05/06/2015 par Emmanuel Huberdeau – Air & Cosmos

Northrop Grumman a présenté le 4 juin 2015 le premier drone HALE (Haute Altitude Longue Endurance) Global Hawk destiné à l'OTAN, baptisé "NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) aircraft".

La commande du Global Hawk avait été décidée en 2012 lors du sommet de l'OTAN. A Chicago, les pays de l'alliance avaient alors signé le contrat d'acquisition de cinq drones  "stratégiques” RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 40.

Northrop Grumman annonce que le système a été développé en collaboration avec des industriels européens dont Airbus Defence and Space, Selex ES et Kongsberg. Au total, les industriels de 15 pays (Sur les 28 de l'OTAN) ont été impliqués dans le programme AGS. Les 28 pays de l'alliance participeront ensuite au soutien du système sur le long terme. L'achat des drones et des équipements associés, ainsi que la formation du personnel, représentent un coût de plus d'un milliard d'euros, selon l'Otan. Les coûts de fonctionnement de l'AGS au cours des vingt prochaines années seront supérieurs à 2 md€. La France ne participe pas au programme d'acquisition.

Suite de l’article

4 juin 2015 by Lockheed Martin

June 4, 2015: Strategy Page

One unpublicized reason for the recent American commando raid into eastern Syria was to capture a lot of ISIL documents. The death of a senior ISIL official (chief of finance) and the capture of his wife (heavily involved with running the growing ISIL slave trade) was played up but equally, if not more important was grabbing laptops (each with gigabyes of records) and loads of paper documents. Apparently more raids like this have been authorized, despite the current American reluctance to expose their troops to any combat.

Since late 2001, when the first large capture of al Qaeda documents tool place in Afghanistan, American intelligence has found that the new (as best represented by al Qaeda) generation of Islamic terrorists were better educated (at least at the leadership and staff level) and more comfortable with bureaucratic methods. Some were surprised by all the documents al Qaeda left behind when they fled Afghanistan in 2001, but on reading many of those documents it was clear that all that paperwork indicated a high degree of organization and the potential for organizations like this to be a lot more lethal than they already were. The document analysis showed that the leaders were constantly soliciting new ideas on better ways to train their generally poorly educated (often illiterate) recruits. In many respects all this paperwork was chilling because it made clear that groups like al Qaeda did not just “get lucky” on September 11, 2001 but had carefully thought out, planned and executed that operation and many more that fell apart because it was not easy carrying out such attacks in the West. Many things can go wrong and the al Qaeda planners and organizers were, as the memos, letters and other documents spelled out, aware of the obstacles and constantly seeking solutions.

Subsequently raids by regular troops as well as commandos were made with documents as a major objective. This paid big dividends and later document hauls showed that the terrorists were seeking ways to protect themselves from this vulnerability. So far no highly effective solutions have been found and the captured documents continue to provide devastating (for the Islamic terrorists) hauls of information.

This emphasis on capturing documents rather than Islamic terrorists does not play well in the media and has thus been overlooked by most people but for the troops and the civilian intel specialists the main reason for most raids is information, not dead terrorists and destroyed tools of their trade. Cheap PCs and widespread Internet access has changed everything in even in an organization demanding that the world revert back to a 7th century lifestyle.

June 4, 2015: Strategy Page

Israel recently ordered $1.9 billion worth of smart bombs from the U.S. This order mainly consists of JDAM (22,000 kits for 500, 1,000 and 2,000 pound bombs). Nearly half the JDAMs are for 500 pound bombs. Also included are 1,500 Paveway laser guided bomb kits. These kits are added to an unguided bomb to create a GPS guided JDAM smart bomb. A number of non-kit smart bombs were also ordered including 4,100 SDBs (Small Diameter Bomb) and 3,000 Hellfire missiles. Also included were 250 AMRAAM air-to-air radar guided missiles and sundry test and maintenance equipment for all these smart bombs. This order is for expanding the Israeli Air Force war reserve and meant to cope mainly with a massive rocket attack by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

