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20 Jul 22. Contractors look to lasers for unmanned systems. Laser technology’s ability to play a growing role in the military drone sector made a showing at the Farnborough Airshow this week.
Both QinetiQ and Raytheon UK pointed to the part lasers can play as militaries increasingly seek to both operate and counter drones.
In an announcement Wednesday, QinetiQ claimed the world’s first successful demonstration of an airborne drone controlled via a laser communication system.
The British defense technology company said the development will bolster the ability of drones to avoid detection when compared with radio frequency technologies, prone to detection and interference.
The March demonstration, which took place on the military training ground at Salisbury, in the west of England, is part of work on the UK’s Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (Dstl) air command and control, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance and interoperability project.
The setup included a “QinetiQ-owned small multi-rotor uncrewed platform” flying within a 400 meter test radius, program manager Rob Scott told Defense News. “Further research of the capability’s role [is planned] within a wider crewed uncrewed teaming (CUC-T) concept and associated domain areas,” he added.
Meanwhile, Raytheon UK announced it’s investing in its Livingston, Scotland, plant, creating a European hub to meet growing demand for laser counter-drone systems.
The company said the laser integration center will focus on testing, fielding and maintaining high-energy laser weapons for a growing number of customers in Europe.
“We’ve all seen that asymmetric threats like drones, rockets, artillery and mortars are a serious problem, and demand is spiking for cost-effective lasers to defeat them,” Michael Hofle, senior director of high-energy lasers at Raytheon Intelligence & Space, said in a statement.
The new integration unit is scheduled to be operational next year. Raytheon has not provided details of the investment involved or the number of jobs it will create.
Last year, the Ministry of Defence awarded Raytheon UK a demonstrator contract to provide a high-energy laser demonstrator weapon installed on a Wolfhound truck.
Additionally, earlier in the week, MBDA UK announced it, as part of a consortium, had progressed work to build a high powered laser weapon demonstrator under contract to the MoD.
The Dragonfire consortium, which includes MBDA, QinetiQ, Leonardo and Dstl, said it had successfully conducted low power tests showing the weapon can successfully track air and sea targets with high accuracy.
The trial used a low power QinetiQ laser, Leonardo’s beam director and MBDA’s image processing and control technology to demonstrate ultra-precise tracking accuracy, MBDA said. (Source: Defense News)
20 Jul 22. Paramount to convert two more maritime patrol aircraft for Pakistan. Paramount Group is converting additional Embraer jets to maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs) for Pakistan under its Sea Sultan project. In July 2021, Defense News reported that Pakistan contracted Leonardo to convert three Embraer Lineage 1000 aircraft into long-range maritime patrol aircraft for the Pakistan navy as part of long-term plans to replace the country’s P-3C Orion fleet. Paramount Group has been tasked with handling the pre-conversion maintenance, repair and overhaul of the aircraft.
Defense News reported the initial tender went out in November 2020, with Leonardo beating Rheinland Air Services and Turkish Aerospace Industries. A $190 m contract was subsequently signed with Leonardo in June 2021.
The Pakistan Navy inducted the first Lineage 1000 in September 2021, at a ceremony at Pakistan Naval Station Mehran in Karachi. This aircraft (ex B-3203, cn 19000453) is unmodified and used for crew training.
At the beginning of July, The Intel Consortium reported that Pakistan had secured two more Lineage 1000 airframes for Sea Sultan conversion, including A6-HHS (cn 19000296), which at the beginning of June was tracked by RadarBox flying around Pretoria.
The two aircraft were formerly owned by Falcon Aviation Services in Abu Dhabi and flown to Pretoria for conversion work. It is believed they will be fitted with search radar and weapons stations for torpedoes, sonobuoys, depth charges and other weapons.
The second Lineage 1000 owned by Falcon Aviation Services is, according to Scramble magazine, A6-IGT (c/n 19000362), but it is not certain if this airframe is involved in the deal. (Source: https://www.defenceweb.co.za/)
20 Jul 22. Introducing the Terma F-35 Multi-Mission Pod. Terma has delivered more than a 100 Gun Pods for the F-35 Lightning ll, the only certified external pod for the F-35 fighter jet. Terma is now introducing the F-35 Multi-Mission Pod – a further development to the Gun Pod, providing additional mission payload volume for the platform.
The F-35 is truly a fighter jet built for the future. Designed to become better, more intelligent, and more powerful with every fight, every update, and every technological development. However, introducing new hardware capabilities to the F-35 is an expensive matter as adding new sensors or weaponry to the fuselage requires extensive engineering work and aircraft down time.
Terma’s Multi-Mission Pod is based on our F-35 Gun Pod, the only certified design for an external F-35 pod. The Multi-Mission Pod retains the same outer mold line of the Gun Pod which minimizes flight certification requirements for payloads. This allows rapid and low-cost integration of additional capability on the aircraft since aerodynamic and signature performance is unaffected.
The Terma F-35 Multi-Mission Pod provides additional mission payload volume for the platform. This gives the warfighter increased capability and flexibility to augment the aircraft based on mission requirements. The Multi-Mission Pod can be tailored to provide capabilities including EW/Self-Protection, Concealed Stores Carriage, ISR Payloads, Power Generation, Directed Energy Capability, additional Jammers, or any other hardware capability, you might need.
The Multi-Mission Pod provides the additional physical space on the F-35 – without compromising the aircraft radar signature.
The development of the Terma Multi-Mission Pod is leveraging from Terma’s F-35 Gun Pod experience. Terma has delivered over a 100 Gun Pods for the F-35 program, with over 100,000 engineering hours, and is the only manufacturer of a certified external pod on the F-35 Lightning ll.
21 Jul 22. DroneShield to partner Australian Missile Corporation. DroneShield has signed a collaboration agreement with The Australian Missile Corporation (AMC), as the $1bn Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) enterprise enters the next phase.
The AMC was one of the Australian-based GWEO enterprise panel partners invited by the Commonwealth Government in April to work with global missile manufacturing giants Lockheed Martin and Raytheon in establishing a local industry.
Considered areas of cooperation between AMC and DroneShield include counterdrone security, prevalent in current battlefield as seen with the Ukraine war, as well as Electronic Warfare and associated Artificial Intelligence work.
Rear Admiral Lee Goddard (Ret.), AMC’s CEO, commented “We are pleased to cooperate with DroneShield, with its Australian sovereign capability, as we progress our GWEO program. Its world-leading technologies combined with its expertise in engineering and physics would be critical to the development of guided weapons in Australia.”
DroneShield CEO, Oleg Vornik, added, “We are thrilled to work with AMC and its network of partners, to assist in delivering of this iconic Australian defence program.”
