical support services with the option to purchase additional services if necessary. AliroNet™ is delivered as a service and includes Aliro Simulator, Aliro Orchestrator, Aliro Controller, and AlirOS™.
“Aliro is building quantum networks and creating a foundation for the Quantum Internet,” said Jim Ricotta, CEO and Chairman of Aliro Quantum. “The introduction of AliroNet will accelerate our successful collaboration with commercial and government entities to enable the simulation, design, and implementation of multipurpose Quantum Networks.”
AliroNet Emulation Mode includes the easy-to-use, customizable, and scalable Aliro Simulator for emulating multi-vendor quantum hardware and optical fiber, an insight-generating visualization suite, and the ability to model uncertainty and quantum mechanics at the single-photon level with utmost physical accuracy. These capabilities can be used to accelerate pilot design and emulation by running full-stack quantum network protocol emulations with extremely high time resolution, integrating classical communications, benchmarking against industry standards, and identifying design bottlenecks to network performance. AliroNet Emulation Mode includes noise models, delay models, protocol tests, realistic simulation, software emulation of quantum hardware, and professional services.
AliroNet Pilot Mode includes everything supported in Emulation Mode and delivers the full-stack quantum network implementation for small scale pilot and trial deployments on third-party hardware with AlirOS™. This includes initial experimentation, protocol tuning, testing interoperability and integration, debugging, calibration, and network orchestration with Aliro Orchestrator and Aliro Controller.
AliroNet Deployment Mode includes everything supported in Pilot Mode in addition to full-scale orchestration and on-device control software with universal network support. Deployment Mode includes Aliro Operating System (AlirOS™) and Aliro Controller software which operates on hardware devices, nodes, and components in the quantum network to enable end-to-end applications for multiple concurrent users. AliroNet Deployment Mode is also available in an orchestration-only configuration which may be used to configure, control, and manage third-party control software running on third-party hardware components. AliroNet Deployment Mode scales pilots into production quantum networks spanning large geographical distances.
Aliro Quantum also helps customers with the analysis, selection, and acquisition of third party quantum networking hardware components used to build quantum repeaters, memories, routers, photon sources, photon detectors, and other optical components.
AliroNet use cases include unhackable secure connectivity between sites, campuses, branch offices, data centers, and clouds. AliroNet is able to operate in conjunction with traditional classical networks and existing fiber installations meaning it does not require a forklift upgrade to implement an entanglement-based quantum network.
AliroNet enables the interconnection of quantum computers located within a single location or across larger geographic locations. This use case will enable quantum computing to scale in performance more rapidly to solve some of the world’s most complex and difficult problems without the need to depend on or wait for individual quantum processors to scale in performance.
AliroNet can connect multiple geographically dispersed quantum sensors to one another and to centralized processing, storage, and analytical systems. This enables advanced use cases for energy, utilities, geography, astrophysics, and environmental measurements, analysis, and correlation.
AliroNet™ pricing starts at $100,000. AliroNet™ modes are priced based on quantum networking parameters such as number of nodes supported, quantity of communication qubits, and network fidelity requirements.
Visit Aliro Quantum to learn more about AliroNet™ at the Inside Quantum Technologies conference being held at The Conference Center In New York City October 25-27, 2022. Join Michael Cubeddu, Co-founder of Aliro Quantum, who will speak on the panel “Quantum Safe in the Military” at 10:35am ET on October 26, 2022.
About Aliro
Aliro Quantum, the first pure play quantum networking company, offers AliroNet™ to emulate, pilot, and deploy entanglement-based quantum networks that are capable of running a wide variety of applications from secure communications to clustered quantum computing and distributed quantum sensing. Aliro, spun out of NarangLab at Harvard University, includes world-class experts in quantum and classical networking and is leading the charge in quantum network development by offering the foundational technologies needed for organizations around the world to build scalable and powerful distributed quantum systems. AliroNet™ users include utility companies, telecommunications providers, public sector organizations, enterprises, and researchers who are simulating, designing, piloting, orchestrating, and building the world’s first entanglement-based quantum networks.
