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Sikorsky reveals Raider X for Army's FARA program - Vertical Magazine
Sikorsky reveals Raider X for Army’s FARA program
Posted on October 14, 2019 by Dan Parsons
Sikorsky has unveiled a sleek, beefed-up version of its S-97 Raider coaxial compound helicopter specifically designed for the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competition.
Keeping with the company’s lineage of experimental rotorcraft, the new aircraft is called the Raider X and is a direct descendent of the S-97 Raider that has been in test for several years. The new concept retains the basic coaxial main rotor configuration with an aft pusher propulsor, but is 20 percent larger than the S-97.
Where the S-97 has a 34-foot (10.4-meter) main rotor diameter and is built around a GE YT706 engine, its evolutionary descendant will have a 39-foot (11.9-meter) main rotor diameter and be built to accept the GE T901 engine the Army has prescribed for FARA, according to Tim Malia, Sikorsky’s FARA program director.
Though it holds a $940 million initial design development contract to produce a FARA concept, Sikorsky is further along the development curve than any of its competitors. The S-97, which has been in flight test since 2015, is being employed as an 80-percent scale model of the new, larger Raider X.
An evolved, slightly larger version of its S-97 Raider, Sikorsky’s Raider X will have more room for weapons storage. Sikorsky ImageAdvertisement
Sikorsky unveiled the Raider X design Oct. 14 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference (AUSA) in Washington, D.C. Just a few hundred feet away are full-scale mockups of FARA aircraft pitches by Bell and AVX/L3, both of which are in initial design. A Karem/Northrop Grumman/Raytheon team has gone public with its pitch, but also is in the design development stage. Boeing has said next to nothing about its pitch, but insists it is heavily into design development and buying up long-lead time materials to build a prototype.
By contrast, Sikorsky has four years of what it says are highly representative flight test data from the S-97 Raider, which was initially designed to now defunct Army requirements for an Armed Aerial Scout Helicopter. No worry, says chief test pilot Bill Fell. The company can comfortably lean on its experience with the smaller S-97, to the point he and other Sikorsky officials are using that operational prototype almost as an interchangeable stand-in for its eventual FARA prototype.
“We’re not in Powerpoint,” Malia told reporters Oct. 14. “We’re not putting Bondo on plywood.”
Sikorsky chief test pilot Bill Fell with a scale model of the Raider X at AUSA. Dan Parsons Photo
Raider X increases the weight of the aircraft from about 12,000 pounds to 14,000 pounds (5,445 to 6,350 kilograms), Malia said. It features a side-by-side cockpit, which also widens the fuselage to increase its internal weapon storage.
Carrying weapons internally reduces drag and allows the aircraft to achieve speeds well above the Army’s 180-knot requirement. Raider has already flown 207 knots in level flight and 250 in a shallow dive. The larger, more powerful Raider X should be able to fly faster than that, Fell said.
“We’re going from a 12,000-pound Raider to a 14,000-pound Raider by upsizing everything just a little bit,” Fell said. “We’re flying and collecting detailed flight test data on a fully instrumented aircraft. We know what the loads are. We know what the vibration characteristics are. We know what the power required is. We know what the performance of this aircraft is, so the relative risk is really low as we go to a slightly upsized Raider X going into the FARA program.”
Sikorsky reveals Raider X for Army’s FARA program
Posted on October 14, 2019 by Dan Parsons
Sikorsky has unveiled a sleek, beefed-up version of its S-97 Raider coaxial compound helicopter specifically designed for the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competition.
Keeping with the company’s lineage of experimental rotorcraft, the new aircraft is called the Raider X and is a direct descendent of the S-97 Raider that has been in test for several years. The new concept retains the basic coaxial main rotor configuration with an aft pusher propulsor, but is 20 percent larger than the S-97.
Where the S-97 has a 34-foot (10.4-meter) main rotor diameter and is built around a GE YT706 engine, its evolutionary descendant will have a 39-foot (11.9-meter) main rotor diameter and be built to accept the GE T901 engine the Army has prescribed for FARA, according to Tim Malia, Sikorsky’s FARA program director.
Though it holds a $940 million initial design development contract to produce a FARA concept, Sikorsky is further along the development curve than any of its competitors. The S-97, which has been in flight test since 2015, is being employed as an 80-percent scale model of the new, larger Raider X.
Sikorsky unveiled the Raider X design Oct. 14 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference (AUSA) in Washington, D.C. Just a few hundred feet away are full-scale mockups of FARA aircraft pitches by Bell and AVX/L3, both of which are in initial design. A Karem/Northrop Grumman/Raytheon team has gone public with its pitch, but also is in the design development stage. Boeing has said next to nothing about its pitch, but insists it is heavily into design development and buying up long-lead time materials to build a prototype.
By contrast, Sikorsky has four years of what it says are highly representative flight test data from the S-97 Raider, which was initially designed to now defunct Army requirements for an Armed Aerial Scout Helicopter. No worry, says chief test pilot Bill Fell. The company can comfortably lean on its experience with the smaller S-97, to the point he and other Sikorsky officials are using that operational prototype almost as an interchangeable stand-in for its eventual FARA prototype.
“We’re not in Powerpoint,” Malia told reporters Oct. 14. “We’re not putting Bondo on plywood.”
Raider X increases the weight of the aircraft from about 12,000 pounds to 14,000 pounds (5,445 to 6,350 kilograms), Malia said. It features a side-by-side cockpit, which also widens the fuselage to increase its internal weapon storage.
Carrying weapons internally reduces drag and allows the aircraft to achieve speeds well above the Army’s 180-knot requirement. Raider has already flown 207 knots in level flight and 250 in a shallow dive. The larger, more powerful Raider X should be able to fly faster than that, Fell said.
