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21 Dec 23. Switzerland and Elbit Agree to Postpone Final Hermes 900 UAV Deliveries to 2026.
Project Duration for the Reconnaissance Drone System (ADS 15) Extended. Against the backdrop of the technical problems in spring 2023, and in particular the uncertain situation in the Middle East, the Federal Office for Armaments armasuisse has agreed with the supplier of the ADS 15 drone system (Elbit Systems Ltd) on a two-year project extension until the end of 2026. (ADS 15 is the Swiss designation for the Hermes 900 unmanned aircraft.)
To compensate, Elbit must provide Switzerland with an additional support package and extend the warranty period for the Swiss drones by two years. Furthermore, Elbit has issued binding performance guarantees, which are secured by extensive penalties in the event of non-performance.
Due to a technical incident in March 2023, ADS 15 flight operations in Switzerland had to be interrupted for several weeks. As a result, armasuisse entered into negotiations with the Israeli supplier Elbit to compensate for the costs incurred. In addition, Elbit had to pay contractual penalties for the delays caused by the technical problems.
With the uncertain situation in the Middle East, the initial situation has deteriorated from October 2023. Since then, Elbit has been working under considerably more difficult conditions. In addition, it is currently not possible for Swiss specialists to travel to Israel, for example for acceptance work. Against this background, as well as due to the delays that occurred in spring 2023, armasuisse considered it necessary to give the supplier more time to fulfil the contract. In mid-December 2023, armasuisse and Elbit made the project extension and the corresponding consideration binding in a contract addendum.
Extensive compensation services
The end of the project is now scheduled for the end of 2026 instead of the end of 2024 as before. Elbit must compensate Switzerland for the longer duration of the contract as well as the costs incurred in spring 2023. The company has committed to providing armasuisse with an additional support package worth a low double-digit m amount. This includes, in particular, additional spare parts and other material for the operation of the drones in Switzerland. Elbit has also extended the warranty period for all Swiss drones by two years. The period begins from the date of successful performance of the contract. Finally, Elbit will have to pay extensive fines if it is unable to provide the agreed services on time. These fines exceed the contractual penalties estimated and asserted in the course of the project so far many times over.
Project plan is being revised
Due to the uncertain situation in the Middle East, the delivery of three outstanding Swiss drones and associated ground control stations could not take place this year as originally planned. In general, it is still not possible to make conclusive statements about the further consequences of the conflict on the procurement of ADS 15. With this in mind, armasuisse and Elbit are currently working on a detailed project plan for next year. armasuisse and Elbit have also agreed to hold weekly joint project meetings from now on. If further developments make it necessary, any adjustments and measures can be initiated as early as possible.
Project ADS 15
ADS 15 is an unmanned and unarmed reconnaissance system. The drones are used for situational awareness and target reconnaissance, but can also be equipped with other sensors if required. Among other things, the drones allow the surveillance of large areas and contribute to the protection of critical infrastructures as well as one’s own forces. The drones can be used day and night. The users of the drones will be both military and civilian bodies such as cantonal command staffs, police and rescue bodies or the Federal Office for Customs and Border Protection (FOCBS). The Swiss procurement comprises six drones, including ground components, simulator and logistics. (Unofficial translation by Defense-Aerospace.com) (Source: https://cuashub.com/ Swiss Defense Procurement Agency, Armasuisse; issued Dec. 20, 2023)
21 Dec 23. Additional GLADIUS Drones Delivered to Polish Army.
More GLADIUS for Iron Division. On December 20, further elements of the GLADIUS unmanned search and strike system were delivered to the Polish Armed Forces.
The delivery in question is the result of successfully conducted tests, including operation of unmanned search and strike systems with a warhead. As a result, further elements of the first battery module were transferred to the user, increasing its capabilities, including four training BSP-UT, five FT-5 reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles, five launchers, two command vehicles and three ammunition vehicles.
On December 15, 2022, the first elements of the GLADIUS system were delivered to the Polish Armed Forces, including two unmanned aerial vehicle launchers and two GLADIUS training vehicles. The project made it possible to start training the operator teams of GLADIUS sets before subsequent deliveries of elements of this system.