In late 2013 the U.S. Department of Defense suddenly increased the number of JDAM smart bomb kits ordered 17 percent (to 212,588). Over 250,000 JDAM kits have been manufactured since 1998 and the U.S. has been the biggest customer followed by Israel. This is all about stocking up for “The Big One.” The U.S. Air Force (along with the navy, marines, and army) are all moving away from using air power against terrorists and irregular troops, towards what they all refer to as “Bombing Beijing” or North Korea or Iran. This is a major change from how American air power has been used for the past two decades. In that time there has been a lot of bombing but not much opposition to the American aircraft. Since GPS smart bombs and targeting pods were introduced in the 1990s, bomber pilots have had their job reduced to that of a bomb-truck driver.

The U.S. believes the key air weapon will be smart bombs, especially the JDAM and JSOW (powered JDAM). Thus the heavy orders for JDAM, to build up the war reserve in case there is what the planners call a “major war”.  Meanwhile, the U.S. has built up a huge arsenal of smart bombs. After the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. Air Force ordered a sharp increase in JDAM production, aiming for 5,000 JDAM a month. They ended up needing far less. In 2005, about 30,000 JDAM were ordered. That fell to 11,605 in 2006, and 10,661 in 2007. In 2008, only 5,000 were ordered. But now the orders are over 10,000 a year again. Most of those ordered in the past few years are being put into the war reserve. Only a few thousand a year are actually being used, and this includes those expended during training. The war reserve contains over 100,000 kits, to be used in some unspecified, but big, future conflict. Air warfare planners see the most likely major conflict as one involving China. Despite the dependence on GPS, JDAM has been adapted to resist the jamming and, if that fails there is a backup INS guidance system that, while not as accurate as GPS is accurate enough for most targets.

JDAM smart bombs were developed in the 1990s, shortly after the GPS network went live. These weapons entered service in time for the 1999 Kosovo campaign and have been so successful that their use has sharply reduced the number of bombs dropped and the number of sorties required by bombers. The air force generals are still trying to figure out where this is all going. Now the big effort is directed towards using all this new tech to shut down a more feisty and capable opponent like China (or Iran or North Korea, two more feisty but less well equipped foes).

4 juin 2015 45eNord.ca

CAE USA, la filiale américaine de l,entreprise montréalaise CAE, remporte un contrat de la part de l’U.S. Army pour fournir l’entraînement complet des pilotes d’appareils à voilure fixe. La valeur prévue du programme, y compris les options,est d’environ 200 millions $US [249,54 Millions $ CAN] au cours des huit prochaines années. Nous reproduisons ici dans son intégralité le communiqué de l’entreprise.

CAE a annoncé aujourd’hui que CAE USA a remporté un contrat de la part de l’United States Army pour fournir la formation initiale et périodique complète de plus de 600 pilotes d’appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army et de l’U.S. Air Force chaque année.

Selon les modalités du contrat, qui a été octroyé comme un contrat à prix fixe ferme de plus de 29 millions $US pour la période de base et six années en option jusqu’au 30 septembre 2023, CAE USA fournira des services d’entraînement clé en main dans un nouveau centre de formation appartenant et exploité par CAE qui sera construit à l’aéroport régional Dothan en Alabama, à proximité du centre d’excellence aéronautique de l’U.S. Army (USAACE) à Fort Rucker.

La valeur totale du contrat échelonné sur les huit prochaines années devrait être d’environ 200 millions $US ½249,54 Millions $ CAN].

Le programme d’entraînement sur appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army est responsable de fournir tout l’entraînement nécessaire aux pilotes chevronnés sur appareils à voilure tournante de l’U.S. Army qui effectuent une transition vers la flotte composée de plus de 350 appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army.

L’U.S. Army et CAE mettront également en œuvre un nouveau programme d’entraînement initial sur appareils à voilure fixe (IEFW) afin que les nouveaux élèves-pilotes recrutés par l’U.S Army puissent amorcer leur cheminement de carrière vers les appareils à voilure fixe plus tôt. Le programme d’entraînement sur appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army sert également à effectuer l’entraînement périodique officiel des pilotes d’avions C-12/RC-12 King Air, ainsi que l’entraînement annuel des pilotes C-12 King Air de l’U.S. Air Force.