19 Jul 22. Turkey receives first Sahin counter-UAV system. Aselsan’s Şahin counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) system has entered the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces, İsmail Demir, head of Turkey’s Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), tweeted on 17 July. The Şahin 40 mm ‘physical destruction system’ was developed to destroy mini and micro UAVs, according to Demir, who said it is easy to deploy and install and can be used for missions such as protecting critical infrastructure, border security, and air defence. An SSB video showed the turreted Şahin mounted on a trailer destroying rotary- and fixed-wing mini and micro UAVs with Atom 40 mm ammunition. The system can carry 64 Atom 40 mm high velocity rounds. Şahin performs automatic target detection and tracking using electro-optical cameras on its stabilised turret. It can be connected to radar or command-and-control systems. The remote-controlled Şahin has an effective range of 700 m against mini and micro UAVs, according to Aselsan. (Source: Janes)
19 Jul 22. Estonian Air Surveillance Wing to get upgraded radars. The Estonian Air Surveillance Wing (ASW) is upgrading its two Thales-Raytheon Systems Ground Master (GM) 403 long‐range air surveillance radars with a series of hardware and software updates, the Estonian Centre for Defence Investment (ECDI) announced on 18 July.
Priit Soosaar, Communications and Radar Category Manager for ECDI told Janes that, once upgraded, the systems will be able to automatically detect NATO aircraft and their detection range will also be substantially improved. Other technical improvements are classified, he noted.
Estonia and Finland have signed a joint procurement agreement to upgrade the radars, as Finland operates similar radar systems, the announcement stated.
The two parties subsequently awarded Thales an EUR11 m (USD 11 m) contract in May to upgrade the radars, Soosaar said. Thales will carry out the modernisation of the radars between 2022 and 2025, with the project formally starting in July, he noted.
In 2009, Estonia and Finland agreed to jointly procure a total of 14 3D medium-range air surveillance radar systems, two of which would be delivered to the Estonian Air Force. (Source: Janes)
19 Jul 22. USS John F Kennedy aircraft carrier receives first SPY-6 radar arrays. Raytheon Missiles & Defense has delivered the first SPY-6 radar arrays for the US Navy’s Gerald R Ford-class aircraft carrier, the future USS John F Kennedy (CVN 79). CVN 79 is the US Navy’s first aircraft carrier to be equipped with the advanced radar. It is also the first of three carriers of the class to receive the radar arrays.
The vessel, which is currently under construction, recently achieved a milestone in its systems and compartment structure with Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding (HII-NNS).
Raytheon Missiles & Defense Naval Power president Kim Ernzen said: “This is the first aircraft carrier that will be equipped with SPY-6 radars, the leading naval radar system in the world.
“With the recent contract, SPY-6 will provide premier detection and coverage for more than 40 ships in the US Navy throughout the next decade.”
Designed for guided missile frigates and Ford-class aircraft carriers, the SPY-6(V)3, also called enterprise air surveillance radar (EASR) provides 360-degree situational awareness to the vessels.
Featuring three fixed-face radar arrays, the SPY-6(V)3 is designed to simultaneously defend the vessel against anti-surface threats, anti-ship threats, cruise missiles, jamming/clutter and electronic warfare.
In addition, it provides air traffic control and weather mapping functionalities to the aircraft carriers.
Raytheon’s SPY-6 family of radars can provide integrated air and missile defence for seven different classes of ships.
Its radar modular assemblies enable SPY-6 to be modular and scalable to support its production across all the variants for the US allied and partner nations. In 2019, the US Navy conducted live-test for the next-generation EASR radar at Wallops Island Test Facility in Virginia, US. (Source: naval-technology.com)
18 Jul 22. Leonardo, Mitsubishi to collaborate on radar technology demonstration. Leonardo UK and Mitsubishi Electric agreed to collaborate on a radar technology demonstrator concept that could inform future joint development efforts between the U.K. and Japan.
The agreement, announced July 18 at the Farnborough Airshow in England, follows the completion of joint concept and feasibility studies between the companies this year and signifies approval from their respective national defense ministries to move forward with the program, they said.
Britain and Japan have deepened their partnership on air combat technology in recent years. In December, the nations signed a Memorandum of Cooperation indicating their intent to collaborate on combat aircraft. Reuters reported last week that the countries could decide to merge their next-generation fighter programs by the end of the year. Japan’s program is called F-X and Britain’s is the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS.
Leonardo UK, a radar and electronics company, is part of the Team Tempest, the industry group the U.K. assembled to begin developing its advanced fighter capabilities. In a statement, the company indicated the radar program, called Jaguar, may be the start of more combat aircraft collaboration between the countries.
“Jaguar represents the first big building block of an international radar program that meets the ambitions laid out by Japan and the UK as part of F-X/FCAS discussions,” Leonardo UK said.
Jaguar will feed into development of Tempest’s Integrated Sensing and Non-Kinetic Effects & Integrated Communications System, which is designed to bring together multiple sensor capabilities, the company said. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
19 Jul 22. Raytheon UK to establish first Advanced Laser Integration Centre in Scotland. A European hub based in the UK, this marks the latest investment from Raytheon Technologies to meet demand for counter-drone technology and build UK capabilities in directed energy. Raytheon UK has announced that it will open an advanced laser integration centre next year in Livingston Scotland. Building on multiple contracts and growing demand, the centre will focus on testing, fielding and maintenance of defensive high-energy laser weapons. The centre will support existing programs and it will capable of scaling up as the quantity of fielded systems expands. This new regional hub will also help to meet the accelerated delivery schedules customers are requesting and ensure that fielded systems can be quickly maintained and repaired.
“We’ve all seen that asymmetric threats like drones, rockets, artillery and mortars are a serious problem, and demand is spiking for cost-effective lasers to defeat them,” said Michael Hofle, senior director of High Energy Lasers at Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business. “Standing up an advanced integration facility in the UK reflects the maturity of our technology and our commitment to deliver the HEL systems our customers need to defend the skies.”
Raytheon Technologies has licenses to export various configurations of its HEL technology in the UK, Europe and around the world.
“With experts projecting that high-energy lasers could make up as much as 30% of an air defence’s infrastructure in the future, establishing a regional laser integration centre in the UK is an important step to deliver advanced defensive technology where it’s needed, while reducing overall costs of these systems,” said John Gallagher, managing director of weapons and sensors at Raytheon UK.
Last year, Raytheon UK was awarded a demonstrator contract to provide a high-energy laser weapon system to the UK Ministry of Defence, to be installed on the UK Wolfhound land vehicle. The demonstrator and the advanced laser integration centre reflect a continued commitment to working with the MoD on directed energy to help fulfill a key strategic objective of the UK’s Integrated Review.
