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25 Jan 24. Defense technology firms watch new strategy for ‘generational’ change. The Pentagon’s new strategy for the defense industry speaks the language of innovation. In the cover letter alone, it calls for “generational” change, a “modernized industrial ecosystem” and more work with “innovative new technology developers.”
To an extent, these are slogans of the tech-style companies trying to remake what and how the Pentagon buys. The document is, in part, a test of how tightly their ideas are taking hold, industry executives say.
In interviews with Defense News, many such firms said they were glad to see their priorities in such a high-level document. Still, they said, what matters more is not what the plan says, it’s how the plan is implemented.
“From my experience, government strategies are a dime a dozen,” said Chris Brose, head of strategy for defense technology company Anduril. “The real money is made in execution.”
Brose’s stance is similar to how other companies — including those selling more traditional weapons — have described the document. They want to see the Pentagon take meaningful steps toward change, like buying more off-the-shelf systems, incentivizing innovation and making it easier for small businesses to meet security requirements.
Still, the stakes are higher for firms like his, whose slice of the defense budget is smaller and who argue that legacy suppliers can’t move quickly enough to outcompete China.
The strategy identifies a similar problem. China’s manufacturing strength in certain areas “vastly exceeds” that of the U.S. and western allies, it says. And yet, it’s not clear to what extent the Pentagon sees innovation as an answer — even if it wants to do more business with such companies.
“We really have to address the current and acute challenges as well as the future threats,” said Laura Taylor-Kale, the Pentagon’s head of industrial base policy, in a briefing.
A.J. Piplica, CEO of hypersonics startup Hermeus, said he appreciated the strategy’s emphasis on increasing production capacity. Still, he told Defense News the document lacks detail on specific capabilities.
“I think a lot of the tactical actions that maybe sit below this strategy probably focus more toward the capacity side,” Piplica said. “What’s missing is, how do we leverage the capability side of this to bring asymmetric capabilities to bear faster and get them transitioned and into production.”
Implementation plan
In classified sessions that will last through January, Pentagon officials are speaking with firms on how to implement the strategy. Anduril will participate in those, just as it did in the earlier round of engagement while defense officials wrote the document.
Brose said his firm wants to see two things. The first is more investment in the types of drones Anduril makes, cheaper and more expendable compared to traditional weapons. The second is a set of incentives that rewards new, innovative companies, which are in some cases still learning to do business with the Pentagon.
In an interview with Defense News, the acting deputy of Pentagon industrial base policy, Halimah Najieb-Locke, said such incentives are a priority.
“The growth of innovative technologies in the commercial world has created a growth of opportunity space in the defense world,” she said.
Using that opportunity, she said, will require a different set of assumptions from the Pentagon, some of which are mentioned directly in the strategy. The Defense Department spent most of the 20th century holding major sway over its suppliers, whose only customer was often the government.
At least in regard to new technology, this is largely no longer true. Innovation often now comes from the private sector, and the Pentagon is only one of many customers for the businesses in that market.
“We still work on some of those assumptions as we’re driving the competition,” Najieb-Locke said.
With these markets, over which the Pentagon has less control, its role will likely be as a guide. In addition to issuing contracts, Najieb-Locke said, the department can help avoid risks in the supply chain.
Among its nearly two dozen recommendations, the new strategy says the Defense Department should “prioritize off-the-shelf acquisition where applicable and reasonable.” Doing so, it says, will help provide cheaper and faster equipment and increase the supplier base.
That being said, the incentives to accomplish this goal aren’t yet in place, said Doug Philippone, co-founder of the VC firm Snowpoint Ventures and head of global defense at Palantir.
“It’s not where it should be,” he said of the Pentagon’s demand for innovation. “It’s way too much of a fight,” he added.
One fundamental reason the department struggles to integrate new technology is that acquisition programs are siloed. Jade Baranski, CEO of data analytics and AI firm Mobilize, said program offices often duplicate efforts because they weren’t aware that another team had already solved a particular problem.
Mobilize has launched a data platform called Vision, a system designed to give program managers and other decisionmakers to see and track the various innovation projects being developed and implemented across an organization.
Baranski was glad to see similar goals of connection and transparency outlined in the new strategy.
“There’s plenty of tech in the space,” they said. “There’s plenty of great companies ready to execute. But how do you actually connect the dots?”
