DEFENCE DSEI 2021 report
Defence back on show
TIM ROBINSON FRAeS reports from the 2021 DSEI defence exhibition, held in the ExCeL Centre, London on 14-16 September.
With the UK’s Integrated Review released earlier this year, the geopolitical shift of the West’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, as well as the 20th anniversary of 9/11, there was no shortage of context and topics for discussion at the premier defence technology exhibition that is DSEI.
After a year and a half of lockdown, and with many large trade shows, such as Paris Air Show and Farnborough cancelled or postponed, there was thus much excitement and relief among visitors and industry delegates to get back to physical face-to-face meetings to forge personal contacts and get hands-on with the latest kit.
That said, anti-Covid-19 measures were in place with visitors needing proof of vaccination or a negative test, as well as a system of coloured wristbands to indicate visitors’ level of confidence in physical contact and handshakes.
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.
Hypersonic drones from near-space
Revealing some science fiction-style concepts for future warfare ahead of the show was the Royal Navy, which had worked with young engineers from the UK Naval Engineering Science and Technology (UKNEST) to unveil a vision of radical technology, that included ‘plug-and-play’ warships and aircraft carriers 3D-printing and launching their own satellites. Particularly intriguing for air power specialists was the vision of autonomous hypersonic drones that would be launched at short notice by a high-altitude airship platform in the stratosphere.
These would be dropped, before accelerating to hypersonic speeds and then slowing down to land on the water and submerge – before popping up again to fly and use forward-mounted railguns to strike enemy warships. This vision is obviously further in the future than much of the equipment on display but does provide a tantalising glimpse of the direction of future warfare.
Left: A busy DSEI sees a return of crowds to aerospace trade shows. Right: Aeralis was now publicly showing off new potential variants of its modular jet.
AERALIS signs MoU with R-R
Over at AERALIS, the British company was celebrating having signed a key MoU with engine maker Rolls-Royce to partner in exploring propulsion solutions for its modular jet trainer and digital integration solutions. The agreement not only delivers a key engine supplier for AERALIS but also could interestingly provide a next-generation test bed for Rolls-Royce, to develop a new family of small jet engines that the growing number of ‘Loyal Wingman’ projects around the world require.
While AERALIS is focused on developing the trainer version as its initial variant, its stand showed off a number of intriguing potential future variants, including a MQ-25-like UAV tanker, and a V-tailed ‘Loyal Wingman’ UCAV, as well as an ISR longendurance version with winglets. All of these are made possible by AERALIS’ modular Airbus-like approach to manufacturing a military aircraft, where engine ‘pods’, wings and even tails can be mixed and matched to create anything from a basic jet trainer, to a light attack fighter.
With the retirement date of the Red Arrows’ Hawk T1 also getting closer, there is also speculation that a British-designed and British-manufactured (AERALIS plans a factory in South Wales) trainer could be the perfect choice as a ‘Global Britain’ hightechnology showcase for the Reds.
Exploiting civil space, securely
Leonardo has added to its team of suppliers for the AW149 NMH bid. Computer-generated image of the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) Mosquito flying alongside an F-35B. MoD
Meanwhile, Raytheon Technologies was highlighting a number of innovations, including counter-drone directed-energy weapons for ground vehicles (a pressing requirement after the 2020 NagornoKarabakh showed the devastation caused by armed UAVs on ground forces). Another technology the company was highlighting, interestingly, was its Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite sensor to spot wildfires and provide weather data, such as ocean temperature, ice and cloud composition. VIIRS is a unique sensor on board the NASA/NOAA joint polar satellite system (JPSS).
While a civilian system, this also is able to provide weather data to military users via Raytheon’s common ground stations. However, exploiting this sort of widely available commercial or civilian Earth observation data and making it a part of the multi-domain battlespace while bringing huge opportunities, also brings its own risks – for example in introducing unclassified data into classified systems. Paul Day, Business Development Executive, Raytheon UK, notes: “You don’t want to bring risk in. Data has to pass the architecture.”
With the UK MoD hoping to leverage the massive number of commercial satellite imagery and EO providers in the future, assuring that this data meets military users’ needs is thus critical and, with its VIIRS (as well as other programmes like DARPA’s Blackjack mega constellation), Raytheon already is ahead of the game in this key area.
Culture, not technology key to Tempest success
Over at the DSEI Aerospace Forum, there were a number of expert panels exploring the multinational FCAS (Future Combat Air System) with the Tempest sixth-generation combat aircraft programme at its core.
Airbus are aiming to level up north Wales with its H175M. Airbus Helicopters
Aiming for operational capability by 2035, this has attracted partners in the form of Italy and Sweden joining the UK, with Japan also involved in some parts of the programme – namely propulsion.
