BAE Systems

BAE Survivability Concept Demonstrator vehicle to debut at AUSA

By Paul Lester

17:59 October 7, 2009 PDT

Recent developments in the military sector have demonstrated an increasing importance in protecting troops in the field, whether this be by automating vehicles or enhancing armor-based protection and maneuverability. BAE Systems has decided against picking a specific area to test with its M1151 Survivability concept but, instead, has lumped a range of technologies into a single vehicle, and is currently unveiling the fruits of its research at the AUSA (Association of the United States Armys) annual exposition in Washington. Read More

Unmanned mini sub will prowl ports and coasts for hidden threats

By Michael Mulcahy

06:03 July 8, 2009 PDT

It used to be that shipping was most under threat on the high seas. But now authorities warn that terrorists are targeting vessels in port or close to shore. Which is exactly why BAE Systems have launched a tiny, unmanned autonomous submarine to detect and deal with such threats: the Talisman L weighs only 50kg, has a top speed of 5 knots, and can patrol at depths of up to 100 metres for up to 12 hours. Read More

Oshkosh delivers MRAP vehicles for testing

By Darren Quick

19:29 May 4, 2009 PDT

The success of MRAP (Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected) vehicles in saving lives from IED (Improvised Explosive Device) and ambush attacks has seen the US Marine Corp scrambling to accelerate the rate of production by awarding contracts to multiple companies. Oshkosh Defense has now delivered three production-representative MRAP All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs) to the U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland for military evaluation. Read More

BAE delivers new Mine Resistant All-Terrain Vehicles

By David Greig

20:34 March 2, 2009 PST

With the increasing use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in the Iraq War and in other theater operations, continued focus is being placed on protection of soldiers and vehicles. To this end, BAE Systems has delivered two different M-ATV (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles) prototypes to the U.S. Government for two months of testing and evaluation. The new prototypes - the USC M-ATV and the GTS M-ATV - are lighter and more mobile than first-generation MRAP’s while providing comparable protection from roadside bombs. Read More

Mortar Stowage Kit brings automation to the battlefield

By Mike Hanlon

14:21 March 2, 2009 PST

Automation offers many advantages regardless of what you're doing, but on the battlefield, it can quite literally be a lifesaver. One of the many interesting exhibits at last week's AUSA Winter Symposium was the M326 120-mm Mortar Stowage Kit. The highly-automated, trailer-mounted system makes it easier for soldiers to quickly set-up and take down a M120 Mortar system on the battlefield, and apart from reducing a physically gruelling team job to the press of a button, the end result is astonishingly quick. The M326 uses an electrical/hydraulic system to hoist the fully assembled 300-pound M120mm Mortar into and out of its trailer and the process is now so quick that soldiers can emplace, fire and stow the system and be on the move again in less than three minutes. Read More

Microbial toxin-eating technology trial a success

By Stephen Saunders

21:06 February 19, 2009 PST

We live in a society that is creating more toxic chemicals everyday. In nearly all forms of production many undesirable chemicals get produced which cannot simply be disposed of, even in industrial settings. If these chemicals are tipped down the sink or flushed down the toilet they will end up back in our water streams and pollute our precious and already strained environment. The standard solution is to transport harmful chemicals to distant chemical treatment facilities where they can be broken down and disposed of responsibly, but these processes use a lot of energy and often produce many undesirable byproducts such as oily polluting residues that end up in landfill. That's where this ecologically friendly bacterial treatment from Microbial Solutions' comes in. Microcycle, as it's known, turns toxic exhausted metal working fluids into grey water that is safe to dispose of into the sewerage system. Read More

The electric cannon delivers shells over 200 miles at Mach 5

By Mike Hanlon

13:16 February 18, 2009 PST

Think of the electromagnetic railgun as an electric cannon which uses electrical energy instead of chemical propellant to launch projectiles at hypervelocities. First conceived nearly a century ago, the concept was investigated by Germany during WWII, but has really only stepped out of science fiction and into reality in the last 12 months. With shells travelling at Mach 5 on impact, and accurate to within five metres at a 200 mile range, such weapons maximize the damage they do through kinetic energy, and hence don't need explosive payloads. Accordingly, they are ideal for naval warfare as they minimise the risk to warships which do not need to carry explosive warheads or propellants. Earlier this week, the US Office of Naval Research (ONR) awarded a USD 21 million 30-month contract to BAE Systems for the detailed design and delivery of an Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) Railgun. As previously warned, if the Daleks don't get here soon, they'll have a serious fight on their hands. Read More

