Sponsored By Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
————————————————————————
11 Nov 21. Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions, (MOSA) based solutions engineered for success, has introduced the industry’s first plug-in module to bring commercial-off-the-shelf, defense-grade system security to rugged OpenVPX-based systems. The XMC-528 Xilinx® Ultrascale+® MPSoC XMC Mezzanine Card is the first member of Curtiss-Wright’s new family of enhanced TrustedCOTS (eTCOTS™) solutions. This XMC (VITA 42/61) module speeds the integration of advanced security IP, such as Raytheon’s Night Cover™ product suite and Idaho Scientific’s Immunity cryptographic products, into OpenVPX and legacy VMEbus system solutions. Using industry standard interfaces, the XMC-528 card can be hosted on existing system modules – such as Curtiss-Wright’s VME-1910, VPX6-1961, and SOSA-aligned VPX3-1260 single board computers – to implement advanced data protection. What’s more, the same security IP suite provided by the XMC-528 mezzanine module can also be integrated directly into the on-board security FPGA resident on Curtiss-Wright’s family of security-ready OpenVPX modules – such as the CHAMP-XD1S 3U digital signal processor card and soon to be announced next-generation processor modules. Providing a common advanced security IP solution via both the XMC-528 card and on-module FPGA devices optimizes system architecture flexibility for designers of deployed security solutions.
Until now, most security IP solutions on the market have required costly and time-consuming customization of the target military hardware on which the security is to be deployed. The XMC-528 enables system designers to add security to any Curtiss-Wright or third-party module supporting an XMC site. This includes OpenVPX or VME modules as well as modules designed to align with The Open Group Sensor Open Systems Architecture™ (SOSA) and U.S. Army’s C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) technical standards. Systems such as high-performance rack-mount servers can be supported with an appropriate XMC carrier. Using the XMC-528, system integrators can add embedded security to fielded systems without a complete redesign.
“Our new XMC-528 module is a major game changer for easing and enabling the security of critical data and technology on deployed systems, because it eliminates the need to customize the hardware in order to support proprietary security technologies,” said Chris Wiltsey, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions. “In collaboration with Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Idaho Scientific, we are lowering the cost and time required to bring advanced security IP to embedded electronics.”
About the XMC-528 Module
The XMC-528 is a high-performance, user-programmable processing and FPGA resource that facilitates embedded security. The module’s unique combination of FPGA resources, multi-core processor, and I/O makes the XMC-528 ideal for applications that require a combination of software and FPGA logic, such as security or FPGA co-processing. The PCIe Gen 3 data path provides a high-performance interface between the FPGA and the baseboard. Ethernet and other I/O options provide a means for communication with both other cards in the system and external systems.
Enhanced TrustedCOTS (eTCOTS)
The XMC-528 module’s MPSoC supports the integration of defense-grade security IP from Curtiss-Wright and its eTCOTS partners.
10 Nov 21. US Soldiers won’t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director. The head of the Army’s new software organizations say the service won’t always be able to rely on contractors for software support, and that’s why the Army needs in-house coders.
“For a very long time, the Army got comfortable operating with contractors all over the battlefield,” said Lt. Col. Vito Errico, director of the Army Software Factory, at C4ISRNET’s CyberCon event Nov. 10. “It was sort of commonplace in Iraq and Afghanistan to co-locate contractors with servicemembers to do technically oriented things. … That was the way that we were able to fight.”
“But looking ahead, we might not always be able to fight that way. A future enemy might have the ability to deny us the ability to move contractors and civilians around the battlefield, and that burden of technical competence, that last tactical mile of software development or fusing data sets, might fall on the uniformed servicemember,” he explained.
With a relatively informal, less hierarchical structure than a typical military organization, the Army Software Factory’s goal is to grow the number of soldier coders within its ranks. Hosted at Austin Community College in Texas, the first cohort of 25 soldiers launched in January. That cohort will stay at the factory for a three-year rotation, during which time they will take courses and learn software skills.
The nascent software factory operates as a pilot program under Army Futures Command, as the Army assesses whether the factory can be beneficial and whether the service’s approach to software is good enough.