“This centre will help position the UK as a leading nation in directed energy and ensure that the technology continues to be brought out of the lab and into the operational field,” Gallagher added.
Raytheon UK is part of Raytheon Technologies, which supports 1,900 jobs across Scotland and provides a £187 m contribution to the Scottish economy.
19 Jul 22. Northrop Grumman and Boom Supersonic Collaborate on New Supersonic Aircraft for Quick-Reaction Missions. A new supersonic aircraft tailored to provide quick-reaction capabilities to the U.S. military and allies will be offered through a collaborative agreement between Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) and Boom Supersonic.
The agreement to together propose special mission variants of Boom’s Overture supersonic aircraft was finalized at the Farnborough International Air Show.
“Pairing Northrop Grumman’s airborne defense systems integration expertise with Boom’s advanced Overture supersonic aircraft demonstrates the power of collaborations like this for the benefit of our customers,” said Tom Jones, president, Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems. “Together we can ensure our military customers have variants of Overture for missions where advanced system capabilities and speed are critical.”
Designed to carry up to 80 passengers at twice the speed of today’s airliners, a special mission variant of Overture has the potential to support government and military missions that require rapid response.
Fitted with specialized capabilities, the aircraft could be used to deliver medical supplies, provide for emergency medical evacuation or surveil vast areas faster than conventional aircraft. The special mission Overture variant could also be used to coordinate other aircraft and ground assets in a variety of scenarios.
“Time is a strategic advantage in high-consequence scenarios, from military operations to disaster response,” said Blake Scholl, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Boom Supersonic. “This collaboration between Boom and Northrop Grumman unlocks Overture’s unmatched high-speed mission capability for the United States and its allies.”
Designed and built in the United States, the first Overture aircraft will be in production for commercial use in 2024, start flight tests in 2026 and begin carrying passengers in 2029.
About Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman is a technology company, focused on global security and human discovery. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with capabilities they need to connect, advance and protect the U.S. and its allies. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers’ toughest problems, our 90,000 employees define possible every day.
About Boom Supersonic
Boom Supersonic is transforming air travel with Overture, the fastest and most sustainable supersonic airliner. Carrying 65–80 passengers, Overture will fly at twice the speed of today’s airliners and will run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Overture’s order book, including purchases and options from United Airlines and Japan Airlines, stands at 70 aircraft. Boom is also working with the U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman for military and defense applications of Overture. Suppliers collaborating with Boom on the Overture program include Collins Aerospace, Eaton, Safran Landing Systems, and Rolls-Royce. For more information, visit https://boomsupersonic.com.
19 Jul 22. Project Guardian bears fruit for UK air defence. UK ground-based air defence has taken an important step forward with the entry into service of new C2 systems. The new Project Guardian architecture for integrated air defence in the UK has reached IOC, a senior RAF official has told Shephard.
This information was later confirmed by the MoD, with a ministry spokesperson adding that FOC is expected by 2024.
IBM won a contract in April 2018 to replace elements of the RAF’s UK Air Surveillance and Control System (UKASACS). Specifically, this was to replace the UKASACS Command and Control System (UCCS), which comprises the computer hardware, software and networking tools necessary to perform C2 of the UKASACS.
IBM was also the prime supplier for the UCCS, which helped to coordinate the protection of UK airspace. Project Guardian replaces this architecture with significantly improved capabilities, the RAF official said.
The UK government had planned to start the Project Guardian acquisition in 2017, but the general election that year caused the decision to be delayed by 12 months.
The nerve centre of UKASACS is at RAF Boulmer, which hosts the Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) to manage the detection, tracking and interception of suspicious aircraft. Targets could include uncooperative civilian aircraft not responding to air traffic control instructions, or potentially hostile military aircraft.
Official figures show that the past decade has seen a marked increase in Quick Reaction Alert flights, when RAF Typhoon fighters have been scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft approaching UK airspace. According to UK government data published in February 2022 (shortly before the invasion of Ukraine), Russian aircraft accounted for more than 25% of the 504 QRA incidents since 2005.
The Project Guardian architecture is replicated at the RAF’s 78 Squadron based at Swanwick, southern England. This squadron is collocated with the NATS London Area centre, facilitating cooperation between UK air defence and civilian air traffic control.
Like the UCCS, the Project Guardian architecture federates imagery from several disparate RAF radars located around the British Isles. Imagery from these radars is merged by the UCCS into a Recognised Air Picture of UK airspace and air approaches.
Coverage of the UK provides part of the air surveillance of the NATO Air Policing Area-1, which also includes Norwegian and Icelandic airspace. The CRC scrambles and manages the engagement of any uncooperative or hostile civilian or military aircraft.
The UCCS rolled through a major upgrade in 2012 known as Project Cerberus. This was an overall refresh of the UCCS hardware and software, principally to address obsolescence. Project Guardian sees the complete replacement of hardware, software and networking architecture.
The senior RAF official (who spoke on condition of anonymity) added that UCCS will run alongside the new Project Guardian architecture for some time yet as the latter is phased out and the new systems phased in.
(Source: News Now/Shephard)
18 Jul 22. Pentagon plan for homeland cruise missile defense taking shape. The Pentagon’s plan to defend the U.S. homeland from cruise missiles is starting to take shape after a prolonged period of development because until recently, the threat was perceived as a more distant regional one, a senior Air Force official said.
North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command have been working for several years and across two presidential administrations to come up with a design that can effectively defend the continental U.S. from cruise missiles, according to Brig. Gen. Paul Murray, NORAD deputy director of operations.
NORAD and NORTHCOM, in consultation with the Missile Defense Agency and the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization are closing in on a design framework for the mission, Murray said, just as the Pentagon enters a critical decision-making period as it formulates the fiscal 2024 budget request.
Once the design is created, “it’s time to go out and defend the design,” Murray said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies conference July 14. This translates to conducting modeling and simulation to prove out, in part, that the architecture will work.
It’s also not to say “my computer’s crunching numbers, buy me these capabilities,” he said, adding capabilities need to be demonstrated which includes partnering with the MDA and others to experiment.
Budgets for cruise missile defense of the homeland in fiscal 2022 and 2023 were modest, with combatant commands including NORTHCOM placing additional funding for development in so-called wish lists rather than in base budget requests and hoping that Congress ultimately supplies the dollars.
The cruise missile challenge
Land-attack cruise missiles can be launched from the air, ground or sea and because they fly at low altitudes under powered flight, it is difficult for radars to detect them.
Ballistic missiles can be detected much earlier, which allows more time to detect, track, decide and act. For cruise missiles, decision makers may have only a couple of minutes and salvos of cruise missiles can attack from different directions, complicating the approach to defeating the threat.
