Sponsored by Blighter Surveillance Systems
www.blighter.com
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08 Dec 22. Cambridge Pixel expands air defence capabilities. A solution for upgrading air defence capabilities has been significantly expanded by Cambridge Pixel, with its broadened range of modular software and radar interface cards offering greater flexibility towards improving countrywide air defence.
Central to this solution is the newly expanded ASD-100 display software, providing display of primary and secondary radar video, ASTERIX and ADS-B tracks, along with threat assessment and enhanced automation.
The solution supports a very wide range of legacy and modern radar types with server processing in remote locations to distribute any combination of video, plots and tracks to a centralised location or multiple regional centres. The legacy radar support negates the requirement and cost of replacing expensive equipment.
Additional features include a distributed database to share asset and threat information and track management capabilities allow control of which tracks are distributed to which centres. A wide-area information monitoring capability is available to validate network connectivity and automatically control redundant configurations.
Other software modules used in Air Defence solutions include SPx Server for radar processing and track extraction, SPx Track Manager for track filtering, SPx Monitor for automated network performance monitoring and redundancy control and RDR data recorder for full data, track and screen recording.
Commenting on the new developments, Cambridge Pixel’s managing director David Johnson said: “What’s key to these new developments is the flexibility to offer cost-effective country-wide Air Defence upgrades by combining existing radar sensors with new. We have considerable experience and flexibility in interfacing to legacy primary and secondary radars for track extraction. The modular software can be configured to support local installations or country-wide solutions with regional centres.” (Source: ADS)
07 Dec 22. Thales and Aquila install new radar systems on Rock of Gibraltar. The associated work was conducted as part of the UK MoD Project Marshall. Thales and Aquila have completed the installation, integration and commissioning of radar systems at the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. Aquila is a joint venture between UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and Thales UK.
The companies have worked together to install Thales’ StarNG primary surveillance radar and RSM970S secondary surveillance radar.
The systems will provide surveillance capabilities for Royal Air Force (RAF) Gibraltar and Gibraltar International Airport.
Work has been conducted as part of the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Project Marshall, which aimed to upgrade Air Traffic Management systems.
The new ‘Gate 4’ milestone marks the culmination of the radar testing and customer acceptance phase for this programme.
Thales informed that more than 100 specialists were employed to set up the radar systems at Gibraltar.
With the gradual progress of the project, the companies also deployed a Chinook helicopter to airlift the required equipment to the top of the Rock.
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A ‘white spherical giant dome’ has also been installed to cover the radar systems and protect them from extreme weather conditions.
During the commissioning phase, the team gathered a large amount of data to conduct computational analysis to validate the radars’ capability to operate according to the RAF’s requirements.
Collected reports were shared with the MoD for final assessment and approval.
Thales UK regional programme manager Eddie Trott said: “We’re extremely pleased with the delivery and performance of the new primary and secondary radars that will serve Gibraltar for decades to come.”
Following the latest event, the companies will now integrate the radars with Thales TopSky Air Traffic Display systems, which are soon scheduled to be installed in the control tower next to the airport.
(Source: airforce-technology.com)
07 Dec 22. Robins Air Force Base cleared to replace JSTARS fleet.
Robins Air Force Base in central Georgia has been cleared to move forward with four new missions that will replace its retiring E-8C Joint STARS fleet, the service announced Monday.
The Air Force plans to bring one squadron of E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node planes and three battle management and electromagnetic spectrum operations units to Robins over the next five years.
Two studies that looked how those missions could affect the environment at Robins, including factors like noise and pollution, found they would have “no significant impact,” the base said in a press release.
“New mission requirements and capabilities are already reimagining the … battlefield, and the men and women of the 461st Air Control Wing are poised to provide unrivaled expertise to usher in that vision,” said wing commander Col. Michelle Carns. “The [environmental assessment] approval brings us one step closer.”
The installation has served as the sole home to Joint STARS (Surveillance Target Attack Radar System) airborne command-and-control planes for over two decades. An enormous radar on the aircraft’s belly finds and tracks targets on the ground, so other units can attack or avoid them as needed.
Active duty airmen with the 461st ACW and Georgia Air National Guardsmen with the 116th ACW fly and maintain Joint STARS together. By next October, however, all E-8s will be out of service.
Six of the fleet’s 16 jets have retired as the Air Force looks to build a battle management enterprise that can stand up to modern physical and electronic attacks.
