US Armed Forces | Page 6 | World Defense

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
Downed C-2A Greyhound Located in Philippine Sea
06 Jan 2018

c2agreyhound010618.jpg

A C-2A Greyhound taxis on the USS Ronald Reagan's flight deck in July 2016. (US Navy photo/Jamaal Liddell)


A Navy team of deep water salvage experts located a C-2A Greyhoundaircraft last week that crashed into the Philippine Sea, en route to the USS Ronald Reagan on Nov. 22.

The Navy's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) deployed the team to Japan in December to embark on a contracted salvage vessel and proceed to the crash site at sea. Once on station, operators searched for the aircraft's emergency relocation pinger with a towed pinger locator (TPL) system. The TPL uses passive sensors to “listen” for the pinger’s frequency.

Initially delayed by poor weather conditions, the team deployed the TPL to optimal search depths of 3,000 feet above the ocean floor on Dec. 29. After marking the aircraft’s location, the search team returned to port.

The C-2A rests at a depth of about18,500 feet, making the salvage phase of this operation the deepest recovery attempt of an aircraft to date. In the coming weeks, the team will return to the site with a side-scan-sonar (SSS) and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to map the debris field and attach heavy lines for lifting the aircraft to the surface.

"Despite very challenging conditions, every effort will be made to recover the aircraft and our fallen sailors," the Navy said in a Jan. 5 press release.

Assigned to Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC 30) forward-deployed to Japan, the C-2A Greyhound was carrying 11 crew and passengers when it crashed.

Eight personnel were recovered immediately by Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 12. For the next three days, the Ronald Reagan and the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force conducted search and rescue operations for the three missing sailors, covering nearly 1,000 square nautical miles before ending the search.

An investigation is in progress.
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
Newest US Navy LPD ‘Portland’ to serve as laser weapon host ship
January 12, 2018
newest-us-navy-lpd-portland-to-serve-as-laser-weapon-host-ship-1024x593.jpg

Portland (LPD 27) transiting Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB) during a brief fuel stop while en route to San Diego home port. Photo: US Navy

The newest US Navy amphibious transport dock ship Portland (LPD-27) will serve as a platform for the technology demonstration of a laser weapon developed by the Office of Naval Research.

This was announced by LPD-17 and LHA program manager Capt. Brian Metcalf at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium, and first reported by USNI News.

Future USS Portland, which is scheduled for commissioning in April this year, will be equipped with what is termed as a next-generation version of a laser weapon earlier tested aboard the USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15) in the Middle East.

“It’s going to fit into what was originally the vertical launching system reservation on the ship. So they’ve got what I will call power modules that control the laser that will just fit in those open and reserve weight spaces, and then the laser itself gets just bolted on to the deck,” USNI News quoted Metcalf as saying.

Metcalf further said the system would be installed aboard Portland before the ship is handed over to the fleet.

Additionally, the Portland was chosen to serve as flagship for RIMPAC 2018. The ship will commission in Portland, Oregon, in April, and will then take part in RIMPAC before it sails to its San Diego homeport.

https://navaltoday.com/2018/01/12/n...-to-serve-as-laser-weapon-host-ship/?uid=1067
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
B-1B Lancer's Evolving Mission Includes More Close-Air Support
Military.com
14 Jan 2018
By Oriana Pawlyk


b1bcas011418.jpg

A B-1B Lancer from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, lands after a close-air support training mission during Green Flag-West 11-10 on Sept. 20, 2011, at Nellis AFB, Nev. (US Air Force photo/Brett Clashman)


DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- It was always intended to loiter for hours above a battlefield, swiftly maneuver at a moment's notice and, of course, bring the bombs.

But in the early stages of the B-1B Lancer's life, no one thought the long-range bomber would be a leading close-air support mission aircraft dominating bomb runs or bellying up to U.S. and coalition forces on the ground.

"Twenty-five years ago, if you would have said the B-1 was going to do CAS, you would have been laughed out of the room," said Lt. Col. Dominic "Beaver" Ross, director of operations for the 337th Test and Evaluations Squadron.