The contract worth PLN 2 bn gross for the delivery of the GLADIUS UAV was signed on May 6, 2022. Its parties are the State Treasury – Agencja Armament and WB Electronics SA, and its subject is the delivery of four battery modules of the GLADIUS unmanned search and strike systems together with a package training and logistics.
The logistics package includes the delivery of maintenance kits and maintenance services for unmanned aerial vehicles. Moreover, as part of the training package, in addition to training for staff, training unmanned aerial vehicles and simulators of the GLADIUS unmanned search and strike system are acquired.
The battery modules of the GLADIUS unmanned search and strike systems are designed to precisely hit targets and to conduct aerial image reconnaissance using FT-5 reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles, equipped with optoelectronic heads enabling image recording, both in daylight and using thermal imaging.
The role of the system’s effectors is played by GLADIUS unmanned attack aerial vehicles, integrated with the TOPAZ fire control system used by the Polish Armed Forces. The battery module includes launchers, command, ammunition and maintenance vehicles, as well as a supply of GLADIUS attack unmanned aerial vehicles.
(Unofficial translation by Defense-Aerospace.com)
(Source: https://www.defense-aerospace.com/Polish Armament Agency)
20 Dec 23. Stack ’em high, sell ’em cheap? The Corvo UAS from Australian company SYPAC. The pace of drone development has accelerated fast over the past decade, bringing in a myriad of new technologies to increase performance, add new capabilities and address new military use cases.
However, added sophistication is often accompanied by added cost. In the meantime, the past ten years has also shown over and over that cheap drones can be highly effective too, and countering low cost drone operations can prove to be an expensive task.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels were first seen using drones to attack Saudi Arabia in April 2019, targeting the city of Khamis Mushait. The next month the Houthi’s armed drones hit two of Aramco’s oil-pumping stations west of Riyadh, causing significant damage to the oil giant’s East-West pipeline. Frequent drone attacks continued over the past few years, with Aramco facilities providing the Houthi’s with high-value targets. Whilst the Houthi drones were low-tech and low-cost, Saudi’s primary defensive weapon was the Raytheon’s Patriot surface-to-air missile system, with a single missile costing several m dollars.
Low-cost, off-the-shelf drones have also been used intensively by Ukrainian forces in the war against Russia. Smaller, low-cost drones can easily evade more sophisticated Russian air defense systems and obviously easier and cheaper to replace. Ukraine also bought $3,500 ‘cardboard drones’ from Australia. With so many drone losses recorded, being able to replace military drones at scale is becoming vital to success.
Battlefield realities are driving development in both drone development and in counter-drone systems. Counter-drone system providers are developing systems that are both able to identify smaller drones and distinguish between small drones and birds. Meanwhile, more militaries are looking at ways to use volumes of smaller, less expensive drones in combat situations.
In August, the Pentagon confirmed that its Replicator programme was developing plans to field thousands of small, low-cost autonomous drones across multiple domains. The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) issued a solutions brief in October for suppliers to submit proposals for affordable, mass-produced, medium-range UAVs.
During the coming year we’re sure to see more emphasis on creating miltary drones that can be mass produced at a lower cost. Given that drone warfare easily becomes a numbers game, we can also expect swarming drones to see continued development as more militaries begin or extend trials of drone swarms. (Source: Armada)
21 Dec 23. Qaher-313 was Iran’s Stealth Fighter Joke – or Not? Iran has shown its great capability to reverse engineer U.S. military drones, and its unmanned aerial systems (UAS) program has made great leaps forward. In 2011, a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 “Sentinel” was intercepted and then copied to create a new drone with similar capabilities.
This is a continuing development, and Tehran has long sought to produce clones of U.S. military hardware.
A new danger is that Russia has been sending U.S. and NATO-provided weapons and equipment captured in Ukraine to the Islamic Republic where they can also be copied. This has reportedly included platforms such as shoulder-fired weapons such as the Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft systems.
However, while Iran has shown a true talent in copying smaller systems, it has so far fallen short of copying more advanced platforms, notably manned combat aircraft. Yet, a decade ago, Tehran still unveiled what it claimed to be a single-seat stealth fighter aircraft.
The single-seat IAIO Qaher-313 (Conqueror-313) was officially unveiled on February 1, 2013. Developed by the Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO), a division of the Ministry of Defense, and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF), it was touted by then-President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad as having “almost all the positive features” of the world’s most sophisticated jets.