Cost of entry
Connecting the dots looks different across the innovation market, which has larger companies like Anduril and Palantir, along with a churn of new entrants.
A priority for smaller firms is making sure the Pentagon understands how hard of a customer it can be. Josh Marino, vice president of operations at solid rocket motor company Evolution Space, said the Pentagon’s strict security requirements can price companies out of the market.
Marino said he was glad to see the strategy mention these “cybersecurity costs of entry” and other programs that would make it easier for small businesses to work with the department.
Pentagon officials have said a classified plan to implement the strategy will be finished in March. As the department moves forward with that plan, Marino said he’s looking for signs of reassurance.
“Seeing dollars move around and being reprioritized . . . those are strong, near-term indicators that this strategy we’re trying to apply as a country is actually being implemented,” he said. (Source: Defense News)
25 Jan 24. Hermeus satisfied with Quarterhorse Mk 0 testing, constructing Mk 1. Following ground tests of its Quarterhorse Mk 0 ‘dynamic iron bird’, Hermeus is preparing to complete the build of and unveil its first flight-test vehicle, dubbed Mk 1.
Mk 0 testing wrapped up in November 2023. The test campaign, conducted at the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tullahoma, Tennessee, marked Hermeus’s first real-world test deployment beyond its Atlanta, Georgia factory. Although a 4 January statement noted testing of subsystems, ground handling, radio frequency (RF) lag, and lost-link performance, among other things, “I look more broadly at the objectives of not just that test campaign, but that part of the Quarterhorse programme”, AJ Piplica, the company’s founder and CEO, told Janes in a 22 January interview. “It’s very much about kind of exercising all the elements of the full company as well as our interfaces with the regulatory bodies.”
“We’ve gone 0 to 1 on all of our internal proxies for [manufacturing], tracing the traceability of everything through all of our systems, to the point where we can deliver an airworthiness package to the [USAF] for the Mk 1,” Piplica added. (Source: Janes)
25 Jan 24. South Africa and Algeria Conclude Aeronautics Research Agreement. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa and the University of Blida in Algeria signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a Joint Centre of Excellence (JCoE) in aeronautics research.
The signing took place at the recent International Exhibition of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in Algeria.
The JCoE is facilitated by the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, as well as the South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) to establish a working relationship where Algeria would be strengthened in the field of aeronautics and the DST supported in expanding the South Africa/Algeria science and technology bilateral.
Potential fields of co-operation include technologies for UAVs; avionics and ground systems; aircraft structures; gas turbines; wind tunnels; store integration; hypersonic flow; flow control; space technologies; computational methods; aero-elasticity; optronics; radar and aero acoustics.
Knowledge transfer in the form of staff exchange programmes, post-graduate student programmes, joint seminars and workshops, joint development programmes and co-supervision on post-graduate programmes leading to common publications, also form part of the JCoE.
“Outside of South Africa, there are really no other significant aeronautics research capabilities and facilities in Africa. Algeria’s equivalent Science and Technology Department understands the requirement for Africa to take ownership of its aeronautics research requirements and is delighted to close the African aeronautics research chasm through collaboration with South Africa,” Acting Executive Director at CSIR DPSS retired air force major general Des Barker said.
CSIR Aeronautics experts attended the International Exhibition of UAVs and model aircraft held under the patronage of the President of Algeria and facilitated by the Director General of Scientific Research and Technological development in Algeria. The CSIR presented on various topics and performed a flight demonstration of the CSIR’s Indiza Mini UAV.
The exhibition ran over three days with the keynote address given by Barker and concluding with the signing of an MoU between the CSIR, represented by Barker, and the University of Blida, represented by Dr Mohamed Mebarki, Algerian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
The exhibition was part of the 60th anniversary of the start of the Revolution of November 1, 1954, with the participation of universities, research centres including the CSIR, and Algerian national institutions, such as the Ministry of National Defence. Also participating were foreign universities and scientific institutions specialised in the field of aeronautics from several countries, including Tunisia, Germany, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and Brazil.(Source: https://www.defenceweb.co.za/)
24 Jan 24. On-Board HPEC Processing of Big Data in a Pod.
SRC has been focused on solving myriad problems that exist around the data analysis requirements of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. In an effort to bring big data analysis closer to the sensor, SRC has developed Agile Condor for the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) in Rome, NY. The Agile Condor pod system is a scalable, low cost, size, weight and power (low-CSWaP) hardware architecture that enables high-performance embedded computing (HPEC) on-board remotely piloted aircraft (RPA).
