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02 May 19. USMC upgrading CLRF-IC. The US Marine Corps (USMC) is upgrading the capabilities of its Common Laser Range Finder-Integrated Capability (CLRF-IC) to improve the ability of soldiers to locate adversaries in the field. The CLRF-IC is a handheld GPS target location system that uses an eye-safe laser range finder and algorithms to determine a target’s location, then transmits location data to fire support systems. The USMC is now integrating an enhanced digital magnetic capability into the CLRF-IC that will reduce the amount of time and movement required by the user when calibrating the system. The ability to export video or still-pictures from the CLRF-IC to a target handoff system is also being integrated. The first enhanced CLRF-IC devices are slated to field later this year, with the system expected to reach Full Operational Capability by early 2021. (Source: Shephard)
02 May 19. Argentina’s INVAP develops new radars. INVAP’s RMF-200V is a tactical air-defence radar designed to be mounted on a light vehicle. Argentine company INVAP is developing two new families of radars for which it expects to have prototypes tested before the end of 2020.
The first of these is the RVT series of three portable radars for land and coastal surveillance, which have been designed for use mainly by infantry units but also other security forces and government agencies.
The three models offer ranges of 30, 50, and 80 km, according to the size of their antenna and transmitting power. Employing digital beamforming and multibeam technology, they are said to provide persistent surveillance to instantaneously detect and track very small and slow-moving targets with extremely low false alarm rates.
In Argentina they are expected to be used by infantry units and also to detect smugglers and drug traffickers along the country’s northern border.
The radars will be available in portable and fixed-installation versions and will offer a 90º field-of-view in fixed mode or full azimuthal coverage using a single unit when mechanically scanned. Their weight ranges from 15 to 45 kg and the first prototype is expected to be ready this year, with production to start in 2020.
INVAP’s other project is the RMF-200V: a tactical air-defence radar designed to be mounted on a light vehicle of which a prototype is expected to be ready in 2020. The system is a short-range (up to 100 km) active electronically scanned-array (AESA), 3D multirole radar with a compact design that weighs less than 250 kg. It will cover more than 70º in elevation and have a scan rate of less than a second, providing continuous tracking of targets, including slow-moving ones. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
02 May 19. IDF unveils Pegion system to shoot down incendiary balloons and kites. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has unveiled a sighting device called Pegion that will enable soldiers to shoot down moving targets such as incendiary balloons and kites. The new electro-optic Pegion sight system has been developed by Smart Shooter in collaboration with the Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure in the Ministry of Defense. Using the Pegion system, soldiers can follow a moving target in various scenarios such as in the case of balloons and kites that carry explosives or incendiaries into Israeli territory.
The latest development comes in response to the flammable balloons launched by Gaza terrorists during past months that have extensively damaged agricultural lands in the southern part of the country.
Pegion is capable of performing rapid mathematical calculations using computer software and determines when the weapon that it is mounted on should shoot at the target. This enables the firing of the first bullet at the target accurately.
Israeli Army Matmon unit commander Nadav Livne told media sources: “We have attained the ability to intercept kites, and we also have very good capabilities for the threat of incendiary balloons.
“We have several interception methods, some in the very basic development stages, others already for immediate use in accordance with the operational field needs of the Gaza division.”
Pegion has been designed to hit targets at a long distance, with a focus on reducing potential damage to bystanders in urban warfare.
At present, Smart Shoot is in the process of developing an advanced version of the Pegion system, which is reported to be lighter.
As part of a pilot that tested the capabilities of the system in the field, the IDF and the Ministry of Defense installed it among combat soldiers in the Golan, Paratrooper, and Givati Brigades.
Following the testing, the ministry ordered undisclosed volumes of the sights systems from Smart Shooter in recent months. (Source: army-technology.com)
01 May 19. US could lose a key weapon for tracking Chinese and Russian subs. A key tool in the U.S. Navy’s fight against Russian and Chinese submarines weighs eight pounds, is three feet long and it doesn’t even explode. The sonobuoy is an expendable, waterborne sensor that has been air-dropped by the hundreds to detect enemy subs, a go-to capability for America and its allies for decades. The Pentagon wants to buy 204,000 sonobuoys in its fiscal 2020 budget request, a 50 percent spending increase over 2018. But just as the U.S. military needs them most, this critical capability is under threat, and it’s got nothing to do with an enemy nation. Without government investment in the market, the Pentagon says it may no longer have a reliable supplier, according to officials who spoke to Defense News.
