Raytheon has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Defence to join Team ARTEMIS.
The project is a collaboration between government and industry formed to fast track the launch of a small satellite constellation and enhance the UK’s sovereign space capability.
“In large part because of U.S. efforts to raise the profile of military space, allies are working hard to ‘close the space gap,'” said Air Vice-Marshal Rocky Rochelle, Royal Air Force chief of staff for capability.
Raytheon’s many decades of experience in developing space systems will be a significant boost to the MOD’s space plans and their commitment to launch a small satellite demonstrator within a year with Team ARTEMIS Industry.
“Raytheon provides advanced satellite-based mission planning and data processing capabilities to governments around the world,” said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services.
“The collaboration between Raytheon and the UK Armed Forces will deliver new capabilities that directly benefit this important alliance.”
Raytheon and the MoD have previously partnered on several defence projects, including tactical airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance solutions used by the armed forces.
“Raytheon has worked with the UK for decades to develop exceptional defence, aerospace and cyber capabilities,” said Richard Daniel, CEO of Raytheon UK.
“Being part of Team ARTEMIS Industry will only further strengthen that relationship as we work and invest to jointly develop and support the UK’s space systems.”
As regular readers know, I’m a great advocate of staying ahead when it comes to defending our freedoms.
The above image of the earth in all its wondrous beauty, evokes nonsensical frustration, at the only species upon it with the ability/thought process of reason and accountability.
It’s quite sad that man/nations have to spend vast amounts of money and resources, only to invariably end in death and destruction, especially the destruction of our/faunas environments, marine life being one of the biggest victims.
Hopefully, one day, we will learn!
I agree with the sentiments. But as the man said, for evil to triumph it is only necessary for good men to do nothing. We have seen that over and again have we not?
In the Science Museum there is a Black Knight rocket on display. Launched over twenty times without a hitch, it placed Britain’s Prospero satellite in orbit. A weak and short sighted government and civil servants putting our eggs in someone else’s basket was ‘they way forward’. Within in a few years the throw weight limitation of Black Knight was obviated by smaller and smaller satellites.
Britain. The country that invents a wheel and then buys it from somewhere else.
The man was Edmund Burke…hopefully some good men and women will pull Bojo’s government down before it completely screws Britain. “I’ve seen more brains in pork-pie”.
Why would the current government want to screw this green and fertile land? If the PM does what he has promised to do and honours what the majority of the people voted for then a brighter future awaits. Then we can put up more satellites and invest in our own first class research and development and start doing our own thing without interference and red tape. This will allow us to develop the ultimate weapon system the T1000 Maggie Thatcher cyborg ready to install back in no.10 D S .Then its game on.
A Maggie Thatcher cyborg….a terrifying thought. Presumably this is a creation of the mad scientist, professor Rees-Mogg. I hope it goes better than his earlier creation, T200 Michael Gove, that was assembled from body parts found lying around his laboratory!
? I had no idea you felt this way about poor old messers Mogg and Gove ?
If the PM does what he said he would do and we end up leaving the EU with no deal then the economy will shrink, tens of thousands of jobs will disappear and there will be much less money to spend on services, especially with the people losing their jobs claiming unemployment benefits.
Cuts will be made, and defence will be one of the first on the chopping block as it loses few votes.
Stevo I had no idea you have access to the future? ?
And what is the basis for your claim of a brighter future after we leave the EU without a deal?
Optimism amigo good old fashioned belief in the British people. History proves the doomsday merchants wrong over us not joining the Euro , what would happen if we voted leave as just 2 examples and history shows what an outstandingly resourceful and ingenious nation we are absolutely nothing stops U.K. plc or ever will . Listen when it comes to us leaving the EU and the sky falling in ,As public Enemy proclaimed back in 88 “ don’t believe the hype”
TAFKALPC
Hear Hear!
Steve R, should be whipped and tared for dissent!!
This Nation is still equipped with stoic resolve!
? bravo sir bravo??
Or perhaps you should be whipped and tarred if it all goes tits up.
I believe in the British people. However I dont believe im blind optimism. Long term this county will be fine, but there will be a period where our economy will shrink, jobs will go as businesses leave the UK for elsewhere. Long term we can cope with this if we adapt and start making things ourselves again. Problem is wed need to restart a lot of indigenous industries we no longer have.