Aliro also works with industry and academic partners through the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), the NSF Center for Quantum Networks (CQN), and the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks (HQAN). Additionally, Aliro is involved in several quantum networking standards groups at IEEE and QED-C. To learn more, visit www.aliroquantum.com. (Source: PR Newswire)
27 Oct 22. ShadowDragon and Siren Form Strategic Partnership.
Market Leading Technologies Combine to Provide Powerful Investigative Solution. ShadowDragon™, a provider of open source intelligence (OSINT), unique datasets, and APIs that reduce the friction of sourcing, collecting, and sorting publicly available information in modern investigations, today announced a strategic partnership with Siren, a leading provider of Investigative Intelligence analytics.
The partnership between the two companies establishes an alignment particularly relevant to law enforcement, national security, and investigative corporate users. ShadowDragon simplifies the complexities of modern investigations that involve multiple online environments. Data sources it can access include news, current affairs, social media, chatrooms, online forums, malware intelligence, and historical datasets. Applications such as SocialNet™, OIMonitor™, and MalNet™ are part of the ShadowDragon suite, which extract static and live open source data from global networks.
“Partnering with Siren presented the opportunity to connect restful APIs for our entire ShadowDragon intelligence suite into a single investigative source, tipping the balance for investigative teams worldwide,” said Daniel Clemens, founder and CEO of ShadowDragon.
The Siren platform is used worldwide as a key component in investigative solutions, searches, and discovery efforts. It performs enterprise-wide search, providing sets of links which enables the clear visualization and exploration of relationships between records. Siren supports the spectrum of data used in open source intelligence. OSINT’s volume and complexity of unstructured and structured data demands a robust platform. Siren offers end-to-end capabilities that address these types of challenges.
Siren’s intuitive user interface supports analysts as they search for key bad actors. As events unfold, Siren fuses data with other sources in real-time. It is critical to fuse the new data with existing data in a seamless environment and Siren’s unique ability to onboard data using its fluid schema makes it ideal for the depth of open source intelligence delivered by ShadowDragon. Siren allows analysts to blend traditional and new intelligence disciplines into a single view. The combined real-time processing of news and media sources are a must for any OSINT mission. Siren, Powered by ShadowDragon, gives analysts the edge they need.
John Randles, CEO of Siren, said: “Enriching classified data with OSINT data is a key challenge that many investigators face. This partnership completely solves that issue. Both companies have the same mantra – provide technology which enables the good guys to win and the bad guys to lose, and in doing so you keep people, assets, and networks safe.”
Investigators are now able to access ShadowDragon data from directly within the Siren platform. The offering is available for both cloud and on-premises deployments. ShadowDragon solutions are used by hundreds of clients in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. This includes Fortune 50 companies as well as U.S.-based and international law enforcement, government, military, and intelligence organizations. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
26 Oct 22. Saudi Arabia signs 5 major aerospace, tech deals. The Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) has signed five investment agreements in the aerospace, technology and finance sectors, demonstrating the country’s emerging positioning in global value chains. The agreements were signed on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII6) conference in Riyadh. MISA signed two of the agreements in the aerospace sector, demonstrating the kingdom’s emerging positioning in this strategic industry. They include:
- An agreement with world-leading aerospace company Boeing and local advanced metals manufacturer Tasnee to advance the kingdom’s aerospace industry value chain; and
- An agreement with US space training company Orbite to develop investment opportunities in space tourism and entertainment.
With an ambitious goal of localising 50 percent of the aerospace and defence sector’s expenditure by 2030, the kingdom has succeeded in attracting investment from companies across the entire aerospace and defense supply chain, from global original equipment manufacturers to small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Major business climate reforms, including easy online licensing, 100% foreign ownership and the establishment of the General Authority of Military industries (GAMI) as the regulatory body have enabled this swift progress, said the ministry.
