Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: Hongjian

Su-35SK for the PLAAF! Note the TVC engine. A historical first-ever for China.

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On december 31st, 2016, the French Navy (Marine Nationale) Rubis-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) Emeraude clocked the 1000th day at sea for the class in 2016. It is the first time that the Rubis-class fleet spent so many days on patrol in a single year (a 10% increase compared to other years).

According to the French Navy, this is the result of strong operational requirements which called for the deployment of SSNs in all theaters of operations. This ability to deploy for a long time and on short notice is the result of the efforts of all those involved in the maintenance, support and implementation of these vessels: contractors, civilian and military sailors from the many units involved.

These 1000 days represent an average effort rate of nearly 85% for crews, which means they spend 85% of their time at sea once qualified as "operational".

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Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) successfully tested a ship-based variant of its Sky Bow III (Tien Kung III) ballistic missile defense (BMD) interceptor in late 2016. The institute is is the primary research and development institution of the Republic of China Ministry of National Defense's Armaments Bureau.

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ORIGINAL: Zaslon

Anyone have a link with the pictures?

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ORIGINAL: navyrecognition

French Navy finally green lighted the video report so here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB-ru6bmybI

Video Report: At Sea Aboard French Navy Air Defense Destroyer Chevalier Paul
http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php/focus-analysis/naval-technology/4768-video-report-at-sea-aboard-french-navy-air-defense-destroyer-chevalier-paul.html

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Britain approves funding to develop laser weapon

Following in the US military's footsteps, Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded a £30 million (US$37 million) contract to the UK Dragonfire consortium to build a Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) Capability Demonstrator. The prototype laser, which is scheduled for completion in 2019, will be used to assess the practicality and effectiveness of laser weapon technologies in the field.

Consisting of partners including MDBA, QinetiQ, Leonardo-Finmeccanica GKN, Arke, BAE Systems, and Marshall ADG, the UK Dragonfire consortium is tasked with building a laser weapon system and determining how it can operate in field conditions. A special emphasis will be on acquiring and tracking targets at various ranges in various weather conditions over land and water.

Though only a demonstrator, the LEDW will be used by the government to make decisions about future weapons programs and by the MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to work out how to build a practical laser weapon system for deployment.

In an interview with the BBC, the MoD said the demonstrator laser was not intended to counter any specific threat, but the department said previously that the system could one day be used to protect ships from missiles or ground troops from mortars.

"This is a significant demonstration program aimed at maturing our understanding of what is still an immature technology," says Dstl's Peter Cooper. "It draws on innovative research into high power lasers so as to understand the potential of the technology to provide a more effective response to the emerging threats that could be faced by UK armed forces."

The MoD says that if the project is successful, the first British laser weapons could be deployed by the middle of the next decade.

Source: MoD

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has completed first phase of program developing temporary underwater fiber-optics communications networks to ensure connectivity when tactical networks are unavailable.
DARPA’s Tactical Undersea Network Architecture (TUNA) program recently completed its initial phase, developing concepts and technologies aimed at restoring connectivity for US forces when traditional tactical networks are knocked offline or otherwise unavailable, the agency announced Thursday.

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ORIGINAL: SASR

DARPA Completes First Phase Of Underwater Fiber-optics Communications Network Program

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has completed first phase of program developing temporary underwater fiber-optics communications networks to ensure connectivity when tactical networks are unavailable.
DARPA’s Tactical Undersea Network Architecture (TUNA) program recently completed its initial phase, developing concepts and technologies aimed at restoring connectivity for US forces when traditional tactical networks are knocked offline or otherwise unavailable, the agency announced Thursday.

http://www.defenseworld.net/news/18150/DARPA_Completes_First_Phase_Of_Underwater_Fiber_optics_Communications_Network_Program#.WHKPvfkrIu

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-Snip-

China had deployed hundreds of buoys, including nearly 20 deep anchor points, in the Western ­Pacific since 2014, Xinhua said.

The data can only be collected from the buoys once a year by manually retrieving hard drives as it was difficult to make radio contact with the sensors through the water, Wang Fan, deputy director of the Institute of Oceanology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qingdao, said.

The new technology will enable the deep-sea buoys to send ­data to surface anchor points through a cable or wireless sound waves. The surface buoy will then relay the information to a communication satellite.

The civilian system works at the operational depth of most nuclear submarines, suggesting the military could already be using a similar undersea network to communicate with submarines, according to other scientists familiar with the technology.

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In one of the most significant tests of autonomous systems under development by the Department of Defense, the Strategic Capabilities Office, partnering with Naval Air Systems Command, successfully demonstrated one of the world’s largest micro-drone swarms at China Lake, California. The test, conducted in October 2016 and documented on Sunday’s CBS News program “60 Minutes”, consisted of 103 Perdix drones launched from three F/A-18 Super Hornets. The micro-drones demonstrated advanced swarm behaviors such as collective decision-making, adaptive formation flying, and self-healing.

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Perdix  are  autonomous  micro‐drones  capable  of  low‐altitude  Intelligence,  Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and other missions. They can be air‐, sea‐  or ground‐launched and operate in both small and large swarms to perform their  missions.  

Perdix  are  not  preprogrammed,  synchronized  individuals.  They  share  a  distributed  brain  for  decision‐making  and  adapt  to  each  other,  and  the  environment, much like swarms in nature. Because every Perdix communicates  and  collaborates  with  every  other  Perdix,  the  swarm  has  no  leader  and  can  gracefully  adapt  to  changes  in  drone  numbers. This allows  this team  of  small inexpensive drones to perform missions once done by large expensive ones.     

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ORIGINAL: SASR

This is insane. 104 swarming drones from only 3 Super Hornets.

Crazy video of the demonstration with link: https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1044811/department-of-defense-announces-successful-micro-drone-demonstration

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In one of the most significant tests of autonomous systems under development by the Department of Defense, the Strategic Capabilities Office, partnering with Naval Air Systems Command, successfully demonstrated one of the world’s largest micro-drone swarms at China Lake, California. The test, conducted in October 2016 and documented on Sunday’s CBS News program “60 Minutes”, consisted of 103 Perdix drones launched from three F/A-18 Super Hornets. The micro-drones demonstrated advanced swarm behaviors such as collective decision-making, adaptive formation flying, and self-healing.

Perdix drone fact sheet here: https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/Perdix%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

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Perdix  are  autonomous  micro‐drones  capable  of  low‐altitude  Intelligence,  Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and other missions. They can be air‐, sea‐  or ground‐launched and operate in both small and large swarms to perform their  missions.  

Perdix  are  not  preprogrammed,  synchronized  individuals.  They  share  a  distributed  brain  for  decision‐making  and  adapt  to  each  other,  and  the  environment, much like swarms in nature. Because every Perdix communicates  and  collaborates  with  every  other  Perdix,  the  swarm  has  no  leader  and  can  gracefully  adapt  to  changes  in  drone  numbers. This allows  this team  of  small inexpensive drones to perform missions once done by large expensive ones.     

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Thursday.