“It’s a nice empirical use case to help inform senior Army officials on where they need to go with policy,” said Errico.
An additional benefit of using soldiers to code is the soldiers are themselves users of the software they’re developing. The factory’s tagline is “By soldiers, for soldiers.”
The approach is already bearing fruit, said Errico. After observing tactical logistics warehouses at Fort Hood, Texas, factory participants were able to develop software that automated some of the ordering processes, giving soldiers time back to spend training on terminals to help reduce waste.
That software gained popularity organically as the various tactical warehouses adopted it. Now it’s being used by the bigger depots, said Errico, and the software is estimated to have saved more than 3,500 soldier hours. (Source: Defense News)
10 Nov 21. US Army Teams Autonomous Black Hawk with Drones. The US Army sees an opportunity to retrofit some of its Black Hawk fleet with autonomous flight technologies developed in the DARPA ALIAS programme. DARPA conducted the test as part of the US Army’s Project Convergence exercises, conducted at the Yuma Proving Grounds in the southern Arizona desert. The US military has previously flown autonomous UH-60s, but the recent tests are a further step by the army in evaluating how autonomy fits within its future flight capabilities. The demonstration was the first time the DARPA Black Hawk had flown an autonomous resupply mission. It was also the first time that the aircraft autonomously landed on an unimproved landing zone. The army is pondering ways to incorporate DARPA’s Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) kit into its fleet of more than 2,200 Black Hawks. ALIAS is designed to allow even the UH-60A – the oldest model of the type, introduced in 1979 – to fly autonomously. For the recent flight tests, DARPA imagined a scenario where a squad of US soldiers were pinned behind enemy lines; resupply flight routes were threatened by enemy anti-aircraft weapons – making the mission too dangerous for US Army pilots. Enter the autonomous UH-60A Black Hawk, paired with two Area-I Altius-600s – small UAVs known as air-launched effects that can provide surveillance of ground targets. While the Black Hawk was en route, the Altius-600s deployed from a launch kit bolted to the helicopter’s cabin deck, in another first for the programme. (Source: UAS VISION/FlightGlobal)
10 Nov 21. India’s DRDO and Israeli DDR&D sign deal for dual-use defence technologies. Jointly funded by DRDO and DDR&D, the technologies developed will be used by both nations. India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israeli Directorate of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D) have signed a bilateral innovation agreement (BIA). The BIA agreement was signed between DDR&D Secretary and DRDO chairman G Satheesh Reddy and Israel DDR&D head Daniel Gold in New Delhi on 9 November. It is aimed at encouraging accelerated research and development (R&D) in start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) of both countries. Under the BIA, Indian and Israeli start-ups and industries will jointly work to innovate and develop future generation technologies and products. According to information from the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD), the agreement is aimed at dual-use technologies development. The MoD stated that both countries will work together in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technology, photonics, drones and biosensing. India and Israel will also work in the areas such as brain-machine interface (BMI), energy storage, wearable devices and natural language processing. The development efforts of India and Israel will be jointly funded by DRDO and DDR&D. Both countries can access and apply the technologies developed under the BIA for homeland use. In a statement, the MoD said that the ‘products and technologies will be customised to meet unique requirements of both the countries’. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
10 Nov 21. EU leaders weigh new innovation hub role for the European Defence Agency. European Union defense ministers are slated to consider on Nov. 16 a new proposal for beefing up the European Defence Agency’s role in breeding technology innovation for the bloc’s armed forces. EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý gave a glimpse of the upcoming mission during a panel discussion at the Spanish FEINDEF defense exhibition in Madrid last week, presenting the idea as yet another initiative in the increasingly crowded field of EU and NATO defense-tech management. He was referring to NATO’s most recent push toward promoting what the alliance calls emerging and disruptive technologies, or EDTs. The plan entails a fund, capitalized to the tune of 1 billion euros, and the Defense Innovator Accelerator organization, dubbed DIANA, an outfit modeled after the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
“First of all, we must see a little bit more complete outlines of the NATO-initiated mission, DIANA, which is still at a very embryonic state,” Šedivý said when asked about the relationship between the EU and NATO mandates on defense innovation.