While the U.S. has been focused on ballistic missile defense of the homeland from adversaries including North Korea, Russia and China have made investments over several decades to develop cruise missiles capable of carrying out a non-nuclear attack.
The 2019 Missile Defense Review highlighted the need to focus on near-peer cruise missiles and directed the Pentagon to recommend an organization to have acquisition authority of cruise missile defense for the homeland. The designation requirement also appeared in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, but the Pentagon has yet to choose what organization will be in charge of the effort.
The lack of an acquisition authority can hamper the budget process. And budget requests during the Trump administration contained little to get moving on cruise missile defense. In President Joe Biden’s first two budgets, the mission also received very little funding save to conduct a cruise missile defense kill chain demonstration.
Previous attempts to figure out how to defend against cruise missiles hit roadblocks.
In 2015, for example, a large aerostat being evaluated for cruise missile defense at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland broke free from its mooring and drifted across Pennsylvania. It’s long tether knocked out power lines and, once it landed in a grove of trees in Amish countryside, had to be shot at by State Troopers to get it to deflate.
The JLENS program was promptly canceled.
The debate over what part of the U.S. is most important to protect from cruise missiles also hindered progress because it was difficult to land on policy to help determine site locations, Peppi DeBiaso, a non-resident senior associate at CSIS, said during a panel discussion at the conference.
Impossible to protect everything
CSIS, in a report it debuted at the conference, said it will be impossible to protect everything. Lt. Gen. A.C. Roper, U.S. NORTHCOM deputy commander, said in a recording played at the event, that “placing a Patriot or a [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense] battery on every street corner is both infeasible and unaffordable.”
The CSIS report lays out a suggested architecture, implementation plan and cost estimate for a cruise missile defense capability to protect the homeland that uses systems already fielded today and leverages sensors and radars already working other jobs to provide early warning and information to aid detection and then decision making in the event of a cruise missile attack.
The design in the CSIS report consists of five layers implemented over three phases. The elements include over-the-horizon radars, towered sensors, an aerostat, three types of interceptors, command-and-control operations centers and a mobile airborne asset, all with a projected acquisition cost of $14.9 bn. Phased operations and sustainment costs are estimated to be $17.8 bn – or $32.7 bn over 20 years.
A study from the Congressional Budget Office in 2021 developed four architectures with 20-year acquisition and sustainment costs estimated between $77 bn and $466 bn. CSIS said the architecture designs from CBO were “hampered by methodological constraints and by element selection, resulting in brittle and expensive solutions.”
The authors of the report acknowledged that “no weapon system is perfect, and perfection is the enemy of the good,” but added, “even if limited and imperfect, a sufficient and affordable defense can complicate adversary planning and strengthen deterrence.”
Vista Rampart and beyond
NORAD and NORTHCOM held a wargame called Vista Rampart in March and April to further refine cruise missile defense concepts. Then NORAD took the design outside of the headquarters to the Globally Integrated War Game, which addressed the capabilities at a broader level with the services and combatant commands.
Other considerations will need to be made, Murray added, to include how to organize, train and equip the defensive systems.
How the architecture would tie into a broader defensive framework with allies and partners such as Canada will require further coordination and analysis. The U.S. and Canada are extensively partnered through a binational command, with capabilities including the North Warning System at the edge of the Arctic designed to detect airborne threats coming from the polar region.
The Pentagon is also keeping a close eye on how the establishment of a missile defense capability on Guam will inform a homeland cruise missile defense capability. The Missile Defense Agency revealed a relatively detailed plan for defending the island against ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missile attacks as well as other airborne threats and funded the initial development and fielding in the coming years to build it.
“I think as we develop a Guam architecture, working with the Army, working with the Navy, working with the joint staff and the services, I think we will learn a lot from that, how we want to operate that integrated kind of defense” Stan Stafira, Missile Defense Agency chief architect, said at the conference. “And then that area is kind of the size of what you’re looking at trying to defend, say, a limited area in CONUS,” he said.
Last fall the Joint Requirements Oversight Council approved an Integrated Air and Missile Defense priority requirements document through a portfolio management review process, Col. Tony Behrens, JIAMDO deputy director, said on the same panel.
“This process will enable a flexible and holistic approach to determining and prioritizing IAMD requirements. It established a priority framework that the combatant commands and Joint Force will help us review annually in developing what we’re calling the Integrated Air Missile Defense portfolio priority list, a holistic approach to the entire IAMD enterprise,” Behrens said.
The list is intended to aid senior decision makers balance budgetary needs and synchronize support across the services and DOD in support of missions like air and cruise missile defense of the homeland, he said.
As the Pentagon looks at cruise missile defense capability “there is a lot of capability out there,” Stafira said, “and all of the services have developed capabilities to defend against cruise missiles.”
Yet as the Defense Department looks at all of these capabilities it is going to need help from industry to answer, “how do you integrate different industry partners’ assets together to do that?” (Source: glstrade.com/Defense News)
18 Jul 22. QinetiQ Prepares ATD for Next-Gen Systems and Sensor Capability. QinetiQ and BAE Systems have collaborated to develop an Airborne Technology Demonstrator (ATD) to enable and de-risk the development of future sensors and technologies in the Air sector. To illustrate the potential utility, QinetiQ and BAE Systems have worked closely to create an engineering mock-up of a fast jet radome fitted to the ATD.
On public display for the first time at the Royal International Air Tattoo show 2022 (RIAT), the nose modification is the latest innovative, cutting-edge capability delivered by QinetiQ’s Aviation Engineering Centre (AEC) in conjunction with BAE Systems Air business. The ATD – fitted with the new nose – is expected to take to the skies with this new configuration later this year and will enable the aircraft to accommodate next generation Radar and Sensor systems to support future development programmes.
A bespoke, modular multi-role capability that meets the requirements of both military and civil customers, the ATD supports cost-effective specialist training, experimentation, air carriage, and Test and Evaluation (T&E) activities.
Nic Anderson, Chief Executive UK Defence, remarked, “Building on QinetiQ’s Aviation Engineering Centre’s exceptional track record in aircraft design and modification, this latest variation represents an exciting development in UK flight test capability. Working with BAE Systems in collaboration to support the development of future sensor capability is very exciting.”
Ian Muldowney, BAE Systems Chief Operating Officer (Air), added, “The ability to utilise the asset in conjunction with our MBSE approach and Systems Integration approach will undoubtedly reduce schedule and technical risk on many of our programmes internal and external – current and future, and with the right approach will help validate our model-based efforts in a low cost agile way.”