After a lengthy debate over how best to replace the E-8C, the Air Force ultimately decided to try collecting that same intelligence by networking other sensors, radars and satellites rather than buying a new fleet altogether. That effort is known as the Advanced Battle Management System.
A communications pod installed in a KC-46 Pegasus will allow the F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor to connect and instantly receive and transmit the most up-to-date information to ensure the warfighters maintain decision superiority. This concept is known as Capability Release #1 under the Advanced Battle Management System framework. (Air Force graphic)
Those airmen will be reassigned to new missions at Robins or moved to another base. The Air Force also plans to transfer people with battle management or related experience to fill any remaining jobs at Robins.
“There is no plan to reduce manpower billets at Robins AFB as a result of this mission transformation effort, and Georgia Air National Guard members will retrain to roles in the [battle management control squadron and ABMS family of systems] at Robins,” the Air Force said.
Now the base turns to the work of constructing new facilities and assembling the units — though details of what the organizations will do are fuzzy.
Robins began construction on a facility for classified support to the ABMS program in March, the Air Force said.
The battle management squadron will start arriving at Robins in 2023 and become fully operational by October 2024. Air Force Times previously reported that the unit would handle daily combat command-and-control operations in the Middle East.
Robins’s first BACN aircraft, a small Bombardier jet outfitted with a suite of long-range communications tools that let troops share data from afar, is slated to arrive in the spring. The squadron should be complete by fiscal 2027.
The Air Force previously said airmen at Robins would offer command-and-control support for the E-11A mission as a detachment to the 319th Reconnaissance Wing at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, which flies the RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drone.
Officials plan to activate the 950th Spectrum Warfare Group, an active duty organization for electromagnetic spectrum offense or defense, in 2027 as well.
Col. Josh Koslov, commander of the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing, told The War Zone earlier this year that the Air Force envisions the new group as a hub for holistically assessing how the service performs in EMS operations.
“Right now, we assess individually based on platforms, based on very specific systems on platforms, but we want to grow this operations group to provide a much better view of how the Air Force would perform in the spectrum in an operational environment, and that’s the 950th,” Koslov said.
The design for a dedicated “Battle Management Combined Operations Center” that will house three of the future missions is currently under review, the Air Force added.
Robins employs nearly 24,000 military personnel, civilians and contractors.
“These four new missions will be essential elements of our National Defense Strategy for many years to come, and I am excited our Georgia Air Guard men and women are at the forefront,” said 116th Air Control Wing Commander Col. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
06 Dec 22. Echodyne’s Medium-Range EchoShield Radar Makes Security Sales & Integration’s Top 30 Tech Innovations of 2022 List. EchoShield, has been selected as one of the Top 30 Tech Innovations of 2022 by Security Sales and Integration (SSI), the security industry’s premier technology and business source of trusted content. SSI’s annual list of the most cutting-edge technology is compiled by the publication’s seasoned technical editors, who hold decades of industry knowledge and expertise.
EchoShield is an advanced software-defined multi-mission radar that sits on the frontlines of protecting critical infrastructure with best-in-class detection, tracking, and classification performance. EchoShield’s architecture builds upon the field-proven success of Echodyne’s proprietary metamaterials electronically scanned array (MESA®) technology.
Echodyne radars bring advanced performance previously found only in defense solutions to wider markets at commercial prices. Excelling at airspace situational awareness, Echodyne radars allow security organizations to enhance perimeter surveillance and secure the air domain just like they do the ground domain. Echodyne radars offer:
- Ability to surveil large volumes of air and ground domains for comprehensive all-weather performance
- Direct and full-featured integration options for ingesting data to higher systems
- Lowest cost, size, weight, and power (C-SWaP) for radar performance in the industry
“We are honored EchoShield has been named as one of Security Sales and Integration’s Top 30 Tech Innovations of 2022. Backed by customer demand, this radar was created to fill the need for superior drone detection performance – a challenge critical infrastructure protection will need to address over the coming quarters and years,” said Eben Frankenberg, CEO of Echodyne. “We are especially grateful for this award from SSI as it validates our team’s efforts to deliver advanced detection technology to critical infrastructure and civilian security teams focused on keeping people and places safe.”
Echodyne accepts this award on the heels of a $135 m funding round in June to expand the distribution, production, and development of its patented MESA radars across the defense, security, and autonomous machine markets worldwide. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
06 Dec 22. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) successfully demonstrated a new multifunction, converged sensing capability for the U.S. Government. The new “all-in-one” sensor capability rapidly closes the Observe, Orient, Decide and Act (OODA) loop by integrating four critical mission capabilities: sense, effect/jam, inject and communicate.