Like so many systems in the Pentagon’s arsenal, America has just one proven supplier. In this case, it is a joint venture between the United States and the UK called ERAPSCO. The Pentagon says ERAPSCO will dissolve by 2024 and that neither side of the partnership — Sparton Corp., of Schaumburg, Illinois, and Ultra Electronics, of Middlesex in the U.K. — will be able to make the necessary investments to produce the capability independently.
It’s an “acknowledged weakness” in the industrial base that required the Pentagon find a solution, said Eric Chewning, a top Pentagon official who was until January the head of the Pentagon’s industrial policy office.
As a result, U.S. President Donald Trump in March signed a memo invoking the Defense Production Act to declare domestic production for the five types of AN/SSQ sonobuoys “essential to the national defense” and grant the Pentagon authorities to sustain and expand the capability. The Air Force, in anticipation, issued a market research solicitation to find suppliers beyond ERAPSO.
The Pentagon requires “comprehensive individual production lines … for the five sonobuoy types, but the two companies would “require assistance to establish independent production lines,” said DoD spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews.
“Due to the significant efforts and expenditures, it is unlikely that either the JV partners (or any other entity) will be independently able to make the necessary investments to develop and produce the required sonobuoy demands by 2024,” Andrews said, adding that “DoD intervention into the market is necessary.”
A key tool
A staple of the sub-hunting P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft and the MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, multi-static active coherent, or MAC, sonobuoys have a battery life of about eight hours. Because they’re tracking submarines that are in constant motion, a sonobuoy dropped in one place may become useless soon after. If a P-8 is hunting blind, its full cache of 120 might get used up in a single mission and abandoned.
“It depends on how much area the P-8 needs to search and how quickly the target submarine is moving,” said naval analyst Bryan Clark, of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “The search area for the system depends on the detectability of the target submarine. If the P-8 is conducting a barrier search, it may not need to expend that many sonobuoys. If it is tracking a moving, quiet submarine, though, it could use up its entire sonobuoy load and need to come back for reloading.”
With Russian and Chinese sub activity on the rise, anti-submarine forces have been unexpectedly busy in recent years, burning through supplies of all kinds of sonobuoys.
The Navy’s sonobuoy budget climbed from $174m in 2018 to $216m in 2019 to $264m in the 2020 budget request. In 2018, the Pentagon asked Congress for a $20m reprogramming for sonobuoys for 6th Fleet, after including $38m for sonobuoys on its unfunded priorities list.
Analysts agree that sonobuoys will only become more important to the U.S. and its allies as Russia and China’s sub technology advances.
“With the new generation of quiet submarines being fielded by Russia and China, traditional approaches to [anti-submarine warfare] using our submarines or surface ships are becoming less successful,” Clark said. “Our ships and submarines have to get too close to the Russian or Chinese submarine to hear them on passive sonar, and ship and submarine active sonars are relatively short range and expose the transmitting platform to detection.”
Russia’s subs are the most capable, and Moscow is devoting considerable resources to modernizing them, said Nick Childs, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. China’s subs are “technologically still behind the curve,” but the country is investing heavily to become a competitor in underwater capabilities.
“Russia’s submarine force is likely to remain the most potent and challenging of its naval arms, with continued significant investment, and to the extent that its submarines activities continue, [the U.S. Navy will] be demanding of such things as sonobuoys,” Childs said.
Industrial challenge
ERAPSCO produces four of the five types of sonobuoys, which the Navy is in negotiats to buy on a four-year contract through 2023. Looking to boost competition, the service has been pushing Sparton and Ultra Electronics to dissolve the partnership and sell sonobuoys independently at the end of this contract.
