Sponsored by The British Robotics Seed Fund
http: www.britbots.com/fund
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01 Feb 23. Swiss Air Force receives first two Hermes 900 UAVs. The Swiss Air Force has received the first two of six Elbit Systems Hermes 900 Heavy Fuel Engine (HFE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that were ordered under the Reconnaissance Drone System 15 (ADS 15) requirement.
The Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection, and Sport (VBS) announced the milestone on 30 January, approximately nine months after Israel delivered the aircraft to the Swiss Federal Office for Armaments (Armasuisse) for in-country flight trials.
“The military aviation authority has issued the necessary certification. This means that the air force can now start building up the operational capabilities for the ADS 15 reconnaissance drone system,” the VBS said. (Source: Janes)
02 Feb 23. DARPA Selects Performer Teams for Liberty Lifter X-Plane Program.
- First phase will define the seaplane’s design and capabilities
Two teams — General Atomics working with Maritime Applied Physics Corporation and Aurora Flight Sciences working with Gibbs & Cox and ReconCraft — will develop designs for DARPA’s Liberty Lifter Seaplane Wing-in-Ground Effect full-scale demonstrator. The Liberty Lifter program aims to demonstrate a leap-ahead in operational capability by designing, building, floating, and flying a long-range, low-cost X-Plane capable of seaborne strategic and tactical heavy lift.
The planned Liberty Lifter demonstrator will be a large flying boat similar in size and capacity to the C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft. Goals include takeoff and land in Sea State 4, sustained on-water operation up to Sea State 5, and extended flight close to the water in ground effect with the capability to fly out of ground effect at altitudes up to 10,000 feet above sea level.
“We are excited to kick off this program and looking forward to working closely with both performer teams as they mature their point-of-departure design concepts through Phase 1,” said DARPA Liberty Lifter Program Manager Christopher Kent. “The two teams have taken distinctly different design approaches that will enable us to explore a relatively large design space during Phase 1.”
The General Atomics team has selected a twin-hull, mid-wing design to optimize on-water stability and seakeeping. It employs distributed propulsion using twelve turboshaft engines.
General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems, Inc. Liberty Lifter concept
Aurora Flight Sciences point-of-departure design more closely resembles a traditional flying boat, with a single hull, high wing and eight turboprops for primary propulsion.
During Phase 1, DARPA will work with both performer teams and Department of Defense stakeholders to refine the Liberty Lifter designs with particular attention to operational needs and operating concepts. The Phase 1 contract awards are for an 18-month period of performance with six months of conceptual design work and nine months of design maturation culminating in a preliminary design review. There will be an additional three months for manufacturing planning and test/demonstration planning reviews.
As scheduled, Phase 1 will transition into Phase 2 in mid-2024 with continued detailed design, manufacturing, and demonstration of a full-scale Liberty Lifter X-Plane. DARPA anticipates teaming with one or more DoD Service and international partners for those activities and further development of the Liberty Lifter concept into an operational vehicle. (Source: ASD Network)
02 Feb 23. Textron’s Aerosonde UAS takes debut flight from USS Miguel Keith. Equipped for multiple payload configurations, Aerosonde UAS is designed for expeditionary land- and sea-based operations in tough conditions. Textron Systems Corporation, a company of Textron, announced that its Aerosonde Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) aboard the USS Miguel Keith, which is designated as ESB 5, has taken its debut maritime flight.
This inaugural operational flight comes after a contract was awarded by the US Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) in October 2022 for the delivery of uncrewed aviation support aboard the vessel for up to five years.
As part of the Forward Deployed Naval Force, the ESB 5 supports a wide range of aviation and military operations.
Textron Systems has been awarded the task of deploying its Aerosonde UAS to deliver extended-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services with improved mission payloads aboard the ESB 5.
The firm’s field service representatives (FSR) will work alongside the ship’s sailors to deliver support for several maritime missions.
