The U.S. Army is about to select improved camouflage for soldiers' uniforms. But according to one of the finalists, far more advanced camouflage, offering potential for concealment bordering on invisibility, is just around the corner.
Elbit Systems has expanded its portfolio of UAS payloads with the recent launch of a hyperspectral offering for intelligence capabilities for the Hermes 450 and Hermes 900 UAS. From the company's Elop unit, the hyperspectral technology enables simultaneous imaging of the targeted region at hundreds of different wavelengths. The payload captures the spectral signature of the imaged materials, unique to every material in nature, like a fingerprint.
The issue of a 37-point agreement on security and defense on Feb. 17 confirmed that, despite public spats between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron, the U.K. and France have been quietly but surely moving to ever-closer defense and industrial ties. The two countries are more serious about cooperation in defense matters than they arguably have ever been before.
Maps are clearly a vital tool for any military commander, but the days when a two-dimensional, printed representation of an area will suffice have long since passed. Dynamic mapping of the battlespace is not new, but 21st century technologies are revolutionizing the collection, dissemination and analysis of tactical intelligence.
Indian Foreign Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna's visit to Israel in January marked the arrival of the highest-ranking Indian official there in 11 years, and is all the more significant as the Indian governing coalition is now headed by the Congress Party, a faction that traditionally has paid close attention to Muslim sensitivities.
Christina Mackenzie (St. Nazaire, France), Andy Nativi (Genoa), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
While the U.S. Navy wrestles with development and deployment of the fast and consequently expensive Littoral Combat Ship—and confronts the cost of building real missile defense into its next-generation combatants—the rest of the world is focusing on less glamorous craft that are reliable, practical and affordable.
When the U.S. Army's chief of staff, Gen. Ray Odierno, identified the service's top three acquisition priorities in January, two were new ground vehicles. At the time, it was not much of a surprise—even at the end of a decade in which the service fell in love with the Stryker vehicle and spent almost $50 billion to build more than 25,000 Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) variants.
So far Selex Galileo's foray into the training business has been mainly linked to a family of advanced flight simulators, but the U.S. arm of the Italian defense electronics company has just opened a new training facility, largely dedicated to U.S. and partner-nation special operations forces (SOF).
Filled with military deals harvested over the past few years, the Indian defense pie is getting bigger and sweeter, on land and in the air. But the country faces major hurdles in making those plans real. First, the good news: Over the next five years, India plans to renovate or replace its Soviet-era kit with $50 billion in new equipment, making Asia's third largest economy a lucrative market for foreign companies such as Boeing and Dassault.
The 30th anniversary of the successful re-taking of the British Overseas Territory, a Falklands Islands, has turned out to have a bit more resonance across the Atlantic than might have been expected. The issue of possible oil and mineral reserves near the islands, as well as valuable fish stocks, already had raised political tension with Argentina, which still claims the islands.
Tank: Stimson Center Location: Washington Profile: Cerebral think tank “devoted to international peace and security” with a strong non-proliferation focus. The Libya of Col. Moammar Gadhafi had acquired a stockpile of 20,000 man-portable air defense systems (Manpads) before last year's revolution—the largest of any country that does not make such weapons. So far, U.S. and NATO experts working with Libya's Transitional National Council (TNC) have recovered only 5,000 of them.
Rheinmetall and MBDA Deutschland are developing laser weapons for various applications. Both companies have demonstrated 10-kw lasers but recognize the need to increase power to at least 100 kw. The solution is the coupling of individual laser sources to achieve a level not possible with only one source.
On static display at February's Singapore air show were two U.S. fighters first developed under the Nixon administration. The only newer fighter was an F-35 mockup, which doesn't count. If you wanted anything newer, you looked for the Singapore air force's IAI-Elta Gulfstream airborne early warning aircraft or Elbit's Hermes 900 unmanned air vehicle, surrounded by sensor payloads covering the spectrum from visible light to VHF.