EBDI ethanol engines surpass gasoline engine efficiency

By Mike Hanlon

18:30 February 6, 2009 PST

Automotive technology specialist Ricardo has revealed the development of technology that optimizes ethanol-fuelled engines to a level of performance that exceeds gasoline engine efficiency and approaches levels previously reached only by diesel engines. The technology, called Ethanol Boosted Direct Injection (EBDI), takes full advantage of ethanol’s best properties – higher octane and higher heat of vaporization – to create a renewable fuel scenario that is independent of the cost of oil. Read More

Compact mortar-based launcher developed for small UAVs

By Mike Hanlon

02:41 November 19, 2008 PST

November 19, 2008 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been the major innovation of modern warfare in the last decade, offering invaluable and unprecedented information about what the enemy is doing. Though US forces currently have 30 unmanned combat air patrols operating 24 hours a day over Iraq and Afghanistan, increasingly, the need for situational awareness on a micro scale is driving technological development of manpackable UAV systems. Now BAE has announced yet another major UAV breakthrough – a compact mortar-based launcher for small Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs). Read More

London takes delivery of hybrid-drive double-decker

By Noel McKeegan

17:57 November 7, 2008 PST

London's iconic double-decker buses may soon add a green heart to their familiar red exterior. Having already made an impact in North America, buses equipped with BAE Systems’ diesel-electric HybriDrive propulsion system are soon to be trailed on the other side of the Atlantic. The first of 17 evaluation units built by Britain’s Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) and BAE Systems was delivered this week to bus operator Transport for London and Metrobus. Read More

The Dillon M134 - the second coming of the Gatling Gun

By Mike Hanlon

06:29 August 25, 2008 PDT

Just over a 140 years ago, Richard Gatling’s famous multiple barrel invention became the scourge of the battlefield with its fearsome firepower and was used by colonising European powers to decimate the warriors of the non-industrialized nations they sought to conquer. Nowadays, the electrically-powered Dillon Aero M134D Minigun is taking the concept to new heights, using six barrels to fire up to 4,000 7.62 MM bullets per minute. As the modular M134D system can be easily adapted to any platform, it is finding favour in a host of new fearsome forms, most notably in the BAE-built Remote Guardian System being tested beneath V-22 Ospreys. Perhaps even scarier is the prospect of the weapon being used aboard the Ripsaw MS-1, a tracked 650-horsepower Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) under development which is capable of accelerating to 50 mph from standstill in around four seconds, turning in its own length and taking a 30 foot high 45 degree hill in its stride. Now is not a good time to be on the wrong team. Proof? Watch this! Read More

NLOS prototype on track

By Noel McKeegan

22:43 May 13, 2008 PDT

May 14, 2008 The Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon Firing Platform first unveiled back in June 2006 is now approaching its final stages of assembly ahead of delivery of the first prototype to the US Army in June. Read More

BAE Systems to lead new miniature robotics research initiative

By Noel McKeegan

19:28 April 28, 2008 PDT

April 29, 2008 From fire fighting to termite eradication and exploring the Martian surface, the role of robots in performing tasks that are too dangerous for humans is already well established. Like many emerging technologies, the key driving force behind the development of these systems comes from military applications where robots are now regularly employed for tasks such as battlefield reconnaissance, communications and neutralizing the threat of explosive devices. In the latest news in this rapidly evolving field, BAE Systems has signed a $38 million agreement with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to spearhead development of the next-generation intelligence-gathering military robots with a focus on versatile, miniature platforms suited to use urban environments and inaccessible terrain. Read More

New York’s hybrid buses prove their worth

By Emily Clark

21:23 February 6, 2008 PST

February 7, 2008 A government report has shown that the new Orion buses in New York City cost 40% less to maintain and 24% less to operate than earlier-generation hybrids. Read More

New York to expand diesel-electric hybrid bus fleet

By Kyle Sherer

18:56 December 18, 2007 PST

December 19, 2007 Public transport organizations in the USA and Canada have ordered a total of 1052 Orion VII Next Generation diesel-electric hybrid buses with New York to have the largest diesel-electric hybrid bus fleet in the world by 2010. Read More

BAE Systems to lead next-generation surveillance program

By Noel McKeegan

17:31 November 8, 2007 PST

November 9, 2007 BAE Systems will head-up the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System (ARGUS-IS) program after the company received an $18.5 million contract to develop a new class of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) technology. Read More

Q-Sight lightweight helmet-mounted display

By Kyle Sherer

15:40 November 4, 2007 PST

November 5, 2007

BAE Systems has developed a new line of lightweight, modular and ergonomic helmet-mounted displays for rotary-wing pilots known as Q-Sight. The four-ounce model is highly integrated with existing gear, compatible with night-vision goggle, attachable to any helmet and easily altered for different missions. Read More