Textron Systems senior vice-president for Air Systems Wayne Prender said: “Having an unmanned aircraft system operational aboard the ship acting as a remote sensor contributes to overall maritime domain awareness and mission success.
“The Aerosonde system is providing added reach beyond the horizon and an ability to operate multi-INT ISR consistently, both great examples of the benefits of teaming unmanned aircraft with manned ships.”
Besides the USS Miguel Keith, the Aerosonde uncrewed system supports maritime operations aboard the USS Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams (ESB 4) and two DDG-class vessels.
In total, the uncrewed system supports four US Navy ships.
Equipped for multiple payload configurations and designed for expeditionary land- and sea-based operations in tough conditions, the Aerosonde system has accumulated over 600,000 flight hours while serving several customers in the US and international allies.
(Source: naval-technology.com)
31 Jan 23. UK to fly Protector UAV through to ‘mid-2030s’, MoD discloses. The United Kingdom is to operate its General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9B Protector medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) through to “the mid-2030s”, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) disclosed on 26 January.
The previously undisclosed date was given in a contract notification related to the entry into service of the Protector, which is scheduled to start operations at Royal Air Force (RAF) Waddington in 2024.
“The MQ-9B Protector programme aims to deliver a future UK capability for deep and persistent armed [intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance] ISTAR [collection] out to the mid-2030s, which will encompass the long-range, persistent wide-area surveillance and precision-strike capabilities currently provided by the [MQ-9A] Reaper capability,” the contract notification said. (Source: Janes)
31 Jan 23. Inspired by nature: chance to collaborate on underwater technology. Funding from NavyX and Dstl will back PhD programmes researching new methods of underwater propulsion and design, taking cues from the natural world.
NavyX, the Royal Navy’s autonomy and lethality accelerator, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) are seeking to collaborate with UK academic institutions on the advance of bio-inspired underwater technology and are offering generous PhD packages to back research in this field.
Over millennia, natural selection has honed characteristics such as agility, speed, endurance and stealth that through robotic mimicry may lead to improved range, endurance or lethality.
The bio-inspired uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) and propulsion PhD cohort programme aims to develop a greater understanding of novel modes of underwater propulsion and platform design. It aims to unlock unrealised competitive advantage through seeking a greater understanding of nature.
The importance of understanding, researching and experimenting with novel propulsion and UUVs of the future remains a priority if we wish to maintain equity with our allies and advantage over our adversaries in this most challenging of environments; it is also anticipated that the advantages of bio-inspired underwater technology may have benefits far beyond the sphere of defence.
Through leveraging the collective might of UK academic institutions, NavyX in collaboration with Dstl seek to seed a burgeoning sovereign market.
Details about the PhD programme will be announced via R-Cloud, the Dstl marketplace for science and technology research, which provides access to security and defence contracting opportunities across all the MOD’s science and technology research areas.
To get involved, register as an R-Cloud provider: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/r-cloud
We welcome applications from all types of supplier: non-traditional defence supplier, micro business, small to medium-sized enterprise (SME), academic institution or large organisation, UK and international research suppliers.
Find out more about Dstl’s work on autonomy and robotics: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/robotics-and-autonomous-systems-defence-science-and-technology-capability (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
31 Jan 23. General Atomics’ air-launched ‘Eaglet’ gets its wings. A General Atomics Aeronautical Systems-developed unmanned aerial system flew for the first time, launching from another UAS in a demonstration at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah.
The company, which is the manufacturer of the U.S. Army’s Gray Eagle UAS, has named its air-launched effect, or ALE, the Eaglet.
Eaglet launched from a U.S. Army-owned Gray Eagle Extended Range UAS in December as part of a jointly funded effort with the service’s Combat Capabilities Development Army Research Laboratory and Aviation & Missile Center, the unit of General Atomics said in a Jan. 31 statement.