Ross, part of the B-1 community since 2003, was first a weapons system officer for the bomber, then a pilot, before heading the operational testing squadron here.

He said the first pilots who strapped into the cockpit of the now non-nuclear B-1B never imagined they would be doing close-air support missions over battlegrounds in the Middle East.

Today, "the B-1 [has] dropped more weapons in CAS than any other platform. It's second to none," Ross said during an interview.

Military.com sat down with Global Strike Command officials during a trip to the base and took a ride in the B-1B over training ranges in New Mexico last month.

"Most ground commanders want a B-1 or an A-10 [Thunderbolt II]," Ross said of close mission support.

But, unlike the A-10 -- reigning champion in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria -- "we have the long loiter time," he said.

"We have the sensors. We have the speed, the shows of force. We are so [forward-leaning] in this community. We try to think of ways for the crews and the airplane to do things you would have never thought of doing with it," Ross said.

He continued, "If I'm talking to a guy on the ground and I have my sensor on him ... we can drop weapons seven miles away, or we can drop lower, drop them closer. We're not going to drop them as low as an A-10, but we are going to do shows of force where we're 500 feet overtop of their head."

Ross said weapons testing and evaluation goes hand-in-hand with Dyess' weapons school tactics and procedures that crews are training with right now -- something officials here have dubbed as the "new CAS" or "digital CAS" mission.

It's partially helped by the B-1B's Integrated Battle Station, known as the IBS upgrade, and the Sustainment-Block 16 (SB-16) upgrade, which gave pilots and backseaters -- the offensive and defensive positions in the cockpit -- more situational awareness, with enhanced cockpit displays and data and coordinate sharing.

During Military.com's Dec. 19 flight, the SB-16 system showed enhanced communications and data-sharing techniques, including the military grid reference system and tech displays that enabled pilots and crew to instantaneously send target coordinates, weapons information, altitudes, speeds -- even the aircraft's call sign.

These upgrades and training techniques precede what personnel here anticipate in the near future: returning to the Middle East. Bomber crews have been training for the evolving battlespaces in Iraq and Syria, as well as Afghanistan, according to officials.

"We're very good at it, and we have a lot of tools in the airplane that allow us to be very effective at it," said Maj. Charles "Astro" Kilchrist, chief of training for the 9th Bomb Squadron.

Still, nothing -- neither airmen nor any targeting system -- is foolproof. Crews know and want to take extra precautions.

"What we focus on is … putting our crews in situations that we think are realistic, that will provide this certain level of fidelity and skills they can immediately transfer into a combat situation," Col. Brandon Parker, 7th Bomb Wing commander, said during a roundtable interview.

"We've all been there," he said of the roundtable participants, meaning combat situations in the Middle East. But since the B-1 left Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, in early 2016, the next crew members going back won't be the same airmen.

"A lot of those crew forces going back in, they're a lot younger," Parker said. "So we have to spend some time [training]. Because [we're] not going to have the same level of experience as we had before."

Lessons from Kobani

In September 2014, the fight against the Islamic State in Syria was just beginning. But the 9th Bomb Squadron, deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility at the time, got the call to help drive ISIS fighters out of Kobani, Syria.

It was so memorable, the crew even has a "Stars and Stripes" cover depicting the liberation of Kobani -- which occurred nearly five months laterand was signed by everyone who participated in the fight -- hanging in their squadron headquarters.

"It was a massive shift in rules of engagement," said Lt. Col. Erick Lord, the 9th Bomb Squadron commander. While he wasn't present during the bombing runs, he knew from others' accounts that it was different from his previous tours in Afghanistan, which could take four-to-five hours to even authorize and engage a target.

In Kobani, "It was just go. Blow everything up," he said.

It had to do with the fight, in which the enemy was "advancing quickly," Kilchrist added.

"It was an urban environment, so it was a lot of buildings. They were using non-conventional tactics [because] they knew we were overhead. But the [Joint Terminal Attack Controllers] had good ways of gathering intel to find out what their key weaknesses were -- and it had to be quick. We had jets there every single day for 24 hours a day. Along with the F-15E Strike Eagles, call-sign 'Dudes,' " he said.