But Sparton disclosed in an annual report last year that “due to the significance of the effort and expenditures required, there can be no assurance that Sparton, or both of the ERAPSCO joint venture partners,” would be able to meet the Navy’s requirement independent of one another.
Facing financial troubles, Sparton agreed to be acquired by Ultra Electronics in July 2017, but the companies cancelled their $234m deal less than a year later, after the U.S. Department of Justice planned to block it over antitrust concerns.
Sparton then sold itself to Cerberus Capital Management, a New York City-based private equity firm specializing in distressed assets, for $183m, roughly a year later. Cerberus owns major brands like office supply retailer Staples and grocery chain Safeway, but also defense contractors DynCorp, and as of December, Navistar Defense.
Andrews, the Pentagon spokesman, laid out the government’s concerns in a statement to Defense News.
“The DoD/DoN anticipates purchasing over 204,000 sonobuoys per year across the five types. To meet this demand, the DoD/DoN requires secure and stable sonobuoy suppliers,” Andrews wrote. “Based on these requirements and need for a stable sonobuoy industrial base, comprehensive individual production lines are required for the five sonobuoy types.
“This Defense Production Act Title III project is intended to sustain and reconstitute the industrial base for U.S. Navy sonobuoys and ensure at least two sources of sonobuoy manufacturing,” Andrews said, adding: “For these reasons, President Trump, DoD, and DoN found use of DPA funds, coupled with industry investment, to be the most cost-effective, expedient, and practical approach to meet critical AN/SSQ series sonobuoy capability requirements.”
The Defense Production Act, invoked in Trump’s memo, allows the department to give funding to producers of key industrial needs. It’s something the department is trying to use more in the wake of a major industrial base study, released last year.
“Part of what we wanted to do was inject capital to make sure there was support to the industrial base so that you could have two or more viable suppliers,” Chewning, the former industrial policy head, told Defense News recently. “It just made sense given the existing shortfall, and what had been allowed to happen within the industrial base, that we used the DPA Title III authorities to create incentives to expand production and strengthen.”
Chewning, who is now chief of staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, said that he was going off information gleaned from before he left the Industrial Policy job. He described the situation as being “active, not reactive.”
Ultra Electronics and Sparton declined to comment on the future of their joint venture.
“Ultra Electronics remains committed to our US Navy partners to ensure the continued success of sonobuoy production and future development efforts. Our focus is, and will continue to be set on meeting the growing ASW requirements of the fleet,” the company said in a statement.
If the United States was open to buying sonobuoys outside its borders, there are other Western producers of the technology, including close allies Britain and France. But those production lines are being tapped by others, and with the U.S. likely to be the biggest procurer of the systems going forward, losing a U.S. internal production capability could lead to shortages worldwide.
And fundamentally, naval analysts Childs and Clark agree having a domestic supplier for the U.S. is vital, both for production needs and for, as Childs puts it, remaining “at the cutting edge of what is a critical technology area.” (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
02 May 19. RAAF partners with Sydney Uni to revolutionise nano sensing tech. The University of Sydney Nano Institute and the Royal Australian Air Force have announced the launch a scientific collaboration to provide world-leading sensing technology for Australia’s defence.
Researchers at the Jericho Smart Sensing Laboratory will develop nanoscale devices that can assess the physical, chemical, biological, acoustic or electromagnetic environment. This is vital technology for Australia in monitoring electromagnetic, space and underwater domains as they become more contested and congested.
Deputy Chief of Air Force, Air Vice-Marshal Gavin Turnbull, said, “Advanced sensors give us a clearer picture of what is happening against difficult targets in challenging environments.”
Plan Jericho is the RAAF’s project to develop augmented intelligence capability to protect Australia from technologically sophisticated and rapidly changing threats. The Jericho Lab at Sydney Nano will form a critical part of the plan’s scientific infrastructure.
AVM Turnbull added, “We need to think differently to achieve and maintain our competitive edge in a rapidly changing world, and this is something we cannot do alone. Our academic and other partners are helping us to disrupt ourselves in a controlled way, which is a far better proposition than unwillingly being disrupted by our competitors.”
