Military Embedded Systems

PORTUGAL. The Portuguese Army has awarded Rheinmetall an order for 1,500 LM-LowProfile laser modules. The contract, booked back in October 2020, calls for delivery of the devices in three lots. Delivery is to be complete by the third quarter of 2021. In carrying out the order, Rheinmetall is cooperating closely with its local sales partner, NT Group Portugal.

BETHESDA, Md. Lockheed Martin, in conjunction with the U.S. Navy, completed its first flight test integrating Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) with the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet for the Kuwait Air Force.

CARLSBAD, Calif. Viasat Inc., a global communications company, demonstrated its cloud-based communications during the Naval Integration in Contested Environments (NICE) Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

WASHINGTON. Alion Science and Technology has won a $64 million task order with a 60-month period of performance for C-5M Super Galaxy Reliability, Integrity, Maintainability, and Engineering for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC)/WLS.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. The Italian Air Force has partnered with the U.S. Government and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) to provide a mid-life update to its fleet of MQ-9 Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) and Ground Control Stations (GCS) as part of a Foreign Military Sales agreement.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the hottest topics in modern technology, and defense electronics are no exception. In an industry where commercial automation has far outpaced that of the military, the Department of Defense (DoD) has found itself in a position that is neck and neck with the pace of adversaries. Base-patrolling robot dogs and algorithms designed to understand complex combat scenarios are currently in development, but that's just the beginning. In the debut episode of On the Radar, Emma Helfrich and John McHale of Military Embedded Systems discuss the current state of military AI and machine learning (ML), how these advancements are being financed, and the obstacles that stand in innovation's way. Also covered is the concept of defining the ethics of ML-powered systems and DoD research and development funding for AI.

NORWAY. The Norwegian Defense Material Agency (NDMA) has signed an agreement with the Netherlands Defense Material Organization (DMO) for the acquisition of five Thales Ground Master 200 Multi-Mission Compact radars (GM200 MM/C). The agreement also includes an option for three additional systems.

PALO ALTO, Calif. and YOKNEAM, Israel. Ramon.Space, company specializing in space computing solutions, has raised $17.5 million in Series A funding. The capital will be used to continue development of the company's computing solutions, support its rapidly expanding U.S. and Israel operations, and expand the team globally.

UNITED KINGDOM. The Expeditionary Robotics Center of Expertise (ERCoE) has been launched by Defense Equipment and Support (DE&S) in collaboration with the British Army. Officials claim the ERCoE will aim to bring together robotics and autonomous systems experts from across defense, government, academia, and industry and aligns with DE&S’ strategy to deliver the edge through people, technology, and innovation.

GERMANY. Saab has received an order from Panavia Aircraft GmbH to upgrade the radar warning equipment on the Tornado aircraft operated by the German Air Force. The order value is approximately $48.4 million (400 million SEK).

FAIRFAX, Va. General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) announced that it has delivered the 500th wideband nose radome to Lockheed Martin for installation aboard U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and international military F-35 aircraft.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa. Collins Aerospace, a unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp., announced that it has begun shipping parts following a second multi-year contract it received in November to supply Northrop Grumman with NP2000 propeller systems for 39 E-2D aircraft.

HUNGARY. The 209 new Lynx infantry fighting vehicles recently ordered by Hungary from Rheinmetall of Germany will be equipped with Rheinmetall’s StrikeShield hard-kill active protection system (APS). Hungary is the latest customer for this technology, which has formed part of the Rheinmetall portfolio since 2006.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa. Collins Aerospace, a unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp., is developing two software-defined radios (SDR) for the U.S. Air Force that will aim to connect and transmit airborne and ground radio data for the first time using a multi-node network.

FRANCE. Thales has announced that the first of the five Sea Fire active electronically scanned array (AESA) digital radars for French Navy’s future Frigates for Defense and Intervention (FDI) arrived at the Lorient shipyard April 27, 2021 for integration on the first vessel.

BOULDER, Colo. Ball Aerospace, in collaboration with Microsoft, completed a series of demonstrations intended to show the viability of using commercial cloud computing to process and securely deliver actionable information to those who need it, whether they are in a ground station, command center, or on the battlefield.

ARLINGTON, Va. BAE Systems, Inc. has received a $325.5 million contract from the Defense Logistics Agency for advanced Military Code (M-Code) Global Positioning System (GPS) modules that will aim to provide reliable and secure positioning, navigation, and timing data with anti-jamming and anti-spoofing capabilities. The modules will help warfighters conduct operations in contested electronic warfare environments.

ESTONIA. The Estonian Defense Forces Artillery Battalion used Milrem Robotics’ THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) in a live-fire exercise to provide advanced situational awareness, conduct casualty evacuation (CASEVAC), and support unit maneuvers while providing direct fire support from various positions.

ASHBURN, Va. Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division, supplier of rugged open-standard solutions, has introduced the VPX6-1961, an 11th Generation Intel Core single-board computer (SBC) based on the Intel Xeon W (formerly Tiger Lake-H).

TAMPA, Fla. CAE announced that CAE USA has won a contract valued at more than $135 million, including options, by the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to lead integration efforts for the Special Operations Forces (SOF) Global Situational Awareness initiative. USSOCOM has exercised the first option of the contract valued at more than $19 million.