The F-15s and B-1s would tag each other out, handing off targeting coordinates as they rotated in and out for the days-long watch.

"We were just bombing them back, and back and back ... to the west, and [ISIS] would try to sneak around to the south, and then we would see them, and … it was just a huge battle," Kilchrist said.

For that deployment, roughly 1,700 precision-guided weapons of the 2,025 total used were dropped on Kobani alone, officials here said.

In all, the B-1 deployed the most weapons of any aircraft involved in the anti-ISIS campaign before its departure, according to statistics provided to Air Force Times in 2016. It was responsible for almost 40 percent of the Air Force bombs on Islamic State targets, according to the service's statistics.

By comparison in 2013, “the squadron dropped 93 [weapons] over a six-month period in Afghanistan, so that right there shows you the big difference," Lord said.

And that was the crew's point: The fight can change in an instant.

Lord said, "We'll train to the most stringent [rules of engagement] and then we'll develop training scenarios that walk people down the rabbit hole, that force them to make mistakes" so they can be identified before they're made.

"Because busting ROE will get you sent home," he said.

Changing Landscape, Rules of Engagement

Crews know when they head back to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, it will not be the same environment they saw in 2014 and early 2015.

In a shrinking airspace environment such as Syria, crews say they have ways to self-protect so as not to rely on a fighter escort.

"We have the ability to process and jam signals," Lord said, without going into further detail. The aircraft can also deploy chaff or flares to divert surface-to-air missiles should they launch at the bomber.

But that's not their main concern. The process of how air wars are fought has become so fine-tuned, Lord said, it's surpassed just an Air Tasking Order, or a mission list defined by the air operations center.

"Targeting [today] is not quite the same. [Before], you would often just take off with a loadout. That was composite, and it was a matter of what the persons on the ground needed and what type of effects, what type of targets were developed," he said, referencing both Operation Inherent Resolve and the future fight in Afghanistan.

The timing of the kill chain -- known as F2T2, or find, fix, track, target, engage and assess -- "is so much quicker, is so more rapid that we are inside the adversary's decision matrix, and we can properly put proper effects almost surgically where we need them … without missing opportunities," said Lt. Col. Christopher Wachter, director of operations for the 345th Bomb Squadron here.

That includes minimizing collateral damage with the B-1, which has the largest payload capacity -- 5,000 pounds more than the B-52 Stratofortress -- of both precision-guided and conventional bombs.

"We're always thinking and evolving and changing in order to meet what the adversary puts at us, and then when we employ weapons, we want to do it as quickly, precisely, lethally but also with as minimal impact out there within the space," Wachter said.

Kilchrist referenced Military.com's flight, which practiced a variety of simulated weapons drops.

"Realize that all the platforms that drop these weapons [GBU-54s, GBU-31s] are seeing the exact same thing ," he said. "So a GBU-31 dropped off a B-1 is the same as a GBU-31 dropped off of an F-15, or an F-16, or an A-10. They all have launch acceptability regions, they all have air speeds and altitude restrictions, and they're all GPS-guided weapons."

Kilchrist added, "An A-10 can drop those things just as well as we can. To put in the perspective of, 'Oh, a B-1 is not a CAS platform' [argument], remember that CAS is that mission set. And because of the payload that we have, the speed, the gas, we can stay there for long periods of time. And just unleash."

https://www.military.com/daily-news...more-close-air-support.html?ESRC=eb_180115.nl
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
Navy's Stealthy Mega-Destroyer Still Doesn't Have a Round for Its Gun
uss-zumwalt-san-diego-1800.jpg

Military.com
12 Jan 2018
By Hope Hodge Seck

The guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) arrives at its new homeport in San Diego on Dec. 8, 2016. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Emiline L. M. Senn)


The Navy's futuristic destroyer Zumwalt is some two years away from being ready for battle -- but service leaders still don't know what to load in its main weapon.