Iranian officials claimed it had many of the characteristics of a fifth-generation fighter, notably stealth.
However, it could be argued that the stealth is so good that it could explain why we’ve heard very little of the aircraft in the years since. The development progress had not been publicly demonstrated since taxi trials took place in 2017.
It now appears that the program has been put on the back burner or canceled outright.
All Smoke and Mirrors
The aircraft was likely little more than an attempt to bolster morale with the Iranian people than to potentially scare the West – and the Islamic Republic has a long history of unveiling advanced hardware that seems simply too good to be true.
As was reported when the Conqueror-313 was unveiled, aviation and defense experts were quick to suggest the mock-up looked like a toy and might not even be able to fly – and certainly not be able to carry any weapons.
“It looks like the Iranians dumped some rudimentary flight controls and an ejection seat into a shell molded in what they thought were stealthy angles,” reporter John Reed wrote in the journal Foreign Policy.
“It looks like it might make a noise and vibrate if you put 20 cents in,” joked Andrew Davies of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “I can see (almost) how North Korea gets away with transparent nonsense due to isolation, but Iran has a population that’s much more switched on and connected, at least in the cities. I guess a possible explanation is that it plays well in the provinces, where people aren’t as savvy.”
The Latest Developments – What Do We Know?
The Conqueror-313 has largely remained “vaporware” for the past decade, but this past February, Iranian state media announced that while the aircraft had reached “technical maturity,” a decision was made to rework it as an unmanned drone that could see service beginning next year.
Though it is unlikely that the Islamic Republic’s stealth fighter will ever take flight, the West should still watch with caution the developments of Iranian unmanned aerial systems.
Tehran may not be able to ever produce a stealth fighter, but its drones are getting more sophisticated. Perhaps that was the plan all along – while we scoffed and mocked at their attempt to produce a “stealth fighter,” Iran was secretly expanding its other capabilities.
(Source: UAS VISION/The National Interest)
20 Dec 23. Boeing [NYSE: BA] has delivered the first Orca Extra Large Uncrewed Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) to the U.S Navy following acceptance testing completion this month. The XLUUV, designated by the Navy as “Orca,” is a new class of autonomous submarine that can perform long duration critical missions to achieve undersea maritime dominance in changing environments and contested waters.
“This is the culmination of more than a decade of pioneering work, developing a long-range, fully autonomous undersea vehicle with a large payload capacity that can operate completely independently of a host vehicle,” said Ann Stevens, Boeing Maritime and Intelligence Systems vice president. “I’ve had the distinct pleasure of witnessing our team bring this first-of-its-kind capability to life, and I’m proud of their innovation, perseverance and unwavering commitment which has yielded the most advanced and capable UUV in the world. With the Navy’s partnership, we look forward to continuing to deliver this game-changing vehicle to the fleet.”
With the partnership of the Navy, Orca has undergone several phases of at
-sea testing, including above and below surface maneuvers to demonstrate the vehicles’ unique capabilities.
Orca is the result of more than 50 years of Boeing experience building and operating undersea vehicles. In 2012 Boeing initiated the design and development of Echo Voyager, a proof-of-concept XLUUV that began at-sea testing began in 2017 and was a precursor to the US Navy’s Orca XLUUV competition. Echo Voyager – the world’s only vehicle of its size and capability – has spent over 10,000 hours operating at sea and transited hundreds of nautical miles autonomously
20 Dec 23. Cuashub.com said today that the PDW C100 Drone Approved for DIU Blue UAS List
PDW, a pioneer in unmanned aerial systems (UAS), has officially announced that its man-packable and heavy-lift quadcopter, the C100, has been approved for inclusion in the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) Blue UAS program. This program, established by the Department of Defense (DoD), aims to evaluate and swiftly expand commercial UAS technology adoption.
The C100 is a portable, long-endurance drone boasting exceptional flight performance. It can execute missions lasting up to 74 minutes with a payload capacity of 15 pounds. Beyond its impressive specifications, the C100 offers diverse advanced mission capabilities, including targeting, signals intelligence, direct effects, and last-mile resupply, particularly in contested environments.