“We already have dozens of projects that are in one way or another related to innovation and technologies” at EDA, he added, flagging the potential for conflicting priorities as an area to watch.
“So, I would say that, actually, NATO should look at us, as well, because we are, in many respects, a bit farther ahead in this area than they are,” said Šedivý. “So it should be really reciprocal, not to duplicate. Usually, it’s defined as: ‘EU should not duplicate NATO’. But in this area, I think, they should look at us.”
Also on the agenda for EU defense ministers in Brussels next week is giving the European Defence Agency a formal tasking to negotiate with the U.S. Defense Department a so-called administrative arrangement. Such a pact would govern the bureaucratic underpinnings for the U.S. government to engage with the bloc on defense and security matters, a move seen as crucial for channeling the gamut of trans-Atlantic ties into geopolitical girth. (Source: Defense News)
10 Nov 21. Getac F110 Windows-Based Fully Rugged Tablet Provides Next Gen Performance For Class 1 Division 2 Explosion Proof Certification. Getac Technology Corporation, a leading producer of rugged technology, today announced the launch of the new era Windows-based F110 Class 1 Division 2 tablet computer. The F110 merges C1D2 hazardous and explosive environment protection with the state-of-the-art performance, MIL-STD-810H certifications and IP66 rating of the highly acclaimed 2021 F110. Introducing the totally re-engineered F110 earlier this year, Getac cited its Intel® 11th Gen CPUs, Iris Xe Graphics, PCIE SSDs, upgraded 1000Nit proprietary “works even when wet” 11.6-inch LumiBond® 2.0 anti-glare daylight readable display. Other highlights included unparalleled connectivity options including WLAN Wi-Fi 6 for 3x faster data speeds over previous generation F110s, Bluetooth 5.2, and WWAN 4G LTE/GPS, and an integrated Thunderbolt™ 4 port supporting 40 Gb/s wired connections.
With the addition of C1D2 certification, the latest F110 provides added layers of protection to professionals in locations filled with concentrated flammable gases, combustible dust and warehouses or jobsites storing masses of tanks filled with highly volatile liquid gases (.i.e. propane, oxygen, hydrogen, etc.) With the F110 they can work virtually without fear that a spark set off by computer sparks or arcs, display screen-generated static electricity or other such ignition sources might result in an explosion or conflagration potentially costing lives and millions of dollars in damages in the C1D2 environment.
Safe Design
C1D2 certification (ANSI/UL121201, former ANSI/ISA 12.12.01) for explosive environments mandates that electronic equipment has no potential to produce sparks, arcs, static electricity or heat sufficiently capable of causing ignition of explosive material at its most dangerous concentrations.
In addition to eliminating potential danger triggers, the F110’s design helps industries comply with federal, state and underwriters’ environmental health and safety standards, offers seamless connections between hazmat workers at disaster sites, provides real-time communications with team members outside danger zones and enables data capture and transmission from inside many hazardous locations.
“There are other capable safe tablets on the market,” said Getac USA President Michael McMahon. ”However, the F110 offers a superior combination of C1D2 certification, fully rugged durable and top-level non-rugged tablet performance, heavy industry communications protocols and connectivity options incorporated into the latest F110 for the North American market, plus our exclusive three-year, bumper-to-bumper warranty.
“Given all this we consider the F110 is ushering in a new era of C1D2 rugged computing devices optimized for maximum worker safety without limiting or compromising the vast palette of solutions available to help customers meet their own unique needs and challenges.”
The ideal handheld solution for hazardous work environments
The F110’s rugged performance, compact form factor and safe design make it ideally suited to professionals working in challenging, potentially hazardous environments typically found in such vertical industries as mining, oil & gas, chemical production and medicine.
Underground Mining
With the F110, mine shaft inspectors can quickly, efficiently and, most importantly, safely use highly sensitive flammable gas and dust measuring sensors in conjunction with the safe F110’s wide operational temperature range, rugged reliability, and long battery life to complete their tasks.