BAE Systems wins contract for Mortar Stowage System

By Darren Quick

20:24 October 17, 2007 PDT

October 18, 2007 BAE Systems has won a US$13.9 million contract to supply its M326 120-mm Mortar Stowage System to the U.S. Army. The hydraulic lift system is designed for loading 300-pound mortar tubes out of humvee trailers - freeing up the 3-4 soldiers normally required for the task and facilitating faster firing and movement of the weapon. Read More

BAE to develop next-generation night-vision goggles

By Emily Clark

23:44 September 24, 2007 PDT

September 25, 2007 U.S. army soldiers will be the recipients of enhanced night vision goggles that use digital imagery to improve mobility and situational awareness under all lighting conditions, overcoming battlefield obscurants that would generally hinder vision. Under development by BAE systems as part of the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program for the U.S. defense forces the helmet-mounted system will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared sensor onto a single color display located in front of the soldier's eye. Read More

BAE Systems demonstrate Common Modular Power System for tactical wheeled vehicles

By Noel McKeegan

01:57 August 9, 2007 PDT

August 9, 2007 BAE Systems are demonstrating a prototype Common Modular Power System (CMPS) at the Power and Energy Symposium currently being held at Troy, Michigan. This is in response to a need expressed by the United States Department of Defense for a power system that is able to provide 400amps of 28-volt DC power across the full rev range of a High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee ) - a perceived requirement for 21st century warfighting. Read More

Design milestone for UK’s largest ever UAV

By Noel McKeegan

June 20, 2007 The design of autonomous systems for one of the largest Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) ever conceived, the Taranis, has been finalized ahead of schedule. The size of a Hawk trainer, the Taranis unmanned fast jet demonstrator will be focused on targeting and attack capabilities rather than the surveillance and reconnaissance roles predominately given to previous UAV programmes. While still built for stealth and speed, the aircraft will be able to test deploy a range of munitions over a number of targets and will be capable of high-level decision making to defend itself against manned and other unmanned enemy aircraft in “deep” operations. Read More

A modern engineering masterpiece - the nuclear sub that will go 25 years without refuelling

By Loz Blain

May 21, 2007 A hulking 100 metres long, the Astute is the largest, most heavily armed, stealthiest and most sophisticated submarine ever built for the Royal Navy. The massive nuclear sub, which will never need refuelling in its 25 year service life, is able to circumnavigate the globe underwater, producing its own fresh water and air for the crew - and its range is only really limited by the need for fresh food supplies. From every angle, it is an engineering masterpiece, spoken of as one of the great engineering achievements of all time and more complex than the space shuttle. Britain's Royal Navy is set to launch this new flagship in less than a month. Read More

Artillery Precision Guidance Kit in testing

By Mike Hanlon

February 8, 2007 The advent of precision guided munitions has completely changed the battlefield inside a few decades. Once bombs were dropped in vast numbers, as each one had a small probability of hitting its target. Then computers and advanced guidance entered the fray, and bombs became deadly accurate. Now the artillery section is getting in on the act. We reported last July that BAE had received a contract to participate in a competitive technical development program of a Precision Guidance Kit for use with Army cannon artillery ammunition which makes conventional cannon projectiles at least three times more accurate. Now the system is in testing and last month 21 155 mm projectiles were successfully fired equipped with the Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) test modules. Read More

England’s Taranis to be one of the largest UAVs ever

By Mike Hanlon

January 6, 2007 Yet another potent UAV is in the development phase, this one for the UK Ministry of Defence to be constructed by a team headed by BAE Systems, together with Rolls-Royce, Smiths Aerospace and QinetiQ, plus MoD military staff and scientists. The four year project to develop a world-class UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle) Technology Demonstrator Programme called Taranis. Ground testing of the UKP124 million Taranis project is expected to take place in early 2009 with the first flight trials taking place in 2010. Named after the Celtic God of Thunder, Taranis will be an unmanned fast jet demonstrator the size of a Hawk trainer - making it one of the world's largest UAVs - that will be stealthy, fast and be able to test deploy a range of munitions over a number of targets and be able to defend itself against manned and other unmanned enemy aircraft. Read More

NLOS Cannon firing platform unveiled

By Mike Hanlon

September 30, 2006 The world got its first look at the Future Combat Systems (FCS) Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon Firing Platform last week. The NLOS Cannon is the lead Manned Ground Vehicle (MGV) of the U.S. Army's foremost modernization program - an integrated family of air systems and both manned and unmanned ground systems connected by a robust network. The 155-mm Firing Platform is the first step toward development of NLOS Cannon prototypes scheduled to begin testing in 2008. The NLOS Cannon Firing Platform features a 38-caliber length, fully automated 155-mm howitzer, and will soon be shipped to Army test facilities, where it will begin qualification of its ultra-lightweight cannon and breech. The Firing Platform will undergo testing through 2008. Test data from these tests will support obtaining a safety release, which will allow soldiers to begin testing the NLOS Cannon prototypes. Read More