Defence`s Feeds

The Marine Corps Blackjack UASs (Unmanned Aerial Systems) supported Australian Army joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs) coordinating air U.S. Air Force B-1B and B-2 Spirit bombers’ long-distance airstrikes during recent exercise in Australia. The U.S. [...]

A new EDA research project, for which the Agency Steering Board has just given its go-ahead, will help participating Member States’ Armed Forces to step up their collaborative air training & exercise capabilities thanks to improved modelling and simulation.

The overarching aim of the project called MAJES (Modelling and simulation as a service applications for Air and Joint Exercises & Simulation) is to develop an interconnected and interacting system/network that will allow the military of participating Member States to perform training simulations for coalition operations in a distributed manner from different locations. This will allow much more realistic conditions than in the past when simulations were traditionally configurated and done locally, in isolation, which meant they were mostly unable to take into account external factors and changes and requested participating Member States to meet physically in specific training centres.

MAJES will thus help Member States in the preparation, execution and after-service of collective (but not physically joint) military trainings and exercises for air and joint operations using LVC (Live-Virtual-Constructive) technologies which suppose a mix of physical and simulated assets, including virtual adversaries. This will support as well the management and control of so-called ‘Battlelabs’ (digital distributed defence laboratories) for the concept, development and testing of System of Systems (such as the next 5th generation aircraft systems - FCAS) supporting experiment plan and data farming automation. The project also aims to improve the data collection from exercises for Artificial Intelligence learning in this distributed simulated environment which allows cooperation without joint physical presence.

The project will run over 36 months, starting from the signing of the project contract expected to take place early next year. Three countries are participating so far: France, the Netherlands and Norway (which is not an EDA Member State but has concluded an Administrative Agreement with the Agency). Industry from the participating countries is also involved.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

This year’s Growler Ball provides an opportunity to discuss the EA-18G’s ability to launch cyber attacks and hack enemy networks. As our readers know very well, the “Ball” series (“Hornet Ball”, “Rhino Ball”, “Strike Fighter [...]

The “American Dream” over Orange County, New York. The New York International Air Show was held at Orange County Airport in New York last week end. The air show was held in a “drive in” [...]

Exosonic Awarded Contract to Study Low-Boom Supersonic VIP Transport. Will future diplomats and U.S. Presidents jet around the world at supersonic speeds to conduct a new version of ultra-fast “shuttle diplomacy”? If a new contract [...]

The “unsafe” intercept over the Black Sea was not the only incident between a U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber and a Russian Su-27 Flanker last week. As we have already reported with several details, [...]

The Agency’s Steering Board has given its green light to the launch of a new EDA research project which aims to improve and harden Armed Forces’ communication and radar systems with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make them more resilient, even in contested electronic warfare environments. Three Member States - Germany, the Netherlands, Poland – will participate in the project. 

Armed Forces’ radiocommunication and radiolocation services are faced with increasing challenges: the spectrum is becoming denser and more users are contending for limited frequency bandwidth, while the risk of interference is increasing. In addition to that, scenarios are becoming more and more dynamic with mobile high-speed communication, highly agile targets, and electronic warfare methods that are much more efficient than simple noise jamming.  

Cognitive systems supported by AI technologies are a promising option to harden the equipment against such interferences as cognitive radios and radars have the capability to respond to dynamically changing environments. This allows them to offer stable communication based on optimal utilisation of radio frequency spectrum by sensing free spectrum availability and minimizing interference between users, e.g. managing reliable communication dynamically.  

EDA’s new project, called ‘Communications and Radar Systems hardened with Artificial Intelligence in a contested electronic warfare environment’ (CRAI), will produce a study which will significantly help to make progress in the use of AI-supported cognitive systems for the benefit of military communications and radar systems. More precisely, the study notably aims to:  

• investigate future military scenarios and use cases for relevant communication and radar systems, where cognitive methods, combined with AI, offer potential operational benefits; 

• identify potential new communication disturbance based on the past experiences; 

• review and adapt AI methodologies for spectrum Situational Awareness and surveillance; 

• specify the requirements for the common cognitive system acting in contested electronic warfare environments; 

• analyse potential AI techniques that could be used for cognitive communications and radars; 

• design and implement cognitive techniques combined with AI for both communication and radar systems using common interfaces; 

• do the testing, verification and evaluation of AI based communications and radar concepts; 

• and verify, validate and demonstrate the test system in a (field) exercise. 

The project is expected to last for 36 months, starting with the signing of the project arrangement expected to take place in 2021. It will also involve a number of European defence industry players active in the communications and radar domain.  

The footage shows from the cockpit of the B-52 what the U.S. DoD deemed an “unsafe and unprofessional intercept” by the Russians. As we have already reported with plenty of details, on Aug. 28, 2020, [...]

Afghan forces on Saturday managed to recapture an area, previously held by the Taliban* movement for years, in the eastern Nangarhar province, Ahmad Ali Hazrat, head of the provincial council, said.

Flooding has killed at least 45 people and led to the displacement of more than 226,000 from their homes in Niger this week, officials said Saturday.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously approved a resolution to renew the mandate of UN peacekeeping forces stationed along Lebanon's southern border with the Israeli-occupied territories, but has reduced troop capacity there.

A senior Yemeni official says Saudi Arabia and Saudi-backed mercenaries loyal to Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi are plundering crude oil in Yemen's southern province of Shabwah as the Riyadh regime and its allies press ahead with their devastating war on the impoverished Arab country.

Amid the relentless Israeli acts of aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip, all Palestinian resistance groups have expressed their preparedness for a "long-term" battle against the occupying regime's acts of terror.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Palestine says Israel forces have either demolished or seized a total of 25 Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied West Bank in just two weeks.

Yemeni forces have arrested a senior leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist group who planned to carry out a terrorist operation in the capital, Sana'a, Yemen's Interior Ministry says.

President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to build a new modern socialist Tibet.

Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper and Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono discussed ways to strengthen the already strong U.S.-Japanese partnership during a meeting at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

On August 29, Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper hosted Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono in Guam, where they reaffirmed the strength of the U.S.-Japan Alliance and discussed ways to deepen and expand bilateral defense cooperation.

The issue of terrorism in India's Kashmir Valley dates back to the 1990s, when demands for independence from the country began to be made in the region. The Indian government accuses neighbouring Pakistan, which also lays claim to the region, of fuelling Kashmiri secessionism