Oil and Gas Exploration and Operations
Safe, fast and accurate site surveying and data collection are essential to 21st Century oil and gas operations, helping to optimize productivity, manage assets and avoid unplanned downtime. The F110’s 11.6” sunlight readable screen, optional barcode/RFID reader, FHD webcam, and 8MP rear camera simplify field data collection, while optional GPS, powerful connectivity options and safe technology make sending and receiving information from even the most hazardous remote sites quick and easy.
Chemical and Pharmaceutical Plant Monitoring
To say that the corrosive conditions inherent in many chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing plants can, and often do, deal out death sentences to all but the most rugged pieces of IT gear is a given. Adding to the hazards, many of these facilities often contain major quantities of explosive gas or dust. The F110’s Mil-Spec and IP66 certified rugged, durable construction and powerful, reliable connectivity help maximize operational efficiency 24/7/365 while its safe build quality protects employees from explosive hazards in C1D2 environments.
Availability Getac’s C1D2 certified F110 is available now. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
09 Nov 21. USAF-Backed Startup Reveals Hypersonic Aircraft Prototype. The company fired the drone’s afterburning engine during a ceremony in Atlanta. Air Force-backed startup Hermeus rolled out a hypersonic aircraft prototype, firing the drone’s afterburning engine during a ceremony at an Atlanta airport. The unveiling of the non-flying Quarterhorse prototype marks the latest step in the Georgia company’s effort to make reusable hypersonic aircraft and eventually jetliners that can fly passengers at five times the speed of sound.
“Hypersonics needs a unifying vision,” Hermeus CEO A.J. Piplica said at the prototype unveiling. “That vision should be accelerating the global human transportation network.”
The Air Force, which along with venture capital firms contributed $60 million to speed Hermeus’ work, wants hypersonic technology for gathering intelligence and flying its officials around the world.
The prototype unveiled at last week’s private ceremony is being used for ground-based hardware development and integration; it is not designed to fly, the company said in a statement.
“Building this vehicle was an exercise in multidisciplinary design, manufacturing, and the integration of complete systems,” the company said. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense One)
09 Nov 21. Safran teams up with the University of Limoges, CNRS and the National Research Agency to inaugurate the joint X-SELANS lab. Inaugurated today, the joint laboratory X-SELANS (Xlim-Safran Electronics Lab for ANtennaS) will enable teams from the University of Limoges, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Safran, with support from the French National Research Agency (ANR), to further cement their ties and their ability to carry out research and development on antennas and active sources, as well as the integration of microwave functions. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Jean-Marie Bétermier, Executive Vice President for Space at Safran Electronics & Defense and CEO of Safran Data Systems, Isabelle Klock-Fontanille, President of the University of Limoges, Laurent Nicolas, Scientific Deputy Director of the CNRS Engineering and Systems Sciences (INSIS) Division, and Pierre de Souffron, coordinator of the “LabCom” (joint laboratories) program at the ANR.
Work at X-SELANS will be funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) and the three other partners, and will involve a dozen researchers, engineers, doctoral candidates and interns. The creation of this joint lab will ensure the continuation of a partnership between Safran and XLIM, the joint research unit between the CNRS and the University of Limoges, initiated by doctoral theses under CIFRE, a government program for “training through research”, in 2014.
Accelerate innovation on ground stations
Through this initiative, Safran Data Systems plans to take a proactive role in the development of new active antenna technologies and receiving stations to consolidate, over the medium term, its world leadership as a producer of ground stations for space and flight testing.
The research carried out at X-SELANS will address a number of challenges, including the integration of microwave components and amplifiers, the improvement of radiating component networks and the measurement and control of high-gain antennas.
“Working closely with a partner in academia such as XLIM will enable us to significantly speed up Safran Data Systems’ innovation and competitiveness in the ground station market,” said Jean-Marie Bétermier, CEO of Safran Data Systems. “Developing proven skills in the miniaturization and integration of microwave electronics in antennas, as well as digital technology, will be a critical advantage for the manufacturers involved.”