Using an RJ100 airframe, the addition of fast jet nose cone is just the latest in a series of modifications to this platform. Transformed into a flying laboratory and classroom, the ATD provides power and data backbones and flexible workstations to enable research and development projects to be quickly and easily integrated. Including a number of other innovations, this systems-rich resource enables quick role change and ultimately, the successful delivery of critical customer mission activity. (Source: ASD Network)
18 Jul 22. CarteNav and Meta Mission Data Announce Spectral TDL Software Integration with AIMS-ISR – Enabling live Link 16 Situational Awareness.
Integrated with AIMS-ISR, the MMD Spectral interface provides operators with Link 16 units and tracks georeferenced on augmented reality moving maps alongside other sensor data for maximal situational awareness.
CarteNav and Meta Mission Data (MMD), a Meta Aerospace business unit, are pleased to announce at Farnborough International Airshow their integration of the MMD Spectral Tactical Data Link (TDL) software with the AIMS-ISR Mission Management System. This integration enables ISR platforms to participate in the live Link 16 network with access to enhanced situational awareness, command and control and additional communication capabilities – accelerating operational and tactical decision-making, when every second counts.
Link 16 is the most ubiquitous TDL in use globally, providing a theatre-wide secure and resilient data link that enables near real-time exchange of tactical and operational data between air, land and maritime platforms, HQ and C2 nodes. Link 16 can also provide enhanced situational awareness to the individual dismounted soldier, delivering a Common Operating Picture for all on the network. Capable of supporting a wide and increasing variety of missions, spanning contested to benign operating environments to humanitarian and disaster relief, Link 16 is a crucial enabler for multi-domain integration.
ISR platforms provide the information that drives the pace of decision-making. Wherever an ISR platform is required to operate alongside Link 16 equipped entities, their ability to interact with the network is essential. Even one platform unable to connect to the Link 16 network can impact the operation – effecting timeline while degrading decision making and mission execution.
ISR operators work in high-pressure, fast-paced, dynamic environments. Without Link 16, sensor and mission system operators will continually be behind the curve in trying to maintain situational awareness by cross-referencing multiple standalone data feeds and communicating using a variety of insecure channels. Link 16 significantly reduces the risk of operator overload and tactical confusion caused by late and inaccurate information exchange.
With industry ISR platforms increasingly supporting military and government operations across the globe, an integrated Link 16 capability is rapidly becoming an essential requirement.
Through the MMD Spectral plug-in, Link 16 is fully integrated into AIMS-ISR to provide operators with Link 16 units and tracks that are georeferenced on augmented reality moving maps alongside other sensor data (e.g. EO/IR cameras). The more participants in the network, the greater the “network effect.” This maximizes information advantage for the operator and decision-maker through:
Enhanced situational awareness:
o Receipt of the Common Operating Picture
Reduced Operator Workload:
o Automated sensor slew to Link 16 tracks
o Configurable warnings, alerts and indications
o Optimised ergonomics – reduced number of data feeds, displays and “bolt-ons”
Resilient Communications:
o Transmission of own unit Precise Participant Location and Identification (PPLI) into the network
o Secure Link 16 Voice
o Receive and transmit Link 16 text messages
o Beyond Line-of-Sight capability (via Link 16 Relay or Satellite)
“The MMD and CarteNav collaborative development has delivered an exceptional capability available to both new and existing AIMS-ISR operators. The requirement for integrated Link 16 on ISR platforms is growing,” said Carl Daniels, Chief Operating Officer at CarteNav. “With MMD’s Spectral Tactical Data Link, we are excited to announce yet another technological solution that is as powerful as it is accessible.”
Chris Jones, Managing Director of Meta Mission Data added “This exciting collaboration draws on the many years of experience our ISR operators have using AIMS-ISR on global operations. By combining their intuitive understanding of the ISR mission with our TDL engineering expertise and the software teams in both CarteNav and MMD, we have created an outstanding product that will enable greater connectivity and situational awareness for previously isolated ISR platforms.”
CarteNav and Meta Aerospace are attending Farnborough International Airshow 2022 this July. To register for a meeting at the conference, visit: cartenav.com/events/farnborough-2022 or meta.aero/farnborough-2022/
CarteNav, established in 2002, develops ISR Mission Software for security, safety, economic, and environmental operations. The team has built its reputation on embracing challenges others may avoid, such as integrating with the world’s most innovative sensors that extend the operator’s capabilities far beyond the status quo – achieving ISR capabilities for threats that are complex and without boundaries. And with over 600 customer installations in over 40 countries, CarteNav’s ISR Mission Software is built to be highly adaptable for meeting today’s diverse operational requirements.
17 Jul 22. General Atomics to deliver integrated ISR analytics suite to Japan this fall. As military demand for data processing and distribution grows, General Atomics wants to provide users a one-stop shop for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance collection, analytics and tasking.
Andrew Majchrowicz, project manager for automation, autonomy and artificial intelligence at General Atomics, told C4ISRNET July 16 the technology development company is integrating two tools into its flagship ISR software platform and plans to deliver the system in October. Japan will be its first customer.
“As our platform continues to grow, we’re bringing in more and more data, and now it’s about how we’re utilizing that data,” he said during an interview at the Royal International Air Tattoo here.
“What good is it showing an end user 3,000 data points without telling them what it is that they’re seeing?” he added. “That’s where all of this is going is providing the analytics on those large-volume datasets, providing correlation services, giving you the information to seek out anomalous behaviors.”
The first of the two capabilities, Optix, can analyze large swaths of data drawn from multiple sources to assist decision-making for military or government users. General Atomics picked up Optix last year when it acquired Commonwealth Computer Research, a Charlottesville, Va.-based software engineering company.
- Mark Brinkley, a spokesman for General Atomics, said U.S. government customers are using Optix today, but declined to identify which agencies. By bringing the capability into its baseline ISR software platform — called System for Tactical Archival, Retrieval and Exploitation, or STARE — the company can provide a more holistic service to its users, he said.
General Atomics is also integrating a mission-tasking tool called Metis, which Majchrowicz described as “Uber for ISR. ” Like a standard rideshare app, Metis can “drop a pin” at the site of an anomaly and then task various ISR services needed at that location.
Using a hypothetical military investigation into a ship that turned off its transponder, he demonstrated Metis’ ability to at the mark the location of the vessel, create a tasking and assign an aircraft to examine the situation.
The company is developing a third tool, Multi-Mission Control (MMC), that allows a user to manage multiple aerial systems in response to taskings from Metis. MMC can provide routes and control specific characteristics like altitude, speed and loiter type. Majchrowicz said there’s not a precise timeline for when General Atomics will integrate it with STARE.