In late 2016, the service canceled plans to buy the long-range land attack projectile, or LRLAP, a round designed to be fired from the ship's massive 155mm Advanced Gun Systems weapon. At about $800,000 per round, the ammo was just too pricey to load up on the three ships in the limited Zumwalt large destroyer class.

But it's now 2018, and the ship is expected to reach initial operational capability by fiscal 2020. And there's still no substitute round for the AGS.

In a briefing at the Surface Navy Association's annual symposium, Capt. Kevin Smith, Major Program Manager for the DDG-1000 [Zumwalt] Program Office, said the Navy continues to monitor future technologies and watch industry for a solution.

"The threat's always changing out here and the requirements that the U.S. Navy's looking at, as I said, this is a multi-mission ship," Smith said. "There's lots of things this ship can do but, right now, we're going to be looking hard at what is the best technology to meet the requirements for the gun."

Each of the destroyers costs roughly $4 billion. The USS Zumwalt, the first in class, was commissioned in late 2016; its successor, the Michael Monsoor, is expected to be delivered to the Navy in March. The final ship, the Lyndon B. Johnson, is set for delivery by 2020.

Capt. James Kirk, the first commanding officer of the Zumwalt, indicated that the designated purpose of the ship itself might be affected by its lack of a working mega-weapon.

"We're going to be looking at shifting the mission set for this ship to a surface strike, land-and -sea-strike surface platform," he said. "We're predecisional on budget ... but that's what the focus is going to be, on a long-range surface strike platform, in contrast with previous focus on a littoral volume suppressive fires, in close to land."

The AGS is designed to deliver a high rate of fire, as well as precision strikes.

As it stands, the Zumwalt is not without weapons: It's built to carry RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles; Tactical Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles; Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Missiles; and two MK-46 30mm chain guns.

Officials have discussed the possibility of arming the AGS with a hypervelocity projectile, such as the one the Navy is currently testing out with its futuristic railgun prototype, but a decision on whether to move forward has yet to be made.

"We're monitoring that technical maturation to see do we get that to get the kind of ranges and capabilities that we want, what's the right kind of bang for the buck in cost and capability for the Navy," Kirk said. "We're monitoring that, but we have not made a decision on that."

https://www.military.com/dodbuzz/20...snt-have-round-its-gun.html?ESRC=eb_180115.nl
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
Over-the-horizon missile competition nearing completion
By: David B. Larter  
10 Jan 2018

The surface Navy is planning to wrap up its over-the-horizon, anti-surface missile competition in the coming months, the Pentagon’s director of Surface Warfare Division said Tuesday.

Rear Adm. Ronald Boxall told the audience at the 2018 Surface Navy Association’s national symposium that he hoped to have the missile competition, intended for use on the littoral combat ships, wrapped up this summer.

The bidding for the requirement has been fraught, with two major competitors dropping from the process leaving Raytheon and Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile as the team to beat.

Boeing’s Harpoon missile and Lockheed Martin’s Long-range Anti-Surface Missile both were pulled from the competition. Both companies felt the competition was skewed towards the Raytheon/Kongsberg offering, Defense News reported in May.

The Naval Strike Missile has a range of more than 100 nautical miles and has target-recognition capabilities that limit the need for another ship or aircraft to hold a track on the target.

Boxall said the addition of the OTH missile was a step in the direction of getting more lethal weapons on surface ships so they can take the offensive. Last spring, the Navy test-fired the Longbow Hellfire, which has a significantly shorter range than the Naval Strike Missile, as a way of beefing up the current anti-surface warfare package on the LCS.

The Hellfire missile on the LCS is intended to counter swarming boat targets.

The next step after getting longer-range anti-surface weapons on surface ships is to work on how to target adversaries at long ranges, Boxall said.

The Navy is looking at a combination of manned aircraft, unmanned aircraft and submarines as potential partners in helping the surface Navy hold adversaries at risk at increasing ranges.

https://www.defensenews.com/digital...n=DSD&utm_term=Editorial - Digital Show Daily
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
Lockheed demos next-gen Aegis system linked to Long Range Discrimination Radar
Lockheed Martin's next generation Aegis missile defense system has been validated by achieving greater operational performance, efficiency and reliability, the company said on Thursday.