Associate professor Cara Wrigley from the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning has been appointed the Jericho chair of design innovation, responsible for bringing the University of Sydney’s research closer to real-world defence problems.
“The University of Sydney’s world-leading design methodologies partnered with Air Force’s experience will accelerate our cutting-edge photonics research into a real defence capability advantage for Australia,” Wrigley explained.
The technology developed at the Jericho Smart Sensing Lab will be optimised for Australian conditions, including humidity, foliage and other environmental factors that currently pose challenges for airborne sensors.
Wrigley added, “When used on aircraft, satellites, vehicles and integrated into a sophisticated Combat Cloud – or Internet of Defence Things – these sensors will enable game-changing awareness.”
Professor Duncan Ivison, deputy vice-chancellor (research) at the University of Sydney, explained, “The Jericho Smart Sensing Laboratory will see the design, development and integration of future-generation photonic sensors, to provide enhanced situational awareness for the RAAF.”
The design-led collaboration brings together Wrigley and Professor Benjamin Eggleton from the School of Physics and director of Sydney Nano. The sensing chips use photons – particles of light – which cannot be affected by electromagnetic fields in the way that electronic chips can be.
“Our smart-sensing technologies are enabled by photonic platforms, which are miniaturised on to thumbnail-sized chips to bring massive reduction in size, weight and power consumption, ideally suited for mobile or aerial platforms,” Professor Eggleton explained.
The experimental work will be located in the Sydney Nanoscience Hub, the headquarters of the University of Sydney Nano Institute. This purpose-built building for research and teaching incorporates state-of-the-art, environmentally controlled laboratories specifically designed for research in nanoscale devices, such as those that will underpin the compact smart sensors developed in this project.
Researchers will be able to access the 800 square metres of cleanroom space providing lithography equipment for printing photonic circuits in silicon and other materials as well as packaging and prototyping facilities.
Professor Eggleton’s research in photonic chip technology is world-leading and he regularly presents plenary talks at major scientific conferences. As well as being one of most cited researchers at the University, his group has enjoyed successful collaborations with industry and end-users for many years. He currently works with Lockheed Martin, Harris Corporation and the US Army Research Laboratory as well as DSTG in the defence sector.
His group’s leading work on photonic sensors was the basis for the NSW government asking Professor Eggleton and Professor Justin Gooding (from UNSW) to establish the NSW Smart Sensing Network, which they established in 2016.
The University of Sydney is well-positioned to engage the Air Force on this project through its multidisciplinary initiatives, including Sydney Nano. As well as providing leading-edge technology for the Air Force, the project should also lead to commercialisation opportunities and assist in the creation of sovereign capability. (Source: Defence Connect)
30 Apr 19. DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (“DroneShield” or the “Company”) announced the release of body-worn drone detection product, RfPatrolTM. Weighing under 1kg, the product is expected to be of significant interest to a range of DroneShield’s customer base globally, across military, law enforcement, security and VIP markets. Importantly, as RfPatrolTM is a completely passive (non-emitting) product, it substantially broadens the range of customers to whom the product is lawfully available. The product was developed in response to substantial customer interest.
DroneShield also announced an immediate customer purchase order for a small quantity of RfPatrol units by the Department of Defence of a Western country. While the revenue from the order is not material, the order is for evaluation towards a potential larger purchase order.
DroneShield’s CEO Oleg Vornik commented, “We are excited to launch RfPatrol. Due to its miniaturised/body-worn nature, substantially larger customer universe due to its non-emitting nature, and a relatively lower price point compared to fixed site products, we expect it to have substantial appeal. In addition to being able to be used as a stand-alone, it is a perfect companion to our DroneGunTM product”.
