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Archives by category > IT – Software & Integration (RSS)

Serious Dollars for AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD)

Aug 12, 2022 04:58 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: Lockheed Martin won a $12.9 million deal for AEGIS design agent field engineering services. Aegis is an integrated missile guidance system used on US Navy and allied ships to protect the battle group. Work will take place in Virginia, California, Hawaii, Japan, Washington and California. Estimated completion date is in September 2023.

AEGIS-BMD CG-70 Launches SM-3

AEGIS-BMD: CG-70
launches SM-3

The AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense System seamlessly integrates the SPY-1 radar, the MK 41 Vertical Launching System for missiles, the SM-3 Standard missile, and the ship’s command and control system, in order to give ships the ability to defend against enemy ballistic missiles. Like its less-capable AEGIS counterpart, AEGIS BMD can also work with other radars on land and sea via Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC). That lets it receive cues from other platforms and provide information to them, in order to create a more detailed battle picture than any one radar could produce alone.

AEGIS has become a widely-deployed top-tier air defense system, with customers in the USA, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Norway, and Spain. In a dawning age of rogue states and proliferation of mass-destruction weapons, the US Navy is being pushed toward a “shield of the nation” role as the USA’s most flexible and most numerous option for missile defense. AEGIS BMD modifications are the keystone of that effort – in the USA, and beyond.

Continue Reading… »

MQ-8 Fire Scout VTUAV Program: By Land or By Sea

Aug 10, 2022 04:56 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: The US Navy has carried out a demonstration of the MQ-8C Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept during Exercise Resolute Hunter. The exercise took place at San Clemente Island from June 21 to July 1. HSC-23 flew the unmanned rotorcraft for 23 hours during this period. It had taken off from Point Mugu and flown to San Clemente before control was handed over to a Portable Mission Control Station (MCS-P) deployed there. “Fire Scout is the Navy’s only unmanned helicopter with the ability to deploy from a ship or land with ISR&T at the extended range required for future warfighting,” said Capt. Dennis Monagle, Fire Scout program manager.

MQ-8B Cutaway

MQ-8B Fire Scout

A helicopter UAV is very handy for naval ships, and for armies who can’t always depend on runways. The USA’s RQ/MQ-8 Fire Scout Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has blazed a trail of firsts in this area, but its history is best described as “colorful.” The program was begun by the US Navy, canceled, adopted by the US Army, revived by the Navy, then canceled by the Army. Leaving it back in the hands of the US Navy. Though the Army is thinking about joining again, and the base platform is changing.

The question is, can the MQ-8 leverage its size, first-mover contract opportunity, and “good enough” performance into a secure future with the US Navy – and beyond? DID describes these new VTUAV platforms, clarifies the program’s structure and colorful history, lists all related contracts and events, and offers related research materials.

Continue Reading… »

RIM-162 ESSM Missile: Naval Anti-Air in a Quad Pack

Aug 05, 2022 04:58 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: Raytheon won a $96.2 million contract modification for maintenance & recertifications in support of the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile and NATO SeaSparrow Missile Systems programs. The SEASPARROW Missile is a radar-guided, surface-to-air missile based on the Navy and Marine Corps AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile. The SEASPARROW has a cylindrical body with four mid-body wings and four tail fins. Work will take place in Arizona, Canada and Germany. Estimated completion will be by December 2022. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
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RIM-162 ESSM Sections

RIM-162: sections

The RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) is used to protect ships from attacking missiles and aircraft, and is designed to counter supersonic maneuvering anti-ship missiles. Compared to the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, ESSM is effectively a new missile with a larger, more powerful rocket motor for increased range, a different aerodynamic layout for improved agility, and the latest missile guidance technology. Testing has even shown the ESSM to be effective against fast surface craft, an option that greatly expands the missile’s utility. As a further bonus, the RIM-162 ESSM has the ability to be “quad-packed” in the Mk 41 vertical launching system, allowing 4 missiles to be carried per launch cell instead of loading one larger SM-2 Standard missile or similar equipment.

This is DID’s FOCUS article for the program, containing details about the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missile family, and contracts placed under this program since 1999. The Sea Sparrow was widely used aboard NATO warships, so it isn’t surprising that the ESSM is an international program. The NATO Sea Sparrow Consortium includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the USA – as well as non-NATO Australia. Foreign Military Sales ESSM customers outside this consortium include Japan, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates.

Continue Reading… »

Snakes and Rotors: The H-1 Helicopter Program

Aug 01, 2022 04:56 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: The UAE sent one of its C-17 cargo plane, #1228, to Amarillo, Texas on July 26 to help Bahrain bring two of its new AH-1Z attack helicopters home. The jet landed at Rick Husband International Airport and KVII news station was there to report the event. Bell was awarded a $240 million contract to supply 12 Lot 16 AH-1Z attack helicopters to Bahrain in 2019.

