Sponsored By Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
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18 Apr 24. BCG Announces Collaborations with NASA and USRA to Launch a Generative Artificial Intelligence Lab for Science and Engineering. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) today announced strategic collaborations with NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to launch a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) lab for science and engineering. The lab will explore the short- and long-term benefits of new GenAI technologies related to Earth science, including Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) weather data, life sciences, and engineering. These collaborations harness the talents of a unique team of leading innovators from industry (BCG), government (NASA), and academia (USRA) with decades of experience advancing the state-of-the-art in artificial intelligence.
As part of these collaborations, BCG X (the tech build and design unit of BCG), NASA, and USRA will conduct research, development, testing, and evaluation of GenAI technologies, as well as analyze the growth of responsible GenAI technologies through the use of publicly accessible datasets. They also intend to produce joint publications on technical evaluation criteria for different scenarios, use cases, and test cases as applied to the performance of various publicly available open source GenAI models.
“In this pivotal moment in time for AI, the GenAI lab represents a unique opportunity to rapidly and responsibly advance the application of AI for public good applications,” said Dr. David Bell, Director of USRA’s Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science.
“We have only just begun to explore the transformative power of GenAI in Earth sciences,” said Christoph Schweizer, CEO of BCG. “BCG is privileged to work with NASA and USRA. Together, we are pioneering the critical research and development necessary to propel these technologies forward, ultimately benefiting global society.” (Source: PR Newswire)
17 Apr 24. MD Helicopters Features Industry Disrupting Configurable Avionics and Weapons Systems at the Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit. MD Helicopters’ (MDH) (AAAA Booth #1310) new configurable and modular Advanced Integrated Avionics and Weapons System for its scalable military multi-mission TH/AH530 product line is the centerpiece of its exhibit at the Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit (Quad-A) April 24 to 26.
MDH will showcase an AH530 Block II precision weapons helicopter equipped with its new Advanced Integrated Avionics and Weapons System at the Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit in Denver, CO. The training-to-combat helicopter and its rapidly reconfigurable avionics and mission system are redefining the future of light combat rotorcraft through improved mission effectiveness and situational awareness.
The combat-proven and economical TH/AH530 line of military helicopters is exceptionally agile, reliable, and powerful. The aircraft delivers superior speed, agility, and maneuverability, even at high density altitudes, with unmatched confined area performance.
“MDH’s new integrated avionics and weapons mission system for the TH/AH530 is the result of an extraordinary collaboration between our highly experienced ex-military pilots and the industries’ leading weapon systems manufacturers,” said MD Helicopters President and CEO Brad Pedersen. “Together we developed an easily reconfigurable system that drastically reduces the change-out time required to swap between mission requirements, including guided rockets and Hellfire laser-guided munitions. With one aircraft platform, you can go from a trainer to a precision weapon helicopter.”
Integrated Avionics and Weapons Systems
The AH530 Integrated Avionics and Weapons System delivers the ability to rapidly scale the aircraft between different weapon and armament configurations to meet mission requirements. For the AH530 attack helicopter, it brings together commercial Garmin and Howell avionics with state-of-the-art weapon system components made by Moog, L3 Harris, Curtiss-Wright, and others. The system integrates various common unguided weapons from Dillon Aero, FN Herstal, and other modern guided and unguided weapons.
The AH530 Advanced Integrated Avionics and Weapons System for the AH530 Block II features all of the above plus the Moog Weapon Stores Management System (SMS) with laser-guided APKWS and Hellfire, Moog Weapons Control Panel (WCP), E-SIU Hellfire configured stations, an enhanced stores management computer (E-SMC), and a laser arm panel (LAP). It is complemented by a Curtiss-Wright mission computer operating a L3 Harris ForceX WIDOW mission management system (MMS). Both new onboard computers include backup redundancy in the case of computer failure.
TH/AH530 Helicopters
The TH530 Training Helicopter provides an accurate training platform that can economically scale into the AH530 attack or the AH530 Block II precision weapons helicopters. The AH530 is an agile, unguided weapon attack helicopter. The AH530 Block II delivers the capabilities of larger precision attack helicopters in a smaller and more agile package for less cost. (Source: ASD Network)
17 Apr 24. F-35 JPO and Lockheed Martin agreement on FIAB software.
The deal resolves an intellectual property dispute, accelerating simulation capabilities for the F-35 programme.
The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) and Lockheed Martin have announced an agreement concerning the F-35-in-a-box (FIAB) software elements.
This agreement ushers in further collaboration between government and industry partners, poised to improve simulation capabilities for the F-35 programme.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Mike Schmidt, director and programme executive officer for the F-35 JPO, lauded the agreement, emphasising its far-reaching implications for organic software development and operational readiness.
The accord signals an upturn in the evolution of Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) capabilities, allowing for the expansion of simulation activities in service-operated facilities. With the JSE serving as a tool for testing against threats within a virtual battlespace, the agreement unlocks opportunities for enhanced training and evaluation of F-35 capabilities.
“This agreement paves the way for users to integrate current F-35 operational software into the JSE, preparing for follow-on test and evaluation of Block 4 capabilities,” Schmidt stated. By integrating operational software into simulations and coupling it with operational flight training, the agreement aims to ensure that F-35 pilots worldwide are equipped to confront and overcome emerging threats effectively.
In Europe, the growth of the Combat Aircraft segment is mainly driven by F-35 programmes in countries such as the UK, Norway, Belgium and Finland, according to GlobalData’s “The Global Military Fixed Wing Aircraft Market 2023-2033” report.