The Agile Condor flight-configured pod system consists of an external pod enclosure and an internal chassis that supports the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) single-board computers (SBCs), graphics processing units (GPUs), Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and solid-state storage devices (SSDs). The pod enclosure is based on an existing, flight-certified design specifically modified to use ambient air cooling for thermal management of the embedded electronics. The chassis utilizes a modular, distributed network of processors and co-processors based on open industry standards to deliver more than 7.5 teraflops of computational power at better than 15 gigaflops per watt. The COTS upgradeable architecture of the Agile Condor system provides for fast technology refresh, which decreases life cycle costs, reduces system downtime, and assures continued usefulness of the system.
“We are proud to have been given the opportunity to engineer an innovative and sophisticated computing architecture like the Agile Condor system for AFRL’s Information Directorate in Rome, NY. The delivery of this first system helps advance the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of our Air Force, providing our national leaders and warfighters with significant technical, tactical, and situational-awareness advantages far beyond the present capabilities,” said Paul Tremont, SRC’s president and CEO. “We remain strong in our commitment to provide warfighters with increased actionable intelligence by pushing the boundaries of HPEC and bringing data processing and analysis capabilities closer to the edge.”
Onboard processing leads to efficiencies
The Agile Condor modular computing architecture addresses the limitations of processing, exploitation and dissemination (PED) associated with onboard sensors. Sensors have rapidly increased in fidelity, and are now able to collect vast quantities of data, which must be analyzed promptly to provide mission critical information. Currently data is either stored onboard RPAs and physically downloaded for review at end of mission, or the data is downloaded in-mission through a data link.
The current dissemination methods restrict mission objectives in a number of ways. Onboard data storage is restricted by strict size, weight and power (SWaP) limitations and once storage capacity is reached, the mission ends. Stored data also creates an unacceptable latency between data collection and analysis, as operators must wait for the RPA to return to base to review time sensitive data. In-mission data transfers, by contrast, can provide data more quickly, but this method requires more power and available bandwidth to send data. Bandwidth limits result in slower downloads of large data files, a clogged communications link and increased latency that could allow potential changes in intel between data collection and analysis. The quantities of data being collected are also so vast, that analysts are unable to fully review the data received to ensure actionable information is obtained.
Opening the door to future capabilities like neuromorphic computing
The modular design of the Agile Condor system’s architecture allows for expandable computational power – paving the way for advanced computing technology, such as neuromorphic computing. Bio-inspired technology like neuromorphic computers function in a similar way to the human brain and use very little power for certain tasks. This technology, when used on the Agile Condor system, allows for enhanced situational awareness, adaptive decision making, multi-mode, multi-mission, massive analytics and heterogeneous information processing, helping RPAs recognize and act upon real-time information. Additionally, due to the low power consumption of neuromorphic computers, RPAs would be able to stay in the air for longer durations – enabling new and more efficient missions.
The Agile Condor pod system is able to use neuromorphic computing techniques to process data onboard and give operators more actionable, time sensitive data. In addition, the Agile Condor hardware, when coupled with SRC’s adaptable, distributed, portable Airborne Wide Area SAR Processing (AirWASP) software, can provide assisted autonomy to RPAs. In the future, the systems will facilitate the processing of data from multiple sensors and utilize machine learning capabilities to selectively queue sensors for particular scenarios. Instead of surveying large areas with all sensors, the RPA would conserve power by using only the sensors best equipped to detect anomalies over large areas. When a point of interest is detected, the RPA would then dynamically engage specialized sensors, like a camera, to collect more data and notify mission operators for further review and inspection. This selective “detect and notify” process frees up bandwidth and increases transfer speeds, while reducing latency between data collection and analysis. Real time pre-processing of data with the Agile Condor system also ensures that all data collected is reviewed quickly, increasing the speed and effectiveness with which operators are notified of actionable information.
