Apache EW. The Army has tapped Lockheed Martin to develop the Gen 3 Radar Frequency Interferometer (RFI)/Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) APR-48B system for its Apache attack helicopter fleet. Lockheed Martin said the Gen 3 RFI capability, which follows its work producing the Gen 1 and 2 capability, will provide “significant capability enhancements” that are enabled by advanced microelectronics. “In collaboration with the Apache Program Office, Lockheed Martin will be able to provide a significantly improved sensor performance in a smaller, lighter package providing the ability to add additional functionality into the Gen 3 for the Apache,” the company said in an Oct. 15 statement. Lockheed Martin said the Gen 3 RFI system will leverage technology developed in collaboration with Intel’s Altera, Booz Allen Hamilton and and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E) under the Trusted and Assured Microelectronics (T&AM) program’s Stimulating Transition for Advanced Microelectronics Packaging (STAMP) and State-of-the-Art Heterogeneous Integration Packaging (SHIP) projects.
Shield AI-Palantir Partner. Autonomous pilot developer Shield AI and the artificial intelligence software company Palantir have partnered to leverage the intelligence Palantir gathers through its globally-deployed geospatial intelligence tools so that any systems using Shield AI’s Hivemind pilot used on an unmanned aircraft or other system can work with Palantir’s tools. “And then, similarly, as the aircraft is carrying out its mission, it is passing telemetry, so it’s able to be viewed within the Palantir tooling,” Alex Burness, director of product and program management for Shield AI, told Defense Daily last week at the AUSA Conference. “And as detections are taking place, that intel is being passed directly into there as well.” This will reduce manpower requirement, allow operations centers to “interact with autonomous systems direct,” and allow operators to “close the kill chain and have an operational impact,” he said.
Aviation Radios. BAE Systems said on Oct. 15 it has received a new contract from the Army worth up to $460 million for the software-defined AN/ARC-231/A Multi-mode Aviation Radio Set (MARS). “The MARS system is designed to perform in the most demanding environments to provide warfighters with secure mission-critical information when they need it most,” BAE Systems said in a statement. “In today’s complex and contested battlefields, operators rely on fast and accurate communications to inform key decisions in the field. MARS’ programmability reduces the time to field evolving communication needs, special mission modifications, and performance enhancements. BAE Systems said the AN/ARC-231A MARS system consists of the RT-1987 radio with associated ancillaries, including amplifiers and mounting bases.
SHORAD. Leonardo DRS has received a new $77 million order from General Dynamics Land Systems to provide additional mission equipment packages (MEP) for the Army’s SGT Stout Stryker-mounted maneuver short-range air defense system, the company said on Oct. 15. For the SGT Stout SHORAD program, GD integrates a Leonardo DRS-supplied MEP onto select Strykers, with the platform designed to take down unmanned aircraft systems, rotary-wing and fixed-wing threats, as well as cruise missiles. The Leonardo DRS-supplied payload suite for the SGT Stout includes the Moog Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform (RIwP) turret, the XM914 30mm cannon and M240 machine gun, Stinger and Hellfire missiles and Rada USA’s Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radar. “We are proud to continue to answer the call with our partner General Dynamics Land Systems. Fielding air defense systems is very important as air threats become increasingly more capable,” Aaron Hankins, senior vice president and general manager of Leonardo DRS’ land systems business unit, said in a statement.
BAE/Kongsberg. BAE Systems signed a teaming agreement with Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace on Oct. 16 to bring its Integrated Combat Solution battlefield situational awareness tool to the U.S. defense market, specifically the Army and Marine Corps’ combat vehicle fleet. BAE Systems has demonstrated integration of ICS on its Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) and Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) platforms, noting the tool provides capability to link and share video streams, metadata, target information and slew-to-cue commands, “reducing the typical threat response speed from minutes to seconds.” “The ability for troops to rapidly pass targeting information across the battlefield to other platforms and engage a target remotely is critical to their mission,” Andy Corea, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems’ Combat Mission Systems business, said in a statement. “The combined talents of Kongsberg’s innovation and expertise in remote weapon systems and our lead systems integration capability provides the Warfighter the opportunity to obtain fully integrated enhanced combat capability – helping them stay aware and unmatched in battle.”