Panel discussion and questions ranged from alliances and partnerships, skills and ‘generation Tempest’ to the opportunities and challenges of digital engineering. The latter has the potential to accelerate timelines and reduce costs – with Saab’s Anders Carp noting that digital engineering had reduced the amount of flight testing needed by the Gripen E by 40% compared to the Gripen C/D. This was echoed by Spirit Aerosystems’ Nick Laird, who said that his company’s design iterations on FCAS Mosquito have been ‘extraordinary’, allowing the team to do over a year of work in just six months.
One theme highlighted by the panel was the success of FCAS and Tempest is not just dependent on faster computers and more bandwidth but on a tougher, more human challenge – creating a more agile, responsive and innovative culture to break the infamous Augustine’s Law of rising costs and development time for fighter aircraft.
Leonardo announces AW149 ‘dream team’
At the show, Leonardo Helicopters announced industrial partners to help secure its A149 bid for the UK’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) which will replace RAF Pumas, along with other medium types in UK military service. ‘Team AW149’ includes: Abaco Systems, Ametek, Aerco, Chelton, Ford Aviation, Forged Solutions, Incora Global, LFD, RDDS Avionics and Techtest.
Typhoon training to get boost
With RAF Chief of the Air Staff recently announcing that he plans increased use of virtual training so that 80% of its training will be synthetic by 2040, there was evidence of this with an announcement that BAE Systems had been awarded a £220m contract from the MoD to deliver networked simulators for the RAF Typhoon force. Under the Typhoon future synthetic training (TFST), ten high-fidelity simulators will be acquired and will be installed at RAF Coningsby? and RAF Lossiemouth. The contract is the first stage in the overarching Gladiator project, which will create a single secure virtual environment for UK forces to train in.
The Excalibur test bed will help de risk some of the key technology for Tempest. Tim Robinson/RAeS
Airbus Helicopters pledges to build H175M in Broughton
Airbus Helicopters has revealed that, if chosen for the UK MoD’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) requirement, it plans to build its proposal, the H175M helicopter at the Airbus Broughton plant in North Wales. The factory, which supplies wings for Airbus airliners, would supply a militarised version of the H175M and create and sustain a number of jobs in Broughton which has been searching for new opportunities after the end of production of the A380 wings. With rival Leonardo promising to ‘level-up’ the SW of England should its AW149 be chosen for NWH, Airbus can now claim that it too will benefit the regions outside of London and the South East, should it be selected.
Mosquito UCAV to fly in UK skies in 2023
Giving one of the keynote speeches on, appropriately enough, Battle of Britain Day was Royal Air Force Chief of the Air Staff, ACM Sir Mike Wigston, who revealed that the UK’s ‘Loyal Wingman’ project, Mosquito, is accelerating rapidly and is set to fly in UK skies in 2023, potentially in the first three-quarters of the year before DSEI 2023 in September. He also revealed that the second Protector to stand up will be 13 Sqn, which will join 31 Sqn in operarting this next-generation RPAS.
Wigston paid tribute to the RAF’s recent role in the Kabul Airlift, pointing out that it was the biggest RAF airlift operation since the 1948 Berlin Airlift, with an average of five C-17s, two A400Ms, and two C-130Js being used every day. All told, he said the RAF flew 84 sorties during the evacuation. However, he pushed back against concerns over the cutting of C-130J fleet from the Integrated Review, saying that the Kabul Airlift gave a “taste of what the A400M is now capable of” and that the operation “reinforced my decision earlier in the year to transition to the A400M” with the Atlas now “ready to pick up the load from the C-130J”.
UMS Skeldar tests European satnav
The C-17 is 30 this year. Crown copyright/MoD
Over at rotary-wing UAV manufacturer UMS Skeldar, the company revealed it had successfully flown beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) trials this summer in Italy with its V-150 drone as part of the EU’s ECARO (Egnos Civil Aviation Roadmap) project. This saw the V-150 conduct BVLOS flights of up to 22km over lightly populated areas using the EU’s Galileo satnavs for precision navigation. The next step to fully unlocking the potential of drones, says Skeldar, is shrinking a TCAS system to be small enough to fit on this class of UAVs – something that it is now working on in partnership with Saab.
Meanwhile, with the Royal Navy now looking at a new shipborne rotary-wing UAV requirement under the flexible tactical uncrewed air system (FTUAS) Urgent Capability Requirement (UCR), Skeldar is hoping that its experience in providing shipborne UAS to Canadian and German navies will give it an edge in this upcoming contest.
You must think.... in Russian
Thought-controlled weapon systems are no longer the stuff of science fiction. While recent headlines concerning Ultra Electronics have swirled around its potential acquisition by Cobham, a chat with its Chief Technology Officer Tony White revealed some potentially science fiction-style technology that the company is working on – mind control. This tech which uses a ‘tiara’ to read and interpret thoughts via brain electrical activity is initially being developed to assist soldiers in tuning radios or controlling small drones, for instance, while keeping their hands free to use their weapons or drive. The Brain Control Interface (BCI) recognises 15 different ‘commands’ that can act as ‘mind cursor’ to navigate context-sensitive menus. Ultra’s BCI also can measure wellbeing, stress, excitement and interest of the human wearing it, as well as recognise ten different facial expressions from the electrical activity that controls facial muscles.