«Nous sommes honorés et fiers d’avoir été sélectionnés par l’U.S. Army comme son partenaire de choix en matière d’intégration des systèmes de formation pour l’entraînement sur appareils à voilure fixe», a déclaré Gene Colabatistto, président de groupe, Défense et sécurité à CAE. «Nous réunirons l’entraînement virtuel, constructif et sur appareil en fournissant à l’U.S. Army un programme d’entraînement moderne et flexible qui fera en sorte que les pilotes d’appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army auront accès à un entraînement sécuritaire et de qualité supérieure. Voilà un autre excellent exemple d’utilisation par CAE de son savoir-faire en intégration des systèmes de formation pour fournir une solution complète d’entraînement clé en main.»

CAE commencera la construction immédiatement d’un nouveau centre de formation à l’aéroport régional Dothan équipé de salles de classe à la fine pointe de la technologie; d’un environnement d’apprentissage intégré de systèmes d’entraînement et d’autres installations modernes. CAE tire parti des conceptions existantes et construit actuellement une série de dispositifs d’entraînement, y compris deux simulateurs de vol (FFS) C-12 King Air de Série CAE 7000XR et deux dispositifs intégrés d’entraînement aux procédures (IPT) reconfigurables CAE Simfinity C-12 King Air.

e plus, CAE développera deux autres FFS de Série CAE 7000XR, considérés comme les FFS principaux, qui seront dotés de la conception révolutionnaire de postes de pilotage interchangeables (RORO) de CAE qui permet l’utilisation dans le simulateur de postes de pilotage représentant divers modèles d’appareils. CAE développera quatre postes de pilotage RORO représentant diverses configurations de l’avion C-12 King Air utilisé par l’U.S. Army et l’U.S. Air Force. Lorsque deux des postes de pilotage sont installés dans le simulateur de vol principal, les deux autres peuvent être connectés à une station d’accueil et être utilisés comme des dispositifs d’entraînement au vol équivalant au niveau 6.

Le programme d’entraînement complet sur appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S Army inclura également l’entraînement sur appareil fourni par CAE. La transition des pilotes d’appareils à voilure tournante de l’U.S. Army et l’entraînement initial des élèves-pilotes d’appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army nécessiteront l’utilisation de six nouveaux avions Grob G120TP qui seront achetés par CAE. De plus, CAE concevra et construira deux dispositifs d’entraînement en vol Grob G120 TP et une série de dispositifs d’entraînement sur ordinateur et de didacticiels pour appuyer le programme d’entraînement. Une flotte de 10 avions C-12U King Air appartenant et entretenus par l’U.S. Army sera également exploitée par les instructeurs de CAE pour fournir l’entraînement en vol sur l’avion C-12 King Air.

«Le programme d’entraînement sur appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army que nous développons sera un programme de renommée mondiale qui crée un juste équilibre entre l’instruction en classe et l’entraînement en vol», a déclaré Ray Duquette, président et directeur général de CAE USA. « Nous tirerons parti de nos plus récentes capacités d’entraînement, comme la formation sur la récupération en cas de perte de contrôle et les systèmes de briefing/débriefing CAE Flightscape, pour fournir un entraînement fondé sur des scénarios propres aux exigences de l’U.S. Army relativement aux appareils à voilure fixe. Cela nous permettra également d’élargir notre offre en matière de fourniture de programmes complets de formation initiale militaire que d’autres organismes gouvernementaux américains et d’autres forces armées internationales pourront utiliser.»