Isabelle Klock-Fontanille, President of the University of Limoges, added. “We’re delighted to contribute our scientific expertise to these major research projects, thus enhancing the industrial and technological expertise of French industry.”
“The XLIM lab is already internationally known for its work on microwave circuits and systems,” said Antoine Petit, Chairman and CEO of the CNRS. “Its industry-focused innovation capabilities are now expressed in the X-SELANS lab, a structured and integrated partnership between Safran Data Systems and academia. Today’s signature reflects the trend at the CNRS to strengthen relations with private companies, as shown by the nearly 200 joint laboratories now in operation.”
Pierre de Souffron, scientific project advisor and coordinator of the LabCom program at the National Research Agency, said, “Creating a joint lab is above all a human story.
08 Nov 21. Official Says DOD, With Help From Partners, on Cusp of Cutting-Edge Innovations. Artificial intelligence, quantum computing, bioengineering and other leap-ahead technologies were topics addressed by the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. Heidi Shyu provided keynote remarks today at the virtual Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute’s Research Review 2021.
“The challenges facing our military are both diverse and complex, ranging from sophisticated cyberattacks to supply chain risks, to defense against hypersonic missiles, to responding to biothreats. To address these challenges, the department must harness the incredible innovation ecosystem, both domestically and globally, in order to stay ahead of our adversaries,” Shyu said.
“I believe the way to build confidence amidst the technology disruptions is to embrace these changes and move forward rapidly. Furthering science, technology and innovation across the department could not be more important than it is today. Many potential adversaries will have greater access to commercial state-of-the-art technologies than ever before, and that could greatly disrupt our nation. We cannot afford a leveling of technology advantage,” she said.
Shyu said to meet these challenges the Defense Department has a three-pillar strategy: harnessing American technology innovation to solve the toughest operational challenges, setting the foundation to build a future workforce and, relying on industry, academia, allies and partners.
As far as spending for research and development for items that have great utility for the warfighter, Shyu said the department is focused on developing innovative technologies in which the commercial industry has no business interests that warrant their investment.
“To more effectively do this, we are working to shift away from the traditional linear systems development process to a nimbler approach that seeks to iterate the design to build prototypes, experiment and rapidly transition systems for operational use. This can dramatically shorten the cycle time and enable us to fuel capabilities more rapidly and deliver the military advantage that our nation needs,” she said.
The department’s Innovation Steering Group, or ISG, serves as a forum to drive systemic strategy, policy, programmatic, cultural and budgetary changes that will allow the department to more effectively identify, to invest in and to transition capability to the warfighter, she said, mentioning that she chairs that group.
To achieve this, the group is focused on three priority areas: mapping the department’s innovation organizations, bolstering joint experimentation and enhancing the research laboratory and test infrastructure.
In mapping the department’s innovation organization, ISG will provide information on how disparate innovation organizations can better align their efforts, she said, mentioning the Defense Innovation Unit, the Air Force program known as AFWERX that fosters a culture of innovation, Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office and others.
“There’s multiple entities all rapidly innovating and doing things. What I’m trying to do is get my arms around who has the best process, who’s doing what, what problem are they trying to solve, who have they funded and how well have these technologies or products transitioned? We should be able to share this information across the board,” she said.
The ISG oversees the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve, or RDER, an initiative designed to encourage prototyping and experimentation to support joint warfighting concepts, such as the information advantage, joint fires, joint all-domain command and control, and contested logistics, she said.
RDER specifically looks for capability gaps and solicits feedback from the services and combatant commands on their ideas for how to best address them, she said.
As a result, Shyu said that 203 ideas were forwarded to her office within five weeks. Those ideas were then prioritized and the top 32 were selected for funding which could best fulfill the joint capability gaps.
That process was briefed to the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the deputy defense secretary and the combatant commanders. “There was a lot of excitement in terms of what we’re doing,” she said.
Shyu mentioned some of the innovation areas DOD is focused on:
- Developing trusted AI and trusted autonomy that is resilient to spoofing.
- Building an integrated network system of systems that are secure and resilient. “We have many disparate nodes of communication and disparate platforms. What I want to do is be able to stitch those together to enable them to communicate,” she said.
