Dr Ryan Starkley: Developing supersonic drones. (sUAS News) “Currently, there is no cost-effective way to test things that are traveling at high-subsonic and low-supersonic speeds. My goal is to create a [drone system] that facilitates wide-spread testing of these systems. If I can create an aircraft system that is $500,000, or even $1 million, it would be two orders of magnitude cheaper than the current test platforms.”
Early Christmas Present: Army receives potentially revolutionary unmanned ground vehicle. (The Drive) “The stated primary mission for the RCV-L is to be an unmanned reconnaissance vehicle, intended to scout ahead of Army units. The service also wants it to be “attritable”… The RCV-L is one of three RCV types the Army is looking to acquire in the coming years. In January, the service also selected the M5 Ripsaw from Howe and Howe Technologies, a division of Textron, as the winner for the RCV-Medium (RCV-M) competition.” The RCV-Heavy is still in requirements.
Report on Navy large unmanned surface and undersea vehicles. (USNI News) “The Navy is requesting $579.9 million in FY2021 research and development funding for these large UVs and their enabling technologies.” Perhaps take a bit from the Army, focus on maturing smaller USV/UUVs first, then tackle the large.
Space programs boost Defense Innovation Unit budget. (C4ISRNET) DIU requested $46.6 million for FY21, lawmakers will give it $66.9 million.
Top stories of 2020: US Navy acquisition. (USNI News) Good overview of what’s happened. Perhaps underappreciated — given Air Force problems — Navy is aiming to stop F-18 production after the 24 units ordered in FY21 and to focus on its own NGAD program. We’ll see whether the politicking involved will allow that to happen for FY22.
Autonomous Ravn X drone to launch satellites from airport runways. (Singularity Hub) “Ravn X is 80 feet long, 18 feet tall, and has a 60-foot wingspan. Aevum claims it’s the world’s biggest autonomous aircraft (private or military)… Instead, after autonomously taking off from an average-length runway, Ravn X will lift a two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket as high as 60,000 feet. It will release its payload, the rocket’s first stage will fire, and from there, it’ll race into orbit.”
SAR Mapping put to the test in Bomb Hit Assessment. (53rd Wing) “During this test, two F-15Es dropped live Joint Direct Attack Munitions, while other weapons systems including F-15Es, F-35s, F-16s, FA-18s, RQ-4, MQ-9, U-2 and joint partners used SAR Mapping technology to assess if the bombs hit and destroyed the intended targets.”
Lockheed Martin to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne for $4.4 billion. (Space News) I guess that’s how Lockheed wants to compete with SpaceX, buying up other companies for their tech. It’s not clear why vertical integration makes sense here other than because Northrop did it with Orbital ATK. “He said Aerojet Rocketdyne’s propulsion systems already are key components of Lockheed Martin’s supply chain across several business areas.”
Demand-side economics mean Lockheed should command a premium. (Seeking Alpha)
Team Eglin units, efforts key to Emerald Flag success. (Air Force Test Center) “The inaugural event aimed to experiment with combined joint all-domain command and control technologies. The effort offered a realistic, combat training environment networking aircraft, sensors and computer systems on air, space, and cyberspace platforms.”
The Air Force’s secret new fighter jet will come with an R2-D2. (Popular Mechanics) “That’s the call sign—a.k.a. R2—that Roper and his team used to train the world-leading computer program µZero to operate a U-2 spy plane last week in California, marking the first time AI has controlled a U.S. military system.”
How we’re building a 21st century Space Force. (The Atlantic) Gen John Raymond: “Speed is a hallmark of our deliberately lean new service.”
Fighter pilots are taking full advantage of the Air Force’s lifted ban on custom helmets. (The Drive) Some nice pictures at the link.
Making best-in-class contracts better for innovation. (Federal News Network) “The pace of change of solutions delivery mirrors that of technology — imagine selecting a technology today from a group that was pre-approved five years ago. No 5G, no blockchain, no edge computing, no artificial intelligence.”
A logistics force design imperative. (Marine Corps Logistics) Interesting. “… what if units had enough gear to train with, and when they needed their full complement, they could “withdraw from the bank?” For this to work, we would need a “central bank” (think Logistics Command), perhaps with regional “branch offices” at the MEFs.”
Pentagon awards $2.5 billion Spectrum Forward contract. (C4ISRNET) Other Transaction. “… rapid prototyping of advanced dual-use technologies that utilize the electromagnetic spectrum, including 5G, cloud computing, augmented reality, machine learning, beam forming and more.”
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