
June 2019

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The McHale Report, by mil-embedded.com Editorial Director John McHale, covers technology and procurement trends in the defense and aerospace electronics community.

View our archive of recent and past issues of the McHale Report e-mail newsletter.

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PODCAST

PODCAST: Military unmanned aircraft and counter-UAS market update

The military unmanned aircraft market while mature, is a market that is growing in the U.S. and globally thanks to the increases in defense spending worldwide. The U.S. has made cyber and unmanned technology a priority, says Mike Blades, Vice President of Research and Consulting for Aerospace, Defense, and Security in the Americas at Frost & Sullivan, in this podcast. He also covers the latest trends from the commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) market and how defense companies play in that market. Blades closes with his outlook for the counter-UAS market.

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Today’s spacecraft and satellite requirements giving COTS a fresh look

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The fast growth of small satellites and their lower life cycle and launch costs has created a sizable market for low-cost electronic components that have radiation-resistant characteristics. Designers are forced to get creative with their design processes and business models to meet these demand.

RF/IF Extreme 1/2 ATR Recorder Optimized for SWaP

The rugged sealed ½ ATR Model RTX 2590 recorder provides eight phase-coherent 250 MHz 16-bit A/D channels, for recording up to 100 MHz of RF/IF signal bandwidth per channel with excellent dynamic range. It can sample RF/IF signals up to 700 MHz and provides digital downconverters with output bandwidths selectable from 5 kHz to 100 MHz.

TOP STORY

Autonomous flight technology demonstrated by Collins Aerospace and Sikorsky at Paris Air Show

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Collins Aerospace Systems (a unit of United Technologies) and Sikorsky (a Lockheed Martin company) demonstrated fly-by-wire technology that enables autonomous flight for rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft.

TOP STORY

Small-sat design from Lockheed Martin chosen for NASA asteroid-imaging mission

Lockheed Martin has been chosen to design dual small deep-space spacecraft to visit near-earth asteroids for the "Janus" mission, which is led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

TOP STORY

Raytheon and Northrop Grumman sign teaming agreement to develop air-breathing hypersonic weapons

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Raytheon Company and Northrop Grumman Corporation have signed a teaming agreement to develop, produce, and integrate Northrop Grumman's scramjet combustors to power Raytheon's air-breathing hypersonic weapons.

MARKET/BUSINESS DEALS

Aerospace and military market forecasted at $8.7 trillion through 2028 by Boeing

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Strong commercial aviation industry, Steady military spending combined with a growing commercial aviation sector promises growing aerospace and defense market, according to the Boeing Market Outlook (BMO), released this week at the Paris Air Show. Boeing experts forecast the market values at $8.7 trillion over the next ten years, up from $8.1 trillion a year ago.

GUEST BLOG

How Ethernet is key to VICTORY

Adding or enhancing new command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) and electronic warfare (EW) technologies in armed forces’ tactical ground vehicles has historically been done through a “bolt-on” approach. Communications systems have traditionally been independent, siloed systems that lacked integration, futureproofing and as importantly, economies of size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C).

VPT

STANDARDS UPDATE

Development of the next-generation OpenVPX-based embedded system standard – A tri-service convergence of approaches: Part 3 of 3

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Representatives from three different programs, one from each of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) services, have come together with a common objective to solve their respective acquisition problems with an agreed-upon, open architecture standard. Here is the final part of a 3-part article covering the SOSA [Sensor Open System Architecture] Consortium’s efforts.

TOP STORY

Collision-avoidance radar for UAVs gets radome upgrade

Radar and sensor maker Hensoldt announced an upgrade to its collision-avoidance radar system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): The company says that its enhanced radome technology protects the radar from mechanical environmental influences -- such as bird strikes or lightning -- while minimally affecting the radar’s functionality.

TOP STORY

First daytime free-space quantum communication via adaptive optics demonstrated by AFRL

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Daylight quantum communication was demonstrated by experts at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Starfire Optical Range (SOR) under conditions that are representative of space-to-Earth satellite links.