In 2021, Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) signed the Lightning Air System National Availability Enterprise (LANCE) contract, valued at £76m ($101m), to bolster support for the UK’s Lightning fleet. This agreement ensures enhanced availability and capability for the UK’s F-35 fleet, facilitating its combat missions globally, including its inaugural Carrier Strike deployment.
Bridget Lauderdale, vice president and general manager for the F-35 Programme at Lockheed Martin, underscored the enduring partnership between Lockheed Martin and the JPO in advancing F-35 readiness. “We are proud of our continued partnership with the JPO to ensure F-35 pilots worldwide are trained and ready to deter and defend against emerging threats.”
The agreement facilitates accelerated integration of operational software into simulation environments and shows commitment to service-led sustainment efforts. With Department of the Air Force and Department of the Navy software developers now poised to contribute to F-35 software sustainment, the long-term vision for service-led sustainment takes a step forward.
This week, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported a 44% increase in the F-35 programme’s sustainment costs, rising from $1.1trn in 2018 to $1.58trn in 2023, despite a 21% reduction in flight hours to cut expenses. While some progress has been made in meeting affordability targets, the GAO highlights decreasing availability and increasing sustainment costs. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
17 Apr 24. Rancher Government Solutions (RGS), the leading provider of Kubernetes and container management solutions to the U.S. Government, today announced a strategic alliance and reseller agreement with Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions Division. Working in collaboration, the two companies will bring Kubernetes to the tactical edge, extending the public, private, hybrid, and government cloud, from all leading cloud service providers, to disrupted, disconnected, intermittent and low-bandwidth (DDIL) environments while maintaining stringent U.S. Government Security Regulations. This will, for the first time, provide warfighters at the edge with access to the enterprise-class cloud capabilities they have come to rely on, regardless of connectivity, and enable users to better manage critical workloads and more easily deploy applications from the cloud to the edge.
“Our warfighters have come to rely on cloud computing capabilities, but until now, connectivity issues have hindered their availability at the tactical edge. We are very excited to partner with Rancher Government Solutions to bring their secure enterprise-class cloud capabilities hosted on the PacStar® 400-Series platform to the tactical edge for the first time,” said Brian Perry, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions Division. “We look forward to extending our relationship with Rancher Government Solutions to develop edge solutions for our customer base. Our plans include bringing their technology to additional Curtiss-Wright compute platforms, including the newly released size, weight, and power optimized PacStar 200-Series, the ultra-rugged Parvus® DuraCOR® product family and our broad range of 3U and 6U VPX form factor SOSA aligned solutions.”
“We are proud to be working with Curtiss-Wright to deliver transformational solutions focused on the U.S. Government military and civilian use cases and tailored to the unique demands of the Tactical Edge,” said Ben Zifrony, RVP of Channels and Alliances at Rancher Government Solutions. “Our combined solutions are not just about adapting to the edge but thriving in it, delivering a cloud-native platform that is secure, scalable, and sustainable, across Curtiss-Wright’s compute platforms and regardless of the operating environment.”
As a result of this collaboration, PacStar 400-Series tactical communications solutions, such as the PacStar 451 Server Module and PacStar MDC, will be able to host the Rancher Multi Cluster Manager (MCM) and Harvester hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) technologies, to support both container and virtual machine workloads at the tactical edge.
Rancher, an independent U.S. entity, offers industry-leading compatibility with vast numbers of containers. Both Rancher MCM and Rancher’s Kubernetes distribution, RKE2, have a Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) written Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG), and the PacStar hardware solutions are included in the STIG-ready profile. Rancher supports leading cloud services including Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, and Google GKE. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
17 Apr 24. Australia’s Hypersonix Launch Systems prepares to demonstrate DART scramjet-powered aircraft for DIU. Hypersonix Launch Systems, headquartered in Brisbane, is building a hypersonic test vehicle for the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU’s) hypersonic and high-cadence testing capabilities (HyCAT) programme. DIU issued a solicitation for the project in September 2022. Hypersonix Launch Systems was awarded a contract for scoping the work in March 2023, and a launch contract in September 2023, Matt Hill, Hypersonix Launch Systems CEO, told Janes on 9 April at the Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2024 global maritime exposition in National Harbor, Maryland.
The programme calls for an airborne test vehicle “that can maintain speeds above Mach 5 with a manoeuvrable/non-ballistic flight profile and at least a three-minute flight duration with near-constant flight conditions”, according to a DIU statement in April 2023.
Construction of the first DART air vehicle is under way, and Hypersonix Launch Systems recently completed the component-level preliminary design review, Hill said. Rocket Lab will provide the launch capabilities for the system for the initial test flight. (Source: Janes)
15 Apr 24. Type 212 NFS lithium-ion battery system tests move forward. Tests of the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery system for the Italian Navy’s Improved Todaro (Type 212 NFS)-class submarines are moving forward, according to the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR), which manages the programme. Speaking at the Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) 2024 conference and exhibition in London on 10 April, Commander Alessandro Irvia, Platform Officer, U212 Near Future Submarine (NFS) Programme, confirmed that a thermal propagation test conducted on 9 April had achieved positive results. The thermal propagation test was the latest in a series of tests conducted to ensure the safety of the new Li-ion battery system. During the thermal propagation test, Cdr Irvia said that no flame or explosions were produced, only gas was released. (Source: Janes)
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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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