Neville Dawson: UH-1Y & AH-1Z

UH-1Y and AH-1Z
by Neville Dawson

The US Marines’ helicopter force is aging at all levels, from banana-shaped CH-46 Sea Knight transports that are far older than their pilots, to the 1980s-era UH-1N Hueys and AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters that make up the Corps’ helicopter assault force. While the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey program has staggered along for almost 2 decades under accidents, technical delays, and cost issues, replacement of the USMC’s backbone helicopter assets has languished. Given the high-demand scenarios inherent in the current war, other efforts are clearly required.

Enter the H-1 program, the USMC’s plan to remanufacture older helicopters into new and improved UH-1Y utility and AH-1Z attack helicopters. The new versions would discard the signature 2-bladed rotors for modern 4-bladed improvements, redo the aircraft’s electronics, and add improved engines and weapons to offer a new level of performance. It seemed simple, but hasn’t quite worked out that way. The H-1 program has encountered its share of delays and issues, but the program survived its review, and continued on into production and deployment.

DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This article covers the H-1 helicopter programs’ rationales and changes, the upgrades involved in each model, program developments and annual budgets, the full timeline of contracts and key program developments, and related research sources.

Continue Reading… »

EA-18G Program: The USA’s Electronic Growler

Apr 26, 2022 04:56 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: The US Navy has disclosed its plan to deactivate five expeditionary electronic attack squadrons and send 25 EA-18Gs to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Montham Air Force Base from 2024. These five squadrons, VAQ-131, 132, 134, 135, and 138, do not deploy on board aircraft carriers and are sent out to oversea bases to provide electronic attack capabilities to the joint force.

EA 18G Testing Pax

EA-18G at Pax

The USA’s electronic attack fighters are a unique, overworked, and nearly obsolete capability. With the retirement of the US Air Force’s long-range EF-111 Raven “Spark ‘Vark,” the aging 4-seat EA-6B Prowlers became the USA’s only remaining fighter for radar jamming, communications jamming and information operations like signals interception [1]. Despite their age and performance limits, they’ve been predictably busy on the front lines, used for everything from escorting strike aircraft against heavily defended targets, to disrupting enemy IED land mine attacks by jamming all radio signals in an area.

EA-6B Prowler

EA-6B Prowler

All airframes have lifespan limits, however, and the EA-6B is no exception. The USA’s new electronic warfare aircraft will be based on Boeing’s 2-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet multi-role fighter, and has 90% commonality with its counterpart. That will give it decent self-defense capabilities, as well as electronic attack potential. At present, however, the EA-18G is slated to be the only dedicated electronic warfare aircraft in the USA’s future force.

DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This article describes the EA-18G aircraft and its key systems, outlining the program, and keeping track of ongoing developments, contracts, etc. that affect the program.

Continue Reading… »

Sons of Sa’ar? Israel’s Next Generation Frigates

Feb 23, 2022 04:56 UTC

Latest updates[?]: The Iron Dome of the Sea, "C-Dome," has completed a successful live-fire test by the Israeli Navy and Rafael Advanced Systems. The launch marks "the end of a process to integrate the Iron Dome on naval platforms. It was operated for the 1st time aboard the Israeli Naval Ship Sa’ar 6 corvette against multiple advanced threats," a Rafael said.

Saar 5 Eilat Class

Saar 5: INS Hanit

The 1,227t/ 1,350 ton Sa’ar 5 Eilat Class corvettes were built by Northrop Grumman in the 1990s for about $260 million each. It’s a decent performer in a number of roles, from air defense to anti-submarine work, to coastal patrol and special forces support. In 2006, the Israelis went looking for a next-generation vessel with better high-end capabilities. Six years later, Israel had nothing to show for its search. In the meantime, massive natural gas deposits have been discovered within Israel’s coastal waters, adding considerable urgency to their search.

The USA is Israel’s logical supplier, but given Israel’s size and cost requirements, the only American option was the Littoral Combat Ship. Israel pursued that option for several years, conducting studies and trying to get a better sense of feasibility and costs. Their approach would have been very different from the American Freedom Class LCS, removing the swappable “mission modules” and replacing them with a fixed and fully capable set of air defense, anti-ship, and anti-submarine weapons. In the end, however, the project was deemed to be unaffordable. Instead, Israel began negotiating with Germany, and reports now include discussions involving both South Korea, and a local shipyard.

Continue Reading… »

Have Guns, Will Upgrade: The M109A7 Paladin PIM Self-Propelled Howitzer

May 26, 2021 04:56 UTC

Latest updates[?]: According to the US Army, a National Guard artillery unit was the first to conduct a live-fire test with the new M109A7 Self-Propelled Howitzer System last week. The 1st Battalion, 113th Field Artillery Regiment, 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team worked with the newly-fielded artillery at Fort Bragg, NC, for two weeks before a demonstration of the weapon, known in various iterations as the Paladin. The howitzers resemble lightly-armored tanks, and specialize in long-distance aerial bombardment. All systems can be controlled by a crew of four.