The demonstration, conducted at PAX River Military Installation in Maryland, showcased how Northrop Grumman’s Converged Sensor integrates sensing and effecting technology while incorporating third-party hardware and software in an open-architecture, platform-agnostic system. The modeled-mission scenario included Ground Radio Frequency test equipment like that of peer and-near-peer adversaries.
“The new ‘speed of fight’ is driving a need for a converged sensing capability to use across mission operations and multiple domains,” said Jennifer Walsmith, vice president of Cyber and Information Solutions, Northrop Grumman. “This demonstration showed that our Converged Sensor can effectively share and receive operational data with multiple platforms and command nodes through a standard open systems gateway.”
The Northrop Grumman converged sensor architecture with core hardware and software-defined open systems approaches, can be used across all domains and platforms in air, space, ground, maritime and cyberspace.
28 Nov 22. Bluvec Selects Draganfly to Create Joint Solutions Enabling Specific Military and Civil UAS Threat Detection and Intervention.
Draganfly Inc. (NASDAQ: DPRO) (CSE: DPRO) (FSE: 3U8) (“Draganfly” or the “Company”), an award-winning, industry-leading drone solutions and systems developer, is pleased to announce that Bluvec a pioneer developer of Deep Signal Inspection (DSI) technology and a leading supplier of counter-drone technology in the industry has selected Draganfly to create joint solutions enabling specific Military and Civil UAS Threat Detection Intervention.
Bluvec is a trusted counter-UAS system provider that manufactures and develops UAS detection and intervention equipment. Draganfly and Bluvec will collaborate to develop joint solutions for counter-drone technology to improve threat detection management and intervention, particularly at crucial infrastructures such as airports, energy facilities, and civil air defense.
Bluvec’s counter-UAS platform will be integrated with Draganfly’s Commander 3XL UAV to create a unique, innovative solution that will extend the range of Bluvec’s existing products and introduce additional capabilities such as remote situational reconnaissance, patrol and intervention. The Commander 3 XL is an easy-to-deploy, modular multirotor UAV with the ability to carry up to 10 kg as part of its interchangeablepayload system.
Draganfly, in addition, will also be a distributor of Bluvec solutions and will act as a collaborator to help grow the global adoption of critical counter-UAV infrastructure.
“The global importance of counter-drone technology is crucial and has immediate real-world use cases,” said President and CEO Cameron Chell. “We are excited to have been selected by Bluvec and to collaborate with Bluvec in developing next-generation threat-detection management and infrastructure to help protect crucial infrastructures in times of crisis.”
“We are very excited to collaborate with Draganfly to enhance counter-drone technology further,” said Jack Jia, Founder and CEO of Bluvec. “This will undoubtedly have a major impact on the ability to deeply incorporate UAS and UAV solutions into civil and military threat detection management and intervention.”
About Draganfly
Draganfly Inc. (NASDAQ: DPRO; CSE: DPRO; FSE: 3U8) is the creator of quality, cutting-edge drone solutions, software and AI systems that revolutionize the way organizations can do business and service their stakeholders. Recognized as being at the forefront of technology for over 22 years, Draganfly is an award-winning, industry leader serving the public safety, agriculture, industrial inspections, security, mapping and surveying markets. Draganfly is a company driven by passion, ingenuity, and the need to provide efficient solutions and first-class services to its customers around the world with the goal of saving time, money, and lives. For more information on Draganfly, please visit us at www.draganfly.com. (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
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Blighter Surveillance Systems is a world-leading designer and manufacturer of best-in-class electronic-scanning ground-based radars, surveillance solutions and Counter-UAS systems. Blighter’s solid-state micro-Doppler products are deployed in more than 35 countries across the globe, delivering consistent all-weather security protection and wide area surveillance along borders, coastlines, at military bases and across critical infrastructure such as airports, oil and gas facilities and palaces. Blighter radars are also used to protect manoeuvre force missions when deployed on military land vehicles and trailers, and its world-beating multi-mode radar represents a great leap in threat detection technology and affordability for use in a variety of scenarios.
The Blighter range of radar products are used for detecting a variety of threats, from individuals on foot to land vehicles, boats, drones and low-flying aircraft at ranges of up to 32 km. Blighter Surveillance Systems employs 40 people and is located near Cambridge, UK, where it designs, produces and markets its range of unique patented solid-state radars. Blighter prides itself on being an engineer-led business committed to providing cost-effective and flexible solutions across the defence, critical infrastructure and national security markets.
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