Sponsored by Blighter Surveillance Systems
www.blighter.com
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04 Nov 20. RADA Announces $20m in New Orders. RADA Electronic Industries Ltd. has announced the receipt of $20m in accumulated new orders since mid-September 2020. To date, the aggregate amount of new orders since the beginning of 2020 has reached $79m, compared to $41m received over the same period in 2019, showing an increase of over-92% year-over-year. All of these $20m in new orders are for software-defined tactical radars for the US market, demonstrating immediate needs for RADA’s tactical radars in all of the relevant market segments that these radars are addressing: counter small unmanned aerial systems (C-sUAS), short range air defense (SHORAD), counter rockets, artillery and mortars (C-RAM), and vehicle protection solutions (VPS). Most of these new orders were follow-ons from customers which have placed initial orders earlier this year and moved to wider-scale orders after rigorous testing and evaluation. Deliveries of these orders are planned to be spread along the first half of 2021.
Dov Sella, RADA’s CEO, commented, “The level of new orders that we have experienced throughout 2020 makes us optimistic that our strong growth will continue into 2021. Our recent orders are starting to build a significant backlog for 2021, substantiate our growth expectations and demonstrate the transition of the market from the ‘urgent need’ to the ‘growing’ phase. While 2020 is not over yet, the current level of new orders this year already surpassed the level of the whole of 2019, which was $60 million. Furthermore, we are still expecting additional orders during the remainder of 2020, with emphasis on the US Army IM-SHORAD program, which was recently awarded to General Dynamics (GD) and is in process of reaching RADA as well. We reiterate our expectations of continued sequential quarterly growth and growing operating profit throughout the remainder of 2020 and also into 2021.” (Source: UAS VISION)
04 Nov 20. Here’s how the Pentagon will test industry’s counter-drone tech for an enduring capability. Beginning early next year, the Pentagon will host the first opportunity for industry to demonstrate counter-drone technology aimed at small systems, the next step in a plan to test out new capabilities twice a year at common test ranges, according to Army officials in charge of the effort.
Pentagon leaders approved in late September a set of requirements to help counter small drones, laying a path for how industry can develop technology to plug into a single command-and-control system.
The Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, or JCO, kicked off the pursuit with an industry open house Oct. 30.
The defense secretary delegated the Army in November 2019 to lead the effort to consolidate the wide range of counter-small unmanned aerial system, or C-sUAS, capabilities into a select group of interim systems. Those systems have now been chosen, with the JCO turning its sights toward establishing an enduring collection of capabilities — while acknowledging that there’s no silver bullet and that a layered approach is needed, using both kinetic and non-kinetic means, to defeat small drones.
The JCO has identified three sites for common test ranges to conduct evaluation and testing of promising counter-drone technology, according to Col. Greg Soule, resources director for the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office. The RCCTO is supporting the JCO by helping identify material solutions for C-sUAS, and it is leveraging its work on directed-energy and high-power microwave technologies to roll into a solution.
A decision memo on locations is awaiting approval by Army Vice Chief Gen. Joseph Martin. Soule said those locations will be shared “when the time is right.”
The JCO also set up a working group to look into testing C-sUAS capabilities in an urban environment, according to Soule.
To ensure the JCO is comparing apples to apples when it comes to counter-drone technology, it also stood up a working group with representatives across all the armed services to establish joint test protocols. That protocol is out for signature and should be in hand by Nov. 6.
Additionally, Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, has asked the JCO to look at the feasibility of establishing a single source for training targets “to help reduce costs, reduce lead times and streamline the waiver process,” Soule said. “All services already have sources for where they go now. So potentially we could find a way to find some synergies and efficiencies.”
Industry interest
Industry is eager to get technology in front of both the JCO and RCCTO. Many defense companies participating in the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual virtual conference last month highlighted counter-drone capability.
General Dynamics Mission Systems featured its recent partnership with Dedrone, a leader in drone detection and defeat technologies using machine-learning software, sensors and electronic attack methods.