04-06-2015 Par Claire Arsenault - RFI

La tourmente qui a emporté l’Europe dans la Première Guerre mondiale est allée chercher ses combattants bien au-delà des zones de combats. Ainsi, des milliers d’Amérindiens se sont engagés dans les armées américaine ou canadienne. Pour cela, ils ont revêtu les uniformes des « Visages pâles ». Au combat, ils ont souvent fait plus que leur part et nombreux sont ceux qui ne sont jamais revenus. Nous allons vous raconter l’histoire de quelques-uns d’entre eux…

03/06/2015 Sources : État-major des armées

Du 20 au 30 mai 2015, les forces armées en Nouvelle-Calédonie (FANC) ont participé à l’opération de police des pêches Tui Moana, organisée par la Forum Fishery Agency (FFA).

Les FANC et les forces armées en Polynésie française (FAPF) ont été engagées pendant 10 jours aux côtés des Samoa, des îles Cook, des Tonga, des Fidji, de Tuvalu et du Tokelau, soutenus par les Etats-Unis, l’Australie et de la Nouvelle-Zélande dans cette opération de surveillance maritime régionale.

L’objectif de Tui Moana était de surveiller les zones de concentration de pêcheurs et de montrer la capacité des nations partenaires à partager et à exploiter des informations afin, si nécessaire, d’inspecter les pêcheurs suspects et de contrôler la légalité des prises.

Pour cette opération, les moyens des FANC étaient déployés dans les zones économiques exclusives (ZEE) et les eaux internationales entre la Nouvelle-Calédonie et Wallis-et-Futuna. Tout d’abord, un Falcon 200Gardian du détachement de la flottille 25F a été prépositionné à Wallis afin de conduire des missions de surveillance maritime en collaboration avec la frégate de surveillance Vendémiaire dans la ZEE de ce territoire français.

Dans le cadre de sa mission de représentation, le Vendémiaire a patrouillé dans la ZEE de Wallis pendant une semaine, et a effectué des contrôles dans une poche de haute mer située entre le Vanuatu et Fidji. Un officier tongien et un officier fidjien ont embarqué sur la frégate française lors d’une escale à Sydney, renforçant ainsi la coopération entretenue avec ces nations dans le cadre de la police des pêches. Un patrouilleur fidjien est également entré en interaction avec le Vendémiaire.

Coordonnée par la FFA, instance internationale regroupant 17 États du Pacifique Sud et ayant pour vocation la gestion et la préservation de la ressource halieutique, l’opération Tui Moana a permis de réaliser plusieurs dizaines de contrôles (VHF et radio) et plusieurs visites de navire de pêche. Pour sa part le Vendémiaire,en coopération avec le Gardian, a effectué une inspection sur trois navires : deux chinois et un fidjien. Aucune infraction n’a été identifiée lors de ces visites.

En plus de Tui Moana, les opérations Kuru-Kuru, Rai Balang, Big Eye (FFA), Nasse (nouvelle opération organisée par les FANC, l’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande) et Tautaï (organisée par les FAPF) sont des opérations d’envergure de police des pêches auxquelles participe la France dans cette région du monde.

Les FANC constituent le point d’appui central du « théâtre » Pacifique avec un dispositif interarmées centré sur un groupement tactique interarmes (GTIA) et les moyens de projection associés. Avec les forces armées en Polynésie française (FAPF), dispositif interarmées à dominante maritime, les FANC ont pour principale mission d’assurer la souveraineté de la France dans leur zone de responsabilité, d’animer la coopération régionale et d’entretenir des relations privilégiées avec l’ensemble des pays riverains de la zone Pacifique. Enfin, les FANC engagent régulièrement leurs moyens pour des opérations d’aide aux populations, en appui des autres services de l’Etat.

May 30, 2015: Strategy Page

The U.S. Army and Marine Corps stopped using the same 5.56mm ammunition in 2010 when the army began using the new lead-free M855A1 5.56mm round for combat (mainly in Afghanistan) operations. The M855A1 replaces the older M855 long used by the marines as well. The marines also wanted to adopt some new and improved 5.56mm ammo but decided the M855A1 was not it and continued looking. Now the marines believe they have found their new round, the M318 SOST, which has been used by SOCOM for several years. This annoyed a number of key people in Congress who insisted both services use the same 5.56mm ammo. To decide the issue there will be tests, and possibly more tests after that. In the meantime the political winds may shift and make the Congressional mandate for common ammo go away. After all for decades SOCOM has been allowed to use whatever ammunition (or weapons) it feels are best for the job at hand. But Congress considers SOCOM a special case, at least more special than the marines, and leaves SOCOM alone.