Annapolis Micro Systems

MARKET/BUSINESS DEALS

Military airborne radar market will reach $4.2 billion by 2029, study says

The global military airborne radar market, valued at $2.9 billion in 2019, will increase at a combined annual growth rate of 3.84%, to $4.2 billion by 2029, according to a market study by Global Data, "The Global Military Airborne Radar Market 2019-2029."

EDITOR'S PERSPECTIVE

Open standards and space applications

One area we don’t equate as often with open standards is the space electronics market. Perhaps it’s because of that market’s traditional aversion to the procurement term commercial off-the-shelf (COTS). Many refer to COTS parts as low-quality or by the old misnomer, “Radio Shack” quality.

Making it Cool: Solving Thermal Management Challenges in Military Electronics

Sponsored by: Atrenne Computing Solutions, Kontron, nVent Schroff
Date: July 18, 11:00 a.m. ET
REGISTER NOW

TOP STORY

SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy rocket carries NRL science payloads into orbit

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Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) researchers designed and built two science payloads that went up with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Heavy rocket launch June 25.

MARKET/BUSINESS DEALS

EW, investments in modern technologies will fuel growth of military embedded systems market, study says

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Increasing investment in modern warfare technologies and increasing use of electronic warfare (EW) is expected to fuel the growth of the military embedded systems market over the next 10 years, according to a recent report from Visiongain, "Military Embedded Systems Market Forecast, 2019-2029."

TOP STORY

SOSA Consortium voices support for recent tri-service directive on modular open systems

The Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Consortium, which operates under The Open Group, has thrown its support behind the recent tri-service acquisition memorandum signed by the secretaries of the U.S. military, under which the Army, Navy, and Air Force are directed to include Modular Open Systems (MOSA) standards in all requirements, programming, and development activities for future weapon-system modifications and new-start development programs to the furthest extent possible.

Mercury Systems

GUEST BLOG

How AI can help in battlefield healthcare

Rescuing wounded soldiers during active battlefield situations is one of the most dangerous positions and the cause of many military deaths. According to researchers, around 86% of battlefield deaths occur during the first thirty minutes post-injury. This is the reason researchers across the world are working toward developing artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can bolster battlefield healthcare.

TOP STORY

Antitank weapons system launched from JLTV tested by Oshkosh Defense and partners

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Oshkosh Defense and several industry partners report a successful test of the Javelin antitank guided munition and surveillance weapon system, launched from a Kongsberg remote weapon station mounted on an Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). The test was performed at the U.S. Army post at the Redstone Test Center in northern Alabama.

TOP STORY

Raytheon and United Technologies to merge

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Military defense prime contractor Raytheon and United Technologies have entered into an agreement to combine in an all-stock merger of equals; following the completion of the transaction, the company will be known as Raytheon Technologies.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Get the insider’s view on satellite technology today

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The New Space Race is a new podcast series hosted by John McHale, group editorial director for Military Embedded Systems and brought to you by Wind River®. Hear about the people and technology that are transforming the space industry today. During this six-episode event we will explore how satellites have developed from the first GEO satellites of decades ago to the new SmallSats being launched en masse today. Each episode will feature interviews with experts on the satellite industry covering the spacecraft themselves as well as the hardware and software that enables their complex payloads.

The New Space Race

Original podcast series about the people and technology transforming the satellite industry today. Get your podcast.

BEST IN SHOW

Radar/EW products among those selected for Best in Show awards at IMS 2019

Military Embedded Systems is excited to announce the winners of our Best in Show Award contest, which which we held for our supporters exhibiting at the 2019 International Microwave Symposium (IMS) this month in Boston. Contest winners – drawn from military embedded systems exhibitors at the event – are recognized for the improved performance and innovation they bring to military electronics, RF, microwave, and software systems.

GUEST BLOG

Enemy ships and the kill web

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Since our primary enemies (Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea) have some capacity for naval warfare, it might be instructive to examine how they can confront the kill web at sea. To do that, we need to look at the hull count (total number of warships) and the total tonnage (water displacement of their fleet) for each country. Hull count will tell us how many ships they can deploy in a fight, and tonnage will tell us their range, and how large and deadly those ships are. That will give us the big picture and we can start assessing their capabilities from there.