Lockheed Martin showcased its MoRFIUS C-sUAS capability that it is working on with the RCCTO. MoRFIUS uses high-power microwave technology in an aerial platform. That capability can be used to extend the range beyond current counter-drone defeat systems to defeat drone swarms. MoRFIUS is a recoverable and reusable technology.
Leonardo DRS also highlighted its mobile counter-drone capability using Moog’s Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform turret with multiple kinetic effectors, different electro-magnetic and infrared sensors, an onboard radar, and electronic warfare technologies.
Raytheon, which has a foothold in the C-sUAS market with its Coyote Block II kinetic effector and its Ku-Band Radio Frequency System, emphasized its track record and upgrades to the system.
The industry open house had roughly 500 industry representatives tune in. The JCO will select industry applicants to show off their capabilities at the first demo, which is to take place in the second quarter of fiscal 2021.
At the demonstration, the JCO will provide instrumentation and threat surrogates as well command-and-control elements. Industry participants will need to bring technology to defeat drones, said Adam Martin, who briefed industry on test ranges and protocols at the open house.
There will be technology insertion points in the enduring architecture after each demonstration that address gaps, he added. (Source: Defense News)
04 Nov 20. UK begins Wedgetail conversions. Work has begun in the UK to convert five Boeing 737 airliners into E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning Mk 1 (AEW1) platforms for the Royal Air Force (RAF).
Boeing UK announced on 2 November that the first fuselage sections for the first two aircraft to be modified had been delivered to STS Aviation Services in Birmingham.
“Section 46 is the part of the fuselage where the aircraft’s [Northrop Grumman] multirole electronically scanned array (MESA) radar will be installed,” Boeing UK said, adding that the first Section 46 will begin preparation for inclusion into a 737 Next Generation [NG] airliner later this month.
“The arrival of the first fuselage sections at STS Aviation in Birmingham is a significant milestone for the E-7 Wedgetail Programme, and an exciting opportunity for the UK as we begin the modification of these aircraft into a world-class airborne command and control capability,” Air Commodore Richard Barrow, Ministry of Defence (MoD) Senior Responsible Owner for the E-7 Wedgetail Programme was quoted as saying.
As noted by Boeing UK, parts and tooling will continue to arrive weekly to the Birmingham hangar in preparation for work on the first two aircraft in January 2021. “Staffing is ramping up, with 60 hired by STS Aviation already and more than half of the Boeing staff are on site now. The programme also successfully completed two critical reviews with the MoD last week,” the company said. (Source: Jane’s)
03 Nov 20. Soldier Lethality: Army conducts major milestone tests in development of next gen fighting system. IVAS is designed to enhance the lethality and survivability of the Army’s Close Combat Force through a combination of technologies and augmented reality capabilities delivered in the form of a Heads-Up Display device, much like the famed HoloLens developed by Microsoft, which is, in fact, partnering with the Army to develop and produce the system. The Army-led team of developers creating the Integrated Visual Augmentation System is wrapping up the third major milestone testing and demonstration event this week at Fort Pickett, Va., where Soldiers and Marines have been putting the system, known as IVAS, through a number of field exercises since Oct. 18.
IVAS is one of the Army Future Command’s 31 original signature modernization efforts, headed by the Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team (SL CFT) at Fort Benning, Ga., under the leadership of Brig. Gen. David Hodne, who also serves as the Chief of Infantry. It’s a single platform that allows the Soldier to fight, rehearse, and train, because it leverages networked information sharing and mixed and augmented reality technologies. IVAS is one of the SL CFT’s efforts to help resolve an erosion in combat superiority between
U.S. and near peer competitors around the world as identified in the 2018 National Defense Strategy.
Whereas U.S. forces once “owned the night” in respect to combat overmatch in conditions of limited visibility, Hodne said, two decades of consistent and concentrated conflict across the Middle East has resulted in a parity among the world’s most capable combatants.