The new M855A1 round is more expensive and marginally better than the older M855. The major reason for the appearance of the M855A1 was years of political pressure on the army to use non-lead bullets. That came about because training and combat use of army 5.56mm weapons puts 2,000 tons of lead back into the environment each year. This lead was originally taken out of the environment to be temporarily stored in the form of bullets. The lead is also contained in a copper jacket and most of it stays that way. That's probably why no environmental study has ever found lead leaching out of spent bullets and getting into anyone's water. But just the thought of all those billions of lead bullets lying in the ground mobilized an international movement to ban lead bullets.

Fortunately the M855A1 was also about several other improvements besides being lead-free. For example, the M855A1 is a little more accurate at longer ranges. This is important in a place like Afghanistan. The M855A1 is marginally better at blasting its way through brick, concrete, and masonry than the older M855. The propellant in the M855A1 burns faster and thus produces a smaller muzzle flash when fired from the short (compared to the M-16) barreled M-4 rifle. The greater penetrating power of the M855A1 is because of a steel penetrator, which also makes the M855A1 more likely to penetrate body armor and sheet metal. The Taliban were increasingly getting their hands on protective vests or adding armor to vehicles (particularly suicide car bombs meant to speed past armed guards).

The marines noted that the steel M855A1 bullet also caused more wear and tear on rifles using it. The marines noted that the M855A1 has been causing cracks in rifles that have fired as few as 3,000 of them. Marines also point out that the M855A1 requires larger safety zones for rifle ranges because the M855A1 tends to ricochet farther. The larger safety zones could be very expensive for some marine ranges.

While this non-lead policy burnishes the army's image and environmental cred, it was also feared that it might equip troops with an inferior bullet, which was built around a copper alloy (not lead) slug. But inferior to what? Well to another new bullet, the ones the marines want and SOCOM (Special Operations Command) already uses. SOCOM developed the new 5.56mm M318 SOST (Special Operations Science and Technology) round. The SOST bullet solves a problem the M855 has long had, the inability to penetrate things like automobile windshields. SOST uses lead and also has more killing power than the M855 (that did not inflict as much internal damage, and bleeding, as 7.62mm and 9mm rounds). The M855A1 turned out to perform these tasks as well, or nearly as well, as SOST and was still "green" (less potential lead pollution).

The army spent over $32 million developing the M855A1. The new bullet is more expensive (because of the more complex manufacturing process) and in the field troops have not noticed much difference. On the down side, the new round generates more pressure in the chamber (and higher speed leaving the barrel). In theory this causes a slight increase in the risk of a rifle exploding. That has not happened yet.

Some green bullets have been disasters. Norway introduced one three years ago that made users sick. It seems the new bullet, when used in new rifles, created some toxic gasses. A redesign of the new round fixed the problem and made the new bullet even more expensive. The marines believe the M318 is superior to the M855 and the lead-free M855A1 and has already shown that to be the case in combat (mainly with SOCOM). But Congress cannot be ignored and the marines will have to wait.

1 juin 2015 by US Air Force

May 24, 2015: Strategy Page

U.S. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) has ordered a new version of the CQ-10 cargo delivery UAVs. This model (CQ-10B) operates like a helicopter while the original CA-10A used a parafoil. Also called the SnowGoose (it was developed by a Canadian firm) this UAV doesn't have wings and was designed to deliver cargo. The CQ-10A is launched from the back of a moving hummer, which has to speed down at least 300 meters of straight road (or flat ground) for the parafoil to deploy and lift the CA-10A into the air. The UAV lands by coming in low to a specific GPS location and cutting its motor off. CQ-10A can also be dropped from a cargo aircraft with a rear door. The CQ-10B operates like a helicopter.

