3D systems and Huntington Ingalls to qualify corrosion-proof shipbuilding alloys. (3D Printing Industry) “3D Systems is formulating novel Copper-Nickel (CuNi) and Nickel-Copper (NiCu) alloys, that are specifically designed to yield robust, temperature-resistant parts. By 3D printing these new materials instead of using conventional casting, Newport believes that it’ll be able to create seaworthy valves, housings, and brackets at reduced lead times of up to 75%.”
Is augmented reality the future of dogfight training? This company thinks so. (Military.com) “Daniel Robinson, founder and CEO of Red 6 Aerospace, said his company’s latest technology could provide more affordable and advanced training… The company expects to receive a Phase III SBIR contract soon valued between $25 million and $70 million, Robinson said… Through the combination of modified hardware and software technologies Red 6 has created, pilots would wear a display technology or visor on their helmets while flying in a fighter aircraft. “When we look through that visor, we see synthetically generated aircraft, or virtual aircraft … that are not actually really there,” he said.
GAO: F-35 Block 4 will keep slipping without realistic work estimates. (Air Force Magazine) “While development of the Block 4 is now in its third year, and “DOD added another year to the schedule,” GAO found that finishing the upgrade in the planned time “is not achievable.” It said the Defense Department “routinely underestimated the amount of work” necessary to develop Block 4, failing to take into account previously too-rosy estimates of software efforts… The GAO recommends the Pentagon update its Block 4 schedule to “reflect historical performance,” saying the program has routinely overshot its upgrade milestones.”
Estimated development costs for the F-35’s modernization program increased by $1.9 billion in a year. (Defense News) “The GAO listed a number of reasons for the $1.9 billion in cost growth. A cost increase for flight tests resulted in an additional $705 million charge; overhead and administrative costs ballooned by $471 million; and the cost of a new training lab added $336 million. A package of computing system upgrades, known as Technology Refresh 3, experienced a $296 million cost increase.”
HASC cites ‘enormous concern’ about F-35; readiness chair suggests buy cutback. (Air Force Magazine) “Garamendi, near the end of a hearing on the military’s organic maintenance capability, said the “huge problem” with the F-35 is, “we buy more planes [but] we’re not able to maintain the older ones, so the more we buy, the worse the overall performance has been. That is going to stop.” … We track the main components very closely, and I don’t know of any main components that come from China,” Peters said. However, “as you go down the supply chain, at the third or fourth tier, it’s very likely that there are some electronic parts that come from China.”
DoD working with Norway to develop high-speed propulsion technologies. (DoD) “Tiller explained that the THOR-ER development incorporates the results of long-term research and development on missile and rocket technology in Norway. ”Nammo Group’s contribution to the project along with its strong track record from partnering with U.S. missile primes make me optimistic with regard to the prospects for co-production,” Tiller commented.”
Air Force chaplain cleanses Yokota Air Base homes where ‘odd things occur.’ (Military.com) “Supernatural activity is reported so often at this base in western Tokyo that it inspired a Facebook group, Yokota Ghost Hunter Club. Its members post about paranormal phenomena they’ve experienced at their homes and workplaces.”
Defeating small drones: The US Army’s next big challenge. (Real Clear Defense) “One prominent Washington think tank described the challenge facing the U.S. military as that of “a drone saturated future.” More than 30 nations have either fielded armed drones or are developing them… The Chinese drone maker, DJI, holds 70 percent of the global market for commercial UASs… About 90% of the U.S. military’s counter-drone capabilities are electronic warfare-type systems that use lasers or microwave-signal propagation to disrupt the communications link between user and device. The tendency was for each countermeasure to have its own sensor, effector, and command and control system. This why the JCO’s strategy is to pare down the number of systems to be deployed while pursuing a networked systems approach that will allow data from a variety of sensors to be shared through a single C2 structure.”
China’s combat drones push could spark a global arms race. (Bloomberg) “Nigeria is getting AVIC’s second generation of Wing Loongs—the name means “pterodactyl”—which can fly as fast as 230 mph and as high as 30,000 feet, carrying a payload of a dozen missiles… AVIC’s drones have two big selling points: They’re cheaper than comparable aircraft from producers in the U.S. or Israel—the other primary manufacturers—and China doesn’t much care how they’re used… Over the past decade, China has delivered 220 drones to 16 countries, according to Sipri… AVIC’s top drones run $1 million to $2 million apiece, vs. more than $15 million for a comparable American model. “Maybe Chinese drones aren’t as good as American drones,” Paszak says. “But 15 drones instead of one, and without any fuss about human rights? This is a good offer.””
Capital for deep tech dual use companies — deep tech VC and other expanding options. (Medium) “Inspite of all of these options at the earliest stages of starting a company, and despite abundant liquidity in private markets, Deep Tech companies struggle to attract capital as they scale… SPACs seem like a good financial solution for this problem. Unlike traditional IPOs that focus on past financial performance and future earnings visibility and stability, SPACs highlight future projections for companies that have little financial history but are on the cusp of fast commercial and operational scaling.”