“We’re going from a 12,000-pound Raider to a 14,000-pound Raider by upsizing everything just a little bit,” Fell said. “We’re flying and collecting detailed flight test data on a fully instrumented aircraft. We know what the loads are. We know what the vibration characteristics are. We know what the power required is. We know what the performance of this aircraft is, so the relative risk is really low as we go to a slightly upsized Raider X going into the FARA program.”
General Dynamics XM1113-LRPGK CroppedLong Range Precision Guidance Kit (LR PGK): The Long Range Precision Guidance Kit is a course correcting fuze that provides near precision accuracy for current and future 155mm High Explosive projectiles. The LR PGK uses state of the art technologies to develop a next generation guidance kit that operates in GPS contested environments. This system greatly decreases collateral damage and provides a sophisticated approach to defeating threats on the modern battlefield. LR PGK is compatible with the XM1113 Rocket Assisted Projectile and future long-range artillery systems to meet LRPF Indirect Fire program objectives.
Northrop Unveils NGCV’s 50mm Chain Gun At AUSA
Northrop Unveils NGCV’s 50mm Chain Gun At AUSA
By PAUL MCLEARYon October 18, 2019 at 11:01 AM
General Dynamics Griffin III demonstrator.
AUSA: The Army is looking for more range, more punch, and more options for its Next Generation Combat Vehicle, and is turning to Northrop Grumman to provide the 50mm gun that can rip through armor, or reach out and touch targets that current infantry vehicles can’t.
Northrop Unveils NGCV’s 50mm Chain Gun At AUSA
By PAUL MCLEARYon October 18, 2019 at 11:01 AM
General Dynamics Griffin III demonstrator.
AUSA: The Army is looking for more range, more punch, and more options for its Next Generation Combat Vehicle, and is turning to Northrop Grumman to provide the 50mm gun that can rip through armor, or reach out and touch targets that current infantry vehicles can’t.
Mind the Gap: The Army Looks to a New Assault Bridge for Heavy Armor Maneuvers in Europe
Mind the Gap: The Army Looks to a New Assault Bridge for Heavy Armor Maneuvers in Europe
“If you took all the bridging in NATO and put it together we couldn’t get a Brigade Combat Team across a 400-meter river," said the commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers.
By BREAKING DEFENSE STAFFon October 17, 2019 at 3:19 PM
The Joint Assault Bridge will replace the Army’s Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge for armored BCTs.
For the Army’s Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCTs), the ability to conduct wet and dry gap crossings over rivers and gullies in both Western and Eastern Europe is not a bridge too far, but a bridge too few. Throughout that area of operation, an advancing army can expect to meet smaller water obstacles every 20 km, large 100-meter-wide water obstacles every 35-60 km, and significant 100-400-meter-wide rivers every 250-400 km. Neither the U.S. nor Europe has a sufficient quantity of bridging systems to address even a small faction of those obstacles.
“(There are) insufficient NATO bridge systems in Europe with sufficient military load classification capability, system interoperability, or quantity to bridge required wide wet gaps in support of main battle tanks or heavy sustainment loads,” according to LTG Todd Semonite, chief of engineers and commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers, speaking this week at the AUSA convention. “The ability of a river to be able to bring an army to its absolute knees has been something that has devastated a lot of forces” going back to China 2,000 years ago, observed Semonite.
The problem is particularly acute in the region from Germany to Estonia in Eastern Europe where there are six major rivers (the Danube, Volga, Rhine, Elbe, Oder, and Dnieper rivers) and more than 4,500 bridges–800 of which are longer than 100 meters. If only one percent of those bridges were degraded, 5,500 meters of military bridging would be required to replace them, according to Semonite.
The other concern is that today’s modern battle tanks are too heavy for many of Europe’s bridges.
“(There are many bridges throughout Europe) where you can’t take vehicles that are over MLC (Military Load Classification) 70,” said Semonite, referring to a 70-ton vehicle. “When you look at the different types of systems we have most (are) over MLC 70.”
Germany’s Leopard tanks are about 80 tons, British Army Challenger 2s are about 95 tons, and the U.S. Abrams tanks are at about 91 tons, said Semonite.
“Most of the bridging in Europe and the NATO countries is less than 70,” he said, noting that a division needs four crossing sites and a Brigade Combat Team needs two. “If you took all the bridging in NATO and put it together we couldn’t get a Brigade Combat Team across a 400-meter river. We have a real challenge out there. What are we going to do as an army even if we had the NATO resources to be able to align and project power to defeat the enemy?”
Modernizing the Army’s Bridging Systems
One of the answers to that question is the Joint Assault Bridge (JAB), which will replace the Army’s Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge (AVLB). First built in 1962, the AVLB is still active in BCT’s today, and is “old, arcane equipment that continues to give us challenges,” said Semonite.
DRS, the progenitor of today’s Leonardo DRS, was the original prime contractor for AVLB and built approximately 900 of them with attached, folding, scissor bridges. These systems were based on both the M48 and M60 Patton main battle tank chassis.
The new JAB will also be built by Leonardo DRS under a $400 million Army contract to produce up to 273 JAB systems plus related testing and support. The program is presently in the low rate initial production phase, and the JAB will replace the AVLB system (chassis and launcher) on a one-for-one basis.
The JAB system is a track-wheeled vehicle built on a modified M1 Abrams chassis for compatibility with existing BCT formation. It is designed to provide freedom of maneuver on the battlefield and keep pace with Abrams ABCT operations. Integrated on top of the vehicle is a hydraulic bridge launcher system to carry, deploy, and recover a Military Load Class 95 scissor bridge that spans 18.3 meters and provides gap-crossing capability for combat vehicles to cross wet or dry chasms.
