News Briefs
Shaking Up JTRS
An innovative software communications architecture (SCA) release is being developed for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS). It will be the technical foundation for multiple generations of this system as well as for industry products. The Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO) JTRS is proposing SCA enhancements that move the specification toward a technology-independent representation, making the Common Object Request Broker Architecture optional and thereby increasing the system’s flexibility. Additional changes will modify the specification to meet the requirement for low-power and single-channel radios. The Software Defined Radio Forum is the public liaison with the JPEO JTRS.
DOD Jumps on Social Networking Bandwagon
Social networking tools now are a feature on the U.S. Defense Department Web site. One goal of the addition is to encourage feedback—particularly from 18- to 24-year-olds—by utilizing technology they use every day. In addition to providing links to established Web 2.0 sites, one section of the site invites the public to suggest questions for the secretary of defense, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other top defense and military officials. After gathering the questions, a section of the site enables visitors to vote for the questions they would like answered; voting on the first set of questions ends today. The top five will be presented to the respective officials for responses. A similar approach is being used for offering questions about policy initiatives.
Anti-Mine Systems Go to Sea
A pair of advanced anti-mine systems is being evaluated prior to beginning low-rate initial production. The U.S. Navy is examining the AN/AQS-20A mine-hunting sonar and the AN/ASQ-235 airborne mine neutralization system (AMNS) before they become a part of the Navy’s organic mine countermeasures arsenal. Both systems are deployed from MH-60S helicopters and from the unmanned Remote Minehunting System. The AN/AQS-20A sonar is towed underwater to scan for antiship mines. Once the sonar detects a mine, the target is destroyed by the AMNS, which consists of four unmanned Archerfish neutralizer vehicles carried by the helicopter or remote mine hunter. Five AMNS units are set to be delivered by December 2009 and 20 AN/AQS-20A systems by January 2011.
Open Architecture Platform Increases Radar’s Power
A new naval radar delivers the capabilities of multiple radar systems and works well with both small navy ships and large-deck aircraft carriers. The AN/SPY-5 is a multitracking, target-illuminating system for surface combatants. It can simultaneously search, detect and track multiple surface and air threats. The radar’s open architecture platform, SPY-5, works with all digital combat management systems; the radar is compatible with existing combat systems, which enables a ship’s firepower to be maximized while alterations or additional costs are minimized.
Combined Air,
The U.S. Air Forces Central Combined Air and Space Operations Center has moved to its new facility in
Air Force Dedicates Optimized Supercomputer to ISR
The U.S. Air Force has dedicated the supercomputer Desch to support real-time translation of synthetic aperture radar data into high-resolution three-dimensional video images from the Gotcha radar system the Air Force Research Laboratory has developed. The computing capability will enable conversion of Gotcha's real-time radar data into a 400-megapixel image every second over a diameter of approximately five kilometers (3.1 miles). Desch has been benchmarked at 23 trillion floating point operations per second, making it number 308 on the official list of the 500 fastest computers in the world. It is an optimized, custom-designed SGI Altix ICE 8200 supercomputer built by Silicon Graphics International.
The Russian Academy of Sciences along with the St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University have signed a long-term partnership agreement with EADS. The arrangement expresses common interests and basic principles of cooperation in exploring research and technology projects. The parties jointly will identify specific research and technology plans to be fulfilled in areas such as advanced simulation capabilities, virtual testing, flight physics, structure and noise reduction. Individual projects in these focus areas will be proposed by the Research Council, which was newly created in the framework of the agreement.
The U.K. Ministry of Defence (MOD) is ordering additional targeting systems for British forward air controllers and forward artillery observers. The FireStorm targeting system comprises a suite of software and hardware consisting of a tablet computer, laser range-finder, a real-time video receiver, an azimuth augmentation system, a defense advanced Global Positioning System receiver and a tactical radio. This is the second major contract awarded to Rockwell Collins, FireStorm’s manufacturer, for the system in 2009. According to company officials, the targeter was developed in response to an urgent request by the MOD for an accurate, fully digitized system to enhance soldiers’ situational awareness.
Power System and Energy Laboratory Construction Begins
The U.S Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) broke ground on the U.S. Defense Department's Ground System Power and Energy Laboratory (GSPEL). Because TARDEC supports manned and unmanned ground vehicles, its solutions, including those of the GSPEL, will work on robotic platforms and tactical vehicles. The eight-laboratories-in-one complex will have unique capabilities, including the ability to test entire vehicles and individual vehicle system components in a variety of environmental conditions. The GSPEL will serve as the cornerstone for the Army’s next generation of advanced ground vehicle power and energy solutions.