By James LaPorta
Jan. 11, 2018

Lockheed-demos-next-gen-Aegis-system-linked-to-Long-Range-Discrimination-Radar.jpg

The Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Complex in Deveselu, Romania, is one of two planned for Europe, with the next, in Poland, expected to be completed this year. Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy

Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin's next generation Aegis missile defense system has been validated by achieving greater operational performance, efficiency and reliability, the company said on Thursday.

The Aegis Ashore is a land-based ballistic missile defense system that has been modified from the Aegis Combat System, which is normally deployed on naval ships.

Lockheed's operational achievement came after successfully connecting Aegis Ashore with the Long Range Discrimination Radar system, which provides precision metric data to improve ballistic defense discrimination. This means the system can detect incoming missiles at greater distances, while also zeroing in on multiple incoming missiles, the company said.

"Connecting these systems is more than a technological advantage -- it's a way to provide the warfighter with earlier intelligence and expanded situational awareness," Dr. Tony DeSimone, vice president and chief engineer of Lockheed Martin Integrated Warfare Systems and Sensors, said in a press release.

"Integration of these technologies allows us to deliver the most advanced solid state radar system in LRDR with the proven tested capability of Aegis. For the warfighter, this combination provides an increased capability, in terms of additional performance and reaction time, to safely protect the people and nations they defend."

The system also minimizes interference with civilian and military radio emitters and receivers, and has increased use with the Raytheon-produced Standard Missile-3 Block IIA Interceptor missile.

The land-based model is currently fielded in Romania, with Poland in line to be the next country to deploy the technology. Alaska is also set to receive the Long Range Discrimination Radar System in 2020.

With the success of the Aegis Ashore and Long Range Discrimination Radar systems, Lockheed will now focus on demonstrating simulated missile engagements with live tracking, the company said.

"The Aegis Combat System is adaptable and flexible to address warfighting needs, which is one of the reasons the system is so widely used around the world," said Michele Evans, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Integrated Warfare Systems and Sensors.

"As our customers look to update their technology with the help of their industrial bases, they are increasingly choosing alternative radars to equip their platforms. In challenging threat environments, we can deliver advanced capability at lower cost if we can be flexible and connect a variety of existing technologies."

https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/20...nge-Discrimination-Radar/1171515686852/?nll=1
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
U.S. Navy commanders face homicide charges for crashes that killed 17 sailors
By Ray Downs | Jan. 17, 2018

Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The commanders of two U.S. Navy destroyers involved in separate crashes last year, resulting in the total deaths of 17 people, will face criminal charges for negligent homicide, officials said Tuesday.

USS McCain former commanding officer Alfredo Sanchez and USS Fitzgerald former commanding officer Bryce Benson will also face charges for dereliction of duty and hazarding a vessel.

"After careful deliberation, today Admiral Frank Caldwell announced that Uniform Code of Military Justice charges are being preferred against individual service members in relation to the collisions," the U.S. Navy said in a statement Tuesday.

U.S. Navy Chief of Information Capt. Greg Hicks said Sanchez and Benson will face preliminary hearings and court martial proceedings on the charges.

Two lieutenants and one lieutenant junior grade from the Fitzgerald face similar charges.

Both collisions came within two months of each other during a disastrous summer for the U.S. Navy.

In June, the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship near Japan, Tokyo Bay, killing seven U.S. sailors.

In August, the USS John S. McCain collided with a merchant oil tanker, leaving 10 U.S. sailors dead.

In an investigation released in November, the Navy found both collisions were the result of avoidable, human errors.

"Many of the decisions made that led to this incident were the result of poor judgment and decision making of the commanding officer," the report said.

That report also found that "no single person" was fully responsible for the incidents.

