All Department of Defense articles – Page 7
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NewsLloyd Austin confirmed as USA’s first African American secretary of defence
The US Senate confirmed Lloyd Austin as the USA’s first African American secretary of defence on 22 January.
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News
Stealthy Fifth-Generation Aerial Target lost due to in-flight mishap
The Director of Operational Test and Evaluation’s stealthy Fifth-Generation Aerial Target (5GAT) was lost to an in-flight mishap in October.
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In depth
US Marine Corps commits detachment of F-35Bs to HMS Queen Elizabeth
The US Marine Corps has committed a detachment of Lockheed Martin F-35Bs to the Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier for its first overseas deployment this year.
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News
Excess movement prevents C-130 from retrieving Gremlins in mid-air test
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) came within inches of snatching several X-61A Gremlins unmanned air vehicles out of the sky using an arm extended from the cargo bay of a Lockheed Martin C-130. However, the aerial captures were aborted because of too much movement between the docking mechanism and the drones.
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News
Biden to nominate retired US Army general Lloyd Austin as defence secretary: reports
President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate retired US Army general Lloyd Austin as defence secretary, according to widespread news reports that cite confidential sources. If confirmed by the US Senate, Austin would be the first African American to lead the Pentagon in its 73-year history
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News
DARPA’s CODE autonomously flies General Atomics’ Avenger UAV
A General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Avenger unmanned air vehicle was recently autonomously flown by an artificially intelligent software program developed by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
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News
Kratos upgrades mixed-reality helicopter trainer to simulate aerial assaults
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has launched a new upgrade to its mixed-reality helicopter aircrew training system.
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News
USA approves $23bn sale of F-35s, MQ-9Bs and thousands of weapons to UAE
The US Department of State has approved the sale of an aircraft and weapons package worth up to $23.37 billion to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including 50 examples of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter.
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News
Northrop, Boeing AEW&C work demonstrates open mission system potential
Northrop Grumman and Boeing have demonstrated an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar optimised as an open mission system connecting with an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system in recent ground and flight tests.
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News
USA approves sale of four MQ-9B SkyGuardians to Taiwan
The US Department of State has approved the possible sale of four General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9B SkyGuardian unmanned air vehicles to Taiwan.
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News
F-35 saga of delays continues as full-rate production pushed back again
The DoD had expressed confidence as recently as August that IOT&E would be complete by March 2021, after multiple delays since the process started in December 2018.
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News
Texas A&M to lead $100m hypersonic research consortium for Pentagon
The US Department of Defense has awarded Texas A&M University’s Engineering Experiment Station a 5-year contract worth $20 million per year to establish and manage the University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics.
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News
5GAT first flight scheduled for October
The US Department of Defense’s Office of Operational Test and Evaluation plans to test fly its Fifth-Generation Aerial Target prototype for the first time in October at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah.
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News
Lockheed Martin plans to buy Integration Innovation’s hypersonics portfolio
In the realm of hypersonic technologies, Integration Innovation says it specializes in thermal protection systems, propulsion, missile seeker windows and domes, ground test and evaluation facilities and services, flight test services, weather evaluation, modelling and simulation, and software development.
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News
Pentagon, SpaceX may demo rocket delivery of cargo in 2021
The US Transportation Command has partnered with Space Exploration Technologies Corporation to study delivering tens of thousands of kilograms worth of cargo to anywhere on Earth within about an hour using the aerospace company’s vertical landing rockets.
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News
AeroVironment to start making larger Switchblade ahead of military deployment
The company says the new Switchblade is aimed at the tactical missile market currently occupied by the Lockheed Martin Hellfire, Lockheed Martin/ Raytheon Javelin and Raytheon TOW missiles.
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News
Anduril unveils rugged Ghost 4 recon UAV with radio silent, autonomous ops
The company promises the drone is more rugged, packable and longer-flying than its predecessor. Its on-board computer, which has 32 teraops of processing power, allows the drone to use artificial intelligence programs to make decisions and identify targets autonomously.
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Analysis
AI to dogfight against real-world fighter aircraft in 2024: Pentagon
“We see AI as a tool to free up resources, time and manpower, so our people can focus on higher priority tasks and arrive at the decision point, whether in a lab or on the battlefield, faster and more precise than the competition,” says US secretary of defense Mark Esper.
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Opinion
Will commoditised sales of the F-16 fighter work?
The Pentagon’s plan to offer a commoditised version of the Lockheed Martin F-16 could help propel the world’s best-selling fighter aircraft to new heights, but it remains to be seen if foreign customers will put aside their fondness of fancy custom features.
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News
USAF conducts second, ‘more complex’ field test of Advanced Battle Management System
As part of the most recent test, US military forces simulated using ABMS to “detect and defeat efforts to disrupt US operations in space”, says the USAF. The forces also coordinated the shoot-down of a mock cruise missile using a new “hypervelocity weapon”.