Leonardo DRS has a public-private partnership with Anniston Army Depot for the management of the chassis assembly, and also worked with IMI Systems (formerly Israel Military Industries) on the engineering and design of the JAB. It is powered by Honeywell’s improved AGT1500 Tiger engine the main powerplant for the Abrams.
Mind the Gap: The Army Looks to a New Assault Bridge for Heavy Armor Maneuvers in Europe
“If you took all the bridging in NATO and put it together we couldn’t get a Brigade Combat Team across a 400-meter river," said the commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers.
By BREAKING DEFENSE STAFFon October 17, 2019 at 3:19 PM
The Joint Assault Bridge will replace the Army’s Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge for armored BCTs.
For the Army’s Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCTs), the ability to conduct wet and dry gap crossings over rivers and gullies in both Western and Eastern Europe is not a bridge too far, but a bridge too few. Throughout that area of operation, an advancing army can expect to meet smaller water obstacles every 20 km, large 100-meter-wide water obstacles every 35-60 km, and significant 100-400-meter-wide rivers every 250-400 km. Neither the U.S. nor Europe has a sufficient quantity of bridging systems to address even a small faction of those obstacles.
“(There are) insufficient NATO bridge systems in Europe with sufficient military load classification capability, system interoperability, or quantity to bridge required wide wet gaps in support of main battle tanks or heavy sustainment loads,” according to LTG Todd Semonite, chief of engineers and commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers, speaking this week at the AUSA convention. “The ability of a river to be able to bring an army to its absolute knees has been something that has devastated a lot of forces” going back to China 2,000 years ago, observed Semonite.
The problem is particularly acute in the region from Germany to Estonia in Eastern Europe where there are six major rivers (the Danube, Volga, Rhine, Elbe, Oder, and Dnieper rivers) and more than 4,500 bridges–800 of which are longer than 100 meters. If only one percent of those bridges were degraded, 5,500 meters of military bridging would be required to replace them, according to Semonite.
The other concern is that today’s modern battle tanks are too heavy for many of Europe’s bridges.
“(There are many bridges throughout Europe) where you can’t take vehicles that are over MLC (Military Load Classification) 70,” said Semonite, referring to a 70-ton vehicle. “When you look at the different types of systems we have most (are) over MLC 70.”
Germany’s Leopard tanks are about 80 tons, British Army Challenger 2s are about 95 tons, and the U.S. Abrams tanks are at about 91 tons, said Semonite.
“Most of the bridging in Europe and the NATO countries is less than 70,” he said, noting that a division needs four crossing sites and a Brigade Combat Team needs two. “If you took all the bridging in NATO and put it together we couldn’t get a Brigade Combat Team across a 400-meter river. We have a real challenge out there. What are we going to do as an army even if we had the NATO resources to be able to align and project power to defeat the enemy?”
Modernizing the Army’s Bridging Systems
One of the answers to that question is the Joint Assault Bridge (JAB), which will replace the Army’s Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge (AVLB). First built in 1962, the AVLB is still active in BCT’s today, and is “old, arcane equipment that continues to give us challenges,” said Semonite.
DRS, the progenitor of today’s Leonardo DRS, was the original prime contractor for AVLB and built approximately 900 of them with attached, folding, scissor bridges. These systems were based on both the M48 and M60 Patton main battle tank chassis.
The new JAB will also be built by Leonardo DRS under a $400 million Army contract to produce up to 273 JAB systems plus related testing and support. The program is presently in the low rate initial production phase, and the JAB will replace the AVLB system (chassis and launcher) on a one-for-one basis.
The JAB system is a track-wheeled vehicle built on a modified M1 Abrams chassis for compatibility with existing BCT formation. It is designed to provide freedom of maneuver on the battlefield and keep pace with Abrams ABCT operations. Integrated on top of the vehicle is a hydraulic bridge launcher system to carry, deploy, and recover a Military Load Class 95 scissor bridge that spans 18.3 meters and provides gap-crossing capability for combat vehicles to cross wet or dry chasms.
Leonardo DRS has a public-private partnership with Anniston Army Depot for the management of the chassis assembly, and also worked with IMI Systems (formerly Israel Military Industries) on the engineering and design of the JAB. It is powered by Honeywell’s improved AGT1500 Tiger engine the main powerplant for the Abrams.
Army preparing to award contracts for Strategic Long Range Cannon
The Army is forging gun tubes and readying initial contracts for a new system intended to operate with the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon in the opening salvos of a major fight against a near-peer military force. The Strategic Long Range Cannon is a prototype mega-cannon envisioned to fire rounds hundreds of miles at high-priority enemy radar and air-defense sites, namely those of Russia and China
The Army is forging gun tubes and readying initial contracts for a new system intended to operate with the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon in the opening salvos of a major fight against a near-peer military force. The Strategic Long Range Cannon is a prototype mega-cannon envisioned to fire rounds hundreds of miles at high-priority enemy radar and air-defense sites, namely those of Russia and China
Mach 5 BOOM: The U.S. Army Is Getting Trucks Armed With Hypersonic Missiles
Mach 5 BOOM: The U.S. Army Is Getting Trucks Armed With Hypersonic Missiles
A real game-changer.
by Michael Peck
Key Point: The age of hypersonic missiles is here.
SPONSORED CONTENT
Recommended by
A Powerpoint slide at a recent defense conference showed details of the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, or LRHW, a land-based U.S. Army system. The LRHW is one of multiple U.S. military projects to develop weapons that travel at hypersonic (faster than Mach 5) speeds. The Army is aiming to deploy the first experimental LRWH battery in 2023.