The Air Force is scheduled to put the Agile Condor pod system through flight testing in the fall of 2016 as part of an ongoing, three-year research and development contract SRC has with AFRL to deliver a complete Agile Condor system with embedded computing at the end of 2017. (Source: UAS VISION)
24 Jan 24. Anschütz completes testing of WINBS for UK Type 31 frigates.
The factory acceptance test marks a milestone for the warship’s integrated navigation and bridge system. Anschütz, a naval navigation and systems integration specialist, has completed the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) for its Warship Integrated Navigation and Bridge System (WINBS). This system, designed for the UK Royal Navy’s upcoming Type 31 Inspiration Class frigates, promises navigation and tactical capabilities.
As part of the Thales-led T31 Missions Systems team, Anschütz has taken a lead role in delivering the Integrated Bridge and Navigation System for the Babcock Type 31 Arrowhead 140 frigates, with the FAT conducted at the new integration and testing facilities at Portsdown Technology Park at the end of 2023. Managing director at Anschuetz UK, Glen Cheadle, expressed pride in supplying the UK Royal Navy with an “extremely reliable and advanced integrated bridge system.”
Babcock International began constructing the UK Royal Navy’s first Type 31 frigate, HMS Venturer, in 2022. The vessels, larger than Type 23 but shorter than Type 26 frigates, will feature advanced weaponry. The following year, Babcock reached the steel-cutting stage for the second ship, HMS Active.
The WINBS, explicitly designed for the Type 31 Arrowhead 140, incorporates the latest integrated navigation and bridge system technology. It encompasses a suite of solutions, including integrated navigation, tactical navigation, mission systems, naval radars, steering control systems, and communication systems. Anschütz’s commitment to an open architecture bridge system framework allows for navigational and tactical capabilities.
Glen Cheadle highlighted Anschuetz UK‘s commitment to providing high efficiency in through-life support, service, and upgrades to the Royal Navy’s fleet. The company, now involved in the Royal Navy’s major newbuild projects, aims to support the fleet with logistical and technical assistance. Anschuetz UK has invested in a modern and well-equipped facility at Portsdown Technology Park to ensure local support for the Royal Navy’s evolving needs. (Source: naval-technology.com)
23 Jan 24. As part of its expanding activities in the United States of America: Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Announces Launch of U.S. Innovation Center and Unveils Debut Program, IAI CATALYST.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announces the launch of its first innovation center in the U.S. and the debut program within it – IAI CATALYST. The innovation center is a groundbreaking initiative of the company alongside the decision to expand its business activities and presence in the U.S.
The American defense market is a leading knowledge-hub for pioneering technological and military infrastructure development regarding the future battlefield. IAI’s new innovation center and the IAI CATALYST program will foster cooperation between IAI and American startup companies while providing them the opportunity to develop technologies alongside our world-renowned experts and partners.
Operated by Starburst Aerospace, IAI CATALYST is a unique 5-month business accelerator program, tailored to support emerging startups on their journey to success. The program will focus on several key sectors critical to the future of aerospace innovation including Trusted AI & Autonomy, Quantum Science, Sustainability and Energy Technology, and Space Technology. Selected companies will receive technical and business support and mentorship in addition to financial incentives to accelerate market entry and growth.
IAI already operates a highly successful innovation center in Tel-Aviv, Israel, in which the company is developing new and advanced technological capabilities that integrated into existing and future projects. The center encourages a range of technologies in conjunction with open innovation and organic creativity while supporting intra-organizational innovation and cooperation with the entire Israeli ecosystem, including academia, startup companies, and the IAI’s engineers. IAI invests in companies that demonstrate cutting edge advancements in sectors such as space and satellites, sustainability and renewable energy, biotech, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence.
Chairman of IAI’s Board of Directors, Amir Peretz: “As a global company, which sees the United States as not only a major target market in our worldwide business activities, but also as a partner and ally during the current iron swords war and since the establishment of the state of Israel, IAI is acting to increase connections and collaborations between it and American companies, with the aim of encouraging groundbreaking innovation. The innovation center is an important pillar in deepening the relationships between IAI and American technological companies, and of course with government officials and the country’s armed forces.”
IAI President and CEO, Boaz Levy: “The innovation that has characterized IAI throughout its seventy-year history now has an important additional platform from which to showcase its capabilities and secure its future, by means of the inauguration of the center in Virginia, which that reflect the company’s strength and is the basis for extensive collaboration in the future. I am confident that through this center we can promote joint business and technological activities for the benefit of both Israel and the United States of America, which continue together to pave the way of partnership through respect, collaboration, and support.”