More AMPVs. BAE Systems was also recently awarded a $184 million contract from the Army to produce 48 more AMPVs. The AMPV is the Army’s replacement for its legacy M113 armored personnel carriers, with BAE Systems having received a full-rate production contract last year for the platform that could be worth up to $1.6 billion. “Soldiers deserve advanced capabilities like the AMPV that have been successfully tested to accomplish the many mission roles they will serve in the formation,” Bill Sheehy, BAE Systems’ AMPV program director, said in a statement. “It’s remarkable to have advanced to this stage of full-rate production. We value our continued partnerships with the Army and our suppliers who work alongside us to ensure we keep producing these critical combat vehicles at higher, sustainable volumes.”
Ukraine Aid. The Biden administration on Oct. 16 approved a new $425 million weapons aid package for Ukraine. The new security assistance is the 67th set of equipment to be provided from existing Pentagon inventories using the Presidential Drawdown Authority. The new package includes additional munitions for the NASAMS air defense systems and HIMARS launchers, RIM-7 missiles “and support for air defense, air-to-ground munitions, Stinger, Javelin and TOW missiles, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, Humvees, small arms and ammunition, grenades and demolitions equipment.
Wicker Urges. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a letter to President Biden this week with recommendations for “more aggressively” supporting Ukraine in the final months of his presidency. Wicker called on Biden to increase the pace of weapons transfers to Ukraine, noting the current tempo of weapons aid package is providing Kyiv with about $400 million in new military equipment per month over the next 14 months. The top SASC Republican specifically calls on the White House to provide Ukraine with more M1A1 Abrams Tanks, Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, ATACM long-range missiles, drones and C-UAS systems. Wicker also recommends that Biden allow greater flexibility on restrictions for U.S.-provided missions, arguing that limitations should be placed on the types of target Ukraine can go after in Russia rather than base restrictions on distance from the border.
Aussie Nuke Sailors. The Australia Defense Ministry on Oct. 14 announced the first seven Royal Australian Navy (RAN) enlisted sailors graduated from the United States Navy Nuclear Power School after a year of education. A third group of five officers also graduated as the country moves to create a workforce able to build, maintain and field nuclear-powered attack submarines. The graduates will next move on to U.S. Naval Nuclear Power Training Command.
King Stallion Training. Naval Air Systems Command completed a Test Readiness Review (TRR) and Joint Final Testing (JFT) for the CH-53K King Stallion Advanced Aviation Training Device (AATD) 1, meaning it was declared Ready For Training on Aug. 16, the Navy said Oct. 10. This is a new first of its kind mixed-reality static training device to support pilot and aircrew training on the helicopter. This device provides mixed reality goggles for pilots to simulate the external environment while also being able to see their hands. “The purpose of the device is to provide cockpit familiarization and crew resource management training to pilots and aircrew,” Maj. Daniel Meckley, H-53 Training Systems Integrated Product Team Lead, said in a statement. Veraxx Engineering Corporation originally developed the AATD prototype for the H-53 Heavy Lift Helicopter Program Office (PMA-261).
Autonomy Collab. Hanwha Defense USA (HDUSA) and software firm BlueSpace.ai on Oct. 14 announced a new agreement to collaborate on autonomous solutions aimed at the U.S. defense customer base. The companies specified the work will focus on integrating BlueSpace.ai’s autonomous software solutions with Hanwha’s current and future platforms. “HDUSA is constantly looking to build meaningful partnerships with U.S. companies that bring complementary strengths. In the area of dual-use software, we’ve found an ideal partner in BlueSpace. Pairing BlueSpace’s robust autonomy solutions with our proven ground vehicle and munitions technologies will make our joint offerings stronger and ultimately help our customers stay ahead of an evolving and increasingly complex threat environment,” Mike Smith, HDUSA’s president and CEO said in a statement.