The slide, shown at the 22nd Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama earlier this month, depicts the planned first LRHW battery. It consists of a prototype ballistic missile – an All Up Round, or AUR -- encased in a canister. The missile has a diameter of 34.5 inches. By comparison, a Tomahawk cruise missile only has a diameter of about 20 inches.
Atop the missile is a Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB). Developed by Sandia National Laboratory, the C-HGB will be used by the Army, Navy and Air Force. It is a boost-glide weapon, lofted high into the atmosphere by the missile, and then gliding down at high speeds. Unlike an ICBM’s warheads, which descends on a fixed trajectory, these gliders have small wings to maneuver at high speeds within the atmosphere (presumably without burning up) before they hit the target.
The slide also shows four Transporter Erector Launchers (TELs), each with two missile canisters. The TELs are based on the M983A4 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT) used to move and launch Patriot anti-aircraft missiles, plus a modified M870 trailer. In addition, the battery will have a command truck using the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System Version 7.0, the Army’s standard artillery fire control system.
The C-HGB is probably based on the Army Hypersonic Weapon, or AHW. A boost-glide vehicle, the AHW was tested in 2011 and achieved a speed of Mach 8 and a range of almost 4,000 miles. That’s slower than an ICBM warhead that descends through the atmosphere at speeds of up to Mach 23, but unlike a ballistic missile warhead, a boost-glide vehicle can maneuver to evade interception.
The LRHW is part of a new hypersonic arms race between America, Russia and China. For a time, America seemed to lag in the race, as news reports breathlessly announced one alleged Russian “superweapon” after another. In particular, the Avangard – a glider boosted atop a converted ICBM – supposedly descends at 27 times the speed of sound. The Khinzal – a hypersonic missile launched from a bomber or even a MiG-31 fighter – reportedly has a speed of Mach 10. As for China, Beijing is developing its own hypersonic weapons.
The U.S. is now catching up with a vengeance. The Pentagon is working on at least nine separate hypersonic weapons projects, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. There is also the Conventional Prompt Global Strike program, which aims to develop a conventional missile or glide vehicle that can hit any spot on Earth in one hour or less.
Considering that these weapons have yet to be used in combat, or fielded in a meaningful way, it’s hard to say exactly what the effect of hypersonics will be. Their high speed will make interception much more difficult, though the U.S. is also beginning to study defense against hypersonic weapons.
Mach 5 BOOM: The U.S. Army Is Getting Trucks Armed With Hypersonic Missiles
A real game-changer.
by Michael Peck
Key Point: The age of hypersonic missiles is here.
SPONSORED CONTENT
Recommended by
A Powerpoint slide at a recent defense conference showed details of the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, or LRHW, a land-based U.S. Army system. The LRHW is one of multiple U.S. military projects to develop weapons that travel at hypersonic (faster than Mach 5) speeds. The Army is aiming to deploy the first experimental LRWH battery in 2023.
The slide, shown at the 22nd Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama earlier this month, depicts the planned first LRHW battery. It consists of a prototype ballistic missile – an All Up Round, or AUR -- encased in a canister. The missile has a diameter of 34.5 inches. By comparison, a Tomahawk cruise missile only has a diameter of about 20 inches.
Atop the missile is a Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB). Developed by Sandia National Laboratory, the C-HGB will be used by the Army, Navy and Air Force. It is a boost-glide weapon, lofted high into the atmosphere by the missile, and then gliding down at high speeds. Unlike an ICBM’s warheads, which descends on a fixed trajectory, these gliders have small wings to maneuver at high speeds within the atmosphere (presumably without burning up) before they hit the target.
The slide also shows four Transporter Erector Launchers (TELs), each with two missile canisters. The TELs are based on the M983A4 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT) used to move and launch Patriot anti-aircraft missiles, plus a modified M870 trailer. In addition, the battery will have a command truck using the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System Version 7.0, the Army’s standard artillery fire control system.
The C-HGB is probably based on the Army Hypersonic Weapon, or AHW. A boost-glide vehicle, the AHW was tested in 2011 and achieved a speed of Mach 8 and a range of almost 4,000 miles. That’s slower than an ICBM warhead that descends through the atmosphere at speeds of up to Mach 23, but unlike a ballistic missile warhead, a boost-glide vehicle can maneuver to evade interception.
The LRHW is part of a new hypersonic arms race between America, Russia and China. For a time, America seemed to lag in the race, as news reports breathlessly announced one alleged Russian “superweapon” after another. In particular, the Avangard – a glider boosted atop a converted ICBM – supposedly descends at 27 times the speed of sound. The Khinzal – a hypersonic missile launched from a bomber or even a MiG-31 fighter – reportedly has a speed of Mach 10. As for China, Beijing is developing its own hypersonic weapons.
The U.S. is now catching up with a vengeance. The Pentagon is working on at least nine separate hypersonic weapons projects, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. There is also the Conventional Prompt Global Strike program, which aims to develop a conventional missile or glide vehicle that can hit any spot on Earth in one hour or less.
Considering that these weapons have yet to be used in combat, or fielded in a meaningful way, it’s hard to say exactly what the effect of hypersonics will be. Their high speed will make interception much more difficult, though the U.S. is also beginning to study defense against hypersonic weapons.
After Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital ATK it was game over for Boeing.
Also, ICBM stuff is technically under USAF, so it should be in the aviation thread.
TITAN system being developed to tie 'deep sensing' to long-range fires
TITAN system being developed to tie 'deep sensing' to long-range fires
WASHINGTON -- The Army plans to use one of the largest exercises in Europe since the Cold War to pilot new tactical space technology that will help Soldiers carry out mission command on a multi-domain battlefield.