MISA also signed two agreements in the technology sector and one in the finance sector. They are:
- An agreement with the American biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks to expand biotechnology capabilities in the kingdom by implementing innovative public health technologies, establishing synthetic biology support for public health and providing other tools training and data infrastructure;
- An agreement with Korea’s Taihan Cable & Solution to establish a new extra high voltage cable and copper rod manufacturing plant; and
- An agreement with Brazilian financial company BTG Pactual, one of Latin America’s largest investment banks, to establish a regional headquarters in Riyadh.
The agreements signed on Tuesday illustrate sustained confidence in the kingdom as a world-class investment destination, one of the key goals of the National Investment Strategy (NIS) launched a year ago, the statement said.
A core component of the strategy is the Global Supply Chain Resilience Initiative – launched on Sunday. The initiative aims to enable global investors to create low-risk, low-cost and low-carbon supply chains leveraging the kingdom’s natural resources, strong logistics infrastructure and untapped potential. In its launch phase, the initiative aims to attract more than $10 bn of industrial and service investments in global supply chains to the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has seen strong growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) in recent years as the kingdom’s economic reforms have unlocked a broad range of opportunities for international investors. Last year net FDI growth increased by an unprecedented 257.2%, with inflows totalling almost $20bn for the year – the highest they have been in 10 years.
This momentum continued into 2022, with inflows growing 10% on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter.
According to the International Monetary Fund, Saudi Arabia is expected to be the fastest-growing G20 economy this year, due in part to sweeping pro-business reforms, with gross domestic product expected to expand by 7.6 percent, the fastest growth in almost a decade, the statement added. (Source: Google/TradeArabia News Service )
25 Oct 22. Amprius Technologies, Inc. and BAE Systems Enter Into a Three-Year Cooperation Agreement. Amprius Technologies, Inc. (“Amprius”) (NYSE: AMPX), a leader in ultra-high energy density lithium-ion batteries with its Silicon Nanowire Anode Platform, today announced that it has entered into a three-year cooperation agreement with BAE Systems.
Amprius will initially work with BAE Systems’ Air business, delivering its light weight high-energy batteries specifically developed for electrically powered flight applications.
Both parties agree to investigate business opportunities enabled by the use and supply of Amprius’ silicon nanowire anode batteries for electric products being developed by BAE Systems in the UK.
“We are exceedingly pleased to enter into this cooperation agreement with BAE Systems,” said Dr. Kang Sun, Chief Executive Officer of Amprius. “BAE Systems is at the technological forefront of the defense industry, and this agreement validates the potential of our silicon nanowire anode technology for rigorous aerial applications. We look forward to working with the BAE Systems team to advance the development of their electric products.”
“Amprius’ innovative silicon nanowire anode battery cells have the potential to deliver exceptional performance and so we’re keen to work with them to explore opportunities for the electric products that we’re developing for military applications,” said Dave Holmes, Advanced Projects, Technology and Manufacturing Director at BAE Systems’ Air.
About Amprius Technologies, Inc.
Amprius Technologies, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of high-energy and high-power lithium-ion batteries producing the industry’s highest energy density cells. The company’s corporate headquarters is in Fremont, California where it maintains an R&D lab and a pilot manufacturing facility for the fabrication of silicon nanowire anodes and cells. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
24 Oct 22. General Micro Systems Takes Home Three ‘Best of Show.’
Awards at AUSA 2022 Highlighting Computing Innovations for Building the Army of 2030. Four-star winners in Embedded Computing, Rugged Computing and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning categories are built on GMS’ innovative new X9 Spider distributed architecture for the next-generation Army . Three new General Micro Systems (GMS) innovations won Best of Show from Military Embedded Systems magazine at the Association for the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Washington, D.C. All built on GMS’ new X9 Spider architecture, the X9 Host System earned a 4-star designation in the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning category, while the VPX3XD-NET SOSA-Aligned single board computer (SBC) took the top 4-star award in the Embedded Computing category and the ATR-PLUS 3U OpenVPX chassis earned the top award in Rugged Computing.
