Solar Drones ... de alternatieve satellieten

[Harald]

NATO eyes solar-powered high altitude platforms to counter GPS jamming

NATO has been "looking at" overcoming Russian or Chinese GPS jamming by relaying satellite signals through ultra-high-flying aircraft, a NATO official told Breaking Defense.

"These are big, high-altitude planes that can stay for weeks in the air based on solar energy, and they can capture the GPS signal and send it down to earth with much more power that is more difficult to jam," Brig. Gen. Sam Raeves, who serves as the assistant chief of staff of J6 Cyberspace at NATO, said in an interview on the sidelines of the NATO Edge conference here.

Extremely high-altitude platforms (HAPS), which can come in the form of balloons in addition to light-weight drones like the spindly Airbus-made Zephyr, are not yet in widespread use by NATO, Raeves said. But their potential for them to serve as GPS relays comes as officials have grown increasingly concerned about electronic warfare, a now-ubiquitous feature of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

When and if NATO does actually start implementing these types of HAPS, it could help improve the situational awareness issues that arise with GPS jamming, Raeves said.

"So this is what we try to do, to have combined situation awareness fusion," he said. "This is really something that can solve it."

In a separate interview, Artem Martynenko, the deputy head of the Center for Innovations and Defense Technologies at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, bemoaned the constant need to stay ahead of Russian forces in the EW realm.

"The usage of the EW on the battlefield is massive in Ukraine and from day to day, even with the sanctions from the West, Russians still have a capability to build EW systems effectively, and it's providing us with a lot of issues," he told Breaking Defense, likening the EW race to a similar back-and-forth when it comes to cyber capabilities.

Raeves acknowledged what he called the current "cat and mouse game" in Europe. He said although NATO is not at war with Russia, the alliance still experiences jamming from the Kremlin. In May NATO publicly accused Russia of "cyber and electronic interference," among other acts of "hybrid activity" — though it didn't appear to do much to slow Moscow down.

"Of course, then we know where they are, but we can do nothing, because we are not at war with Russia," Raeves said. "So we cannot take them out. That's the big issue here. We can only geolocate them."

https://breakingdefense.com/2024/12/nato-eyes-solar-powered-high-altitude-platforms-to-counter-gps-jamming/

[Harald]

Skydweller Aero completes initial flight test campaign with its long-endurance UAV

US-headquartered Skydweller Aero announced on 1 October 2024 that it has successfully completed the initial uncrewed autonomous flight test campaign with its Skydweller solar-powered Skydweller long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

A series of uncrewed flight tests, of which the two longest were 16 hours and 22½ hours, were launched from the company's facility at Stennis International Airport in Kiln, Mississippi.

"This campaign is one more step towards bringing extreme flight endurance to the world, demonstrates the feasibility of remaining airborne for weeks to months using solar energy and batteries, and is another significant milestone in the development of the Skydweller aircraft and its high reliability autonomous vehicle management system," the compay stated in a press release.

The Skydweller campaign was initiated under a Joint Concept Technology Demonstration (JCTD) by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research & Engineering (OUSD R&E) and sustained by a Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) to evaluate autonomous maritime patrol aircraft.

Skydweller aircraft are made out of carbon fibre, have a wingspan the size of a Boeing 747, can carry up to 800 lb (363 kg) of payload and are designed to be capable of uncrewed perpetual flight.

Missions envisaged for Skydweller UAVs include detecting drug smugglers and pirates at sea, providing continuous aerial coverage above war zones, surveilling naval activity in contested waters without risking the lives of flight crew and tracking wildlife migration and poaching in Africa.

"Because Skydwellers can fly perpetually for long-duration missions, each Skydweller can replace a fleet of combustion-powered manned or drone aircraft at a cost savings of 10× to 100×. Because Skydwellers are solar-powered, they are green with zero carbon footprint," the company states on its website.

Dr Robert Miller, CEO and co-founder of Skydweller Aero, was quoted by the company as saying, "This flight test campaign is an important achievement and validates our business vision, marking a new era in autonomous aviation. Skydweller Aero is redefining what is possible in the aerospace industry, and the data gathered that validates our models for multi-day fights is a testament to our team's dedication and innovation. We are excited to continue pushing the boundaries of what uncrewed solar-powered aircraft can achieve and will continue on with our mission to bring perpetual flight to the world."