The Group 3 Threat. Group three drones, those weighing more than 55 pounds and less than 1,320 pounds, represent the most challenging threats to U.S. forces given their combination of capabilities, payload, and reach, Army Maj. Gen. David Stewart, director of the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, said last week. Either on the “heels” or “neck-and-neck” with the Group 3 UAS threat is mass attack by a swarm of drones, he said at the Association of the U.S. Army Conference. The range of effectors that can defeat Group 3 threats include the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, Coyote, and Roadrunner, Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense, Standard Missile-2, EAGLS, the Light-Marine Air Defense Integrated System, and Mobile-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft Integrated Defeat System, according to a graphic Stewart displayed for attendees.
…Multi-Domain Problem. The Defense Department is casting its gaze more broadly to counter-unmanned systems (C-UXS), Stewart said, pointing to threats in the air, land, and sea domains. “So, when we wrap our arms around that as a department, we’re really seeing that this uncrewed, unmanned threat is coming from all different areas,” he said.
Clarifai-Crimson Phoenix Partner. Clarifai earlier this month said has partnered with data-enabled solutions provider Crimson Phoenix, who will take advantage of Clarifai’s auto-annotation capabilities for quickly labeling and tagging data such as images, video, and text. The partnership will allow the companies to “manage complex data labeling and model building that will rapidly turn mountains of data into plans of decisive action that support the warfighter and the supply chain,” Clarifai CEO Matt Zeiler said in a statement. Both companies work with the defense and intelligence communities. Clarifai also supports the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Maven program around object detection in images and video.
Carderock Small Business. Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division hosted its annual industry day on Oct. 9 in a virtual event, followed by an Oct. 10 in-person Navy Small Business Symposium in Bethesda, Md. The service noted this was aided by the NavalX Capital Tech Bridge and the Pike District Partnership. The event aimed to expand the pool of small business partners to foster more innovation between the Navy and private sector.
People News. Dave Regnery, 62, chairman and CEO of the energy solutions company Trane Technologies, has been appointed to the board of directors of L3Harris Technologies. Regnery’s “established track record of leading large organizations and shaping Trane Technologies’ future strategy will be important to L3Harris as we continue our journey as the industry’s trusted disruptor in support of our customers’ most critical needs,” L3Harris Chairman and CEO Chris Kubasik said in a statement. MITRE’s board of trustees has elected Chris Inglis, former National Cyber Director, and deputy director of the National Security Agency, to serve on the non-profit company’s board.
Generative AI. The Army on Oct. 18 announced a new pilot program, called “#CalibrateAI,” that will look to use generative artificial intelligence to assist in Army acquisition activities. The project will utilize an industry-developed generate AI tool, but the Army did not specify which company designed the capability. “This AI tool is designed to deliver tailored responses that are highly relevant to specific topics, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of information retrieval and analysis,” the Army said in a statement. The #CalibrateAI effort will focus increasing productivity by using AI tools to “collate, curate and generate critical information relevant to acquisition activities,” improve accuracy with mechanisms to provide citations, promote innovation “by encouraging the exploration of novel applications of AI in acquisition” and more broadly inform the Army chief information officer’s pursuit of a cost-effective path for utilizing generative AI tools, according to the service.
Loitering Munition Killer. Israel’s Spear UAV last week introduced a variant of their VIPER small unmanned aircraft system designed to defeat loitering munitions and other drones that can hit a target from a high angle of attack. The VIPER-I interceptor is a quadcopter integrated with an explosive payload and launched from a canister. The company unveiled VIPER-I at the AUSA show. The system is integrated with Rafael’s Trophy active protection system used to defense armored vehicles from threats.