An initial prototype of TITAN -- Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node -- will be tested during the Defender-Europe 20 exercise next spring. The exercise is set to have about 37,000 U.S. and European troops training in 10 nations across the continent.
The TITAN system, which is a scalable and expeditionary intelligence ground station, leverages space and high altitude, aerial, and terrestrial layer sensors to provide targetable data to fires networks. It also provides multi-discipline intelligence support to targeting, and situational awareness and understanding for mission command.
Today, the Army has roughly 100 tactical ground stations, 13 operational ground stations and a few other dissemination vehicles to inform battlefield commanders, said Brig. Gen. Rob Collins, Program Executive Officer for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, or PEO IEW&S.
But "some of those are more specific to the echelon," he said Oct. 16 at the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition. "They're not necessarily tailorable, easy to use or expeditionary as we want them to be."
TITAN aims to consolidate much of those capabilities to better provide "deep sensing" information from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors from all domains.
It also ties deep sensing to long-range precision strike options to defeat enemy anti-access/aerial denial environments, officials said.
An industry day is scheduled for Dec. 4 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, to further discuss the way forward with TITAN.
A TITAN space prototype is expected to be delivered by early fiscal year 2022.
"How do you bring those ground stations together in one platform, or a series of platforms, that are modular, scalable and [with] open systems architecture," said Willie Nelson, director of Army Futures Command's Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing Cross-Functional Team.
Collins said they are looking for a modular "Lego approach" for the system that will go through an iterative testing process, starting with the Defender exercise.
It is then expected to be rolled out in another exercise in the Pacific region to get additional user feedback later next year, Nelson said.
TITAN will fit into the Army's Multi-Domain Task Forces being built up in the Pacific and in Europe. The system will work with the task force's unit called I2CEWS, which stands for intelligence, information, cyber, electronic warfare and space.
It will "absolutely be part of that task force to be able to see deep and target deep," Collins said. "It's going to be a key capability, key enabler."
TITAN will also play a large role in the Army's space strategy, in which one of its main areas is battle management command and control.
"It's leveraging both commercial and military capabilities to be able to provide eyes and ears on the battlefield for our Soldiers and our platforms," Nelson said.
Since the sensors will compile massive amounts of data, TITAN will need to rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning to sift through it.
"As we start pulling in all this data, there's going to be a significant and overwhelming amount for our intelligence Soldiers to be able to process," Collins said.
The goal will then be to quickly deliver easily-digestible data to Soldiers in combat and to their systems.
"We just don't collect this data for the sake of collecting it," Collins said. "We collect it so that we can distribute that to kinetic, non-kinetic weapon systems and for commanders to be able to make decisions on the battlefield."
TITAN system being developed to tie 'deep sensing' to long-range fires
WASHINGTON -- The Army plans to use one of the largest exercises in Europe since the Cold War to pilot new tactical space technology that will help Soldiers carry out mission command on a multi-domain battlefield.
An initial prototype of TITAN -- Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node -- will be tested during the Defender-Europe 20 exercise next spring. The exercise is set to have about 37,000 U.S. and European troops training in 10 nations across the continent.
The TITAN system, which is a scalable and expeditionary intelligence ground station, leverages space and high altitude, aerial, and terrestrial layer sensors to provide targetable data to fires networks. It also provides multi-discipline intelligence support to targeting, and situational awareness and understanding for mission command.
Today, the Army has roughly 100 tactical ground stations, 13 operational ground stations and a few other dissemination vehicles to inform battlefield commanders, said Brig. Gen. Rob Collins, Program Executive Officer for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, or PEO IEW&S.
But "some of those are more specific to the echelon," he said Oct. 16 at the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition. "They're not necessarily tailorable, easy to use or expeditionary as we want them to be."
TITAN aims to consolidate much of those capabilities to better provide "deep sensing" information from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors from all domains.
It also ties deep sensing to long-range precision strike options to defeat enemy anti-access/aerial denial environments, officials said.
An industry day is scheduled for Dec. 4 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, to further discuss the way forward with TITAN.
A TITAN space prototype is expected to be delivered by early fiscal year 2022.
"How do you bring those ground stations together in one platform, or a series of platforms, that are modular, scalable and [with] open systems architecture," said Willie Nelson, director of Army Futures Command's Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing Cross-Functional Team.
Collins said they are looking for a modular "Lego approach" for the system that will go through an iterative testing process, starting with the Defender exercise.
It is then expected to be rolled out in another exercise in the Pacific region to get additional user feedback later next year, Nelson said.
TITAN will fit into the Army's Multi-Domain Task Forces being built up in the Pacific and in Europe. The system will work with the task force's unit called I2CEWS, which stands for intelligence, information, cyber, electronic warfare and space.
It will "absolutely be part of that task force to be able to see deep and target deep," Collins said. "It's going to be a key capability, key enabler."
TITAN will also play a large role in the Army's space strategy, in which one of its main areas is battle management command and control.
"It's leveraging both commercial and military capabilities to be able to provide eyes and ears on the battlefield for our Soldiers and our platforms," Nelson said.
Since the sensors will compile massive amounts of data, TITAN will need to rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning to sift through it.
"As we start pulling in all this data, there's going to be a significant and overwhelming amount for our intelligence Soldiers to be able to process," Collins said.
The goal will then be to quickly deliver easily-digestible data to Soldiers in combat and to their systems.
"We just don't collect this data for the sake of collecting it," Collins said. "We collect it so that we can distribute that to kinetic, non-kinetic weapon systems and for commanders to be able to make decisions on the battlefield."