30 Apr 19. Lithuania to buy counter-UAS equipment. The Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence has announced the purchase of counter-UAS solutions for the Lithuanian armed forces. The acquisition is being made under a five-year bilateral defence cooperation plan agreed with the US Department of Defence in April 2019. The plan outlines several areas of cooperation with the US over the next five years, including joint exercise and training, enhancement of the deterrence measures in the Baltic region, participation in multinational operations and development of regional cyber capabilities. The contract worth $1.3m will be financed by the US Department of State security assistance programme. The equipment will be delivered to the Lithuanian armed forces by the middle of 2020. The equipment will be used to mitigate and counter potential threat posed by UAS flown over controlled territories. The equipment, which will be effective against standard commercial or modified UAS, will be able to interrupt communications between the UAS and its operator in order to disable its control and block navigation system signals. (Source: Shephard)
30 Apr 19. UK orders new deployable air defence radar. The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) will receive a new deployable long-range air-defence radar system from Spanish systems and sensors house Indra, the UK Ministry of Defence announced in its Military Contracts Bulletin on 24 April.
The company, which was awarded a GBP13.16m (USD17m) contract by the Air Defence and Electronic Warfare Systems team in Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) in February, is supplying a single example of its LANZA D-band 3D long-range radar system. Delivery is scheduled by the end of December. Key user requirements specified by DE&S included worldwide operation; self-sustainment; the capability to detect and track co-operative and non-co-operative targets; interoperability with UK or air command-and-control systems to enable compilation of the recognised air picture; the provision of assured air traffic radar services; and resilience against certain atmospheric conditions affecting radar performance and complex clutter, including effects associated with wind turbines. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
30 Apr 19. India restarts work on coastal radars in Maldives. India has resumed the installation of coastal surveillance radar stations across the Maldives to enhance the Indian Navy’s (IN’s) maritime domain awareness (MDA) in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Official sources in New Delhi said India had restarted work on Phase II of the INR6bn (USD85.7m) Coastal Surveillance Radar System (CSRS) project in early April following the replacement of Abdulla Yameen by Ibrahim Mohamed Solih as the Maldivian president in late 2018. India has long maintained that Yameen was responsible for suspending the CSRS in 2016–17 following the installation of three radar stations manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) under Phase I of the programme. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
30 Apr 19. Streamlight® Inc., a leading provider of high-performance lighting products, introduced the QB®, an ultra-compact headlamp that delivers 200 lumens over an extraordinary distance of 85 meters on its highest setting. Offering the convenience of USB rechargeability, three output modes and a lightweight, low-profile design, it is the ideal hands-free personal work light for professional and consumer uses alike.
“The newest addition to Streamlight’s family of USB rechargeable headlamps is big on both power and beam distance, producing a bright, concentrated spot beam to illuminate what’s ahead, up to nearly 280 feet,” said Streamlight Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Michael F. Dineen. “The QB features a unique adjustable elastic head strap with a non-slip inner surface that can also be used with hard hats.”
The QB offers 200 lumens and 1,800 candela over an 85-meter beam distance on its high setting; on low, it provides 95 lumens over 55 meters. Run times range from 4 hours on low to 2 hours on high. A large top button allows for easy actuation and switching between the High, Low and Flash modes. The headlamp uses a 600mAh Lithium Polymer battery, sealed within the unit for service-free operation, and is rechargeable via a micro USB charging port. Red and green LED lights indicate battery charging status; charge time is approximately 3.5 hours depending on the USB charging source.
In addition to the silicone-backed elastic head strap, the QB also includes a built-in hat clip that easily attaches to the brim of a baseball or bump cap.
Featuring an impact-resistant Polycarbonate body and lens, the QB weighs just 1.5 ounces with the attached headband and measures 1.57 inches in length. The light is IPX4 rated for weather resistance and is impact resistance-tested to two meters.
The QB an MSRP of $40.95. It is available in Safety Yellow and Black.
29 Apr 19. Echodyne to Demonstrate Data Visualization for Airspace Management Through Augmented Reality at AUVSI 2019. Company that is Reinventing Radar Takes Airspace Safety to a New Level.
