Aerospace & Defense Technology

Over the last year, research and evaluation projects led bydefense agencies in the U.S., U.K. and around the world have demonstrated the potential advantages of operating hybrid and all-electric vehicles for a variety of military applications.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense, for example, recently gave anupdate on its evaluation of hydrogen power units (HPU) for electricvehicle charging. The U.S. Army recently released an update on its own testing of a hybridtactical vehicle prototype in Germany.

On this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technologypodcast, Mark Findlay, CEO of U.K.-based engineering consultancy Drive System Design (DSD) explains why establishing definitive use cases and requirements are essential to unlocking the future potential of hybrid and all-electric military vehicles.

Finland-based startup Donut Defence is developing a donut-shaped in-wheel electric motor for air, land and sea military vehicles. In December 2024, Donut Defence was selected to participate in the DEFINE Accelerator program that connects technology companies that are developing and scaling defense, security and dual-use technologies.

Michael Waksman, CEO of Donut Defence, is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology Podcast to explain how the Donut Motor could provide the type of architecture and performance necessary to power next generation military electric vehicles. The podcast is now in its eighth season, running during the month of April with a focus on the future of military electric vehicles.

This episode is sponsored by New England Wire Technologies.

Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) Ethernet is a real-time networking capability that is being developed by a growing number of embedded computing companies for theearliest stages of adoption by aerospace and defense manufacturers and their suppliers.

According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) TSN working group, it is a set of standards that provides deterministic connectivity within IEEE 802-aligned networks.

Nigel Forrester is the Director of Product Strategy for Concurrent Technologies, a UK-based provider of high performance embedded computing solutions for aerospace, defense and many other industries.

A House committee hearing held earlier this month outlined the current federal regulations that limit the use of counter unmanned aircraft system technologies by state and local authorities to detect and mitigate the use of illegally operated drones in civilian airspace.

"Make no mistake, the recent events in New Jersey have highlighted the ease with which bad actors could utilize drones with nefarious and malicious intent or conduct illicit drone operations," Troy Nehls, House Subcommittee on Aviation Chairman said in his opening remarks during the hearing. "We must continue to support and foster new aviation technologies – the future of American aviation depends on it. That responsibility includes ensuring the appropriate and safe use of counter-UAS technologies in the nation’s airspace by authorized users to make certain that civil aviation safety is not jeopardized."

Lisa Ellman, Executive Director, Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA), was one of three expert witnesses that participated in the hearing. She is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast to discuss how current counter UAS regulations can be improved to address illegally operated drones in civilian airspace.

AeroDefense has been developing drone detection technology to address drones flying in civilian airspace for several years has just released a new system, Air Warden Essentials, that could help increase awareness of random drone sightings incivilian airspace.

The system uses a small receiver and cloud computing services to monitor drone traffic using networked Remote ID broadcasts. The company produced the new system based on their "Collaborative Drone Detection Network (CoDDN)" that was developed through a Department ofDefense contract.  

Taylor Sinatra, Chief Operating Officer of AeroDefense, is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast. He discusses the use of the AirWarden Essentials system for a variety of civilian and military applications.

Czech Republic-based startup Dronetag has launched a new pocket-sized drone-agnostic Remote ID receiver, RIDER, amid the rise in unidentified drone sightings in U.S. airspace.

While counter UAS systems focus on neutralizing unididentified drones, Dronetag's new technology is a wireless portable system that provides real-time situational awareness. The device is capable of tracking Remote ID signals from commercially operated drones, and transmit that information to a mobile application.

Lukáš Brchl, CEO and Founder of Dronetag, said a major goal for the company's with its drone detection technology is to lower the cost of providing awareness of commercially operated drones in public airspace. "RIDER provides a 'Level 0' solution for situational awareness, offering three connectivity options for real-time data sharing: integrated LTE, Bluetooth, or USB-C." Brchl says, "While mobile phones were initially expected to handle such tasks, their technical limitations left a gap that RIDER now fills seamlessly."

On this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast, Brchl explains how the RIDER system works and how it can be used by public safety agencies and drone operators for real-time awareness of commercially operated drones in public airspace.