The CQ-10A is a further development of the Sherpa cargo parachute system (that used GPS and mechanical controls to guide the direction of the descending parafoil for pinpoint landings). It took four years to develop the unpowered Sherpa system into a powered one that flies to designated GPS coordinates, drops cargo and returns. The CQ-10 can receive new GPS coordinates while in flight. The U.S. Army paid for much of the SnowGoose development, especially features that enable the UAV to perform recon, as well as supply, missions.

The CA-10A took that technology one step farther. Using a parafoil (a parachute that can be controlled in such a way that the user can gain altitude and travel over long distances), and a "cargo container" that contains a small propeller and engine, a unique type of UAV has been created. The SnowGoose is basically rectangular box (on skids) with a 115 horsepower engine, fuel supply, parafoil controls, and six cargo compartments (carrying up to 45 kg/100 pounds each). The CA-10A ejects the cargo containers when it is low and within 30 meters (100 feet) of the GPS coordinates it was programmed with. The CQ-10B can land for unloading.

Since 2005 SOCOM has bought at least 75 CQ-10As (at about $500,000 each) for use in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. The CQ-10A has a range of 300 kilometers and a top speed of 61 kilometers an hour. The B version has a range of 600 kilometers and a top speed of 120 kilometers an hour. The CQ-10B costs $650,000 each and nearly $300 an hour to operate. The CQ-10B is seen as very useful for disaster relief operations and is being offered to organizations that handle emergency relief.

The SnowGoose can stay in the air for up to 20 hours, is guided by onboard GPS and mechanical flight controls operated by a special microcomputer. The Special Forces are using them for things like delivering supplies, or dropping psychological warfare leaflets. The UAV is particularly good for delivering supplies to long range patrols, units that need their stuff delivered discretely at night. The SnowGoose does this more effectively than a manned helicopter or a parachute drop.

May 17, 2015: Strategy Page

The U.S. Navy’s X-47B UCAS (unmanned combat air system) continues to break or make records. Thus in 2015 this included the world's first fully autonomous aerial refueling in April, performed with a KC-707 tanker. During the last few years this unmanned combat aircraft has successfully carried out numerous operations aboard aircraft carriers. These tests were often firsts for UCAS. Thus an X-47B made its first catapult launch from an aircraft carrier on May 14th 2013. That was followed by several touch and go landings on a carrier. The first carrier landing, as expected, followed soon after. Later in the year more flight tests further stressed the capabilities of the automatic landing system, especially in high speed and complex (different directions) winds. The autolanding systems passed all these tests. The X-47B was also the first UAV to land and be off the carrier deck in less than 90 seconds, just like manned aircraft. There were a lot of other tests to see how effectively and reliably the X-47B could operate on the carrier and hanger deck and do it alongside manned aircraft. All this is part of a long-term navy plan to introduce an UCAS replacement for the F-35 (which is soon to replace the F-18s) in the 2030s. But if the UCAS progress continues to be swift and the costs low (compared to manned aircraft), the F-35 could find its production run much reduced to make room for an UCAS.

While software controlled landing systems have been around for decades, landing on a moving air field (an aircraft carrier) is considerably more complex than the usual situation (landing on a stationary airfield). Dealing with carrier landings requires more powerful hardware and software aboard the aircraft. The navy expected some glitches and bugs and appears to be rapidly catching up to the reliability of commercial landing software (which has been used very successfully on UAVs) within months rather than decades.

Rather than begin development on the slightly larger X-47C, which was be the first naval UCAV to enter service, the navy changed that plan and is now seeking new designs for a UCLASS (unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike) aircraft. There will be a competition by development aircraft in 2016. It’s likely, but not certain, that one of those 2016 competitors will be the X-47C.

All this comes after the navy rolled out the first X-47B in 2008. This was the first carrier-based combat UAV, with a wingspan of 20 meters (62 feet, and the outer 25 percent folds up to save space on the carrier) and stay in the air for up to twelve hours. The 20 ton X-47B weighs a little less than the 24 ton F-18A and has two internal bays holding two tons of smart bombs. It is a stealthy aircraft. As it exists right now the X-47B could be used for a lot of bombing missions, sort of a super-Reaper. The navy has been impressed with the U.S. Air Force success with the Predator and Reaper. But the propeller driven Reaper weighs only 4.7 tons. The much larger X-47B uses a F100-PW-220 engine, which is currently used in the F-16 and F-15.