“Overmatch has always been defined in terms of two things; our lethality and our protection must exceed the lethality and protection of our adversaries,” Hodne said Oct. 30, as he addressed a group of Army senior leaders and Congressional representatives who attended the IVAS demonstration at Pickett. “In order to restore overmatch, we must restore lethality, and lethality means we can see, designate and move quickly through hours of limited visibility.
“In an environment where we share the night, the folks who can move faster, decide faster and think faster are the ones who have the advantage on today and tomorrow’s battlefield,” he said, citing the IVAS next generation situational awareness tools, high resolution operational and training simulations capabilities the Soldiers are testing at Pickett.
The event is the third in a series of four comprehensive large-scale tests, formally known as Soldier Touch Points, or STPs, scheduled at pivotal junctures in the 28-month program to bring together stakeholders from across the Army’s modernization enterprise with industry partners to assess technologies added or upgraded since the previous STP and test the latest system prototype in the field. This time around, participants from the 82nd Airborne Division and a contingent of Marines conducted company-size training events using the first militarized prototype of the IVAS. Events included land navigation, live fire, mission planning, rapid target acquisition, trench clearing, after action review using augmented reality, and more.
By the end of this event, Team IVAS, which includes the CFT, PEO Soldier, Microsoft, Combat Capabilities Development Command, and a number of labs and directorates within the modernization enterprise, will have collected more than 40,000 hours of Soldier data, said Brig. Gen. Tony Potts, the director of PEO Soldier.
The team employs a Soldier Centered Design methodology that involves Soldiers at every step of the process, from design to development, thereby reducing the traditional 10-year acquisitions timeline to roughly 28 months and eliminating the historical probability of fielding a system Soldiers reject. Soldier Centered Design means IVAS is designed and built by the Soldiers who give the constructive, candid feedback developers use to turn over new prototypes and upgrade systems constantly
“If we want to develop systems at the speed of relevance, and systems that our Soldier want to use, this is the way we have to do it,” Potts said. “We have learned so much through Soldier Centered Design. Our real desire is to let Soldiers design it, and then our engineers build what they design. It’s about listening to our Soldiers.”
The STP was Staff Sgt Kaleb Kester’s first experience with IVAS and with the concept of Soldier Centered Design. After 12 years in the Army, the combat veteran said he sees “incredible potential” for the system and had no trouble learning to use it. “If you can use a smart phone, you can use IVAS,” he said, but there was one thing he didn’t understand.
“Why haven’t we always been doing it this way? I hate getting issued things I don’t even want or don’t need or can’t really use,” Kester said. “This is the way it should always be.”
The program, which remains on track to deliver the first IVAS in the fourth quarter of FY21, is funded through Other Transaction Authorities (OTA) and Middle Tier Acquisition Rapid Prototyping authorities to accelerate the development process by more than four years as compared to the DoD 5000 process.
Last month, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord hailed IVAS as an example of success, having launched the program under an interim policy she implemented to circumvent problems inherent to traditional military acquisitions methodologies aimed at layered governance and risk aversion. In September, Deputy Secretary Norquist signed a directive that completes a comprehensive redesign of the DoD 5000 series acquisitions policies.
“So using this (interim) policy, we have 74 programs today using the middle tier acquisition pathway, including (IVAS),” Lord said Oct. 7 during a Pentagon briefing. “As a result, IVAS intends to rapidly field the capability in fiscal year 21 after conducting dozens of hardware prototypes and thousands of software builds through continuous iterations with Soldiers … the MTA pathway incentivizes powerful behaviors across the acquisition enterprise to quickly restore the Army’s advantage in individual situational awareness, navigation, communications, and target acquisition.”
The event is the third in a series of four comprehensive large-scale tests, formally known as Soldier Touch Points, or STPs, scheduled at pivotal junctures in the 28-month program to bring together stakeholders from across the Army’s modernization enterprise with industry partners to assess technologies added or upgraded since the previous STP and test the latest system prototype in the field. This time around, participants from the 82nd Airborne Division and a contingent of Marines conducted company-size training events using the first militarized prototype of the IVAS. Events included land navigation, live fire, mission planning, rapid target acquisition, trench clearing, after action review using augmented reality, and more.