(Source: C4ISR & Networks)
18 Jul 22. UK laser directed energy programme tests accuracy and power in latest trials. Dragonfire, the UK’s Laser Directed Energy Programme (LDEW) led by MBDA, has begun a series of trials to prove the accuracy and power of the laser weapon. The first of these trials recently conducted by the Dragonfire consortium – a joint industry and UK MOD collaboration between MBDA, Leonardo, QinetiQ and Dstl – at low power proved the system can successfully track air and sea targets with exceptionally high accuracy.
This success has paved the way for the next phase of the trials that will deliver a first for UK industry when carrying out a static high power laser trial, while maintaining aimpoint accuracy. The next step would then look to combine the outcomes of these two trials, pairing the recently proven tracking accuracy and the high power laser, by engaging targets in operationally representative scenarios.
The essential challenge of an LDEW system is safely controlling and focusing high laser power onto an extremely precise point, at long range. The tracking trial was an excellent test of the component parts of the Dragonfire tracking system working together to do this.
This trial used a low power QinetiQ laser, Leonardo’s beam director and MBDAs Image Processing and Control technology to facilitate the ultra-precise “fine” pointing and tracking accuracy, which will be required to generate the damage effect when a high-powered laser will be used.
Other sub systems including the C2, Effector Management System (EMS) and “coarse” tracking – turning the laser towards the target – were also proved in the trial. For more information visit: www.mbda-systems.com
(Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
18 Jul 22. US Marines field I-CsUAS counter drone equipment to defend against sUAS threats. The US Marine Corps is fielding the Installation-Counter small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (I-CsUAS) to protect Marine Corps installations by detecting, identifying, tracking and defeating small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS). I-CsUAS features an integrated system equipped to carry out all phases necessary to counter small unmanned aerial systems such as commercially-available drones. The system will primarily provide a service to ensure Marines or security forces have the capability to defend installations against sUAS at all times.
Fixed Site Project Officer for Program Manager Ground Based Air Defense at PEO Land Systems Maj. Kyle Yakopovich said I-CsUAS is intended to defeat commercial Off-The-Shelf Group 1 and Group 2 UAS. I-CsUAS also provides detection, tracking and identification capabilities.
“The Marine Corps, and DOD in general, required the capability to defend against sUAS years ago,” said Program Manager for Ground-Based Air Defense at PEO Land Systems Don Kelley. “The threat of sUAS is only proliferating every day. The bottom line is, we need to provide this capability to our Marines as rapidly as possible.”
Yakopovich said: “What makes this system interesting is it fuses multiple modalities together into a single system. This allows us to more accurately detect, track and identify USA.” He said the program’s system is equipped with a few different components for better detection and ultimately, defense. The Long Range Sentry Tower is comprised of a radar system and an optical sensor, and works in conjunction with a passive Radio Frequency detection capability to present the operator with a visual depiction of the threat’s flight path.
While each of the towers’ sensor components are already widely in use, Yakopovich said I-CsUAS is special because it uses Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to constantly and autonomously analyze the sensor data faster and more accurately than a human operator. The system enhances the capability to detect, track, and identify the threat while reducing the amount of manpower previously required to perform these actions.
“In previous years, we had the same components: the radar, the camera and the RF detection,” Yakopovich said. “But it was time-intensive, training-intensive and manpower-intensive. You had to have a Marine dedicate all of that time if you wanted to have 24-hour, continuous coverage. Now, you can free up a Marine’s labor using the I-CsUAS, which will automatically alert the user if suspicious activity is determined.” He added the I-CsUAS also has a separate non-kinetic defeat capability that has proven itself capable in other programs within PM GBAD. Using this capability, a Marine who has detected an intruding sUAS is able to disrupt the sUAS communication link. This enables Marines operating the LRST-42 or LSTR-82 tower will be able to determine the drone’s point of origin.
PM GBAD’s Fixed Site Product Manager Jessica McCauley said the Marine Corps plans to use this technology to defend critical assets, following the requirement set forth in Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which outlines the role and responsibilities of our nation’s armed forces.
“The I-CsUAS protects the facility by detecting, tracking identifying the drone and empowering law enforcement to defeat it,” McCauley said. “We are delivering a system to select installations, providing them the ability to conduct that kill chain in order to protect critical assets against small UAS threats.” For more information visit: www.marines.mil (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
12 Jul 22. Indra develops an Active Protection Radar for armoured vehicles, capable of detecting drone attacks and all types of projectiles. Indra, a leading global technology engineering company for the aerospace, defence and mobility sectors, has developed a new active protection radar that incorporates the most advanced digital technologies to protect vehicles, armoured vehicles and tanks from the increasingly varied threats that are being used in new conflict scenarios, many of them simple but very effective, while others are much more sophisticated.
In Ukraine, for example, the enormous vulnerability of tanks and armoured vehicles to guided missiles, rocket launchers and drones has been highlighted, which, despite their low cost, manage to defeat much more advanced platforms, thus providing a great tactical advantage.
Indra Active Protection Radar for vehicles [© Indra]
Indra’s new electronic scanning radar detects, identifies and tracks all types of projectiles, from traditional anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers or conventional munitions, to the new threats that are emerging at the moment. It determines with enormous precision the trajectory and estimated time of impact of cheap and widely used javelin guided missiles; micro-drones, which fly at low speed and altitude; and autonomous missiles and drones that fly over the area loaded with explosives awaiting their target (loitering munition). It also detects and tracks new experimental or hypersonic devices, such as the new arrow munitions that reach speeds above sound and have a particularly small radar section, equivalent to a two-euro coin.
For Indra’s Managing Director of Defence, Manuel Escalante, “this sophisticated radar demonstrates Indra’s ability to provide a quick and effective response to the needs posed by new conflict scenarios, applying digital technologies to the development of a new generation of defence systems. It is a pioneering system, which has already demonstrated exceptional performance and which is a critical element in protecting vehicles and armoured vehicles from new threats.”
The capabilities of this innovative solution maintain its performance under extreme conditions, both hot and cold and even with high humidity, rain or snow. It resists all types of movements, vibrations and impacts and operates in electromagnetically saturated environments with high ‘noise’ (clutter), unwanted radar signals. It also offers an exceptional degree of accuracy and speed in urban environments, where protection is even more necessary.
The system incorporates intelligence to discriminate false targets, evading possible enemy attempts to interfere with its operation with jamming techniques, used to saturate and circumvent conventional protection measures. Its full digitisation allows signal processing from the moment of reception to the pulse emission, which facilitates very high-speed internal processing without latency throughout the entire process.
Indra’s active protection radar has already demonstrated perfect performance in different tests, also carried out in real scenarios and under extreme conditions, providing 360-degree protection to units moving on the ground.