UxV/35 is a new standard recently adopted by the PC104 Computing Consortium to enable rapid development and manufacturing of drones, automatic vehicles, and vessels.

The standard provides an embedded computing "stackable bus" architecture where modules are assembled by "mating system boards into stacks like LEGOs™ instead of using wires, solder, and tiny screws." Examples of embedded drone computing applications that can be developed using the UxV/35 standard include flight controllers, radios, and GPS systems.

On the first episode of Season 7 of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast, Dom Koenig, Marketing Manager, Kairos Autonomi, explains how UxV/35 could be used to lower the cost of designing and manufacturing drones in the future.

Register for SAE Media Group's UAV Technology USA and Counter UAS Homeland events here.

Pratt & Whitney is using a new robot named Alfred to assemble high-pressure compressor rotors for its GTF PW1100G-JM engine that powers the Airbus A320neo family of aircraft.

In September, the aircraft engine manufacturing company published a blog post describing how Alfred is helping to reduce the assembly process time for GTF engines.

On this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast, Kevin Kirkpatrick, Vice President of Aftermarket Global Operations, Pratt & Whitney, explains how they're using Alfred today. Kirkpatrick also discusses how the company will expand its use of robotics in the future.

The Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced a new $20 million award to Kraus Hamdani Aerospace for its Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program. Under the contract, Kraus Hamdani, the California-based drone as a service manufacturer, will use the funding to support the scaling of production of its K1000ULE unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

The K1000ULE is a solar-powered glider drone that has demonstrated the ability to fly non-stop for 26 hours, and has been evaluated by DoD for a wide variety of defense applications over the last two years.

On episode 4 of season 6 of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast, Fatima Hamdani, co-founder of Kraus Hamdani Aerospace explains what the APFIT program is and how it will help the company scale production of its autonomous drone that also can be used as a flying cell tower.

Unusual Machines CEO Allan Evans is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast.  

Headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Unusual Machines describes itself as a "classic American technology company born from garage tinkerers and hobbyists, focused on serving the emerging drone industry with unique and innovative products." The company recently launched a new low cost flight controller for drones, the Riot Brave F7, that achieved "Blue UAS" certification from the Department of Defense's (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) in August.

Over the last year, DoD launched its new "Replicator" initiative, which is focused on the deployment of thousands of new low cost or "attributable" autonomous systems such as drones. On this episode of the podcast, Evans provides some perspective on Replicator, how the war in Ukraine is reflecting the effectiveness of low cost modified drones in modern warfare, and the future of low cost drones and drone components manufactured in the U.S.

The U.S. Army has been establishing a new cross-functional team focused on exploiting the fusion of deep sensing data for decision-making in long-range targeting throughout 2024.

During this episode, we present some of the comments made by U.S. Army leadership during the 2024 AUSA conference and exhibition. One feature of AUSA is the "Warriors Corner" where panel discussions are hosted to discuss how the Army is using new technology.

Listen to this episode to understand how the U.S. Army wants to use AI and ML for processing, exploitation and dissemination to become more data-driven and efficient in the way they operate aircraft, ground vehicles, drones and other weapons and technologies.

The three Army discussions are given in the following order in this episode, with audio courtesy of the U.S. Army Multimedia and Visual Information Division:

1. LTG Anthony R. Hale, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2, U.S. Army

2. BG Rory Crooks, Director, Long Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team, U.S. Army Futures Command

3. Brandon Vanorden, Division Chief, Operations, Headquarters, Department of the Army, G-2

On the first episode of Season 6 of the podcast, Michael Amori, CEO and co-founder of Virtualitics, is the guest to explain how the U.S. Air Force is using the company's "Integrated Readiness Optimization" AI applications to deploy a data-driven weapon sustainment strategy.

Season 6 of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast is focused on the rise of AI, autonomy and robotics across the aerospace and defense industry.

During the Association of the U.S. Army's annual AUSA conference and exhibition, the conference featured a panel titled "Army Space Vision: Delivering Effects for Combat Ready Formations."

On the fourth and final episode of Season 5, we feature Colonel Pete Akinson's presentation and question and answer session from his participation in this panel. Atkinson is the Principal Space Advisor for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. He provides a basic overview of new space-focued personnel and technology deployments that the Army has been focused on this year.