General Micro Systems CEO and Chief Architect Ben Sharfi showing off the
three Best of Show awards the company won at AUSA 2022. The new products
were built on its new X9 Spider modular and super-dense X9 distributed
architecture, the most innovative, rugged, and reliable computing
technologies available for the next-generation Army.
“All three products are built on our new X9 Spider modular and super-dense X9 distributed architecture, the most innovative, rugged, and reliable computing technologies available for the next-generation Army,” said Chris Ciufo, Chief Technology Officer, General Micro Systems. “Whether the applications require OpenVPX or more efficient implementations like our small form factor (SFF) X9 Spider Host AI system, there is nothing like any of them on the market today, and we’re proud that Military Embedded Systems and the hundreds of visitors who visited our booth at AUSA recognized how truly unique and groundbreaking they are. They are must-haves for ensuring our military can compete at any level.”
Built to support the Army’s needs to sense, protect, communicate, sustain, and win the battlefield of 2030, the award-winning trio of products include:
- The X9 Host AI system, one of the first products in the X9 Spider family of distributed, ruggedized computing modules to support the demanding needs of next-generation warfare. The X9 Host AI ( artificial intelligence ) system is for applications that require SFF AI battlefield edge processing within a rugged enclosure with amazing performance per dollar per Watt. Like all X9 products, the X9 Host AI system is modular, expandable and scalable, with Thunderbolt™ 4 technology, CoaXPress, and GMS’ patented LightBolt™ 40Gbps connections in copper or fiber, with optional 100W per port power for up-/down-stream sensors and system expansion.
- VPX3XD-NET SOSA™ Aligned single board computer, with Intel® XEON™ D Ice Lake network-centric (“NET”) processor module, with 2-6 RDMA 100GbE and 2-4 Thunderbolt™ 4 ports. The VPX3XD-NET is part of GMS’ new family of X9 Venom 3U and 6U OpenVPX computer boards, peripherals and ATR-style chassis for use in U.S. Army ground, air, communications and weapons systems. All products follow ANSI/VITA 65 standards, meet the Department of Defense (DoD) requirement for modular open standards approach (MOSA) electronic systems, and are IEEE 1101.2 conduction cooled. X9 Venom products are also SOSA™ (Sensor Open Standard Architecture) aligned and ready to meet C4ISR/Electronic Warfare Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS), two standards that increasingly are requirements in U.S. Army programs and platform upgrades.
- ATR-PLUS 3U OpenVPX chassis, also part of the X9 Venom family, is specifically designed for high performance applications that require massive power/heat dissipation, with provisions for extensive copper, fiber and RF I/O. It comes in aluminum alloy or carbon fiber to save up to 30% in weight. Per-slot heat pipe cooling improves reliability and extends operating range. All chassis front panels are infinitely configurable and include high- and low-speed copper connectors plus fiber connectors for internal backplane and card front panel wiring. 3U chassis have six or eight slots, a removable 4-SSD canister for data storage, and two slots for dual 1000W smart power supplies. 6U chassis include two canisters for removable storage and eight slots, with two reserved for power supplies. All Thunderbolt technology-equipped chassis offer 100W Power Delivery over fiber.
About General Micro Systems
General Micro Systems (GMS) is the rugged server company. The company is known as the industry expert in highest-density, modular, compute-intensive, and rugged small form-factor embedded computing systems, servers, and switches. These powerful systems are ideal for demanding C5ISR defense, aerospace, medical, industrial, and energy exploration applications. GMS is an IEC, ISO, AS9100, NIST-800-171, and MIL-SPEC supplier with infrastructure and operations for long-life, spec-controlled, and configuration-managed programs.