The new solution is based on a 3D S-band, 100% solid-state, electronically scanned (AESA) radar, fully configurable by software, highly modular, thus easy to integrate in small spaces as turrets and wheeled armoured vehicle arms stations. Its small size allows it to be installed on virtually any ground platform, from armoured vehicles to convoy protection vehicles, and it has a very small radar signature that makes it difficult for the enemy to detect. (Source: www.joint-forces.com)
18 Jul 22. US Congress told “8000 illegal cross-border drone flights since August 2021.” US government officials told Congress about potential threats posed by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) at a hearing on 14 July 2022 according to a report by CNS News. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acting assistant secretary for counter-terrorism Samantha Vinograd said “the threat posed by UAS is widespread across the country, and it is critical that our partners have the authority to help protect the homeland in addition to Transportation Security Agency (TSA) getting the authority to critically protect the transportation sector”.
According to CNS News Vinograd said that US Customs and Border Protection have detected more than 8,000 illegal cross-border drone flights at the southern border just since August 2021. And she said there have been 2000 sightings of drones in and around airports since 2021, with 64 aircraft, four of them commercial flights, having to take evasive actions.
Brad Wiegmann, the deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said the threat posed by drones is “very significant…given the easy ability to buy a drone commercially.”
A government bill to authorise counter action against drone threats is due to expire in October 2022 if Congress doesn’t act. Both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee agreed on the need to “reauthorize and strengthen counter-UAS authorities,” as Committee Chair Gary Peters (D-Mich.) put it.
“If we do not act,” Peters said, “it could only be a matter of time before someone who is recklessly operating this technology causes an accident that can have catastrophic effects. And as we work to avoid unintentional disasters, we must also account for the escalating threat of weaponized drones from terrorist and criminal organizations who could launch domestic drone attacks on mass gatherings, high profile landmarks and buildings, or federal property.
“This includes foreign adversaries who have deployed drones in conflicts abroad and could have the capability to deploy them here in the United States as well. We must also be prepared to counter drones operated by criminal organizations that are reportedly using UAS for illegal activities including trafficking illicit drugs across our borders.”
The legislation under consideration would expand detection and mitigation technology to state and local authorities, including training activities.
For more information visit: www.cnsnews.com (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
11 Jul 22. India’s Big Bang Boom Solutions “to supply IAF with counter-UAS units.” According to a Linkedin post from Atul Tripathi, Chennai-based Big Bang Boom Solutions (India) will deliver its Anti-Drone Defence System (ADDS) to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in August. The post quoted Gaurav Sharma, chief government relationship officer of the defence start-up, as the source of the article.
“Speaking at the East Tech 2022 event in Kolkata on 8 July, Sharma said the company received a request for proposal (RFP) in June 2022 to provide an undisclosed number of ADDS units to the IAF,” said the article.
According to the company’s website:
“The Anti-Drone Defence System ADDS combat all the threats posed by unmanned aerial vehicles including commercially available drones. The advanced long range sensors, state of the art artificial intelligence and computer vision algorithms helps in precise detection and identification of drone and its payload, with drone flight pattern recognition. The ADDS has effective RF detection range of 5 kms and visual detection range of 700 m. The smart neural network of ADDS enables autonomous decision in counter measures like signal jamming in 5 km radius, however it also relays prompt recommendations to the human operator for manual countermeasure when needed.” (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
13 Jul 22. EUROPOL 2021 terrorism report highlights potential of new digital, autonomous terrorism threats. In its latest European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2022, EUROPOL has highlighted the new threats likely to be faced by Europe’s security and police forces as a result of new autonomous and digital technologies becoming available to terrorists.
“New types of weapons may be used in complementarity with more traditional instruments observed so far in terrorist and violent extremist attacks,” said the report. “The popularity of 3D printed weapons may grow amongst adherents of various ideologies….Increased use autonomous vehicles may increase security vulnerabilities, for instance as they can target locations for attacks based on remote commands. Despite its potentiality in counter-terrorism, augmented reality may also be exploited by terrorists and violent extremists to facilitate remote training activities. Technological and scientific advancements are often opposed in particular by leftwing and anarchist extremist circles. Further developments, including the introduction of 5G technology, the use of gene-technology for food production or the research and developments in artificial intelligence, are likely to be even more recurrently included and opposed in these groups’ propaganda.”
The report cited just a single incident in 2021 when a terrorist influenced by Islamic State groups had been planning a possible drone attack.
“In August 2021, the Court of First Instance of Brussels in Belgium (French-speaking court) convicted a Belgian national to four years of imprisonment and a fine for participation in the activities of a terrorist group, for self-training and for attempting to receive training. The court heard that the defendant endorsed IS ideology and was in contact with numerous IS supporters and terrorist convicts. He also spread IS propaganda material on social media and provided support, including financial, to the terrorist organisation. According to the investigations, the defendant was preparing a bomb attack against a Belgian prison where a relative was detained. He made online searches on the production of a bomb, remote control systems and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drones). In this case, the instructions on the fabrication of a bomb were provided by IS members, leaving no doubt as to the terrorist motivation of the defendant when consulting the material.”
But EUROPOL is worried about the growing capabilities of IS affiliated organisations such as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“ADF’s increased lethality and evolving propaganda appears to have coincided with an influx of foreign recruits, mostly from neighbouring countries. For instance, the perpetrators in some of the ADF videos reportedly speak Swahili with Kenyan accents. Furthermore, in September 2021, the DRC army arrested a Jordanian reportedly in charge of the ADF’s UAV program. The use of foreign recruits in propaganda is likely to attract more fighters from surrounding countries, boosting the ADF’s military capability and morale.”
For more information: https://www.europol.europa.eu/publication-events/main-reports/european-union-terrorism-situation-and-trend-report-2022-te-sat#downloads (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
13 Jul 22. FBI “employing C-UAS systems to detect illegal drone flights over wildfires.” Multiple press reports say the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is employing counter-UAS (C-UAS) systems to help wildland firefighters by detecting, identifying, and neutralizing drones that are illegally interfering with firefighting activities.
According to Fire Aviation:
“The FBI is working with the Los Angeles County Fire Department to use a system that can detect a drone flying over a fire within 30 seconds of it being launched.”
The article quoted a CNN report:
“When the detection equipment finds the drone and identifies the operator’s location, we can very rapidly get that information to a ground intercept team who can then go make contact with that drone operator and essentially get them to stop flying that drone,” said James Peaco III, the weapons of mass destruction coordinator for the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.
“With a special sensor, the team can set up a boundary as large or as small as desired and get notified if a drone flies into that area, instantly obtaining precise details such as elevation, direction, speed as well as where the drone took off from and where the controller is currently standing.
“The first thing we do is order them to bring the drone back, explain to him that there’s a wildfire and flying that drone during a wildland fire is actually a federal felony,” Peaco said.
