The German Bundeswehr in April ordered $6.4 million in direct methanol fuel cells to be delivered by the end of the year. About the size of a hardback book and weighing 3.5 lb., the cells can be kept running in the field by swapping out small fuel tanks, promising longer operating life for connected devices and less weight than batteries.
Dear Reader, Defense Technology International (DTI) was launched more than five years ago as an integrated media platform, with a promise to deliver unprecedented, cross-domain intelligence to connect defense professionals worldwide. As the information and technology needs of this complex industry became more demanding, DTI remained focused on its core mission and quickly became the market leader for providing seamless intelligence across land, sea and air.
As more users adopt cloud-based computing networks to achieve bandwidth efficiency, hardware reduction and other benefits, issues arise over the ability to access different operating systems in the cloud, host multiple domains, assure data resilience and, importantly, maintain security. Three companies have partnered to develop a system that they say is innovative in that it provides a secure, scalable, redundant platform for cloud networks in sensitive environments, including tactical military use.
Airbus Military and Cobham are modifying the hose-and-drogue refueling system for the U.K.'s A330-based Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA), to mitigate fuel-venting when working with Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado and Typhoon fighters. A series of actions is being taken to reduce excess spraying during refueling. Already tested are improvements to the coupling and basket, with possible software fixes to the pod still to be examined.
Finland has selected the Israeli-built Aeronautics Defense Systems Orbiter-2 mini-UAV system to be used in support of tactical ground forces. The acquisition of 55 systems is expected to be worth about $29.5 million. The Orbiter has already been exported to several customers, including Poland. The electrically powered, 3-meter-span flying-wing aircraft counts a maximum takeoff weight below 10 kg (22 lb.), is designed to stay aloft for up to 4 hr. and has a range of 30-80 km (19-50 mi.) at a ceiling up to 18,000 ft.
The roar of jets being launched from aircraft carriers may be iconic, but the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) is looking for ways of reducing the noise generated by tactical aircraft, to protect the hearing of sailors involved with flight-deck operations. ONR's ongoing Jet Noise Reduction project, jointly funded by NASA, recently awarded more than $4 million in grants to six universities and two companies for development of noise-reduction technologies, as well as measurement and prediction tools and noise-source models.
The increased use of UAVs and light aircraft is spurring development of smaller precision-attack weapons, designed to better meet payload limitations of the manned, light-strike aircraft and UAVs. Such weapons also will open new tactical dimensions for light rotorcraft, for which there is increasing demand, especially by a growing corps of special operations forces. So far, most available light scout helicopters considered for armed missions are underpowerd and lack payload capacity and only a new generation of light precison-attack weapons can fill this critical gap.
May was the cruelest month yet for the U.S. Air Force's F-22 Raptor, given the Lockheed Martin fighter's persistent problems with its oxygen-delivery system. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta placed restrictions on Raptor operations on May 15—including a noteworthy deployment to the United Arab Emirates—and ordered the Air Force to rush into place an automatic back-up system. The first retrofit is due in December, and starting in January, 10 aircraft will be retrofitted per month.
Rafael's new “hard kill” technology marked an important milestone last September, demonstrating the kill of an incoming rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at a safe distance from the protected platform. The new system, dubbed Fliker, was developed by the company's Manor Technologies Div. with support by the Israeli Defense Research & Development Directorate (DRDD). Fliker is designed as an add-on defensive layer, augmenting existing warning systems and countermeasures used on combat helicopters.
When you think of European robotics, Nexter does not jump to mind as a major player. But during this month's Eurosatory show in Paris, the French manufacturer of the VBCI and Aravis armored vehicles and the Leclerc battle tank, among others, plans to change that mindset.
When I joined Defense Technology International in 2007, our goal was to expand the Aviation Week franchise into the world of global defense. Since then, I and other members of our team have piloted trucks through house-sized sinkholes, ridden MRAPs and Strykers through war zones and toured Dutch-designed, French-armed Indonesian warships.
UAVs do not fly in commercial airspace or over populated areas for good reasons: They have no sense-and-avoidance systems to prevent mid-air collisions, and there is no way to make safe emergency landings a regular event. “In most cases they just drop,” says Luis Alvarez of the Australian Research Center for Aerospace Automation. Researchers there and at partner Queensland University of Technology are developing onboard systems to address these problems.
After almost two decades in the making, NATO has finally awarded a contract to field an Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system. The alliance has signed a $1.7 billion contract to acquire five Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Block 40s to address an operational shortfall first identified during the 1991 Persian Gulf war and validated during last year's Libya air campaign. An initial operational capability is due to be reached in 2016. The deal was signed during the meeting of NATO members' heads of government summit in Chicago last month.
If special operations are the “point of the spear” in war, combat engineers are the ridges of the blade, eliminating hazards and obstacles for advancing infantry. The Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) combat engineering corps has added a number of technologies to facilitate this mission. Among those recently revealed by the IDF is a Puma armored personnel carrier (APC) that has been modified for mine-clearing operations. The Puma (see photo), which uses the chassis of a British Centurion tank, carries 20 missiles armed with thermobaric (i.e., fuel-air) explosives.
Last month, the U.S. chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, wrote that his Navy should support the U.S. Air Force's plan to develop a new bomber. This followed the endorsement by his opposite number, USAF Gen. Norton Schwartz, of the Navy's plan for more nuclear attack submarines. In other news, the Pentagon turned bright orange, floated in the air and started drifting with the breeze in the direction of Tyson's Corner, Va.
On April 22, a barrage of Hellfire missiles killed a senior Al Qaeda commander and two operatives along the border of Marib and Al Jawf provinces in northern Yemen. It is believed to be among the first of many strikes executed since Washington authorized the targeting of militants based on “signature” patterns of behavior, such as transporting weapons or gathering at known militant compounds. Under previous policy, the identity of a militant in the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) had to be established before placing him on a kill list.
A flawless radome is vital to the integrity of aircraft communications. If the assembly, usually fabricated of polymer composite several centimeters (1 cm is 0.4 in.) thick, retains defects such as air bubbles, water droplets or contaminants during manufacture, cracks may develop that degrade moisture resistance, affecting signal integrity. At last month's Control exposition in Stuttgart, Germany, the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques of Kaiserslauten, Germany, displayed a prototype testing system that detects such flaws.