By the end of this event, Team IVAS, which includes the CFT, PEO Soldier, Microsoft, Combat Capabilities Development Command, and a number of labs and directorates within the modernization enterprise, will have collected more than 40,000 hours of Soldier data, said Brig. Gen. Tony Potts, the director of PEO Soldier.
The team employs a Soldier Centered Design methodology that involves Soldiers at every step of the process, from design to development, thereby reducing the traditional 10-year acquisitions timeline to roughly 28 months and eliminating the historical probability of fielding a system Soldiers reject. Soldier Centered Design means IVAS is designed and built by the Soldiers who give the constructive, candid feedback developers use to turn over new prototypes and upgrade systems constantly.
“If we want to develop systems at the speed of relevance, and systems that our Soldier want to use, this is the way we have to do it,” Potts said. “We have learned so much through Soldier Centered Design. Our real desire is to let Soldiers design it, and then our engineers build what they design. It’s about listening to our Soldiers.”
The STP was Staff Sgt Kaleb Kester’s first experience with IVAS and with the concept of Soldier Centered Design. After 12 years in the Army, the combat veteran said he sees “incredible potential” for the system and had no trouble learning to use it. “If you can use a smart phone, you can use IVAS,” he said, but there was one thing he didn’t understand.
“Why haven’t we always been doing it this way? I hate getting issued things I don’t even want or don’t need or can’t really use,” Kester said. “This is the way it should always be.”
The program, which remains on track to deliver the first IVAS in the fourth quarter of FY21, is funded through Other Transaction Authorities (OTA) and Middle Tier Acquisition Rapid Prototyping authorities to accelerate the development process by more than four years as compared to the DoD 5000 process.
Last month, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord hailed IVAS as an example of success, having launched the program under an interim policy she implemented to circumvent problems inherent to traditional military acquisitions methodologies aimed at layered governance and risk aversion. In September, Deputy Secretary Norquist signed a directive that completes a comprehensive redesign of the DoD 5000 series acquisitions policies.
“So using this (interim) policy, we have 74 programs today using the middle tier acquisition pathway, including (IVAS),” Lord said Oct. 7 during a Pentagon briefing. “As a result, IVAS intends to rapidly field the capability in fiscal year 21 after conducting dozens of hardware prototypes and thousands of software builds through continuous iterations with Soldiers … the MTA pathway incentivizes powerful behaviors across the acquisition enterprise to quickly restore the Army’s advantage in individual situational awareness, navigation, communications, and target acquisition.”
Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said virtually the same last week after participating in the IVAS STP 3 demonstration, where he donned the IVAS to see firsthand how the system pairs to the Family of Weapons Sight – Individual to give the warfighter the ability to acquire a target from behind the relative security of a corner or an obstacle using the aided target acquisition capability. ]
Twenty years ago, McConville said, such capabilities would have been considered futuristic, “something you see in a movie,” and the acquisition timeline would have impeded progress.
“Historically, our acquisition cycle has taken a long time, ten to fifteen years,” he said. “(IVAS) was just an idea two or three years ago, and we were able to bring it to fruition quickly to what we saw today working together with industry, with our operators, and also our Soldiers with touch points along the way using the authorities that Congress has given us to rapidly, bring this capability to our Soldiers in the field. It’s safe to say that the future is here – now – and this is no longer in the realm of science fiction.”
Lt. Nicholas Christopher was one of the Soldiers from the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment who put the system to the test in hinterlands of Fort Pickett’s operationally relevant environments. Christopher described the IVAS suite of capabilities just as the Chief of Staff.
“There are a lot of features on it that are futuristic, I guess you could say, including things like advanced battle tracking,” he said. “I can see where my entire platoon is projected on a map, and for me as a platoon leader, that’s amazing, because there’s a lot of guesswork that goes out the window. There’s a lot of verbal communication over radios that I don’t have to do anymore. It’s very solid I can see how this is going to make a great impact on the way we fight.”