The US Congress has authorized the FAA to impose a civil penalty of up to USD20,000 against any drone pilot who interferes with wildfire suppression, law enforcement, or emergency response operations.
“According to the US Forest Service, in 2019 at least 20 documented instances of unauthorized drone flights over or near wildfires in seven states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Washington and Minnesota) resulted in aerial firefighting operations being temporarily shut down nine times. There is no centralized national mechanism to report unauthorized UAS flights over wildfires, so these are only the incidents that wildfire management agencies have become aware of, there are likely more that are not known about.”
For more information: https://fireaviation.com/ https://wildfiretoday.com/2022/07/11/fbi-using-system-to-detect-drones-over-wildfires-and-the-pilots/ (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
11 Jul 22. Northrop Grumman “on track to deliver 1 megawatt laser to the DoD.” Northrop Grumman Corporation reports it has recently completed the preliminary design review for a high-energy laser prototype that will feature an architecture scalable to more than a megawatt for the U.S. Department of Defense. The review establishes the company’s technical approach for precise, low-cost, speed-of-light technology for military operations, said a company press release.
“This is an important step in the ability to combine high-power laser beams into a single beam that can be scaled for maximum power,” said Robert Fleming, vice president and general manager, strategic space systems, Northrop Grumman. “We’re on track to demonstrate the technology, leveraging our decades of experience in the field.”
In March 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Northrop Grumman a $72m contract under the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI) to demonstrate a high-energy laser prototype using Northrop Grumman’s coherent beam combining technology.
The company will test the prototype at progressively higher powers later this year to prove the coherent beam combining design.
https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-successfully-completes-preliminary-design-review-for-a-300-kilowatt-class-high-energy-laser#.YswnF3f8r-s.linkedin (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
17 Jul 22. Sentinel Makes Surprise Appearance at RIAT. A former UK Royal Air Force Sentinel R.1 reconnaissance aircraft made a surprise appearance in the static park at last weekend’s Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT). Based on the Bombardier Global Express business jet, five of them were supplied by Raytheon UK in 2007-08. The RAF prematurely withdrew them last year due to budget cuts, and the Ministry of Defence advertised for a contractor to dismantle and dispose of them.
But Raytheon Intelligence & Space has stepped in and bought the fleet. It intends to offer them for sale or, equally possible, for lease in a contractor-owned, contractor-operated arrangement. The U.S. Army has become interested in an ISR aircraft of this size following the U.S. Air Force’s decision to retire the E-8 JSTARS radar reconnaissance aircraft.
The Sentinels featured an active-array radar that provided synthetic aperture imaging and moving target indications. The Army now flies a single Bombardier Challenger 650 modified with radar imaging and ELINT sensors. It has deployed the aircraft in Europe and has monitored the Ukraine War, being operated under contract by Leidos, formerly known as Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Now the Army is proposing a program of record named HADES (High Altitude Detection and Exploitation System), which would constitute a multi-sensor platform.
Raytheon plans to fly the former Sentinels to Wichita, Kansas, for airframe checks, and then to Tucson, Arizona, for mission system checks in its own facility. (Source: Google/AIN)
17 Jul 22. USAF says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail. The Air Force is trying to find ways to speed delivery of the E-7 Wedgetail, but the service’s top acquisition official said July 16 there may not be much that can be done.
The Air Force in April chose the Boeing-made Wedgetail to be its next battle management and command and control aircraft, replacing part of its aging E-3 Airborne Warning and Control fleet. But the service said in the announcement the first rapid prototype E-7 would be delivered in fiscal 2027, following a contract award to Boeing in fiscal 2023.
The Air Force wants to retire 15 of its 31 decades-old AWACS in 2023, years before the first E-7′s anticipated delivery, generating concern among lawmakers like Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., about a potential capability gap.
In a roundtable with reporters at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in England, Andrew Hunter, assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, sought to temper expectations about how much the process could be expedited.
“I don’t know that ultimately, there’s a huge opportunity to dramatically accelerate” achieving initial operational capability for the Wedgetail, he said.
Adapting used airframes likely isn’t an option, Hunter said. While the Wedgetail is based on Boeing’s 737 air frame, it has a “unique combination” of components that means there aren’t many used airframes the government could acquire.
The Wedgetail acquisition will also require software development, making use of open systems architecture, Hunter said.
This software development will also take time, he said, but when Boeing has the first new Wedgetail air frame built and ready to be “missionized,” the Air Force will be ready to load that equipment.
“We’re going to have this as something that works in a completely integrated way with our Air Force fleet,” Hunter said.
He noted the Air Force has learned a great deal in recent years from mistakes made in the FAA certification process, such as underestimating the information the FAA would need and subsequently delaying the MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter’s certification. While Hunter said he isn’t taking that part of the process for granted, he said he’s confident the FAA will certify the new E-7s.
The FAA is required to review the avionics and other systems of new military aircraft and certify they are safe and functional before the aircraft can be delivered.
In the May hearing in which Duckworth raised concerns about the timing of the Wedgetail delivery, Lt. Gen. Duke Richardson, Hunter’s military deputy, said the Air Force might be able to buy E-7s more quickly once the certification process is done. But he also cautioned not to rush the contract process.
The U.S. Air Force is talking to its Australian and British counterparts to learn how it can accelerate the process, he said. The Royal Australian Air Force has flown the Wedgetail for years, and the Royal Air Force has bought Wedgetails and is expected to start flying them next year.
The Air Force has also consulted the Navy, whose P-8 Poseidon is a modified 737 like the Wedgetail.
“There’s a community of interest around that aircraft, and that gives us some opportunity to work with our partners to get to the right answer,” Hunter said.
While the E-7 is a nearly two-decade old model, Hunter said it will provide a modern and considerable upgrade in capability from the aging E-3 Sentry. And its use of modular open systems architecture will allow its software-oriented radar systems to be regularly upgraded.
“The capability is impressive,” Hunter said. “It’s a night and day difference.” (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
18 Jul 22. RAF to put Wedgetail ‘distractions’ behind it as focus shifts to entry into service. The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) plans to put “the distractions” of the last few years behind it as it focuses on introducing into service the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. Speaking ahead of the Farnborough Airshow 2022, Air Commodore Alex Higgs, Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) E-7A Programme, said that the unexpected changes made to the procurement plan during recent years had diverted the service’s focus, but that work is to shortly begin to plan for the type’s entry into service (EIS) and initial operating capability (IOC) in 2024.
“We have had a lot of distractions in this programme, which have diverted us. We now understand which way we need go, but we are not quite there yet in terms of understanding how. Over the next couple of months, we are looking to do a scheduled risk assessment, and that means we are going to look with Boeing every single step of the way to understand how we get to that endpoint [of] IOC,” Air Cdre Higgs said. (Source: Janes)
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