Echodyne, the manufacturer of innovative, high-performance, small electronically scanned array (ESA) radars for government and commercial markets, announced today that it will demonstrate enhanced airspace situational awareness by visualizing EchoGuard sensor data through augmented reality at AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2019 in Chicago, IL. The Company showcased the technology at Booth #2805 on April 30th-May 2nd. During the conference, Echodyne will display how its EchoGuard radar offers superior performance for both primary UAS use cases: commercial mission safety, and counter-UAS. The demonstration will feature an AR interactive experience using Microsoft’s Hololens and allows participants to experience unprecedented airspace situational awareness.
Echodyne has quickly emerged as the preferred airspace situational awareness provider with its small, commercially-priced ESA radar– the first of its kind in the industry. Recently, the Company affirmed its participation in a number of initiatives at UAS Centers of Excellence across the country, including NASA’s Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) Technical Capability Level (TCL), FAA’s UTM Pilot Program (UPP) and FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP).
“Having the ability to demonstrate how our EchoGuard radar contributes to airspace safety at the premier conference for the unmanned systems industry is just another exciting step for Echodyne,” said Eben Frankenberg, CEO of Echodyne. “This is another example of Echodyne delivering innovation that enhances both mission and public safety.”
Echodyne will also be making additional announcements at AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2019. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
29 Apr 19. Combating counterinsurgency, conducting reconnaissance, collecting information vital to national security, United States Special Forces conduct some of the most sensitive and critical missions.
The people and infrastructure required for these missions also require constant protection through reliable intelligence and surveillance. That’s why Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] expanded its Indago portfolio to include a tethered option. Without the tether, Indago 3 flies for 50-70 minutes and can be carried in a rucksack, leading the group 1 small unmanned aerial system (UAS) industry in endurance and transportability. For uninterrupted ISR, special forces can quickly configure the tether, taking away the need for battery reliance.
“When it comes to unmanned systems and capability, size does matter,” said Michael Carlson, Business Development manager for Indago. “We want to make something as important as force and facility protection as simple and effective as possible – the tethered Indago can do that.”
Its payloads provide high resolution, daytime, electro-optical imagery capable of reading a license plate from a 1000-foot standoff distance. For nighttime, it provides detailed thermal infrared that can identify a person, weapon, and other intelligence, such as warmth of vehicle tracks on the surface. This includes imagery in black hot, white hot, and ironbow, an orange and purple heatmap color scheme.
To learn more about Indago, visit www.lockheedmartin.com/indago
About Syntonics
Syntonics innovates and manufactures specialty RF communications equipment and accessories, notably RF-over-fiber products and innovative antennas. Leading edge RF technologies are developed through partnerships with world-class laboratories and universities.
28 Apr 19. Ukroboronprom collaborates on gyrostabilising platform development. Ukroboronprom has collaborated with PJSC Motor Sich and various other private enterprises of Ukraine’s defence sector to develop gyrostabilising platforms. The Barrier rocket management channel was installed on the gyrostabilising platforms to be used on military helicopters of type Mi. Ukroboronprom’s enterprises have so far created two gyrostabilising platforms for Mi-type helicopters.
Platforms can be used for the purposeful targeting of guided missiles of the Barrier-B missile complex and the development of the laser helicopter channel Luch DCCB.
Ukroboronprom general director Pavlo Bukin said: “Today, the Zaporizhzhya Enterprise has developed a programme for the creation of Ukrainian combat helicopters, and I am convinced that in close cooperation with the companies of the aviation cluster of the concern, as well as with other defence private enterprises, it is possible to achieve qualitative results and create a reliable combat vehicle.”
DP NVK Fotopribor developed suspension module PM-LKT, which has already passed field trials last year. The module provides the search, detection, and recognition of ground targets such as tanks or armoured vehicles, as well as targets high precision missiles. The State Enterprise Izyum Instrument-Making Plant partnered with other enterprises to develop an optical-target station of the new generation of the OPSN-I.
At present, the station is undergoing the first stages of testing, which is aimed at confirming its high technical characteristics.
The OPSN-I is equipped with optics, a thermal imager, a laser control channel and a range finder, which helps to identify targets and bring high-precision weapons to them.
During the plant development, the company’s specialists were guided by NATO standards and combined advanced Ukrainian and Western developments.