New Long-Range, Guided 84mm Munition for Carl-Gustaf Headed for DoD Tests in Spring
New Long-Range, Guided 84mm Munition for Carl-Gustaf Headed for DoD Tests in Spring
M3E1 Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System that fires an 84mm munition. (Image: Saab)
Saab and Raytheon Company will demonstrate for Pentagon officials next spring a new, precision-guided munition for the Carl-Gustaf recoilless rifle that's designed to double the range of the highly effective, 84mm anti-armor weapon.
Back in 2017, the Army approved a requirement for more than 1,100 M3E1 Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon Systems, the latest version of the potent weapon special operations forces have been using since the early 1990s. Army light infantry units first began using the older M3 version in Afghanistan in 2011 when the AT4 proved ineffective.
Saab's breech-loading weapon can reach out and hit hardened enemy targets up to 1,000 meters away.
After teaming up in 2017, Saab and Raytheon have developed a new, laser-guided munition with a reduced back-blast area that can be fired within a small enclosure; it will be capable of defeating hardened targets up to 2,000 meters away, Michael Höglund, head of Business Unit Ground Combat for Saab, Business Area Dynamics, told Military.com on Thursday.
"We can shoot at longer range. It basically doubles the range of the current ammunition, and we can pinpoint it and we can shoot from confined spaces," Höglund said.
The team demonstrated the technology in Sweden in September, firing two inert rounds at stationary targets from 1,400 meters away and a third inert round at a moving target from 1,800 meters away, he said.
"When we did the third and final demo, and it was spectacular ... we used a moving target at a range of about 1,800 meters, and we shot it from within a confined space as well and it was a perfect hit," said Höglund, adding that future tests will exceed 2,000 meters.
The team has a requirement for this capability through Special Operations Command, said Ty Blanchard, who manages the Guided Carl-Gustaf Munition for Raytheon.
In September 2018, the Pentagon awarded a $2.5 million rapid innovation fund contract to the team "to go out and demonstrate three guided shots with a warhead next spring," Blanchard said.
Currently, the technology requires operators to "laze the whole way in to the target," he said.
"We are looking at potentially down the road ... at some different seekers that will upgrade that capability," Blanchard said, adding that the munition will still be extremely effective at hardened targets such as bunkers and armored vehicles.
During the demonstration next spring, the team will shoot the new munition at triple-brick wall, eight inches of double-reinforced concrete and an up-armored sport-utility vehicle, he said.
"What this really does is it tries to bring a precision, extended-range capability down to the infantry and squad level within the U.S. and international markets," Blanchard said.
New Long-Range, Guided 84mm Munition for Carl-Gustaf Headed for DoD Tests in Spring
M3E1 Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System that fires an 84mm munition. (Image: Saab)
Saab and Raytheon Company will demonstrate for Pentagon officials next spring a new, precision-guided munition for the Carl-Gustaf recoilless rifle that's designed to double the range of the highly effective, 84mm anti-armor weapon.
Back in 2017, the Army approved a requirement for more than 1,100 M3E1 Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon Systems, the latest version of the potent weapon special operations forces have been using since the early 1990s. Army light infantry units first began using the older M3 version in Afghanistan in 2011 when the AT4 proved ineffective.
Saab's breech-loading weapon can reach out and hit hardened enemy targets up to 1,000 meters away.
After teaming up in 2017, Saab and Raytheon have developed a new, laser-guided munition with a reduced back-blast area that can be fired within a small enclosure; it will be capable of defeating hardened targets up to 2,000 meters away, Michael Höglund, head of Business Unit Ground Combat for Saab, Business Area Dynamics, told Military.com on Thursday.
"We can shoot at longer range. It basically doubles the range of the current ammunition, and we can pinpoint it and we can shoot from confined spaces," Höglund said.
The team demonstrated the technology in Sweden in September, firing two inert rounds at stationary targets from 1,400 meters away and a third inert round at a moving target from 1,800 meters away, he said.
"When we did the third and final demo, and it was spectacular ... we used a moving target at a range of about 1,800 meters, and we shot it from within a confined space as well and it was a perfect hit," said Höglund, adding that future tests will exceed 2,000 meters.
The team has a requirement for this capability through Special Operations Command, said Ty Blanchard, who manages the Guided Carl-Gustaf Munition for Raytheon.
In September 2018, the Pentagon awarded a $2.5 million rapid innovation fund contract to the team "to go out and demonstrate three guided shots with a warhead next spring," Blanchard said.
Currently, the technology requires operators to "laze the whole way in to the target," he said.
"We are looking at potentially down the road ... at some different seekers that will upgrade that capability," Blanchard said, adding that the munition will still be extremely effective at hardened targets such as bunkers and armored vehicles.
During the demonstration next spring, the team will shoot the new munition at triple-brick wall, eight inches of double-reinforced concrete and an up-armored sport-utility vehicle, he said.
"What this really does is it tries to bring a precision, extended-range capability down to the infantry and squad level within the U.S. and international markets," Blanchard said.
Attachments
Indian Army Infantry Battalions use Carl Gusraf RCL extensivelyNew Long-Range, Guided 84mm Munition for Carl-Gustaf Headed for DoD Tests in Spring
New Long-Range, Guided 84mm Munition for Carl-Gustaf Headed for DoD Tests in Spring
M3E1 Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System that fires an 84mm munition. (Image: Saab)
Saab and Raytheon Company will demonstrate for Pentagon officials next spring a new, precision-guided munition for the Carl-Gustaf recoilless rifle that's designed to double the range of the highly effective, 84mm anti-armor weapon.
Back in 2017, the Army approved a requirement for more than 1,100 M3E1 Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon Systems, the latest version of the potent weapon special operations forces have been using since the early 1990s. Army light infantry units first began using the older M3 version in Afghanistan in 2011 when the AT4 proved ineffective.
Saab's breech-loading weapon can reach out and hit hardened enemy targets up to 1,000 meters away.
