DEFTECH-SCAN June 2021

This DEFTECH SCAN reports on and assesses occurrences in military technology and capability development taking place from late March through late May. It contains reporting on recent activities and announcements in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Estonia, France, Russia, China, South Korea, Israel, Turkey, and Australia. It also covers multiple NATO activities and includes general commentary on developments related to emerging capabilities such as cognitive electronic warfare and drone swarms.

As with the March volume—and all DEFTECH SCANS moving forward—where appropriate this report emphasises the intersection between defence and security activity and the coronavirus pandemic.

Resilience: More fundamentally, the report has a strong focus on how militaries and security communities are improving resilience against an expanding set of challenges. The emphasis on resilience cuts across most sections of this report, including descriptions and analysis of:
• An effort to build more rugged stealthy materials to optimize performance in harsh conditions;
• The vulnerability to cyber-attacks of both industry and infrastructure in different countries and of the efforts to build resilience to these increasingly prevalent and damaging attacks;
• Plans to build proliferated space architectures of small satellites in part designed to enhance resilience of crucial space-based capabilities.

Other key themes and insights from the report include:

Key Events: The reporting period saw several significant events that demonstrate the role emerging defence technologies and activity in the cyber and space domain and the electromagnetic spectrum are playing in shaping the future of conflict and prioritised military capabilities. Four events stand out:
• The role of Israel’s Iron Dome short-range missile defence system played in the 11-day Israel Hamas conflict in May;
• An increase in cyber-attacks against both industry and critical infrastructure, including a ransomware attack against oil pipelines in the United States that led to a run on gas across much of the East Coast of the U.S;
• The U.S. Army awarding a $22 billion dollar contract to Microsoft for 120,000 augmented reality headsets that will drive the technology forward for both military and commercial applications;
• The release of UN report that confirmed the first known use of a lethal autonomous weapons system against humans during the conflict in Libya in 2020.

Meeting Novel Threats: Enhancing Collaboration and Flexibility: This reporting period once again demonstrates the need for collaboration—between civilian government and militaries, between national governments, and between militaries and academia and industry—to meet the threats facing defence and security communities.

The reporting period also highlighted the emerging need for militaries to develop flexible and layered solutions that can reduce risk and ensure operational efficacy in different contexts and operational environments. For example, militaries are devising multiple new technologies and operational concepts to intercept small uncrewed aerial systems, including techniques designed to bring down these systems with little to no collateral damage in populated areas in addition to kinetic means of destroying drones. Similarly, multiple exercises in the reporting period demonstrated the mission flexibility of uncrewed ground vehicles (UGV) and the ability of some UGVs to serve in multiple supporting functions depending on the situation with only limited modifications.

Source : DEFTECH

DEFTECH-SCAN November 2020

This DEFTECH SCAN reports on and assesses occurrences in military technology and capability development taking place from late September through late November. This issue in particular reflects the increasing pace and progress of defence technology development and innovation efforts not just in the United States, China, and Russia, but especially in midsized and even small militaries throughout the world. The report includes updates from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Israel, Australia, France, Japan, and India in addition to the three large militaries mentioned above.

This volume includes a description of a separate demonstration of an energy capture and storage technology for drones that was also developed by Delft Technical University, signalling not just that this particular university is engaged in interesting and potentially impactful research, but more fundamentally the importance of academia and applied research institutes in the defence innovation ecosystem. Assessment of continued development of Russian exoskeletons and China’s drone swarms—both regularly touched on themes in these reports—also appear in this report.

Source & Full report : DEFTECH

La Suisse progresse dans l’intégration des drones

La société de contrôle aérien Skyguide a présenté mardi le “Swiss U-Space”. Il s’agit du premier système de gestion du trafic de drones en Europe entièrement numérisé, couvrant tout le territoire suisse.

Ce protoype appliqué pour la première fois à grande échelle répond à un besoin capital dû à l’engouement pour le marché du drone. Le système a subi un premier test concluant à Genève en septembre 2017.

Chaque drone enregistré et connecté au U-Space recevra des informations en temps réel sur l’espace aérien et l’état du trafic. L’appareil enverra à son tour des données sur sa position et sa trajectoire, qui seront publiées sur un tableau de bord.

Source : RTS Info

La Suisse veut montrer son avance dans le domaine des drones

Parole de start-uper, la journée de mardi consacrée aux drones sur le campus de l’EPFZ à Hönggerberg (ZH) était une «démonstration de force face au monde». Car la Suisse «joue un rôle de pionnier dans ce domaine», a assuré Doris Leuthard. La conseillère fédérale inaugurait ce premier congrès Drone Innovators Network, qui a rassemblé académiciens, industrie, start-up et régulateurs et a mis en scène plusieurs exemples du savoir-faire helvétique dans le domaine de ces robots aériens.

A l’origine de ce congrès se trouve le Forum économique mondial (WEF). Ce dernier considère les drones comme un élément essentiel de la révolution industrielle 4.0 et a voulu mettre en place un réseau (le Drone Innovators Network) où les autorités peuvent collaborer afin d’accélérer l’utilisation «responsable» des drones. Jugeant la Suisse comme étant le lieu évident pour lancer cette initiative, le WEF a sollicité le DETEC. Ce dernier, qui a encouragé le développement de la «Drone Valley» en Suisse – sécurité, agriculture, transport médical ou humanitaire: le pays compte plus de 80 sociétés, dont une grande partie dans la région lémanique, et emploie 2500 personnes –, n’a pas hésité. «Pour la Suisse, c’est un honneur de tenir ce congrès», a déclaré Doris Leuthard. Dans son discours, elle a également souligné l’importance de ne pas aller trop vite dans la réglementation pour éviter de freiner l’innovation.

Source : Le Temps