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22 Nov 13. AAC and US Navy demonstrates advanced mine hunting Capability. Advanced Acoustic Concepts (AAC), a joint venture between DRS Technologies and Thales, and the US Navy have successfully demonstrated advanced mine-hunting capabilities off the coast of Camp Pendleton, California, US. During the at-sea demonstration, conducted as part of the 2013 Fleet Experimentation (FLEX) Unmanned Systems (UxS) campaign, the T-SAS system detected all exercise mines with increased area clearance rates. The system also provided automatic target recognition (ATR) sonar processing, enabling operators to conduct real-time detection and classification of exercise mines while eliminating the need for post-mission analysis. In coordination with the US Navy Mine and Antisubmarine Warfare Command (NMAWC), the US Naval Warfare Development Center (NWDC) had requested industry participation for a mine warfare capabilities demonstration intended to enhance large geographic area search or automate detection and classification of undersea mines and maritime IED.
“The AAC T-SAS system can be towed from both manned and unmanned vessels.”T-SAS provides game-changing capability to the US Navy with increased area clearance rates and reduced the overall mine warfare detect-to-engage timeline. The high-resolution SAS sensor, when combined with ATR processing, offers improved probability of correct classification and dramatically reduced false alarms for fleet operators. An upgraded version of the TSM 2054 side scan sonar, the AAC T-SAS system can be towed from both manned and unmanned vessels. The 2013 FLEX UxS campaign plan aims to identify potential solutions to address the highest priority operational needs of the US Navy fleet, according to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). (Source: naval-technology.com)
Sep 13. A blimp from Global Nearspace Systems will soon be hovering over several islands just south of the disputed maritime border between the two Koreas, filling a surveillance gap. It will allow South Korea’s military to keep a closer eye on North Korea west of the peninsula where the provocative communist country unleashed an artillery barrage on Yeonpyeong Island that left four South Koreans dead in 2010. “This will give us the ability to monitor what’s going on in what are now dead zones and to see farther,” South Korea Defense Acquisition Program Administration spokesman Baek Youn Hyeong said. Officials are in the process of working out some technical problems with the $22m (total contract value)airship — which is equipped with camera and radar equipment — but they hope to put it into operation in November. Saying the information was classified, they declined to provide details on exactly what the blimp can do. However, all indications are that it will serve much the same purpose as the tethered-to-the-ground surveillance blimps that hover over some of the larger U.S. military bases in Afghanistan. U.S. satellites and U-2 spy planes already monitor North Korea from the air. In recent years, North Korea has repeatedly threatened to fire upon anything it deems to be an affront visible from the north side of the Demilitarized Zone — including lights strung in the shape of Christmas trees on 100-foot-tall towers, giant loudspeakers broadcasting South Korean propaganda or leaflet-laden balloons floating over from the south. Asked if he feared the surveillance blimp might provoke North Korea into an artillery strike on the craft, Baek said, “If they take military action by attacking it … it would be an act of provocation, and we would have to take appropriate action in response.”
22 Nov 13. Avon Protection Systems has partnered with ESS (Eye Safety Systems, Inc.) to provide the United States, U.S. Territories and Canada commercial market prescription lens fabrication for the adva