- Producing high energy lasers that can counter missiles and unmanned systems. “We are finally at the cusp of delivering prototypes to the warfighter,” she said.
- Pioneering resilient space situational awareness and space control that’s robust enough to provide redundancy.
- Manufacturing integrated sensors that have the ability to operate in the intersection of cyber, electronic warfare and radar communications to counter advanced threats with agility.
- Employing an ergonomic human-machine interface with interactive, virtual 3D operations centers, enabling geographically distributed and dispersed command and control in a low bandwidth environment to rapidly conduct mission planning and mission command.
- Driving down the cost of hypersonics so the department can purchase many of these and also developing materials that can handle high temperatures that can withstand speeds at which these missiles will be flying.
- On-shoring critical defense industries such as microelectronics.
- Developing quantum computers and sensors.
- Employing biotech to increase situational awareness and to reduce the logistical burden.
- Developing advanced materials that are stronger and lighter.
- Leaping past 5G to develop a 6G network that will ensure American leadership in this sphere.
Other items Shyu mentioned were 3D beamforming, software-defined radios, dynamic spectrum utilization, zero-trust architecture, continuous risk monitoring and waveform diversity.
To attract top talent and bring innovation into the department, DOD is awarding STEM scholarships to those who show promise, with a stipulation to work at a department laboratory for a set period of time, she said. The department is also funding STEM summer camps for junior high school students in an effort to bolster America’s talent.
Shyu also mentioned that Americans value national security and that is reflected with bipartisan support from lawmakers. (Source: US DoD)
08 Nov 21. Swinburne Uni launches Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub. An eVTOL concept developed by AIR Hub researchers. Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne has launched an Australian-first Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub) with the support of $12m in funding from the Victorian Government’s Higher Education State Investment Fund. Led by Swinburne, AIR Hub will bring together Victorian aerospace research, design and manufacturing leaders to work with industry on real world design and manufacturing problems for the next generation of air mobility.
‘AIR Hub will bring researchers and industry together to collaborate on real world problems,’ the AIR Hub Director, Dr Adriano Di Pietro, said.
‘By using the latest technologies in digitalisation, automation and advanced materials, we will reinforce our industry partners’ position in the global aerospace industry and accelerate innovative technology development. This contribution to air mobility is vital to Australia’s future, connecting our people and communities.’
Swinburne’s Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Pascale Quester said, ‘Working closely with the aerospace industry, AIR Hub will create innovative materials and manufacturing processes for passenger planes, air cargo, as well as the space industry. It will also accelerate electric clean energy vertical take-off and landing air vehicles – or eVTOL– more widely known as ‘flying cars’ or electric helicopters.
‘AIR Hub will deliver a 30-year economic, employment and technology innovation boost for Australia and Victoria, designing and manufacturing lighter, stronger and more competitive aerospace structures to propel Victoria’s aerospace sector as a world leader,’ she added.
AIR Hub is designed as a truly global technology, research and manufacturing collaboration, with industry partners Boeing, Quickstep, CableX, Furnace Engineering, Shoal and Marand Precision Engineering, plus research partners CSIRO, Monash University and Germany’s University of Stuttgart and ARENA 2036 combining with Swinburne’s research teams.
AIR Hub is working on ‘light-weighting’ and automating the production of space systems such as launch vehicles. Light-weighting, the manufacturing of parts to achieve better fuel efficiency and handling, and faster production could save thousands of dollars per launch, opening up business opportunities in the lucrative global space industry for Australian companies. Unmanned aerial vehicles or drones could travel further to deliver supplies to remote places, and eVTOL could become the future in a ‘flying Uber’ concept of transportation.
As part of the design and manufacturing process, AIR Hub will use artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, machine learning and collaborative robots to support Australia’s world-leading capabilities to manufacture aerostructures.
The AIR Hub will foster new, highly skilled talent and upskill the existing workforce to increase job opportunities in the aerospace and space sectors for Victorians in the post COVID-19 period.
