Israel Debuts New Persistent Surveillance Capabilities at the Singapore Airshow
In a trend to improve wide-area persistent surveillance (WAPS) beyond existing capabilities, three defense industries from Israel unveil groundbreaking, lightweight WAPS systems designed for small, tactical unmanned aerial systems (STUAS) at the Singapore Airshow. These platforms are designed to operate with tactical forces and provide intelligence support to the units in direct contact with the enemy.
Raytheon to Build a New 360 Radar for the US Army Patriot Air Defense Systems
The Raytheon Company announced it has been selected to provide the US Army with its next-generation, 360-degree capable radar – known as the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS). Deployment of sensors like LTAMDS is expected to close the vulnerability of sectorial air defenses that was clearly demonstrated in the failure of Saudi Arabian air defenses to detect and warn of the Iranian cruise missile attack.
New Defensive Suites for RAF Shadows
The UK Ministry of Defence has chosen Leonardo/Thales protection system to protect the RAF Shadow ISTAR fleet. This single-source selection by the MOD follows the recent SALT III international trials hosted by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration in Sweden. There, the integrated Miysis/Elix-IR system, using a jamming waveform developed by the UK MOD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, proved its ability to defeat Infra-Red missiles in live-fire exercises.
IAI’s EO/IR POPSTAR is designed to Detect ‘Flying IEDs’
IAI introduced today the 'POPSTAR', a persistent surveillance sensor using an EOIR camera array to automatically detect and track small, flying or moving targets in the air and on the ground, track those targets and designate the targets deemed suspicious and dangerous for engagement by countermeasures and weapons.
Rada Unveils New Radars for Active Protection Systems
RADA unveils at DSEI 2019 two new radars addressing the acute threats that land forces are facing in the modern battlefield. Both radars - the aCHR and xMHR, provide the central sensor element in mobile active protection capabilities - both APS and mobile SHORAD, are based on the company’s modular software-defined radar platform.
New Airborne AESA Radars from China
LKF601E, an airborne FCS AESA radar from the Chinese Aviation Industry Cooperation (AVIC) was unveiled at the AirshowChina event. The new radar is designed for new and upgraded platforms such as the JF-17 and FTC-2000G ‘export fighters’. uses a 3GHz bandwidth at the X-band, provides detection of fighter-sized targets at 170 km, tracks up to 15 targets simultaneously and engages four with air/air missiles. The radar also supports air/ground modes, with one-meter SAR resolution and terrain mapping at 300 km. Searching targets at sea, the radar can detect large targets from 200 km.
DARPA Studies Human-Swarm Interactions
DARPA calls for proposals to study tools to enable soldiers to operate and control swarms of up to 250 collaborating bots. Such swarms will be able to support soldiers fighting in an urban area, providing critical situational awareness, understanding, and decision making.
New Orders Reflect Growing Interest in Rada’s Tactical Radars
Israel's tactical radar pioneer RADA Electronic Industries reported new orders worth US$5 million for two variants of its mobile radars, the Multirole Hemispheric Radar, employed in Counter Rocket Artillery and Mortar (C-RAM), Counter UAV (C-UAV) and Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) applications.
Dutch Special Forces, Forward Observers to Get New, Lightweight Sights
The Defense Material Organization (DMO) of the Netherlands announced the selection of Vectronix AG, Switzerland (a subsidiary of Safran Electronics & Defense) to supply more than 1,000 handheld thermal sights for the Dutch Army.
Australians Integrate Nano UAVs at Squads, Troop Level
The Australian Army is now the biggest user of Nano UAS in the world. It is also the first in the world to proliferate this technology to the conventional forces down to combat platoon level
Long Range, Hyperspectral Vision and Staring IRST – Air Force Essentials in Counter-A2AD Operations
Leidos has been selected to deliver the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) extended-range, high-resolution imaging, hyperspectral sensing, and close-in imaging with expendable sensor technologies designed to defeat adversary anti-access and area denial (A2/AD) threats.
Global Hawk’s New Optical Sensor to Use AlBeMet Metal Matrix Composites
Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN) has been awarded a contract by UTC Aerospace Systems for AlBeMet metal matrix composite parts for its MS-177 long-range, multi-spectral imaging (MSI) sensor, to be used by RQ-4B Global Hawk.
IMSAR Introduce a Podded, Extended Range SAR Radar
IMSAR successfully flight-tested an extended range multi-mode radar, the NSP-5 ER, for the first time. During the flight, the new sensor underwent testing to verify that image quality and impulse response metrics met IMSAR standards, delivering high-resolution imaging and coherent change detection modes.
Meprolight’s Multispectral Sight Spans Day & Night Operations
Meprolight is unveiling a new, multi-spectral EO weapon sight that combines an uncooled thermal channel with a sensitive, high-resolution digital day/night camera to provide the user effective situational awareness under all visibility conditions, including total darkness encountered in operations underground.