The U.K. Defense Ministry has launched the development of the Sea Ceptor ship-based short-range air defense system intended to equip the future Type 26 Global Combat Ship and also modernize the in-service Type 23 frigates. MBDA recently received a system-demonstration phase contract to work on the system, also called the Future Local Area Air Defense System. Sea Ceptor is being designed to destroy aircraft and supersonic anti-ship missiles, including saturation attacks. The Common Anti-Air Missile (CAMM) is to be the interceptor.
Israel Military Industries showed a new MPR-500 general purpose (GP) bomb at the Singapore air show last month. The MPR-500 was developed to improve the reliability and performance of MK 82 bombs used with laser and GPS guidance kits. IMI designed the MPR-500 to be functionally interchangeable with the MK 82 to keep it compatible with all aircraft types flying the bomb, as well as all MK 82 guidance kits, fuses and tools. A 250-kg-class weapon, the MPR-500 is supposed to offer better lethality, penetration and reliability than the 2,000-lb.
As a very good friend who is internationally acknowledged as a guru in weapon systems testing said many years ago: “Clearing weapons out of and off the JSF is going to be both interesting . . . and exciting!” Those who have never done such work have little, if any appreciation, of what it entails and the risks involved. That goes for all clearance work—including subsonic [aircraft], as well as supersonic. —Horde
The budgets for at least three air-launched, directed-energy weapons are being fully protected by the U.S. Air Force in fiscal 2013 budget plans, according to Jennifer Ricklin, chief technologist for the Air Force Research Laboratory. Plans for Army anti-electronics weapons are less developed, but basic research in associated disciplines continues, according to budget request presentations last month. Specifically, the Air Force is developing bombs and missiles to carry high-power microwave (HPM) warheads.
As the process of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) becomes more sophisticated, work is ongoing to design sensors that can be used with diverse platforms, especially small UAVs. Logos Technologies of Alexandria, Va., developed a system for ISR and accompanying software called Leaps—Lightweight Expeditionary Airborne Persistent Surveillance system—which, at 54 lb, is one-tenth the weight of its previous surveillance payload. Leaps gives a ground commander sole control of a persistent surveillance asset.
The U.S. Navy's AN/ALQ-99 tactical jamming system, mounted on the Boeing EA-18G Growler, will be replaced by a Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ) that is more effective against current and evolving threats. The NGJ will be more powerful than the AN/ALQ-99, and thus require more energy, primarily to accommodate powerful radio-frequency transmitters.
Directional airborne antennas typically use dishes mounted to the underbelly of an aircraft that swing and point to communicate. This requires mechanical systems that cost extra to build, install and maintain; their operation limits communication to one point at a time, reducing the number of personnel who can be contacted; and the size and weight of the antenna and assembly can affect aerodynamics. Rockwell Collins set out to design an antenna that would overcome these drawbacks.
Lightning strikes are a constant threat to aircraft—manned and unmanned—in turbulent environments. Lord Corp. of Cary, N.C., has developed a curable reactive organic compound with conductive filler that is designed to self-assemble into a heterogeneous structure forming a continuous microscopic 3-D strike-protection layer of metal on a polymer-rich composite substrate. The material, which can be used on new structures or to repair damaged conductive pathways, is reportedly no more difficult to apply than an epoxy layer on a composite structure.
In one of 16 forts built in the 19th century to protect Paris sits a discreet intelligence service, whose task is not only to protect and advise the French defense establishment but also to protect the technological know-how of French defense companies. It recently unlatched its doors to let DTI have a look inside.
This month's Cutting Edge features six defense technology-related finalists from the second annual Suppliers' Innovation Challenge, a design competition run by Aviation Week. The winners (civil and military) will be announced later this month. For more information, go to AviationWeek.com
Equipping the armed forces of one country during wartime is extraordinarily expensive. Equipping two—as the U.S. has since 9/11 in Iraq and Afghanistan—borders on the absurd. But that's exactly the world we've been living in over the past 10 years, and the bills are beginning to come due.