Designed from the ground up to provide the highest performance and functionality in the harshest environments on the planet, the company’s highly customizable products include GMS Rugged DNA™ with patented RuggedCool™ and patent-pending Diamond RuggedCool2™ and LightBolt. GMS is also the leader in deployable high-end Intel® and NVIDIA® processors and GPUs. For more information, visit www.gms4sbc.com.
General Micro Systems and the General Micro Systems logo are trademarks of General Micro Systems, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.
24 Oct 22. Technology needed as border protection force multiplier. Technological innovation is needed if the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) border protection tasking is to “enhance” work executed under the Operation Corona mandate.
Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) in the form of co-chair Cyril Xaba said after last week’s meeting the committee is “acutely aware of serious capacity challenges negatively impacting” South Africa’s territorial integrity.
Another who is concerned about particularly the health and welfare of soldiers deployed on the border protection tasking is General Rudzani Maphwanya.
In his first introduction to a Department of Defence (DoD) annual report, the just released 2021/22 edition, the SANDF Chief writes the national defence force “needs to maximise the potential of the 15 sub-units [companies] on the borderline by creating positive working conditions and environment for our men and women in uniform”.
Continuing, he states “efforts must be made to refurbish Operation Corona infrastructure to create humane conditions for our soldiers”.
On technology acquisition specifically for border protection, the JSCD heard R225 m was allocated in 2020 for utilisation over three years. The R65 m allocated for year one was redirected and utilised in combatting COVID-19. The R75 m year two (2021/22) allocation went to what a presentation said was “improvements to facilities and critical PME (prime mission equipment) requirements” with the final R85 m tranche going to unspecified “technology systems”.
A presentation by Chief Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Siphiwe Sangweni, to the JSCD revealed “work is underway to bring in technology in the form of sensors and radars as a force multiplier in the medium term.”
Technology has been utilised in border safeguarding for a number of years to date and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) continue in service. “New technology systems in the form of sensors and radars are being acquired for deployment on the borderline by next year (2023),” Sangweni’s presentation stated.
Judging from a Parliamentary Communication Service statement, at least some acquisition problems are a result of “lengthy procurement” with the JSCD “urging” senior military leadership to work with National Treasury to ensure this “ongoing problem” is resolved with soldiers on the ground accessing whatever technology is acquired.
The publicly elected representatives on the JSCD maintain the national defence force needs to work with “related government departments at all levels” to overcome “infrastructure challenges”. These include poor fencing, patrol road and access routes.
Unrelated, but in line with Maphwanya’s annual report introduction, the JSCD wants “proper attention” given to soldiers’ morale which “impacts negatively on operations” with improved facilities singled out.
The SA Army is the sole supplier of manpower for Operation Corona’s landward border component with regular and Reserve force units deployed in seven provinces with international borders. They are Limpopo (Zimbabwe), Mpumalanga (Mozambique), KwaZulu-Natal (Eswatini and Mozambique), Eastern Cape (Lesotho), Northern Cape (Namibia), Free State (Lesotho) and North-West (Botswana). Companies are deployed for a six-month period with three objectives.
These are to prevent “illegal cross border movements of persons, contraband, livestock, weapons, drugs and vehicles”; apprehend undocumented persons, criminals, illegal livestock, weapons, drugs, contraband and stolen vehicles and “create a deterrence to any possible threat of foreign aggression”.
For the second quarter of 2022 (July to September), SANDF soldiers on border protection duty apprehended 3 730 undocumented persons, confiscated R12.5 m worth of contraband goods (alcohol, cigarettes, counterfeit clothing etc.), R5 m worth of drugs, 15 weapons, 484 stolen head of livestock and 66 stolen vehicles. A hundred and twenty-two criminals were arrested, Joint Operations statistics revealed.
(Source: https://www.defenceweb.co.za/)
24 Oct 22. Elbit Australia to reorganise after BMS disappointment.
Elbit Systems of Australia (ELSA) is reorganising to better position the company to meet the challenges and opportunities of future programs within the Australian defence industry sector.
