Australia looks towards space with force restructure, investment and training
Australia is looking to improve its presence in space with a focus on communications and creating a dedicated segment of its defence forces committed to the domain.
Norway-based company Kitron will supply subassembly electronic modules for F-35 Lightning II aircraft avionics under an agreement with Northrop Grumman announced on 22 September.
Northrop Grumman is delivering the F-35’s Communication, Navigation and Identification (CNI) avionics suite. The suite, which uses software-defined radio technology that allows the simultaneous operation of multiple critical functions, will give pilots more than 27 avionics functions including voice and data communication.
Kitron’s agreement is effective through June 2036, and includes rights for future extensions.
Jeannie Hilger, vice president, network communication systems, Northrop Grumman Information Systems, said: ‘Northrop Grumman is committed to developing a cost-effective and technically superior source that would provide the best value for the F-35 CNI programme. We established a cooperative, supportive relationship with Kitron and forged this agreement to formalise our partnership.’
Andrew Tyler, chief executive, Europe, Northrop Grumman, added: ‘The CNI system is critically important to the F-35 and provides the aircraft with its ability to be integrated into the wider battlespace. This agreement will further strengthen the deep partnership with Norway that we have built up over the years and which dates back to 1940.’
The agreement follows an earlier contract that will see Kitron develop a test program set (TPS) for evaluating and troubleshooting F-35 avionics.
Australia is looking to improve its presence in space with a focus on communications and creating a dedicated segment of its defence forces committed to the domain.
The Portuguese company’s naval communications system is in service across more than a dozen countries. It has turned to its home nation for support in developing a new vehicle based C2 system.
The Vision4ce Deep Embedded Feature Tracking (DEFT) technology software is designed to process video and images by blending traditional computer vision with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to present actionable information from complex environments.
Persistent Systems has been cleared by National Security Agency (NSA) to transmit sensitive data on commercial networks. The devices are added to the NSA’s Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) component list which also includes other companies’ products providing the same security.
The release of the UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) has been long promised as mid-year. It is possible it could be as early as 2 June although the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) continues to play its cards close to its chest.
Intelsat outlines how its multi-orbit SATCOM architecture is enhancing connectivity and resilience for special operations forces operating in degraded and contested environments.