The X-47C was expected to be closer to 30 tons and have a payload of over four tons. The X-47B was never mean to be the definitive carrier UCAV, but the navy hoped it would be good enough to show that unmanned aircraft could do the job. Normally, "X" class aircraft are just used as technology demonstrators. The X-47 program has been going on for so long, and has incorporated so much from UAVs already serving in combat that it was thought that the X-47 may end up eventually running recon and bombing missions as the MQ-47C. But in February 2015 the navy stated that the X-47B was too costly and insufficiently stealthy to become it's carrier UCAV, and the two prototypes will be turned into museum exhibits upon completion of all flight testing, extant and length of which is not ultimately decided yet.

The U.S. is far ahead of other nations in UCAS development, and this is energizing activity in Russia, Europe, and China to develop similar aircraft. A Chinese UCAS, called the Li Jian was photographed moving around an airfield under its own power back in early 2013, which is the sort of thing a new aircraft does before its first flight (which took place in November, 2013). Since 2011 the Li Jian has been photographed as a mock up, then a prototype, and now taxiing around and in flight. The Li Jian is similar in size and shape to the U.S. Navy X-47B.

It’s generally recognized that robotic combat aircraft are the future, even though many of the aviation commanders (all of them pilots) wish it were otherwise. Whoever gets there first (an UCAV that really works) will force everyone else to catch up, or end up the loser in their next war with someone equipped with UCASs. China may have just copied pictures of the X-47B, or done so with the help of data obtained by their decade long Internet espionage operation. Whatever the case, the Li Jian is not far behind the X-47B.

These aircraft are meant to operate like current armed UAVs or like cruise missiles (which go after targets under software, not remote, control). Enemy jamming can interfere with remote control and you have to be ready for that. This means pre-programmed orders to continue the mission (to put smart bombs on a specific target, the sort of attack cruise missiles have been carrying out for decades) or attempt that but turn around and return to base if certain conditions were not met (pre-programmed criteria of what is an acceptable target). Fighter (as opposed to bomber) UCASs can be programmed to take on enemy fighters (manned or not) with some remote control or completely under software control. This is the future and China wants to keep up.

The U.S. Navy has done the math and realized that they need UCASs on their carriers as soon as possible. The current plan is to get these aircraft into service by the end of the decade. But a growing number of navy leaders want to get the unmanned carrier aircraft into service sooner than that. The math problem that triggered all this is the realization that American carriers had to get within 800 kilometers of their target before launching bomber aircraft. Potential enemies increasingly have aircraft and missiles with a range greater than 800 kilometers. The X-47B UCAS has a range of 2,500 kilometers and is seen as the solution.

The Department of Defense leadership is backing the navy efforts and spurring the air force to catch up. At the moment, the air force is cutting orders for MQ-9s, which are used as a ground support aircraft, in addition to reconnaissance and surveillance, because American troops are being pulled out of Afghanistan, and it is believed Reaper would not be very useful against China, North Korea, or Iran. But, as the Navy is demonstrating, you can build UCASs that can carry more weapons, stay in the air longer, and hustle to where they are needed faster. The more the navy succeeds, the more the air force will pay attention and probably use a lot of the navy developed UAV hardware and software technology.

29/05/2015 Par Isabelle Puderbeutel

Désireuse d'étendre ses activités dans le domaine porteur du "cyber", l'entreprise israélienne de défense Elbit a racheté les activités de renseignements et de défense numériques de la société Nice.

La société Elbit Systems a annoncé qu'elle avait conclu un accord avec la firme Nice portant sur l'acquisition des activités "cyber" de cette entreprise pour la somme de 157,9 millions de dollars. Cette transaction devrait servir les objectifs de ces deux grands groupes israéliens, le premier souhaitant étoffer ses activités dans le domaine cybernétique et le second recentrer les siennes autour d'autres moteurs de croissance.