"The crew was unprepared for the situation in which they found themselves through a lack of preparation, ineffective command and control, and deficiencies in training and preparations for navigation," the report said.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/201...s-that-killed-17-sailors/4851516170684/?nll=1
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
Raytheon awarded $641M for ballistic missile defense system testing
By James LaPorta
Jan. 16, 2018


Raytheon-awarded-641M-for-ballistic-missile-defense-system-testing.jpg

A sea-based X-band radar SBX, pictured in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, provides ballistic missile tracking to distinguish a hostile warhead from decoys and countermeasures. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Wallace Ciccarelli Jr./U.S. Navy

Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The Missile Defense Agency has awarded Raytheon with a contract to test multiple radar platforms to support the Ballistic Missile Defense System.

The terms of the $641 million deal were announced Friday by the Department of Defense.

The contract awards Raytheon with an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity cost-plus-incentive- and cost-plus-award-fee, which could provide the company with additional funds from the U.S. government for the quality of work performed on the contract.

While Raytheon will focus on testing the radar technology and corresponding sensors for the Ballistic Missile Defense System, the contract also calls for the company to conduct sensor modeling and simulation activities for the missile defense system.

The deal between the Missile Defense Agency and Raytheon is set continue for five years, through January 2023, according to the Pentagon. An option for a additional year of work is also included in the contract.

More than $3.4 million will be obligated to Raytheon at the time of award, allocated from fiscal years 2017 and 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds.

Work on the Ballistic Defense Missile System will occur in Huntsville, Ala., and Colorado Springs, Colo.

https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/20.../?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=3
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
Grumman awarded $173M to support BACN airborne communications system
By Allen Cone
Jan. 16, 2018

Grumman-awarded-173M-to-support-BACN-airborne-communications-system.jpg

The Battlefield Airborne Communications Node is designed to work on RQ-4 Global Hawk drones, pictured, to enhance situational awareness capabilities. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Christopher Boitz/U.S. Air Force

Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force has awarded $172 million to Northrop Grumman to manage the payload technology for a battlefield communications system.

This one-year contract, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, provides the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node with payload operation and support.

The BACN system allows ground troops to reach needed support over mountainous terrain with imagery, video, voice and data. The system can also act as a high-altitude relay, including airdrop and airstrike operations.

The system is designed to work with the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system and the BD700 manned aircraft platform, flown by the Air Force as the E-11A. Last September, Grumman received $265 million for support of four BACN E-11A aircraft.

Work on the contract will be conducted in San Diego, Calif., and other overseas locations, with completion expected by Jan. 23, 2019.

A total of $56 million will be obligated from fiscal 2018 overseas contingency operation and maintenance funds at the time of the award.

https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/20.../?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=2
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
Terma awarded $44M contract to equip F-16s with 3D audio
By Allen Cone
Jan. 18, 2018

(UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force has awarded Terma North America Inc. a $44.3 million contract to equip F-16 aircraft with a 3D audio system.

The deal, announced Wednesday by the Department of Defense, will equip systems on the F-16 C and D with the system under an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. The contract includes engineering, integration, production and support services, as well as future repairs.

The 3D system helps enhance sound "through a more natural and intuitive auditory interface" from different directions, according to the company.

"Spatially separated sound is what every person perceives, when not wearing a headset -- so we should call it 'natural sound,'" Terma says of the system. "We actually do detect the direction of a natural sound and use the direction when relevant. Natural sound can be reproduced through a stereo headset when processing is applied to the sound."

"The Terma solution is the only available end-to-end solution, which optimizes every aspect of spatial separation, and therefore provides the best performance available."

Terma has already been obligated $2.65 million in fiscal 2016 equipment funds from the Air Force Reserve Command and fiscal 2017 equipment funds of $5.7 million from the Air National Guard. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Hill Air Force Base in Utah is the contracting activity.

Terma expects to complete the work by January 2024 at its Terma Aktieselskab facilities in Lystrup, Denmark.


https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/20...quip-F-16s-with-3D-audio/2411516295530/?nll=1
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
Coast Guard to launch small drone competition
20 Jan 2018
By: Valerie Insinna
SJ74K3YDVFCCVK56GNDUPXNLEE.jpg

In this Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 photo, the ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle takes off from the flight deck of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Stratton somewhere in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The Boeing-made ScanEagle, was deployed aboard the Stratton for the first time during this three-month mission. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

WASHINGTON — Last year, the Coast Guard netted its third largest drug bust of all time with the help of a small drone. Now, the service wants that kind of ISR capability for all of its national security cutters, and plans to jump start a competition in the coming weeks.