IAI Vice President of North American Affairs, Amir Geva: “The opening of an innovation center in Virginia, reflects the company’s strategy, namely, to work to deepen business and technological activities with our partners in the United States. These ventures demonstrate a combination of the IAI’s rich history with the American defense market alongside joint future initiatives, and their launch is a proactive step to strengthen IAI’s business activities in the U.S.”
IAI’s Vice President of Innovation and R&D, Eitan Eshel: “After the international success of IAI’s innovation center in Tel Aviv at the heart of the “Start-Up Nation”, the innovation center we are now establishing in Virginia is another expression of IAI’s commitment to the research and development of innovative technologies, in which hundreds of ms of dollars are invested every year. The uniqueness of the innovation center is embodied in the working model of a startup, providing startups and entrepreneurs from academia, accompanied by experienced engineers from IAI, with a path that leads them to develop unique technologies and demonstrate their capabilities within weeks. Israel Aerospace Industries continues to be at the forefront of technology and provide its customers and the world with products of the future using the most advanced technologies.”
IAI North America President and CEO, Stephen Elliott: “We are excited about the opening of this innovation center here in the U.S. It demonstrates IAI’s commitment to promoting cutting-edge technological innovation and opportunities by investing in local U.S. startups. The work we will do there will help create the next generation of leading technology through collaboration with IAI from the very beginning.”
Learn more about IAI CATALYST and apply for the program at https://catalyst.iainorthamerica.com
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is a world-class aerospace and defense company innovating and delivering state-of-the-art technologies in space, air, land, naval, cyber & homeland security for defense and commercial markets. Combining the “Start-up Nation” spirit of innovation with decades of combat-proven experience, IAI provides customers with tailor-made, cutting-edge solutions to the unique challenges they face including satellites, UAVs, missiles, intelligence solutions, weapon systems, air defense systems, robotic systems, radars, business jets, aerostructures, and more. Established in 1953, IAI is one of Israel’s largest technology employers with offices and R&D centers in Israel and abroad.
Starburst Aerospace is an innovation catalyst in the global Aerospace and Defense (A&D) industry. Combining three complementary activities—accelerators, consulting, & ventures—they help stakeholders innovate, navigate, and invest in the dynamic ecosystem. Starburst’s leading Flagship Accelerator program helps startups scale their business in aviation, space, and defense with access to one of the largest groups of corporate representatives, government stakeholders, and private venture investors in the world. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
24 Jan 24. Atomic scientists keep ‘Doomsday Clock’ as close to midnight as ever. Atomic scientists on Tuesday kept their “Doomsday Clock” set as close to midnight as ever before, citing Russia’s actions on nuclear weapons amid its invasion of Ukraine, nuclear-armed Israel’s Gaza war and worsening climate change as factors driving the risk of global catastrophe.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, as they did last year, set the clock at 90 seconds to midnight – the theoretical point of annihilation. Scientists set the clock based on “existential” risks to Earth and its people: nuclear threats, climate change and disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and new biotechnology.
“Conflict hot spots around the world carry the threat of nuclear escalation, climate change is already causing death and destruction, and disruptive technologies like AI and biological research advance faster than their safeguards,” Rachel Bronson, the Bulletin’s president and CEO, told Reuters, adding that keeping the clock unchanged from the prior year is “not an indication that the world is stable.”
The Chicago-based nonprofit created the clock in 1947 during the Cold War tensions that followed World War Two to warn the public about how close humankind was to destroying the world. It said on Tuesday that ominous trends continue to point toward catastrophe, including the fact that China, Russia and the United States all are spending large amounts of money to expand or modernize their nuclear arsenals, boosting the risk of nuclear war through mistake or miscalculation.
Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, set to reach its second anniversary next month, has escalated tensions with the West to their most dangerous levels since the Cold War.
“A durable end to Russia’s war in Ukraine seems distant, and the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in that conflict remains a serious possibility. In the past year Russia has sent numerous worrying nuclear signals,” Bronson said.
Bronson cited Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2023 decision to suspend Russian participation in the New START treaty with the United States that limited the strategic nuclear arsenals of the two countries. The United States and Russia together hold nearly 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads, enough to destroy the planet many times over.