The potential military and civil applications of this brain control technology are seemingly unlimited, from measuring ATC operators’ fatigue, to fighter pilots controlling ‘Loyal Wingman’ by thoughts or monitoring awareness of pilots in single-pilot airliners. Though this sounds like Jedi mind tricks, only earlier this month, carmaker Mercedes showed off working BCI for its vehicles and Smith believes that the soldier BCI may be only five years off.
Forging Excalibur
Over on 2Excel Aviation’s stand there was the first sighting of a key hardware for the Tempest FCAS project – Excalibur – an airborne lab based on a modified Boeing 757 airliner that will test the cutting-edge avionics and sensors for this combat aircraft. With Leonardo as prime contractor, 2Excel will perform the conversion work to convert this civil airliner into a sixth-generation fighter test bed – with a representative Tempest cockpit installed inside the fuselage. This technology test bed will be as unique as the first stealth fighter flying lab outside the US – the others being 757 and a 737 that supported the F-22 and F-35 programmes, respectively.
As well as testing the gamechanging integrated radar and sensors (the radar will be able to process the internet traffic of a medium-sized city every second) the test bed could have other uses beyond Tempest, for example, in trialling green aerospace technologies.
Inzpire goes from strength to strength
From top to bottom: Tekevers’ border patrol drone gets lifesaving capability. BAE has made a strategic move in expanding its capabilities in orbit. Inzpire’s deployable Vortex HeliSim made its debut at DSEI. Tim Robinson/RAeS, BAE Systems, Tim Robinson/RAeS
Over at Inzpire, the small innovative training and simulations company was showing off three new portable training devices, including a JTAC, UAV and VR helicopter simulators ‘in-abox’ – leveraging the latest advances in gaming technology like VR and AR headsets, along with software, such as VBS and DCS.
The company also provided an update on its helicopter training academy for the European Defence Agency (EDA) which uses two in-house developed ‘targeted fidelity simulators’ to provide front and rear crew training to around 220 European helicopter crews a year in Portugal.
This is not elementary training, but rather ‘Top Gun’ style post-graduate tactics training provided by Inzpire’s QWI-level instructors to aircrew, such as German CH-53 crews or Italian attack helicopter pilots – honing their skills to the max.
Meanwhile, despite its full acquisition by QinetiQ in late 2020 (who are giving it unprecedented freedom as a subsidiary), Inzpire continues to go from strength to strength and has doubled in size in the past two and a half years, says CEO Hugh Griffiths, who is confident that Inzpire will retain its award-winning workplace culture and conditions even as it gets bigger.
BAE Systems shows off heavy-lift drone
At the show, BAE Systems, along with partner Malloy Aeronautics, unveiled a new heavy-lift electric quadcopter drone. The T-650 electric UAS has a range of 30km, with 140km/h maximum speed and a carrying capacity of 300kg.
While the model on the BAE Systems’ stand shows it carrying a Sting Ray air-launched torpedo, the company says other potential applications include automated logistics and resupply, CASEVAC, maritime mine countermeasures and even close air support.
£400m boost to RAF C-17 and Chinook capabilities
With the Kabul Airlift last month, there has been renewed focus on airlift and military transport aircraft despite the IR’s plan to cut the RAF C-130J fleet.
The RAF is to invest £400m to enhance the capabilities of two of its transport platforms, the Boeing C-17 and Chinook heavylift helicopter. The RAF’s C-17 fleet will receive a £324m boost, which will see the airlifter upgraded with BVLOS satcoms, larger HUDs and enhanced free-fall parachuting capability as part of a five and a half year Boeing ‘Virtual Fleet’ support contract.
The Tekever AR5 can now save lives at sea
On display at DSEI was Tekever’s AR5 which is now being regularly used by UK HMG to patrol the English Channel to look for illegal migrants attempting to cross – a mission that has hit headlines this year. At the show the company revealed that it had tested a new life-saving capability for this UAV, with the ability for it to drop eight-person life rafts.
BAE Systems boosts its space presence
With the formation of UK’s Space Command, there is a new focus on Britain exploiting this domain for military uses – and at the show BAE Systems announced that it is deepening its involvement in this sector with the acquisition of space startup In-Space Missions.
In-Space Missions, which designs, builds and operates its own satellites as a ‘payload rideshare’ service, had its first satellite launched in June, which carried payloads for Airbus, Lacuna, SatixFy and Aeternum, as well as its own Babel payload. For BAE, which has a presence in every other domain, this off-the shelf acquisition of a UK satellite company is an important step in growing its footprint in this increasingly vital area.