Long-term, we will be okay. For several years however the economy will shrink somewhat. Whether that’s the 10% economists predict, who knows?
But when that happens defence spending will be cut, as governments always have done in the past.
What about the many companies who have decided to base themselves or further invest in the UK, post-Brexit Vote?
The UK’s tech sector is soaring ahead of its competitors in Europe, attracting more venture capital investment in 2017 than Germany, France and Sweden combined.
British tech businesses attracted $7.8bn of funding last year, which was almost double the amount received in 2016. Research by Dealroom and Tech Nation showed that the UK’s venture capital investment in 2017 was higher than Germany’s total of $3.2bn and France, which brought in $2.8bn. Data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed more than £1,400billion-worth of investment stock flowed into the UK from abroad during 2018. Only the US and China attracted more foreign capital and loans than this country during the 12-month period.
Let’s look at what has happened over the last two years:
Inward investment – the UK for the first time ever is the global number 1, displacing the US;
Investment is broadly based across numerous sectors including manufacturing, IT, financial services and business services;
Unemployment is now the joint lowest since 1974;
Total employment is now 32.7 million – the biggest ever, growing by 800,000 since the referendum – contrasting with the Treasury’s predicted 500,000 fall in employment immediately on a leave vote – a positive gain of 1.3 million jobs over what was predicted;
Wage growth in February was 3.5% – the joint highest on record (with 2008) – ahead of inflation which was 1.9% in the same month;
The UK minimum wage is the highest of any major country in the EU and twice that of Spain, three times that of Poland and six times that of Romania. No wonder the UK is a beacon for workers; and,
GDP has grown each and every quarter, in contrast to the absurd Treasury forecast of a fall of 5%.
So, come on! Let’s Dig for Victory Steve!!
Well if we are that masterfully successful, ingenious and resourceful how the hell do we describe the Germans who have increased their economy 150% during a period in which we expanded ours 50%. They must truly be off the scale.
I suggest you go read up on the economist Leo Varvakis former Greek finance minister very well known and certainly not a brexit supporter. He will explain how Germany have managed this through the Euro which is suited and loaded in their favour. Basically it’s a fix. Anyways the entire global system rightly or wrongly runs on a system we primarily put in place . If you doubt how capable this nation is and has been then one only needs to open the history books and it’s there in black and white for all to see. Please come back to me after October 31st when the plagues of locusts and millions losing their jobs doesn’t materialise. Until then Rule Britannia ??
Bravo Chicken.
Like the pound will crash together with the UK economy and well all be doomed if the referendum votes out !…hang on that didnt happen but it hasnt stopped the ‘Analysts’ still predicting the future.
Have I missed something or is my simple mind incorrectly seeing that this is all to do with the EU going their own way anyway with an EU defence system……which apparently was never on the cards?
Well the pound hasn’t actually crashed but it has plummeted in value. My previous job was in managing foreign exchange bureaus and the day of the referendum it was €1.27 to the £, the day after the vote when it was confirmed Leave, went down to €1.18, went down to a low or €1.06 and is now €1.11. This is retail rates. So the pound has indeed lost a lot of value.
This is a fake picture, everyone knows the earth is flat! Muhahaha 😉
On a serious note and different subject. The US is planning to adopt 6.8mm caliber! Weapons manufacturers are rubbing their hands and laughing on their way to the bank. Why reinvent the wheel? May as well use 7.62mm. Is 5.56mm not enough to shoot bearded guys in bedsheets? Considering the US pushed for 5.56 use among NATO, this seems like a giant waste of money.
The problem with the 5.56 round was it was never really designed to kill but to wound. It was designed so that after penetrating a person it would tumble and thus create a more serious wound. It was factored in that every wounded soldier would require at least another or probably two to triage them and return them to medical facilities, thus taking more troops out of the fight. This is great when facing hordes of troops but when against insurgents not really that useful. The 5.56 is significantly lighter than the NATO 7.62, so pound for pound more ammo can be carried by your footsloggers. From experience, Iraq and Afghan showed that the 5.56 is good for urban fighting as you will be firing bucket loads for suppression, but not that good at putting down an opponent. If I remember correctly we started off with 8 x 30 magazines totalling 240. This soon increased with another 240 carried in your go pack and towards the end of Afghan even more including 7.62 for the gimpy, possible a LAWS or if you were really unlucky the aiming unit for the Javelin. Going to be morbid now, unless you can guarantee a head or heart shot a person would continue to fight with at least 3 hits. A lot of the hits would pass through and not tumble. By comparison a NATO 7.62, even when missing centre of mass, a person is severely incapacitated and mostly likely taken out of the fight.