After teaming up in 2017, Saab and Raytheon have developed a new, laser-guided munition with a reduced back-blast area that can be fired within a small enclosure; it will be capable of defeating hardened targets up to 2,000 meters away, Michael Höglund, head of Business Unit Ground Combat for Saab, Business Area Dynamics, told Military.com on Thursday.
"We can shoot at longer range. It basically doubles the range of the current ammunition, and we can pinpoint it and we can shoot from confined spaces," Höglund said.
The team demonstrated the technology in Sweden in September, firing two inert rounds at stationary targets from 1,400 meters away and a third inert round at a moving target from 1,800 meters away, he said.
"When we did the third and final demo, and it was spectacular ... we used a moving target at a range of about 1,800 meters, and we shot it from within a confined space as well and it was a perfect hit," said Höglund, adding that future tests will exceed 2,000 meters.
The team has a requirement for this capability through Special Operations Command, said Ty Blanchard, who manages the Guided Carl-Gustaf Munition for Raytheon.
In September 2018, the Pentagon awarded a $2.5 million rapid innovation fund contract to the team "to go out and demonstrate three guided shots with a warhead next spring," Blanchard said.
Currently, the technology requires operators to "laze the whole way in to the target," he said.
"We are looking at potentially down the road ... at some different seekers that will upgrade that capability," Blanchard said, adding that the munition will still be extremely effective at hardened targets such as bunkers and armored vehicles.
During the demonstration next spring, the team will shoot the new munition at triple-brick wall, eight inches of double-reinforced concrete and an up-armored sport-utility vehicle, he said.
"What this really does is it tries to bring a precision, extended-range capability down to the infantry and squad level within the U.S. and international markets," Blanchard said.
Infact India is making them here domestically
These long range new Munitions will be very
Useful for us
Saab Carl-Gustaf legacy will boom again in India
The U.S. Army Could Get The Handheld Motion Tracker From 'Aliens'
The device can see people—and maybe Xenomorphs/Islamists—through walls.
The U.S. Army just awarded a quarter million dollars in funding to a startup working on a handheld sensor designed to detect people through walls. The Lumineye is a handheld device smaller than a tablet that uses radar technology to detect people, using radar waves that can pass through solid matter.
The radar device, according toTask & Purpose, is 3D printed and weighs less than two pounds. The handheld sensor “uses signal analysis software to differentiate moving and breathing humans from other objects, through walls”. It also says the system can sense objects through smoke and fire.
On its website, Lumineye touts the Lux as capable of breathing person detection, dynamic human trafficking and false wall detection, finding living people in rubble, and disaster response. The web site makes no mention of military applications, but the technology could be very useful in the tight confines of urban combat, where adversaries could be just feet away from friendly forces but concealed by walls.
Although it doesn’t say so, Lumineye’s Lux could use the magic of millimeter wave radar technology. Millimeter waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation, like sunlight or radio waves, in the ten millimeter to one millimeter band. They occupy the space between microwave and infrared radiation. In the early 1990s millimeter wave radar was integrated into the Apache attack helicopter to allow it to see tanks through trees and cover. A 2000 Canadian Army paper, discussing the merits of millimeter radar technology, states:
The advantages of millimeter waves include their ability to provide accurate, excellent image identification and resolution. They also provide remote measurements while operating through smoke, dust, fog or rain...Millimeter waves penetrate non-conductive walls and clothing, making through-wall surveillance possible. The human body emits millimeter waves that can be received by passive detectors. Active millimeter wave radar can detect human body surface motion, including heartbeat and respiration.
Alternately, the technology behind the Lux could be ultra wide band radar. According to a paper in Nature:
UWB radar has been used for the detection of humans6,7, moving subjects8,9, imaging in through-wall conditions10,11, search and rescue12,13, positioning indoors14,15, and public order and security16 because of its high range resolution and penetrability17,18,19,20
(UWB)... can be used to detect human vital sign signals such as respiration and heart rates, but this can be difficult as thorax movement is usually only several millimeters, and the signal attenuation can be severe.
The Lux device display bears a striking resemblance to the motion tracker fielded by the Colonial Marines in the 1986 film Aliens. In the movie, Marines use the device to see through the walls of an abandoned convoy, detecting advancing alien creatures. Both the Lux and the M314 Motion Tracker can track objects through solid matter and display range to target. Interestingly, the Lux is actually smaller than the piece of 22nd century technology.
The device can see people—and maybe Xenomorphs/Islamists—through walls.
The U.S. Army just awarded a quarter million dollars in funding to a startup working on a handheld sensor designed to detect people through walls. The Lumineye is a handheld device smaller than a tablet that uses radar technology to detect people, using radar waves that can pass through solid matter.
The radar device, according toTask & Purpose, is 3D printed and weighs less than two pounds. The handheld sensor “uses signal analysis software to differentiate moving and breathing humans from other objects, through walls”. It also says the system can sense objects through smoke and fire.
On its website, Lumineye touts the Lux as capable of breathing person detection, dynamic human trafficking and false wall detection, finding living people in rubble, and disaster response. The web site makes no mention of military applications, but the technology could be very useful in the tight confines of urban combat, where adversaries could be just feet away from friendly forces but concealed by walls.
Although it doesn’t say so, Lumineye’s Lux could use the magic of millimeter wave radar technology. Millimeter waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation, like sunlight or radio waves, in the ten millimeter to one millimeter band. They occupy the space between microwave and infrared radiation. In the early 1990s millimeter wave radar was integrated into the Apache attack helicopter to allow it to see tanks through trees and cover. A 2000 Canadian Army paper, discussing the merits of millimeter radar technology, states:
The advantages of millimeter waves include their ability to provide accurate, excellent image identification and resolution. They also provide remote measurements while operating through smoke, dust, fog or rain...Millimeter waves penetrate non-conductive walls and clothing, making through-wall surveillance possible. The human body emits millimeter waves that can be received by passive detectors. Active millimeter wave radar can detect human body surface motion, including heartbeat and respiration.