02 Nov 20. Elta Systems reveals new passive radar system. Israel Aerospace Industries’ Elta Systems subsidiary on 27 October unveiled a new Passive Coherent Location (PCL) system that creates an air situation picture using non-emitting target detection.
According to a company statement, the PCL system uses non-co-operative transmitters – FM radio stations or Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) towers – whose emissions reflect off aircraft overhead.
“The reflections are received by one, or a network of, antennas, providing 3D real-time omnidirectional coverage for tracking of multiple targets in congested airborne traffic,” Elta Systems said. “The PCL system is simple to deploy and can be located on remote borders, as well as in urban areas. Installation can include one sensor or a cluster of sensors for redundancy and improved coverage of specific problematic areas. The sites are connected to the central PCL command-and-control processing unit via a dedicated data link.”
Adi Dulberg, vice president and general manager of IAI-Elta’s Intelligence, Communications, and EW Division, said that the PCL system can be deployed “independently or as an additional layer for air control radars, as part of a multidisciplinary air situation picture.”
Dulberg told Janes the system is designed to detect aircraft, unmanned aerial systems, and quadcopters, adding that until now the company had only marketed passive detection systems for Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) and Communications Intelligence (COMINT). These systems detected, located, and tracked aircraft based on receiving their radar emissions or signals from onboard communications systems, he said.
Unlike ELINT and COMINT, however, PCL can detect, locate, and track non-emitting targets. (Source: Jane’s)
03 Nov 20. HENSOLDT Presents TwInvis Passive Radar System. HENSOLDT, the provider of the state-of-the-art Air Defense and Weapon Locating Radar COBRA, now presents its passive radar system TwInvis.
With the TwInvis passive radar, HENSOLDT has revolutionised classical radar technology. This system does not emit any signals itself, which means that it remains virtually invisible. Nevertheless it can even locate aircraft equipped with stealth technology.
For the first time, TwInvis allows the airspace to be monitored over a radius of up to 250kilometers, without emitting radar signals. Mobile, and unobtrusively integrated into a small van or off-road vehicle, this radar’s possible uses are almost unlimited, ranging from air surveillance during particularly sensitive events to civil air traffic control and military applications.
Conventional radar systems all work using the same principle: they emit signals that are reflected by an object. The radar in turn visualizes that object based on the echo received. TwInvis follows a radically different approach: the system uses the countless radio signal swhich are already in the air from broadcast and TV transmitters and evaluates their echoes when reflected by an object.
More Security
For politics and business events, safety is a key issue. In this context, it would be possible to use a mobile TwInvis to even track small aircraft without transmitting any signals of its own. Thanks to its innovative technology, it can be installed directly in valleys and monitor the airspace, which was only possible with a great deal of effort, if at all, with conventional radar systems.
In addition, TwInvis could, for example, detect the aircraft of smugglers in a specific region, provide additional security in urban areas or cost-effectively supplement conventional radars in air traffic control. As it doesn’t broadcast any signals, it can even be used without any additional official approvals.
This ‘super radar’ is made possible by the extension of the computing performance and by a specialty of HENSOLDT: a highly sensitive, multi-channel digital receiver technology, which makes it possible to locate radar echoes that are up to ten billion times weaker than the output signal, for as many as 25 transmitters at the same time.
No Visibility
In the military field, TwInvis even combines several advantages. In addition to its high mobility, the system itself remains ‘invisible’, that means that it cannot be jammed or eliminated in a targeted action. At the same time, it can also be used to discover previously undetectable stealth aircraft that conventional radar systems cannot not pick up because of the low observable technology.
Stealth technology prevents an aircraft using it from emitting any radar signals. Instead, these signals are absorbed by the surface of the aircraft and thus undetectable.
TwInvis makes this technology vulnerable by reliably detecting the echoes in the frequency range of broadcast and TV signals. Stealth aircraft thus become visible.
The market launch is imminent
A single TwInvis can monitor airspace over a radius of 250 kilometers. Up to 200 aircraft are visible at the same time in 3D (range and altitude). Moreover, several TwInvis can be linkedup into a networked system so as to monitor even larger areas, coasts or borders.