Checking DoD’s homework on acquisition reforms top of mind for Sen. Kaine. (Federal News Network) “Sometimes we on the legislative side will put in new reforms before the last round has been fully integrated, and before we understand whether the last round of reforms had success or not,” Kaine told Federal News Network. “If I could be self-critical about the committee, I think sometimes we do things and then we don’t come back and ask, ‘What were the effects?’”
House Armed Services Chair Calls for Focus on Information Systems Over Arbitrary Metrics. (Nextgov) “Smith criticized the focus on metrics like 500 ships for the Navy and 3 to 5% yearly increases in defense spending as ineffective measures for the health of U.S. national security. Having a 500-ship Navy doesn’t matter if the adversary can shut down the information systems that allow those ships to work, and increasing defense spending is irrelevant if real results are never achieved.”
Will Biden curb Trump-era surge in arms sales? (Breaking Defense) “Russia offers its weapons for much lower prices than the US does, in part because things are often cheaper to make in Russia, in part as a strategic ploy to strengthen relations. “Weapon sales to different countries give the Russians a much stronger foot hold in these countries, in the form of ports , air fields and other infrastructure projects,” he said.”
US Army prepping robotic combat vehicles for big test with soldiers in 2022. (Defense News) “We know that these events are going to definitely help shape the future for Army robotic systems and the requirements in meeting those capability needs that we’ve been asked to do in terms of the application of robotic and autonomous systems,” Grein said.
US Army nears choosing first battalion for extended-range cannon. (Defense News) “The ERCA cannon hit a target 43 miles away — or 70 kilometers — on the nose at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, in December 2020 using an Excalibur extended-range guided artillery shell… The ERCA system takes an M109A7 Paladin Integrated Management howitzer chassis and replaces the 39-caliber gun tube with a 58-caliber, 30-foot one. Combined with Raytheon-made Excalibur munitions and an XM1113 using supercharged propellant, the Army has been able to dramatically boost artillery ranges.”
B-1s arrive at the US Air Force boneyard. (Aviation Week)
High wire act: how to unify research and procurement with a tight budget. (Defense News) “One of the most important priorities for the Biden administration should be to counter threats through significant investment in Department of Defense procurement and research, which are said to comprise the “modernization” accounts. This holy trinity of defense is itself a balancing act between modernization, readiness and force structure.”
How JADC2, competition with China could spur DOD budget reform. (Defense Systems) “The military, at its best, Hinote said, needs to be a team during conflict, which means warfighting domains — air, space, sea, land, and cyber — must cooperate and communicate. To get to that level of networking capability, DOD will likely need to “reimagine” its budget process to account for rapid IT developments, like those required for the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System.”
Relativity space lands first Department of Defense launch contract. (Yahoo! Finance) “The U.S. Department of Defense, which has contracted Relativity Space to launch a payload on its behalf as part of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) continued efforts to find responsive launch partners capable of sending payloads with a mass between 450 kg and 1,200 kg (roughly 1,000 to 2,650 lbs) to low-Earth orbit.” That’s a 3D printed rocket, by the way.
Early SpaceX engineer crawled insight an imploding rocket on a jet. (Business Insider) “By September 2008, SpaceX was almost out of money, according to Berger’s book… SpaceX had enough resources for just one more launch attempt, the book said… loud pops and pings rang through the cargo area as dents appeared along the rocket’s body. The engineers realized that its liquid-oxygen fuel tank was not venting enough air to keep up with the changes in pressure as the jet descended. … In the darkness of the Falcon 1’s belly, Dunn crawled toward the liquid-oxygen tank, sharp rocket parts scraping his back.
Chaos, cash and COVID-19: How the defense industry survived — and thrived — during the pandemic. (Defense News) “Overall, the Pentagon injected $4.6 billion into the defense-industrial base between the start of the pandemic and Jan. 31, 2021, according to Department of Defense spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell. That included roughly $4 billion in increased progress payments, $73.2 million in reimbursements for industry and $700 million in funds from the Defense Production Act, she said.”
Q&A: Michael Brown, director of the Defense Innovation Unit. (Politico) “I think we’ve been on an upward slope for some time now. So we’re seeing an increasing number of companies that want to work with us. Some of that is because we work in spaces where companies and their employees have recognized from day one they’re going to be working with the government such as in autonomous systems or commercial space.”
Top Pentagon research arm combats ‘aggressive’ foreign investors. (C4ISRNET) “Our research teams that have difficulty raising funding from U.S. investors that are really scrutinizing whether they have a strong business and business team and whether they can make a return off of that investment,” Gerst said. “Our researchers weren’t having a difficult time raising funding from foreign investors who more so want to get access to the IP [intellectual property].”
US Air Force looks at ‘cognitive electronic warfare’ for F-15. (Flight Global) “Aircraft currently rely on a database of known electronic emissions from adversaries to identify and then counter threats. For example, identifying a surface-to-air missile battery’s radar frequency and then using already-developed electronic warfare tactics to jam or interfere with it. However, as adversaries’ radar systems become more sophisticated they are able to track US aircraft with novel signals that are not in the US library of electronic emissions. Gathering information on these new signals and then developing countermeasures takes time, leaving aircraft vulnerable in the meanwhile. Cognitive electronic warfare aims to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to quickly and automatically identify new signals.”
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