Barry Matsumori, Skydweller Aero's president & chief operating officer, added, "We have accomplished a major milestone toward demonstrating the feasibility of perpetual flight by leveraging the trillions of dollars in global research and development investment in solar energy, battery storage, and the handing and manufacturing of extremely strong, ultra-lightweight carbon fibre assemblies. As these subsystems improve, we will continue to leverage them for the benefit of our customers."

https://euro-sd.com/2024/10/major-news/40606/skydweller-flight-tests/


A Skydweller solar-powered long-endurance UAV in flight.

[Harald]

US Navy, CENTCOM seek solutions for stratospheric ISR operations



The US Navy and US Central Command (CENTCOM) are seeking industry solutions to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities to enhance the use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) for stratospheric intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations, according to a joint solicitation.

The Strategic Command, Control, Communications, Computers and ISR (C4ISR) to Operationalize the Stratosphere (SCOS) programme will be led out of CENTCOM and the Naval Surface Warfare Center – Crane Division (NSWC-Crane). The programme will focus on the use of stratospheric balloons or solar-electric powered UAS platforms, according to the Request for Solutions (RFS) notice by the Strategic & Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems (S2MARTS) other transactional authority (OTA).

"Developmental testing in the last five years has been focused on operationalising the stratosphere" via stratospheric balloons and solar UASs, the RFS stated. "These platforms offer the opportunity to enhance the mission for persistent operations in non-permissive environments," it added.

With the platforms' extremely high operating altitude and ability to remain on station over an ISR target for an extended period of time, both stratospheric systems provide combat commanders earlier intelligence and warning data on a proposed threat, as well as provide ground forces with a resilient airborne communication node and information cross datalink, programme officials wrote. Additionally, the operating altitudes of these platforms can improve maritime and land domain awareness, as well as mitigate any degradation in space based ISR collection assets, such as satellites, they added.

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/us-navy-centcom-seek-solutions-for-stratospheric-isr-operations

[Harald]

Boeing Aurora ODYSSEUS

Odysseus changes how we use the sky, opening vast new possibilities for those who need to stay connected and informed.

At a fraction of the cost of a satellite and with exponentially more time aloft than a conventional UAV, Odysseus is a customizable platform for your ultra-long-endurance mission requirements. Also known as a HALE UAV (High-Altitude, Long Endurance), Odysseus can carry a larger payload than any other aircraft in development or production in its class. This enables more missions and better resulting data quality from each mission.

Odysseus operates far above the weather and other aircraft with the ability to cover a broad geographic area while keeping its station. Powered by advanced solar cells and built with light-weight materials, it has zero emissions and can be repositioned and reprogrammed as mission requirements and technology evolve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvPnMBjduao

[Harald]

Zephyr S High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS)

The Zephyr S next-generation High-Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) is a new variant of the Zephyr family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) owned by Airbus Defence and Space. The aircraft was unveiled at the Farnborough Air Show 2018.

Zephyr S, a production variant of Zephyr 8 demonstrator, is designed to offer greater operational flexibility and improved endurance than its predecessor, Zephyr 7.

The new variant is intended for a variety of military, security and civil missions, including maritime surveillance, border patrol, intelligence, reconnaissance, navigation, satellite-like communications, missile detection, environmental surveillance, signals intelligence (SIGINT), in-theatre C4ISTAR relay, continuous photo capturing, and humanitarian and disaster relief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKdZZREgwOI

[Harald]

Solar drones vliegen hoog in de lucht hoog boven al het commerciële vliegverkeer. Deze electrische drones kunnen "onbeperkt" doorvliegen door gebruik van zonnepanelen op de vleugels. Perfect in te zetten voor diverse militaire doeleinden, zoals INTELL, communicatie, verkenningen met radar, FLIR, enzovoort.

Worden dit de toekomstige satellieten of alternatieve satellieten ?         

Russia develops several project of solar drones
take 1
https://www.airrecognition.com/index.php/focus-analysis-photo-report-aviation-defence-industry/aviation-defence-industry-technology/6469-analysis-russia-develops-several-project-of-solar-drones-take-1.html

take 2
https://www.airrecognition.com/index.php/focus-analysis-photo-report-aviation-defence-industry/aviation-defence-industry-technology/6455-analysis-russian-army-to-get-orlan-30-drones-take-2.html