Alternately, the technology behind the Lux could be ultra wide band radar. According to a paper in Nature:
UWB radar has been used for the detection of humans6,7, moving subjects8,9, imaging in through-wall conditions10,11, search and rescue12,13, positioning indoors14,15, and public order and security16 because of its high range resolution and penetrability17,18,19,20
(UWB)... can be used to detect human vital sign signals such as respiration and heart rates, but this can be difficult as thorax movement is usually only several millimeters, and the signal attenuation can be severe.
The Lux device display bears a striking resemblance to the motion tracker fielded by the Colonial Marines in the 1986 film Aliens. In the movie, Marines use the device to see through the walls of an abandoned convoy, detecting advancing alien creatures. Both the Lux and the M314 Motion Tracker can track objects through solid matter and display range to target. Interestingly, the Lux is actually smaller than the piece of 22nd century technology.
The U.S. Army's Laser Weapons Future Has Arrived
The U.S. Army's Laser Weapons Future Has Arrived
The National Interest•November 5, 2019
(Washington, D.C.) The Army is preparing to incinerate enemy weapons “targets” in an upcoming in a “laser-off” firing of its emerging Stryker-armed 50-kilowatt laser weapon designed to destroy drones, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and incoming enemy missiles.
The Stryker-fired laser, in development for several years, is part of the Army’s fast-developing Initial Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (IM-SHORAD) program designed to bring air-and-missile defense back to armored vehicles on the move in combat.
The program will deliver 50 kilowatt (kW)-class lasers on a platoon of four Stryker vehicles in Fiscal Year 2022, an Army report stated.
"The time is now to get directed energy weapons to the battlefield," Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood, Director of Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Space and Rapid Acquisition, said in an Army report. "The Army recognizes the need for directed energy lasers as part of the Army's modernization plan. This is no longer a research effort or a demonstration effort. It is a strategic combat capability, and we are on the right path to get it in Soldiers' hands.
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, are subcontractors in an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement between the Army and Kord Technologies, an Army report stated.
The Army is setting an ambitious time-table for deploying laser weapons on Strykers, an approach that is indicative of a broad Army push to better expedite weapons delivery. The service expects to have operational lasers ready to deploy on Strykers by 2022, if not earlier. The strategy is to harvest and deliver mature weapons systems on an accelerated time frame while of course preserving the steps and key procedures necessary for successful deployment. This strategy is, not surprisingly, driven by the current threat scenario.
“It is all about the ability to put photons on target. It is a system that can be deployed rapidly from a stowed position. It can engage an enemy at the speed of light. It has to be able to shoot from a moving platform and engage a moving target through an air column that can be full of rain, dust or turbulence -- and hold that energy on target long enough to get the desired effect,” Mark Skinner, Vice President of Directed Energy, Northrop Grumman, told Warrior.
Skinner mentioned weather obscurants as part of the much discussed “beam attenuation” challenge when it comes to laser weapons. Not only do lasers require substantial amounts of transportable electrical power but are also at times limited by certain adverse weather conditions. With this in mind, industry developers such as Northrop are exploring innovations designed to increase the range, functionality, power and durability of lasers to enable more attack options.
The U.S. Army's Laser Weapons Future Has Arrived
The National Interest•November 5, 2019
(Washington, D.C.) The Army is preparing to incinerate enemy weapons “targets” in an upcoming in a “laser-off” firing of its emerging Stryker-armed 50-kilowatt laser weapon designed to destroy drones, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and incoming enemy missiles.
The Stryker-fired laser, in development for several years, is part of the Army’s fast-developing Initial Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (IM-SHORAD) program designed to bring air-and-missile defense back to armored vehicles on the move in combat.
The program will deliver 50 kilowatt (kW)-class lasers on a platoon of four Stryker vehicles in Fiscal Year 2022, an Army report stated.
"The time is now to get directed energy weapons to the battlefield," Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood, Director of Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Space and Rapid Acquisition, said in an Army report. "The Army recognizes the need for directed energy lasers as part of the Army's modernization plan. This is no longer a research effort or a demonstration effort. It is a strategic combat capability, and we are on the right path to get it in Soldiers' hands.
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, are subcontractors in an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement between the Army and Kord Technologies, an Army report stated.
The Army is setting an ambitious time-table for deploying laser weapons on Strykers, an approach that is indicative of a broad Army push to better expedite weapons delivery. The service expects to have operational lasers ready to deploy on Strykers by 2022, if not earlier. The strategy is to harvest and deliver mature weapons systems on an accelerated time frame while of course preserving the steps and key procedures necessary for successful deployment. This strategy is, not surprisingly, driven by the current threat scenario.
“It is all about the ability to put photons on target. It is a system that can be deployed rapidly from a stowed position. It can engage an enemy at the speed of light. It has to be able to shoot from a moving platform and engage a moving target through an air column that can be full of rain, dust or turbulence -- and hold that energy on target long enough to get the desired effect,” Mark Skinner, Vice President of Directed Energy, Northrop Grumman, told Warrior.
Skinner mentioned weather obscurants as part of the much discussed “beam attenuation” challenge when it comes to laser weapons. Not only do lasers require substantial amounts of transportable electrical power but are also at times limited by certain adverse weather conditions. With this in mind, industry developers such as Northrop are exploring innovations designed to increase the range, functionality, power and durability of lasers to enable more attack options.