Atkinson also provides a brief update on the first year of the Army's new SATCOM as a Managed Service (SATaaMS) project involving Intelsat and SES earlier this year.

On Oct. 7, Hera, the European Space Agency's first "planetary defense spacecraft," was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, riding aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. ESA has tasked Hera with investigating the aftermath of NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, which altered the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos in 2022.

The spacecraft, along with two cubesats (named Milani and Juventas), will assess the impact crater and study Dimorphos’ surface and internal structure, as well as the gravity conditions, with the goal of improving planetary defense strategies. Beyond the unique mission it has been tasked with, Hera is another space exploration mission that reflects the growing trend that has emerged in recent years where government agencies are increasingly relying on private companies for space launches and missions.

Kevin Lausten, President of German spacecraft electric propulsion system provider Morpheus Space, is the guest on this this episode of Season 5 of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast. Austen breaks down the Hera mission and also discusses future trends to watch in space mobility. Season 5 of the podcast features interviews focused on next generation satellite and space technology.

Dan Laubach, Raft LLC's Senior Director of Programs, is the guest on episode 2 of season 5 of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast. Season 5 is focused on next generation satellite and space technology.

In June, Raft LLC was one of 20 companies selected by the U.S. Space Force to for an Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) multi-year contract for the development of ground-systems software. The agency's Spacewerx technology development arm is also currently working on the "digital spaceport" initiative with a focus on three areas, the infrastructure layer, data layer and application layer with an overall goal of digitally modernizing the way the Space Force accesses and manages data.

On the first episode of Season 5 of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast, the guest is Joshua Cryer, President and CEO of Reticulate Micro. 

Season 5 of the podcast, "Next Generation Satellites and Space Technology," will feature interviews focused on satellite and space technology industry trends and insights such as low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, software-defined satellites, tracking hypersonic missile threats and other new satellite and space technologies.

Reticulate Micro has emerged as a unique new commercial and defense company providing video compression technology that makes it possible to send or receive video and high-resolution imagery practically anywhere in the world, over any network, to anyone. In March for example, the company performed an industry first, by streaming live video over a UHF TACSAT radio link.

The aerospace and defense industry has adopted the use of the digital twin as a revolutionary design tool for several decades. Digital twins effectively provide a virtual representation of a product, system or technology that allows companies other than design and test new products before building them physically.

Will the A&D industry ever get to a point where virtual prototypes completely replace physical ones? How are companies using digital twins to improve existing product designs? Dale Tutt, Vice President of Industry Strategy at Siemens Digital Industries Software, is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast to answer these questions and more.

Art Sellers, SparkCognition Government Systems President and General Manager joins the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast to explain their new partnership using AI to improve supply chain efficiency for the U.S. Air Force.

In February, Cadence launched a new generation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with the introduction of the Millennium M1 CFDSupercomputer.

Millennium M1 is a graphics processor unit (GPU)-based hardware system that is also available with no hardware completely in the cloud. What is a CFD supercomputer, how does it work and what could it provide for engineers and designers of complex aerospace and defense electronics and mechanical systems?

Frank Ham, Vice President of Research and Development at Cadence, joins the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast to answer these questions and more.

The U.S. Army recently provided the following definition for "digital engineering," in the article "A Matter of Course," that explains how the Army is developing a new digital engineering course. Here's how the Army describes digital engineering:

"Digital engineering is the process of digitally designing military equipment, such as future combat vehicles or other military hardware, to be designed and built in a virtual environment where it can be tested, analyzed and can engage with Soldiers before a single piece of iron is bent to build the prototype. While digital engineering has become the norm in many commercial manufacturing settings, it is still a relatively new concept to the Army, and this knowledge gap has created a need for professional education inside the force."

On the second episode of Season 4, we highlight some of the digital transformation and new digital technologies and capabilities being developed and adopted by three of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. The chief executives from each of these industry giants highlighted show they're using digital design tools, developing new digital capabilities and adopting artificial intelligence (AI) during their respective second quarter earnings calls.