The company’s CEO, MAJGEN (ret’d) Paul McLachlan, said that after more than a decade of intense activity supporting the ADF with advanced technological solutions, the current program of work is concluding.
EX2 understands that the company is awaiting second pass decisions on some projects and is shortlisted for others, but a spokesman said, “As a consequence of the changes to the business, an organisational review has also commenced and may result in a number of redundancies.”
“The Land 200 Tranche 2 program has been the principal driver for the structure and capabilities within Elbit Systems of Australia, which will be adjusting its workforce to optimise delivery of existing projects and focus more clearly on our breadth of capabilities that will support its future upcoming business and significant opportunities in the Australian market,” Mr McLachlan said. “Over the past three years ELSA has conducted a comprehensive transformation into a truly Australian subsidiary of a global prime defence company. This transformation has significantly strengthened the governance, engineering, IT infrastructure and security within the company.
“This transformation has been acknowledged by the Commonwealth, which we believe positions us well to continue to support the ADF with some of the most advanced Australianised technology available.”
Last year, after working with the Australian Army for more than a decade, ELSA was notified that the Australian Army had suspended the use of the in-service Battle Management System. An interim solution, provided by Danish company Systematic, has been put into service but EX2 understands this is not delivering the functionality sought by the Australian Army.
ELSA and the Commonwealth remain in contract until March 2023 to sustain the BMS it has delivered, along with associated capabilities, and train soldiers in its employment. And the spokesman said ELSA will retain its core capabilities as a sovereign Australian defence company to continue to support its existing and future defence business, including C2 software network development supporting international programs.
“ELSA also has a number of contracts that it is under final tender evaluation for, including our contribution to Land 400 Phase 3, shortlisting for L125-4 Individual Soldier Systems and a small UAV contract,” the spokesman added. In addition, ELSA continues to maintain about 5000 of the Australian Army’s small arms thermal weapon sights, XACT TH65.
ELSA remains committed to adding value to national resilience through the transparent transfer of technology directly into an Australian engineering workforce, the company said in a statement. “We also continue our partnership with the Victorian State Government through our Centre of Excellence for Innovation to conduct cutting-edge research and development, teaming with local universities and SMEs,” said McLachlan. “Furthermore, ELSA is taking part in the wider global R&D activities of Elbit for the international market.”
“The restructuring of Elbit Systems of Australia will positively position the company for a bright and sustainable future by broadening the skill set and application of the engineering workforce and to provide better access to the company’s growing portfolio of capability solutions,” Mr McLachlan said. “Elbit Systems Ltd continues to see Australia as an important market and we look forward to our future partnership to provide cutting-edge capability to the ADF through our enduring Australian workforce.” (Source: Rumour Control)
25 Oct 22. Lockheed Martin delivers first NGI flight software to US DoD.
The technology will help defend the country against potential intercontinental ballistic missile threats. Lockheed Martin has announced the delivery of the first flight software package to the US Department of Defence’s (DoD) Missile Defense Agency. The flight software for the US’ advanced intercontinental ballistic missile interceptor is intended to offer security against evolving threats. The technology was supplied ahead of schedule and paves the way for flight testing and fielding.
As its next step, the NGI team will work on using its software factory to produce codes and add more features for future software releases for the convenience of soldiers. Lockheed Martin recently began work on building a missile system integration lab in Huntsville, Alabama. The facility will support development work taken up under the NGI programme.
The first NGI is scheduled for delivery in the fiscal year 2027, according to the company. Earlier this year, Lockheed Martin collaborated with Microsoft to advance 5G.MIL technologies and support secure connectivity across US DoD systems, covering various domains. The 5G.MIL solutions are designed to help integrate military communications with tactical gateway capabilities (.MIL), using 5G technology to facilitate connectivity and data flow across all battlefield assets. The technology aims to address adversary capabilities that seek to deny, degrade or infiltrate communications networks. (Source: army-technology.com)
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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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