Bronson additionally cited Putin’s March 2023 announcement of Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and the Russian parliament’s October 2023 passage of a law withdrawing ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. Russian analyst Sergei Karaganov last year also spoke of the need to threaten nuclear strikes in Europe in order to intimidate and “sober up” Moscow’s enemies.
Traditional nuclear arms control has come to an end for now even as a three-way nuclear arms race is shaping up among China, Russia and the United States, said Alexander Glaser of Princeton University, a member of the Bulletin’s board of experts on nuclear technology and climate science.
“The picture is quite bleak on the nuclear side this year,” Glaser added.
Israel has been at war with Hamas since the Palestinian Islamist group, based in Gaza, launched attacks in southern Israel in October 2023.
“As a nuclear state, Israel’s actions are clearly relevant to the Doomsday Clock discussion. Of particular worry is that the conflict might escalate more broadly in the region creating a larger conventional war and drawing in more nuclear powers or near-nuclear powers,” Bronson said.
Climate change was added as a factor in setting the clock in 2007.
“The world in 2023 entered into uncharted territory as it suffered its hottest year on record and global greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise,” Bronson said. “Both global and North Atlantic sea-surface temperatures broke records, and Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest daily extent since the advent of satellite data.”
Bronson said that while 2023 was a record-breaking year for clean energy with $1.7trn in new investments, fossil fuel investments totaled nearly $1trn. Bronson called current efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions “grossly insufficient to avoid dangerous human and economic impacts from climate change, which disproportionately affect the poorest people in the world.”
The Bulletin was founded in 1945 by scientists including Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer. (Source: Reuters)
23 Jan 24. Leonardo DRS Unveils Stretto Family of Laser Systems for Quantum Information Science Applications. Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRS) announced today that it has launched the Stretto family of high-precision lasers, a next-generation system with unparalleled performance covering the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared spectrum. The technology is designed to bring a range of new benefits to quantum information science, including computing, sensing, timing and networking.
Stretto lasers are designed to bring the reliability and adaptability required for cutting-edge quantum applications and are engineered as a versatile product platform, enabling expansion across a broad wavelength range while maintaining a uniform footprint and interface. This design enables scientific discovery while facilitating scalability in quantum information science applications and ensuring seamless OEM integration without the need for extensive redesigns.
“We are proud to introduce this next generation set of products to the marketplace,” said Dr. Timothy Day senior vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Daylight Solutions business, Dr. Timothy Day. “We have designed the Stretto family of lasers to be very compact with long term reliability crafted to endure harsh environmental conditions, including wide operating temperature range, shock and vibration.”
In the rapidly evolving field of quantum technology, Stretto stands out with its resistance to temperature and pressure fluctuations, and an extensive mode-hop-free tuning range. It epitomizes the fusion of advanced engineering and adaptability, making it an indispensable tool for quantum sensors, clocks, and computing systems.
“DRS is excited to offer Stretto to those pioneering in quantum research and applications, designed for a combination of precision, flexibility, and resilience,” Day said. “Stretto is more than just a high-precision laser; it’s a symbol of innovation in the realm of tunable lasers.”
DRS is a world leading provider of best-in-class semiconductor laser sources for the life sciences, research, industrial, and defense industries. With a range of advanced sensing technology across these industries, the company has a large installed base and a historic track record of providing world class solutions. This footprint has the company uniquely positioned for success in leading the future of sensing.
(Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
23 Jan 24. Menta, a deeptech company specializing in semiconductor design will attend Chiplet Summit to present MOSAICS-LP – an industrial platform specifically designed for the development of heterogeneous chips, using a universal chassis and a catalog of third-party chiplets. This platform is supported by the French government and the CEA-List, a research center specializing in intelligent digital systems.
The Second Annual Chiplet Summit is a pivotal gathering for chip designers and market players, providing insights into optimizing chiplet performance in speed, scalability, power efficiency, and flexibility. The summit facilitates networking, expert interactions, and exposure to a wide array of products and services, enabling participants to stay abreast of the latest advancements in chiplet technology.
Menta, is a pioneer in programmable logic solutions and will share a booth with its partner CEA-List.