“We are tremendously proud to announce the C100 platform’s inclusion on the Blue UAS list,” said PDW CEO and Co-Founder Ryan Gury. “PDW is firmly committed to DIU’s mission of delivering secured technology for our operators and the addition of the C100 to the Blue UAS list represents a trusted, secure, and stable platform, giving our customers assurance when they need it most.”
PDW has meticulously crafted the C100 to align seamlessly with dynamic military targeting methodologies, facilitating the tactical fusion of operations and intelligence on the battlefield. This platform is the culmination of extensive research and development conducted by PDW’s team, comprising veterans, small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) experts, and industry leaders.
The C100 is engineered with versatility at its core, featuring multiple payload bays, a modular and open architecture, and an impressive total payload capacity of up to 15 pounds. This design ensures adaptability to a diverse range of mission sets and payloads.
The approval of PDW’s C100 for inclusion in the DIU Blue UAS list underscores the successful collaboration and coordination across departments involving DIU, Navy PMA-263, and Dark Wolf. This joint effort is dedicated to delivering secure and innovative solutions for the US Government.
About PDW
PDW is a leading unmanned aerial systems (UAS) provider committed to delivering secure, reliable, and NDAA-compliant solutions for the defense industry. With a focus on innovation and collaboration, PDW strives to meet the evolving needs of the operator and support the defense community in achieving its objectives. Visit www.pdw.ai for more information.
https://cuashub.com/content/the-pdw-c100-drone-approved-for-diu-blue-uas-list/?_hsmi=287261995&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8-EIXV1a7_j6EHkbV7lYreQvpF1GSv2v4pJsPcmriL9lHnE6AbE9sDq52poJ-D0jysULd2FI-8yEn76gCHXrPbx0Pz8aIUJIzKLr-Rsk5fMiuAuQ4#utm_campaign=C-UAS%20Hub%20General&utm_medium=email&utm_content=287261995&utm_source=hs_email (Source: https://cuashub.com/)
18 Dec 23. Russian Military Drones: Past, Present, and Future of the UAV Industry. Since 2009, Russia has invested significant effort into developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, for military purposes. They have used drones for reconnaissance, targeting, electronic warfare, and direct strikes.
Some of these UAVs have been used in Ukraine and Syria since 2014, while combat UAVs (i.e., the Orion and Altius drones) still were on the research and development phase at the beginning of 2022.
However, after a year of war in Ukraine, the Russian military has lost the biggest part of its tactical reconnaissance and targeting UAVs. At the same time, it was still unable to deploy advanced combat UAVs. As soon as fall 2022, or roughly six months into Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine, Russia started the large-scale use of Iranian loitering munitions, and continues to be highly dependent on them as of fall 2023.
Despite efforts towards increasing their production, Russia’s use of its own loitering munitions remains insignificant.
Key Findings
- Relying on global supply chains, Russia was able to develop its own UAV industrial base in the late 2000s and early 2010s. For UAV production, Russia imported electronics, engines, and industrial equipment (which is more important than electronic components) from Europe, the United States, Israel, and Japan, among other places.
- The fundamental problem of integrating UAVs into the different branches of the Russian armed forces and Russian military doctrine was not solved by 2022. The full-scale aggression against Ukraine challenged Russia’s approaches towards UAVs and the UAV industrial base. Significant parts of the drone supply chains that Russia purchased before 2022 have been lost. Western sanctions and Russia’s decreasing financial, technological, and human capabilities undermine sophisticated UAV projects started in the 2010s, as well as the Strategy of Development of Unmanned Aviation for 2030–2035 issued in 2023.[i]
- The Russian military recognized that Ukraine processed and exchanged information between drones and artillery much faster, and this processing—together with general compatibility of different systems in the Russian armed forces—needed crucial improvements.
- The lack of command, control, and communication systems—together with an over-centralized decision-making process and the huge Ukrainian theater—made smaller tactical units in the Russian military dependent on imported small commercial and agricultural drones like those produced by the Chinese company DJI.
- Unlike Ukraine, Russia cannot rely on the wide civic movement that systemically provides the armed forces with commercial drones and other equipment.
- Based on the experience of using Iran-made “Shahed-136” and “Shahed-131” loitering munitions, the Russian military started efforts towards better tactics of using drone swarms as well as developing an efficient command and control system.
- At the same time, the Russian military focused on further developing and improving counter-UAV capabilities in the face of swarms of small, cheap Ukrainian drones.