The ALE is “intended to be a low-cost, survivable UAS with the versatility to be launched from a Gray Eagle, rotary-wing aircraft, or ground vehicles,” General Atomics President David Alexander said in the statement. “It enables extended reach of sensors and increased lethality while providing survivability for manned aircraft.”
The Army is pursuing options for both large and small ALEs to bring a variety of capabilities to the battlefield, from targeting to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to providing communications connections and data links.
Eaglet fits into the large category, which General Atomics said translates to having the ability to carry a wide variety of more powerful sensors and payloads. The company said Gray Eagle is capable of carrying Eaglet for thousands of kilometers before launching it.
Teaming up
Eaglet is intended to contribute to advanced teaming command-and-control capabilities and can work with other long-range payloads that Gray Eagles and other Army aircraft carry “to support deep sensing” in operations. The Army’s Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, or PEO IEW&S, has taken a specific interest in ALEs as a means to jam, spoof or spy and fight from greater distance.
The next step for the Eaglet is to participate in other exercises to further determine its potential. The command in charge of Army modernization — Army Futures Command — approved an initial capability refinement document for ALE in the fall of 2019.
ALE is meant to be a part of what the Army calls its Future Vertical Lift “ecosystem,” which will include a manned Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, or FLRAA, another manned Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, or FARA, a Future Tactical UAS and ALE.
“The plan to acquire ALE is through an incremental approach that allows rapid prototyping and fielding of technology to field available capabilities while continuing [science and technology] efforts to mature and transition emerging technologies to fully realize required capabilities,” according to the Army’s fiscal 2023 budget. “This is accomplished through multiple prototype development activities for the air vehicle, payloads, and mission system architecture through experiments, simulations, and demonstrations conducted in parallel and/or sequential timelines.”
The Army is aiming to develop multiple ALE prototypes to be able to more rapidly move capability into the operational force, the documents note, and future increments will upgrade mission systems, payloads and interface to extend the range of ALE for missions in support of Long-Range Precision Fires, meaning ALEs will help enable targeting for weapons systems such as the Extended-Range Cannon Artillery, or ERCA, beyond line-of-sight.
The Army has evaluated multiple payloads on large ALEs including a synthetic aperture radar, electronic warfare capability and communications systems at various experimentation efforts over the past several years.
Air-launched tech was tinkered with during Project Convergence 21, a large-scale networking experiment put on by the Army, and at the Edge 21 exercise, where sensors were used to collect and distribute real-time information.
Avenues to Air-Launched Effects
In 2020, the service awarded 10 small contracts worth a total of $29.75 m to mature technologies in the realm of ALE as it works toward designing complex advanced teaming plans for what it anticipates will be needed as part of the aerial tier of the force in 2030 against high-end adversaries.
Raytheon, Alliant TechSystems Operations of Northridge, California, and Area-I of Marietta, Georgia, were awarded contracts to develop air vehicles while others like L3Technologies, Rockwell Collins and Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation were awarded contracts to develop mission systems.
Payloads development contracts went to Raytheon, Leonardo Electronics US Inc., Technology Service Corporation of Huntsville, Alabama, and Alliant.
The efforts were all meant to feed into the Army’s decision-making process as it develops ALE concepts and requirements.
In August, PEO IEW&S boss Mark Kitz said “some tech maturity investments” are expected in 2023. Coordination on ALEs between electronic warfare and aviation camps is in the early stages.
The Gray Eagle has also launched ALEs from other developers such as one built by L3Harris at the Army’s Edge event at Dugway in 2021. The system that flew at the event is capable of flying at more than 200 knots and has a range of more than 300 kilometers. The system had flown just one other time at Yuma, Arizona, in February.
The Army has also heavily tested and evaluated Area-I’s ALTIUS, the Air-Launched Tube-Integrated Unmanned System, over the course of nearly five years, first launching it from a UH-60 Black Hawk from a high altitude in August 2018.
Anduril bought Area-I in April 2021.