Facilities across Victoria, including the Swinburne-CSIRO Industry 4.0 Testlab for Composite Additive Manufacturing in Clayton and the manufacturing sites of key industry partners will support AIR Hub’s research and development activities.
‘AIR Hub will also work closely with Swinburne’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) to research and develop capacity for hydrogen storage on aircraft and eVTOL air vehicles, enabling them to make use of green fuels of the future to help meet global zero emission targets,’ Professor Quester said. (Source: Rumour Control)
02 Nov 21. Spanish technology company Indra has unveiled its state-of-the-art Talium advanced tactical mission system for next generation aircraft. Indra is one of the technology companies at the helm of the digitisation of defence. The company has just unveiled one of the most advanced tactical mission systems on the market, specially designed to support next-generation aircraft that will operate in highly digitised scenarios against technologically advanced adversaries.
The solution allows commanders to plan and conduct complex operations with impressive accuracy, coordinating the involvement of multiple aircraft, each with its different characteristics and capabilities. It’s a next-generation system that drastically reduces mission complexity in the digital domain and it’s ready to operate in a ‘combat cloud’ environment, facilitating effective decision-making in a streamlined manner.
All the data related to the routes, detected threats and identified targets are entered into the digital mapping, defining the entire tactical combat situation. The system is connected to the Air Force’s command and control and information centre to automate a large part of this work.
The military staffs then go on to plan the mission, determining the aircraft to be involved, the entry and exit paths, the potential escape routes, etc. The volume of data and the details provided by the Talium system are huge. It includes variables related to the fuel, weight, crew, flight altitude and speed of each aircraft in the calculations, among many other parameters. It can thus estimate, in real time, whether a mission is feasible and detect any problems that may arise in advance. It also facilitates the configuration of the communications, establishing the frequencies, channels and data link to be used, centralising the requirements for all the aircraft and preventing any errors in this highly critical area.
On board the aircraft, the pilot views the entire plan to be executed in Indra’s TDM mission system, the ideal complement for the Talium. Indra’s solutions exchange data in real time via the data link. The commanders can thus monitor the development of the operation and enter any updates into the routes, send orders and make changes to the tactical situation. The result is much more efficient operations executed in a precise, coordinated and secure manner. All of these skills are essential for survival in highly digitised environments, where information determines superiority over the adversary.
The Talium system also facilitates mission briefing and debriefing. The solution’s logistics subsystem downloads data from the platforms to exploit and share them with the sustainment 4.0 systems in order to make the corrective and predictive maintenance tasks easier.
Talium can manage all kinds of operations via a single system common to all the types of platforms, fleet and mission stages, dramatically reducing the complexity and increasing aircraft availability. Its open architecture can be integrated into command and control suites, friend-foe identification equipment and flight simulators. All of this makes this solution a key system for decision-making and interoperability with allied forces, complying with the NATO Link-16, Link-22, VMF and NFFI standards, as well as Adat-P3 messaging.
This system is an evolution of Indra’s AMPS mission system currently used by the Spanish Armed Forces’ Tiger and NH90 helicopters. With this evolution Indra is positioning itself at the head of the worldwide development of a key command and control technology, leading the efforts of Europe to ensure its technological autonomy and sovereignty in the area.
Tactical board with VR glasses: Indra has sought to go a step further in the design of the Talium mission system and introduced the use of virtual reality to support the decision-making process. All the information processed by the Talium system can be viewed in a fully immersive 3D environment by using virtual reality glasses. An advanced tactical board or sandbox is used as a testing, planning and mission analysis environment. The controls can replicate the operation before it is performed and view it as if it were being executed. They can choose different perspectives to study it, introduce different variables into their analysis and so on.
One of the benefits of this solution is that the virtual scenario can be shared in real time with military commanders located at different bases or deployed thousands of kilometres away. It allows them to meet virtually and interact to plan the operation. This facilitates the coordination of various battalions based in diverse geographical locations that operate with different air platforms but act in a coordinated manner in a conflict zone. (Source: www.joint-forcescom)
————————————————————————-
Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector. Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components. Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training. The company’s long experience of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
———————————————————————-