- Uncertainty in the Russian UAV industry—and in the whole aerospace industry—will persist, if not increase, in coming years.
- Given Russia’s long-term dependence on imported components and industrial equipment, together with a limited workforce and massive losses of UAVs during the ongoing war, Russia’s capabilities in reconnaissance and targeting, as well as in high-precision weapons, will stagnate, if not decrease, in the foreseeable future. Considering that Ukraine is making significant advances in using drones with assistance of its Western allies, Russia will not be able to restore its superiority in this aspect of military power.
- Government of Russia, “Government approved the Strategy for development of unmanned aviation until 2030,” June 28, 2023, http://government.ru/news/48875/.
Download report PDF: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.fpri.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/russian-military-drones-.pdf
(Source: UAS VISION/Foreign Policy Research Institute Press Release)
15 Dec 23. India Successfully Tests Flying-Wing UAV. The DRDO Friday successfully demonstrated the flight trial of Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator, an indigenous high-speed flying wing UAV from the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga in Karnataka.
With this flight in the tailless configuration, India has joined the elite club of countries that have mastered the controls for the Flying wing configuration.
This complex arrowhead wing unmanned aerial Vehicle is taking off from a runway in Karnataka in India. India’s own Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully carried out the flight trial of Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator, an indigenous high-speed flying-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) from the Aeronautical Test Range, Chitradurga in Karnataka.
The successful flying demonstration of this autonomous stealth UAV is a testimony to maturity in the technology readiness levels in the country. With this flight in the tailless configuration, India has joined the elite club of countries to have mastered the controls for the flying wing technology.
“The critical technologies involved have been proven in the improved final configuration now. The RPSA project, after the government sanctions it, will involve scaling up the size and the dimensions of the UAV with a new aero-engine,” a source said.
The ADE’s has been focusing on developing “stealthy” drones and aircraft, with a reduced radar cross-section to evade hostile air defence systems, which have autonomous take-off and landing capabilities. “The priority has to be on NGAD (next-generation air dominance) like the US and a few other countries,” he said.
After its maiden flight was conducted in July 2022, six flight trials of the flying-wing UAV with two prototypes in various developmental configurations have been carried out.
These flight-tests have led to the development of a robust aerodynamic and control system, integrated real-time and hardware-in-loop simulation, and state-of-the-art ground control station. “The development team optimized the avionic systems, integration and flight operations towards the successful seventh flight in the final configuration on Friday,” another official said.
The aircraft prototype, with a complex arrowhead wing platform, is designed and manufactured with “light-weight carbon prepreg composite material” developed indigenously.
“The autonomous landing of the UAV, without the need for ground radars, infrastructure and pilot, showcased a unique capability demonstration, allowing take-off and landing from any runway with surveyed coordinates,” he said. “This was possible using onboard sensor data fusion with indigenous satellite-based augmentation using GPS-aided GEO augmented navigation (GAGAN) receivers,” (Source: UAS VISION/Times of India; YouTube)
15 Dec 23. US Navy Subs are Getting a Drone that Can Launch Through a Torpedo Tube. HII is honored to be a part of this successful and groundbreaking mission: the first end-to-end submarine torpedo tube launch and recovery of a REMUS medium unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) using the Yellow Moray system. This incredible feat is a game-changer, significantly enhancing the capabilities of the US Navy’s submarines and their contribution to our nation’s unified combatant commands worldwide. For the first time, a U.S. Navy submarine has tested an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that can leave and re-enter the sub through a torpedo tube. The capability to deploy a drone through an existing hatch creates new opportunities for surveillance, scouting and other missions.
The Navy’s submarine community has been testing a variant of the REMUS 600 military/civilian UUV for some time using a drydeck shelter and divers for launch and recovery. However, the number of subs in the Navy inventory that can carry a drydeck shelter is finite, and the launch and recovery procedure is operationally cumbersome, so the service has an interest in developing a variant that can go in and out of a torpedo tube.
This would make the device usable across the fleet, on any sub in service, without the extra hassle of stopping and deploying divers each time it is used. The only challenge is threading a torpedo-size drone back through a torpedo-sized hole from the outside. (end of excerpt)
(Source: https://www.defense-aerospace.com/HII)
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