At Edge 21, the Army deployed ALTIUS from a C-12 transport aircraft at 18,000 feet and fired them from pneumatic tubes on an all-terrain vehicle on the move.
The Army intends to continue to develop its requirements and strategy for ALE and, according to budget documents, is aiming to release a request for proposals for ALE capability in the final quarter of FY24 and will go into engineering and manufacturing development in the third quarter of FY25. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
31 Jan 23. Tests of Georgian-Polish Drones Successful. Test flights of Georgian-Polish unmanned aerial vehicles have been successfully completed, the press service of the Georgian government reports. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze, and Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri attended the test flight demonstration.
The drones are manufactured by Delta-Webe LLC, a joint venture between Delta International LLC and the Polish company WB Electronics S.A.
Two types of drones participated in the tests — the FLYEYE military reconnaissance drone and the so-called WARMATE kamikaze drone. The FLYEYE unmanned aerial system is designed to execute high-precision tasks in all climatic zones in severe meteorological and electronic combat conditions.
The system provides covert surveillance and real-time data analysis capabilities day and night. The comments on the released government footage also state that it takes about seven minutes to assemble a reconnaissance drone before launching it on a mission. The device must be started manually.
As for WARMATE kamikaze drone, it is a combat loitering unmanned aerial vehicle with a high accuracy rating.
These devices are used by the armies and special forces of Poland and other NATO countries.
The Ministry of Defense of Georgia has already signed an agreement with Delta-Webe to establish the region’s first UAV training center.
Delta-Webe LLC was established in Georgia jointly by Delta-International LLC and WB Electronics S.A., 100% Delta-owned companies, the goal of which is the assembly of unmanned aerial vehicles. The company will be able to produce hundreds of drones a year. At this stage, the company provides maintenance for the assembly line of unmanned aerial vehicles such as WARMATE and FLYEYE. (Source: UAS VISION/ Jam News)
30 Jan 23. Turkey’s Jet UCAV Kızılelma Passes System Identification Test.
Turkey’s first indigenously designed and produced unmanned fighter aircraft successfully passed the system identification test during its second flight. Selçuk Bayraktar, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Baykar directed the test flight of the National Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle System (MIUS), named Kızılelma (“Red Apple”), in Çorlu district, northwestern Tekirdağ province.
Bayraktar, also shared a statement on his social media account that read,
“Bayraktar #KIZILELMA successfully completed its second flight test. Godspeed.”
Having completed its maiden flight in December last year, the fast drone fighter jet, Kızılelma, represents a significant expansion of capabilities for slow-moving reconnaissance and missile-carrying drones.
It will be capable of taking off from and landing on short-runway aircraft carriers, including Turkey’s flagship-to-be Anadolu amphibious assault ship. The autonomously maneuvering Kızılelma will be capable of operating in tandem with piloted aircraft and may carry air-to-air missiles. The uncrewed fighter jet is projected to conduct a multitude of military actions, such as strategic offensives, close air support (CAS), missile offensives, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) and destruction of enemy air defenses (DEAD).
It is projected to be capable of flying for five hours and reaching speeds of up to 800 kph (500 mph or Mach 0.64). (Source: UAS VISION)
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The British Robotics Seed Fund is the first SEIS-qualifying investment fund specialising in UK-based robotics businesses. The focus of the fund is to deliver superior returns to investors by making targeted investments in a mixed basket of the most innovative and disruptive businesses that are exploiting the new generation of robotics technologies in defence and other sector applications.
Automation and robotisation are beginning to drive significant productivity improvements in the global economy heralding a new industrial revolution. The fund allows investors to benefit from this exciting opportunity, whilst also delivering the extremely attractive tax reliefs offered by the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). For many private investors, the amount of specialist knowledge required to assess investments in robotics is not practical and hence investing through a fund structure makes good sense.
The fund appoints expert mentors to work with each investee company to further maximise the chance of success for investors. Further details are available on request.
www.britbots.com/fund
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