Une somme de 117,9 millions de dollars devrait être versée à la société Nice au troisième trimestre de 2015, lorsque l'accord sera finalisé. Les 40 millions restants seront payés à une date ultérieure en fonction des performances futures de la division acquise.

La société Elbit a récemment créé une nouvelle filiale dénommée Cyberbit pour réunir au sein d'une même structure toutes les activités d'Elbit en matière de renseignement et de défense "cyber". C'est en fait la société Cyberbit qui se portera acquéreur des activités de renseignement et de défense numériques de Nice et intégrera son personnel. Après la fusion, Cyberbit emploiera quelque 400 personnes. L'objectif est de faire de cette entreprise l'un des leaders mondiaux dans le domaine du "cyber".

Elbit et Nice sont deux importantes sociétés de high-tech, cotées l'une et l'autres à la Bourse de Tel-Aviv et au Nasdaq. La valeur d'Elbit est estimée à 3,26 milliards de dollars et celle de Nice à 3,95 milliards de dollars.

27/05/2015 Sources : État-major des armées

Du 17 au 21 mai 2015, le général de Revel, commandant supérieur des forces armées en Nouvelle-Calédonie (COMSUP FANC), a participé au« PACOM Amphibious Leaders’ Symposium » (PALS) à Honolulu.

Le général de Revel, accompagné du lieutenant – colonel Courtiau (officier de liaison au commandement pacifique américain basé à Quantico, PACOM), a représenté le chef d’état-major de l’armée de Terre (CEMAT) à l’occasion de ce séminaire qui regroupait les CEMAT ou les représentants des corps amphibies de 22 nations : Australie, Bangladesh, Cambodge, Canada, Chili, Colombie, Etats-Unis, Indonésie, Japon, Malaisie, Mexique, Nouvelle-Zélande, Pérou, Philippines, Corée du sud, Singapour, Sri-Lanka, Taiwan, Thaïlande, Tonga, Grande Bretagne et Vietnam.

Organisé par l’USMC (United States Marine Corps), ce séminaire visait principalement à échanger sur les connaissances de chaque force dans le domaine de l’amphibie, à établir un bilan capacitaire de l’amphibie dans le Pacifique et à développer des actions de coopération régionale.

Après une première journée consacrée aux présentations des moyens de chaque pays et à la nécessité d’une coopération amphibie multinationale dans le Pacifique, les participants ont pu assister à différentes démonstrations dynamiques (assaut amphibie, logistique amphibie et concept de seabasing 1) le deuxième jour. La dernière journée était consacrée à des travaux de réflexion organisés en groupe de travail sur un scénario d'intervention amphibie en coalition au profit d'un Etat victime d'une catastrophe naturelle doublée d'une déstabilisation par des groupes armés.

Dans le cadre de leurs missions les FANC participent aux activités de coopération régionale et entretiennent des relations privilégiées avec l’ensemble des nations présentes sur le théâtre Pacifique où ils constituent, avec les forces armées en Polynésie Françaises (FAPF) le principal point d’appui de nos forces armées.

Les FANC ont pour principale mission d’assurer la souveraineté de la France dans leur zone de responsabilité, d’animer la coopération régionale et d’entretenir des relations privilégiées avec l’ensemble des pays riverains de la zone pacifique. Enfin, les FANC engagent régulièrement leurs moyens pour des opérations d’aide aux populations, en appui des autres services de l’Etat.

1 Seabasing : concept développé par USMC et la Navy, qui vise à utiliser les bâtiments de la Marine pour constituer au large une base logistique, et s’affranchir des menaces et contraintes pesant sur les bases établies à terre. Ces ports en mer doivent permettre, grâce à l’établissement de quais flottants, de décharger sélectivement en mer les stocks prépositionnés sur des navires (24 navires dans le Pacifique), pour équiper ou recompléter d’autres navires ou unités. Le seabasing comprend des stocks de tous les services (USMC, Army, Air Force).