I never said otherwise regarding Syracuse. Juts didn’t mention the name 😉

Syracuse 4A and 4B are designed to carry Ka- and X-band payloads, and to resist multiple threats including cyber attacks, jamming and high-altitude nuclear events. Both have a design life of 15 years.

Jannin [Col. Laurent Jannin, the head of French satcom programs ] said many aspects of the planned third satellite are still being finalized, such as size and exact launch date, but that aviation will be a major focus.

Syracuse 4A and 4B have spot beams that concentrate satellite signals over a limited geographic area. While that’s typically fine for relatively slow-moving ground forces that don’t need satellite communications until they reach the war zone, spot beams can be a problem for fast-moving military aircraft that can traverse hundreds or thousands of kilometers in the course of a mission.

“We need a satellite with high capacity on wide zones,” he said.

France has four military communications satellites: the two fully owned Syracuse 3A and 3B satellites, and the Sicral 2 and Athena-Fidus satellites that are shared with Italy. The satellites mainly cover Europe, the Middle East, Africa and large parts of Asia out to around Vietnam.

Jannin said the planned third satellite’s coverage will stay mainly over existing coverage areas.

France’s Joint Directorate for Infrastructure Networks and Information Systems recently added satellite capacity through Telespazio France, which announced Nov. 5 that it would supply capacity on GovSat-1, a satellite operated by Luxembourg and fleet operator SES, for French government entities by the end of 2018.

Short Breviary of Fr defense com sat. :
Syracuse 4A: Thales Alenia (2020+)
Syracuse 4B: Airbus (2020+)
Syracuse 3A&3B: Alcatel Alenia (2005+)
Sicral 2: Thales Alenia (2015)
Athena-Fidus: Thales Alenia (2014)
Gov-Sat-1: LuxGovSat S.A., a public-private joint venture between the Luxembourg government and SES (Société Européenne des Satellites) S.A., the world-leading satellite operator of Luxembourg. GovSat-1 will be a multi-mission communication satellite that will use X-band and Military Ka-band frequencies on high-power and fully steerable mission beams to support multiple operations (2018-2019)

Telespazio: “. In tactical military satellite communications (Milsatcom), Telespazio provides telecommunications services to the armed forces of NATO countries, through its involvement in the Italian defence programme SICRAL”

Source:
SpaceNews.com

Lockheed’s CH53K Helicopter Delayed by New Flaws

Among the flaws discovered so far: exhaust gas sucked back into the engine, limited service life for parts for the main rotor gearbox, deficiencies with the tail rotor and driveshaft and late deliveries of redesigned parts.[…]
The program’s restructuring “incorporates solutions for technical challenges,” including for the “exhaust gas re-ingestion” problem, he said. The Navy has “not yet made a formal determination” of a new initial combat capability date, Kuntz said.

The test program has achieved more than 1,200 flight hours, he said. But the program’s flight test pace and achievements were “less than projected” because technical problems were discovered “later than expected” or were not sufficiently resolved, he said.

Source:
Bloomberg.com

U.S. Central Command, Rebarich said, is “in the process of seeking reimbursement from” the two countries for $36.8 million in fuel and $294.3 million in flight hours. “

Probably one of the few time that someone will be successful in selling fuel to the Saudis or Emiratis in their own countries !

[h=1]Boeing Making Waves In Simulation And Training[/h]

The GBTS includes four aircrew training devices. There are two high-end devices: a weapons system trainer (WST) and an operational flight trainer (OFT), both front-seat positions featuring Boeing’s Constant Resolution Visual System (CRVS) display technology, but with differing fields of view—360 deg. horizontal for the WST and 300 deg. for the OFT.

CRVS systems Boeing has fielded for F-22, F-15 and F-16 mission-training centers mostly use 4K resolution projectors, says Deidrick. For the WST and OFT destined for the T-X program, the company has upgraded to 8K e-shift projectors, based on pixel technology developed with Japan’s JVC. Through e-shift, a projector produces two images alternated at 120 Hz (120 times per sec.) to achieve 8K resolution—quadruple the number of pixels a 4K projector produces. The upgraded projectors meet the Air Force’s visual acuity requirement of 2.5 arc-min. per optical line pair, or about 20/25 vision.

A unit training device has the same cockpit as the WST and OFT, but with lesser, “out-the-window” visual fidelity—just a forward flat screen display—and no dynamic motion seat. A part-task trainer consists of desktop displays and associated HOTAS controls.

The IOS mimics the back-seat position, from where the instructor pilot can monitor and communicate with the student pilot, control training scenarios and fly the aircraft. It is a detached, desk-type station with multiple monitors, a device Boeing adapted from the station it developed for F-22 Raptor training.

The seven devices Boeing will deliver in the program’s EMD phase are two WSTs, one OFT, one unit training device, one part-task trainer, one mission debrief system and one ground-support station, says Deidrick.

Source:
AviationWeek

Magneto optic is blooming 😉

Fantastic shots. But why do they had to blast the golf cart? 😉