The Coast Guard intends to release a request for proposals within the next three to six weeks for small UAS services, with the award worth no more than $300 million, said Lt. Emma Lutton, a spokeswoman of the service. A contract award is expected sometime during the third quarter of fiscal year 2018.

Although requirements are not yet finalized, the service wants economically-priced air vehicles that can remain airborne for at least twelve hours a day, Lutton told Defense News.

The drone should also have the size, weight and power to operate an electro-optical/infrared sensor, aeronautical transponder, VHF/UHF communications relay and a non-visible infrared marker. The service also wants a UAS system capable of swapping out those payloads with others, including government-provided systems, in under a couple hours, she said.



The Coast Guard has already reaped the benefits of small drones through a couple of recent demonstrations, which have helped it refine its requirements and concept of operations.

Last year the service, operating a Boeing-Insitu ScanEagle aboard the Legend-class cutter Stratton, netted 25 tons of cocaine with a street value of $2.1 billion, said Ron Tremain, the company’s business development executive for civil and maritime industries and a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer.

“We had an actual team that was actively deployed onboard the Coast Guard cutter, and they essentially become part of the ship’s crew,” he said during a Jan. 11 interview at the Surface Navy Association symposium.

The U.S. Navy has operated the ScanEagle aboard its vessels, but Tremain said severe weather conditions and the movement of the Coast Guard cutters proved to be a challenge for the contractors operating the drone. Insitu deployed twice with the Stratton last year, and better weatherized the ScanEagle before the second patrol.

“We were flying in weather conditions that were tropical, torrential squalls, much higher than the contract called for and much higher than the Coast Guard was even expecting, and we’re very proud to say that the plane performed very well,” he said.

Unsurprisingly, Insitu plans to offer ScanEagle for the upcoming competition. However, it will likely face stiff competition from Textron Systems, which will likely put forward a shipboard version of its Aerosonde UAS, a small catapult-launched drone that has been in use by U.S. Special Operations Command and other users.

“We are very interested in reviewing its upcoming Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) RFP and evaluating next steps,” said David Phillips, the company’s vice president of small/medium-endurance unmanned aircraft systems for Textron. “Our Aerosonde SUAS has been executing to an extremely high operational tempo for multiple customers every month in austere environments around the world.”

https://www.defensenews.com/digital...oast-guard-to-launch-small-drone-competition/
 

Khafee

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
12,324
Reactions
24,463 1,293 0
Bell-Boeing receives $35 million contract to upgrade V-22 Ospreys
By Ed Adamczyk
clear.gif

Jan. 19, 2018

Bell-Boeing-receives-35-million-contract-to-upgrade-V-22-Ospreys.jpg

Bell-Boeing JPO received a $35 million contract to upgrade hardware and software on V-22 Osprey aircraft of the Marine Corps and the Air Force, the U.S. Defense Department announced on Thursday. Image by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Hardware and software upgrades for the V-22 Osprey aircraft are included in a $34.9 million contract awarded to Bell-Boeing JPO, the Defense Department has announced.

The contract, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, sets the company up to provide upgrades for 28 flight training devices to integrate necessary software into Marine Corps and Air Force V-22s.

First introduced in 2007, the aircraft is a tri-rotor helicopter with vertical takeoff and landing capability, designed to merge a helicopter's functions with the long-range cruising ability of a turboprop airplane.

Work on the contract, which is expected to be finished in April 2022, will mostly be performed in Virginia, Oklahoma and Texas, with the rest spread through locations in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida, New mexico, New Jersey and England.

More than $34.9 million in fiscal 2017 Navy, Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Command aircraft procurement funds have been obligated to Bell-Boeing at the time of the award, none of which is due to expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/20...-to-upgrade-V-22-Ospreys/2271516384700/?nll=1
 
Top