In the current semiconductor manufacturing environment, conventional monolithic solutions give rise to issues related to energy consumption, scalability, and cost. MOSAICS-LP aims to tackle these challenges, in the booming environment of heightened production demands. MOSAICS-LP addresses the Edge Computing market, including Artificial Intelligence, IoT, robotic, automotive industry and 5G/6G markets; by offering competitive, scalable, high-performance, and energy-efficient solutions.
Vincent Markus, CEO of Menta declares “At the forefront of innovation, Menta, alongside our strategic research partner CEA-List, is proud to participate in the Second Annual Chiplet Summit, a crucial event for chip designers and market players in the United States. MOSAICS-LP redefines semiconductor solutions, addressing issues of energy and cost in traditional monolithic approaches. Our groundbreaking platform, centered on Edge Computing and embedded AI, features a unique architecture with a universal chassis and chiplets. Key advantages include scalability, energy efficiency, reduced development costs, and risk mitigation through pre-tested components, making MOSAICS-LP an innovative solution for the evolving semiconductor landscape.”
About Menta:
Menta is a privately held company based in Sophia-Antipolis (France). Menta is a proven pioneer of eFPGAs for ASIC and SoC designers seeking speed, accuracy, performance and efficiency. eFPGA’s adaptable architecture, based on design-adaptive standard cells-based and a state-of-the-art tool set, provides the highest degree of design customization, best-in-class testability, and fastest time-to-volume for SoC design at any foundry.
About CEA-List:
CEA-List brings together nearly 1,000 scientists, engineers, and technicians—all experts in smart digital systems. They are committed to developing high-added-value innovations that respond to the major challenges facing our economy and society.
Our R&D programs address the Factory of the Future, digital twins, artificial intelligence, and digital trust. They are backed by innovation and tech transfer mechanisms designed to help our R&D partners stay competitive.
CEA-List is one of three institutes of the CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) Technology Research Division. It has sites in the innovation hubs of Paris-Saclay and Grenoble, France.
22 Jan 24. TE Connectivity achieves certification for K-Series contactors enabling reliable performance in demanding environments. TE Connectivity (TE), a world leader in connectivity and sensors, has achieved VG certification for its HARTMAN K-Series contactors, facilitating their adoption for demanding aerospace, rotorcraft, eVTOL, ground vehicle, marine and defense sectors.
The prestigious VG certification is administered by the German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support. This recognition by the Bundeswehr, Germany’s unified armed forces, as well as related civilian administrative and procurement organizations, is an important benchmark reflecting TE’s commitment to performance, quality and durability.
TE’s smallest and lightest K-Series contactors are now VG96928 approved across four product families – K200, K400, K500 and K1000 – covering current switching capabilities from 200 to 1,000-amp loads. The low-power, space/weight-saving K-Series contactors manage high-current across rugged environments where reliability is paramount.
“Achieving VG certification for the K-Series contactors underscores TE’s commitment to supporting mission-critical applications with reliable technologies,” said Jose Muniz, product manager. “Our VG-approved solutions provide confidence for our customers’ critical system designs across diverse industry applications.”
The K-Series contactors meet the mechanical shock, vibration, temperature and electrical requirements outlined in the VG96928 specification. Features include economized coils, auxiliary contacts, busbar connectivity for heat dissipation, and a small footprint enabling dense packaging.
TE’s HARTMAN K-Series contactors are designed for continuous and start duty applications in direct current (DC) power distribution systems. The qualification covers test criteria from normal operating ranges to abnormal conditions, demonstrating the contactors’ robustness. K-Series contactors are available through TE’s channel partners. To learn more about TE’s portfolio of VG approved products, visit https://www.te.com/vg-standards.
22 Jan 24. CAES, a leading provider of mission-critical advanced technology, is excited to expand its product offerings with a new direct-to-digital RF converter designed to optimally meet the bandwidth and form factor requirements of radar, electronic warfare, and C4ISR mission applications. The CAES TORNADO converter, the latest in CAES’ investment in direct RF sampling architectures, has 8x transmit and 8x receive channels paired with the Intel Agilex® 9 FPGA Direct RF Series in a 3U, SOSA-aligned configuration.
“We are excited to team up with Intel to bring our customers next-generation, direct-to-digital solutions,” said Dave Young, CAES Chief Operating Officer. “There is a growing demand for radar and EW systems that are highly flexible and programable. The TORNADO converter was designed with these requirements in mind.”