M109A6 and M992 FAASV

Before: M109 & M992

The USA’s 155mm M109 self-propelled howitzers (SPH) were first introduced in 1962, as a form of armored mobile artillery that could stand up to the massed fire tactics of Soviet heavy artillery and rockets. They and their companion M992 Armored Ammunition Resupply Vehicles (AARV) have been rebuilt and upgraded several times, most recently via the M109A6 Paladin upgrade.

In the meantime, the Army has re-learned a few home truths. Artillery arrives in seconds rather than minutes or hours, is never unavailable due to bad weather, and cheaply delivers a volume of explosive destruction that would otherwise require hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bombers and precision weapons. Most combat casualties in the gunpowder age have come from artillery fire, and the US Army will need its mobile fleet for some time to come. So, too, will the many countries that have bought the M109 and still use it, unless BAE wishes to cede that market to South Korea’s modern K9/K10 system, or new concept candidates like the KMW/GDLS DONAR. What to do? Enter the Paladin PIM program.

Continue Reading… »

CyberCatch Sponsors Webinar on New Compliance Requirements

Oct 28, 2020 14:16 UTC

Sponsored:
Cyber security firm CyberCatch will host a free webinar on November 18 to review current threats and soon-to-be-required compliance requirements.

Australia’s Future ASW Frigates: Warfare Down Under

Jun 09, 2020 04:54 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: A delivery contract for 1,500 tons of steel plate, for prototypes of the Australian Navy's Hunter Class frigates was signed, BAE Systems announced. BlueScope Steel AIS will supply the steel to ASC Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of BAE Systems Australia, to construct five ship blocks in the prototyping phase of the program. The blocks will then test processes, systems, tools, and facilities before the start of construction, in 2022, of the first of nine planned frigates.

HMAS Perth w. ASMD upgrade

ANZAC-ASMD

As Asia-Pacific nations invest in submarines, serious regional players also need to invest in anti-submarine capabilities. Aircraft like the P-8A Poseidon are great, but nothing really replaces dedicated and capable ASW ships. Their opponents’ anti-ship missiles are also experiencing a jump in capability, so a secondary air defense role isn’t optional. Australia’s 2 remaining FFG-7 Adelaide-class frigates have finished an expensive and somewhat rickety systems upgrade, but they fall short of what’s needed, and won’t last all that much longer. The Adelaide-class will soon be succeeded by 3 new Hobart-class AWD. The RAN’s 8 ANZAC-class frigates are receiving much smoother ASMD air defense upgrades that will make them quite useful, but their service life will begin ebbing around 2024. Hence Australia’s SEA 5000 Future Frigate program, which may receive an early push from issues with Australia’s naval industrial base…

Continue Reading… »

Soldier Battle JTRS: The HMS Radio Set + SANR

May 21, 2020 04:58 UTC

Latest updates[?]: Viasat and Data Link Solutions each won a $998.8 million deal for the production, retrofits, development and sustainment of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS) terminals. Currently, there are three variants of MIDS JTRS terminals: the Concurrent Multi-Netting-4, the Tactical Targeting Network Technology and the F-22 variant. The MIDS JTRS terminal is a line-of-sight radio system for collecting and transmitting broadband, jam-resistant, secure data and voice across a variety of air, sea and ground platforms. These terminals will continue to be procured, sustained and updated for future growth, including JTRS advanced networking waveforms such as: multifunction advanced data link, intra-flight data link and other advanced networking waveforms. The MIDS JTRS terminals make use of high-speed jam-resistant Link-16 tactical data exchange network. The Link 16 allows for real-time transfer of combat data, voice communications, imagery, and relative navigation information between dispersed battle elements, using data encryption and frequency hopping to maintain secure communications. The system facilitates the exchange of data over a common communication link, allowing participants to obtain and share situational awareness information and interoperate within the battlespace. Viasat will perform work in Carlsbad, California. Data Link Solution will perform work in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Expected completion is by May 2025.

PRC-154 airborne

PRC-154 with 75th RR

The Pentagon’s JTRS (Joint Tactical Radio System) aimed to replace existing radios in the American military with a single set of software-define radios that could have new frequencies and modes (“waveforms”) added via upload, instead of requiring multiple radio types in ground vehicles, and using circuit board swaps in order to upgrade. Trying to solve that set of problems across the entire American military meant taking on a very a big problem. Maybe too big. JTRS has seen cost overruns and full program restructurings, along with cancellation of some parts of the program.

JTRS HMS (Handheld, Manpack & Small Form-Fit) radios, for use by the individual solder, have survived the tumult, and are now headed into production. They offer soldiers more than just improved communications, and have performed in exercises and on the front lines. Now, production is ramping up.

Continue Reading… »
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