“It’s our first robot system like this [that] we’re actually going to keep. So, I’m not surprised that there’s turbulence in the key technologies, including the radio comm link, which is foundational to the whole thing,” said Army acquisition head Doug Bush.
While author Andrew Berglund gives SDA full kudos for its “impressive speed” so far in concluding development contracts and fielding its first satellites, he also warns that those advocating the agency’s approach as the way for all DoD acquisitions in the future may want to curb their enthusiasm given the early stage of the agency’s work.
FARNBOROUGH 2024 — Bell intends to step away from Spirit AeroSystems as the fuselage provider for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft after Boeing’s acquisition of Spirit is finalized, Breaking Defense has learned. The shakeup would force Bell to either find a new producer for the composite-skinned aluminum fuselage or to bring work in house, and…
“I’ve always been a fan of balloons that can provide over the horizon support in a missile defense perspective,” Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey, head of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, told the Hudson Institute today.
The Defense Innovation Unit will now conduct an annual competition for sUAS and quadcopters to either stay on the Blue List or be added to it, Blue UAS Project Lead Trent Emeneker told Breaking Defense.
“There a lot of unmanned systems, that’s where we’re seeing a lot of growth,” said Honeywell Aerospace’s Matt Milas. “So we’re definitely moving in the direction of unmanned solutions for defense applications.”
Leonardo co-general manager Lorenzo Mariani also told Breaking Defense he is confident the UK’s new Strategic Defence Review will support the GCAP program.
“We are putting our words into action and together with our partner we will create a Ukrainian competence centre for ammunition,” said Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger, who was purportedly targeted for assassination.
“Some of the implications are that we now have batteries or, hopefully we’ll have batteries, that are not reliant on rare earth minerals. We don’t have to rely on those coming from adversarial nations such as China,” Jen Sovada, president of SandboxAQ’s Global Public Sector division, told Breaking Defense.
Eight counter-UAS systems — wielding a mix of radars, machineguns, missiles, jammers, and more — were tested against swarms of up to 50 drones of different types attacking simultaneously from different directions and speeds.
New programs like FLRAA and Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle have a critical dependence on real-time data. “Time Sensitive Networking” is the answer.
The engine maker is also introducing additive manufacturing in other existing engine designs to reduce their cost and speed up their manufacturing, in a bid to make them more attractive for programs that seek to mass produce cheap drones.
The weapon is “a new generation of air-to-surface cruise missile, combining new capabilities based on years of experience in missiles and loitering munition development,” Guy Bar Lev, executive vice-president and general manager of IAI’s Systems Missiles and Space Group, said.