This optical target can be installed on aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, armoured vehicles and ships. (Source: army-technology.com)
28 Apr 19. Belarus unveils Groza-P2 mobile counter UAV system. Belarus-based defence industrial group KB Radar has announced the development of the Groza-P2 mobile counter unmanned aerial vehicles (C-UAVs) jammer.
The system, which will be showcased at the defence technology expo MILEX 2019 in Minsk in May, is a portable rifle-style jammer designed to prevent the unauthorised access of small UAVs into the territory by locating and neutralising potential aerial threats.
The jammer is intended to counter commercial multirotor and small fixed-wing UAVs by blasting electromagnetic noise at aerial targets. The jammer can disrupt satellite navigation signals – GLONASS and GPS systems – as well as radio frequencies (RF) communications in the 1,570-1610 MHz, 2.4-2.483 GHz, and 5.725-5.85 GHz wavelengths.
The jammer is designed to target non-assigned public frequencies, meaning that the system will not interfere with manned aircraft or other dedicated radio bands.
According to the company, the jammer does not require a precise guidance system to acquire a target and the signal to be radiated over the user’s head for a continuous time of 30 minutes.
Upon detection of an aerial target within the operational range, the operator aims the jammer at the UAV using the collimator and radiates the target with electromagnetic noise. The UAV is then forced into an emergency landing because of the effect of the jamming.
The new anti-drone system is a variant of the Groza-R system, which operates at a distance of up to 3 km and is equipped with a separate backpack that carries a battery and an amplifier system, which brings the total weight of the C-UAV up to 18 kg.
Unlike its predecessor, the Groza-P2 is a lighter and more compact system. To reduce the weight of the system to 6.5 kg, specialists from the Belarusian industrial group decreased the system’s power source and combined the system into a mono-block. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
28 Apr 19. Shooting In Zero Visibility Conditions. Shvabe Holding has presented an improved SWIR camera for shooting in zero visibility conditions to public. The new camera features a new enlarged matrix format and durable aircraft-grade composition case.
“The SWIR camera can see hidden objects in fog and smoke, detect camouflaged objects and people at zero visibility. Such device is suitable for operation in maritime navigation, control and monitoring of facilities, security and research activities,” the Russian company Rostec, to which Shvabe Holding belongs, announced. “Also the camera has IP67 protection from damage, dust and water. It can be submerged up to a depth of one metre without risk for further working efficiency.”
The portable camera visualises the IR image in the range of 0.9-1.7μm. According to Rostec serial production of the short-wave IR band camera has already started. (Source: ESD Spotlight)
23 Apr 19. Cobham Antenna Systems is pleased to announce the launch of its new Triple-band Helix antenna. It will be displayed on the Cobham stand at the unmanned vehicle show, AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2019, in Chicago, USA, 30 April – 1 May 2019. The new Helix, model number TAMH-1.6-2.4-5.8/2453, is designed to SWaP principles – improved performance while reducing Size, Weight and Power requirement. This is achieved by housing three antennas in one radome, covering the three most popular commercially used bands: 1.6GHz (GPS), 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz. It is of particular benefit to portable systems, being lighter and easier to handle. Furthermore, for fixed installations, its SWaP efficiencies make mounting three antennas in close proximity much more straightforward. Its three-into-one configuration also reduces wind-loading. These benefits meet Counter-Drone System (or C-UAS; Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems) requirements – especially important following the recent and much reported hazardous incursions into restricted airspace over airports by illegally flown commercial drones. All three of the antennas within the radome are Helix (i.e. circular-polarised), which ensures the greatest probability of coupling with the antenna on the target drone, under most flight conditions. Each provides 13dBiC gain and narrow, 33-degree beam-widths, which reduces the possibility of it interfering with non-hostile systems operating in the same bands. This new model is the latest of Cobham’s many similar products. The company is investing in producing further versions, which will also cover the 915MHz band and all GPS bands (L1 – L5). Cobham also provides Directional flat-panel antennas, Sector antennas and Omni antennas, covering individual bands, as well as a selection of ultra-wideband antennas (which can future proof any system), many of which are already being used for C-UAS applications.
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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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