There have been trials upon trials to find the perfect round combination of weight vs target impact. The key word with the Yanks is “overmatch”. They were finding that more and more insurgents were engaging at a distance over 300m. This is over the max effective range of a 5.56 using a M14 (AR series – especially stubby carbines). They have stated that they required a round that can be fired rapidly in urban setting (less than 100m) and a round that was still effective up to 500m (600m in some press releases).
Conversely one of the benefits of the L85 was that the barrel length is the nearly the same as the original M14. Therefore, it had a better reach and was more accurate than the standard AR15s up to 300m. The L86 LSW was an excellent designated shooter weapon, rubbish for close range suppression.
There have been a number of development intermediate rounds like the 6.5mm Grendel and the US Army have finally settled on the 6.8mm bullet. They have said it will be a standard layout cartridge rather than a cased telescopic round. I haven’t seen any details about the cartridge size as all the current projections are based on the Remington SPC 6.8mm. This round is only slightly longer than the current 5.56. The bullet is longer and fatter, so the cartridge is shorter but again much fatter.
The 6.8mm round is said to have a better ballistic coefficient than both the 5.56 and 7.62 rounds, thus having a much flatter fight path up to 600m. At this range the terminal energy is half as much again as the 5.56. So technically more energy should be transferred to the target or conversely should penetrate more restrictive materials better.
The US Army has said that the 5.56 and 7.62 will still be the mainstay of front-line troops for the next 15 years. Will other NATO countries jump on-board, I’m not so sure as it will require significant investment and I don’t think the majority of countries see the need – yet!
“Unless hit in the head or heart shot a person would continue to fight with at least 3 hits.”
I’ve never before heard such rubbish. Getting shot anywhere with a 5.56mm is going to incapacitate you. If you’re shot in the bicep for instance, that’s still massive damage to the arm, blood moss, shock and pain that will put you out of the fight even if you’re only wounded.
I think the main reason for looking alternative calibre ammo is simply that the AK which is normally the weapon of choice for our enemies of late, has greater range than L85, M16, M4 etc. Their weapons can reach us before ours can reach them.
France is also launching its first space weapons program.
The Military Planning Law 2019-2025 had already significantly increased the resources allocated to space, with a budget of 3.6 billion euros devoted to the modernization of observation satellites (CSO), telecommunication (Syracuse), electromagnetic listening and radar space surveillance GRAVES. The latter will soon be able to detect objects the size of a shoebox at 1,500 km altitude.
The new strategy is to add to these means of knowledge and anticipation, means of protection and response to possible aggression in space. Linked by the attempted spying of a French satellite by the Russian satellite Luch-Olymp.
The minister mentioned some projects, such as nano-satellite patrollers, which will be deployed in a swarm a few kilometers around the big satellites, starting in 2023, to prevent a potential threat. But also the development of power lasers able to blind the enemy satellites too curious.
These lasers as well as other means of self-defense, will equip some military satellites. The future air and space army is also considering small reactive satellite launchers, which are easier to implement than the Ariane rocket, so that they can quickly replace damaged satellites.
The goal set by the minister is to start deploying some of this arsenal by 2025, and to reach full operational capability by 2030.
France is one of the few countries to have the necessary skills, with three major industrialists Airbus, Safran and Thales in the space sector, but also several SMEs. All in close collaboration with the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) and the National Office for Aerospace Studies and Research (Onera).
On the other hand, the French army will have to make with a budget without common measure with the 50 billion dollars devoted each year by the United States to the space, or the 10 billion by China. We will make an additional budgetary effort of 700 million euros, which will add to the 3.6 billion of the Military Planning Law (LPM), said the Minister of Arms. On three LPMs, this will represent an additional 2.2 billion euros.
A disproportion of resources that does not seem to frighten French space actors, we have always managed to obtain very good results with budgets much lower than hyperpowers.
However, cooperation with European partners would not be refused. We are particularly relying on Germany and Italy to build a common spatial surveillance structure.