CAES is providing early access to design a product based on Intel’s advanced technology. The CAES TORNADO converter is the first product of its kind to combine CAES’s reliable engineering and 3U board with Intel’s flexible and scalable RF-Series FPGA.
“Intel Agilex 9 Direct RF FPGAs offer a revolutionary step toward delivering and supporting capabilities critical for EW processing, enabling partners like CAES to develop boards for rapid deployment within the DIB (Defense Industrial Base) to advance EW systems. The CAES TORNADO converter is an example of a collaborative effort to bring to market this state-of-the-art technology,” said John Sotir, Senior Director, Military, Aerospace and Government Business Unit, Intel Programmable Solutions Group (PSG).
Intel Agilex 9 FPGA Direct RF-Series is a highly integrated solution that combines an FPGA and an RF transceiver in a single package. The integrated RF transceivers provide high-speed connectivity and support a broad range of frequencies. Additionally, the FPGA fabric allows for dynamic reconfiguration, which allows the device to support a variety of missions.
The CAES TORNADO converter will be ready for delivery in 2024. CAES provides industry-leading manufacturing and testing, design customization and advanced algorithm development. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
22 Jan 24. Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com), a technology company that delivers mission-critical processing power to the edge, today introduced a Direct RF system-on-module (SOM) that uses Intel Agilex FPGAs to detect and process adversary emissions from a wide portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Direct RF components and modules directly digitize radio frequency signals at the antenna signal frequency, eliminating the analog signal down conversion stages required by legacy hardware. This approach requires extremely fast converters, high bandwidth digital data links, and powerful real-time digital signal processing. The results are reductions size, weight, power, cost, and latency that can benefit a variety of radar, communications, electronic warfare, SIGINT, and industrial applications. Mercury offers industry-leading Direct RF products including system-in-package and multi-chip modules and 3U VPX processing boards.
The playing card-sized DRF2580 SOM brings new capability to the Mercury Processing Platform, giving customers the ability to design aerospace and defense systems that digitize a large swath of the RF spectrum at the edge, enhancing security and accelerating decision-making in the field. The DRF2580 is a four-channel SOM based on the Intel Agilex 9 SoC FPGA AGRW014 that converts between analog and digital signals at 64 Gigasamples per second. It is available in standard form factors and supported by a best-in-class carrier design kit that allows users to focus on application-specific carrier development, with much of the most challenging aspects of embedded circuit design already solved by the SOM.
“We continue to innovate to enhance the Mercury Processing Platform and make the latest commercial technologies available to the defense industrial base,” said Ken Hermanny, GM of Mercury’s Mixed Signal business unit. “These boards make direct digitization across the spectrum a reality. Until now, converter technology could not keep up with the wide frequency range of RF input and output signals. By supporting higher conversion and processing rates, larger portions of the RF spectrum can be efficiently captured, processed, and exploited at the edge.”
“Intel Agilex 9 FPGAs with Direct RF offer Mercury Systems customers the critical SWAP capabilities and accelerated deployment required for next-generation applications in the aerospace and defense markets,” said John Sotir, Senior Director Military, Aerospace, and Government Business Unit, Intel Programmable Solutions Group (PSG).
The DRF2580 features:
- SWaP optimized, 2.5″ x 3.5″ footprint for deployment in standard and custom form factors
- Support for up to 4x 100 GigE interfaces with carrier boards
- Navigator® Board Support Package for software development
- Navigator® FPGA Design Kit for custom IP development
- Carrier Design Package facilitates custom carrier board designs
Mercury Systems – Innovation that matters®
Mercury Systems is a technology company that delivers mission-critical processing power to the edge, making advanced technologies profoundly more accessible for today’s most challenging aerospace and defense missions. The Mercury Processing Platform allows customers to tap into innovative capabilities from silicon to system scale, turning data into decisions on timelines that matter. Mercury’s products and solutions are deployed in more than 300 programs and across 35 countries, enabling a broad range of applications in mission computing, sensor processing, command and control, and communications. Mercury is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, and has 24 locations worldwide. To learn more, visit mrcy.com. (Nasdaq: MRCY)
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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.
https://oxleydevelopments.cmail20.com/t/t-l-cdhkulk-yujhutkljd-r/
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.
https://oxleydevelopments.cmail20.com/t/t-l-cdhkulk-yujhutkljd-y/
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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