TwInvis has already shown what it can do in several impressive demonstrations to military customers, air traffic control organizations and other interested parties. (Source: Al Defaiya)
02 Nov 20. French anti-terrorist agency selects Cerbair counter drone technology to secure Med 7 summit. French counter drone specialist Cerbair provided anti-drone equipment as part of the security infrastructure put in place by French national police during the Med 7 Summit held in Corsica on 10 September 2020. The country’s anti-terrorist unit, known as RAID (Recherche, Assistance, Intervention, Dissuasion), selected Cerbair technology to protect the area’s low-level airspace according to a report by Air Cosmos.
Among technologies deployed, RAID used Cerbair’s Hydra systems, aimed at detecting drones and locating operators; Medusa, for neutralization; and Chimera, a newcomer to the Cerbair family, according to Air Cosmos. This all-in-one solution makes it possible to “detect, locate and neutralize any drone threat”.
This is not the first time that the Raid has used Cerbair’s anti-drone solutions. The elite unit has implemented them during the G7 summit, the commemorations of the D-Day landings and the Armada. It remains to be seen whether these technologies will be used as part of the measures which will be implemented for the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games, under the supervision of the Air and Space Army. The CDAOA, the air defense and air operations command, is still working on the development of an anti-drone device, where military capacities can be supplemented by that of the Raid or the gendarmerie.
For more information visit:
www.air-cosmos.com (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
30 Oct 20. USAF issues RFI for directed energy C-UAS technologies. The US Air Force (USAF) is requesting information from industry about directed energy (DE) capabilities for counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) technologies.
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Architecture and Integration Directorate (AFLCMC/XA) seeks to better characterise the technological, manufacturing, and performance capabilities of the industrial base to develop and produce upgrades to DE prototypes and related C-UAS subsystems. The directorate will use this information to inform its trade space analysis of solutions for engagement and mission level modelling and simulation (M&S), as well as programme cost estimates for potential future technical maturation of DE C-UAS systems.
The USAF wants to research the industrial base for C-UAS capabilities related to fixed-site Air Base Air Defense (ABAD) against potential Group 1 and 2 UAS threats, which weigh 25 kg or less. These threats may have characteristics such as small size; low radar cross sections; low infrared (IR) or radio frequency (RF) signatures, or no RF signatures at all; the ability to hover; and low-altitude flight capabilities, which may render them difficult to detect and defeat.
Additionally, these UASs are typically either controlled remotely from a ground control station (GCS) or can fly pre-programmed routes. Recent and pending procurements of DE C-UAS weapons require even further development and improvement, including connected and related, but not limited to, subsystems such as command-and-control (C2) suites, radar, and electronic warfare (EW). (Source: Jane’s)
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Blighter® Surveillance Systems (BSS) is a UK-based electronic-scanning radar and sensor solution provider delivering an integrated multi-sensor package to systems integrators comprising the Blighter electronic-scanning radars, cameras, thermal imagers, trackers and software solutions. Blighter radars combine patented solid-state Passive Electronic Scanning Array (PESA) technology with advanced Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) and Doppler processing to provide a robust and persistent surveillance capability. Blighter Surveillance Systems is a Plextek Group company, a leading British design house and technology innovator, and is based at Great Chesterford on the outskirts of Cambridge, England.
The Blighter electronic-scanning (e-scan) FMCW Doppler ground surveillance radar (GSR) is a unique patented product that provides robust intruder detection capabilities under the most difficult terrain and weather conditions. With no mechanical moving parts and 100% solid-state design, the Blighter radar family of products are extremely reliable and robust and require no routine maintenance for five years. The Blighter radar can operate over land and water rapidly searching for intruders as small a crawling person, kayaks and even low-flying objects. In its long-range modes the Blighter radar can rapidly scan an area in excess of 3,000 km² to ensure that intruders are detected, identified and intercepted before they reach critical areas.
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