Israel sets up new department to boost development of AI and autonomy
Israel will continue to develop autonomy for its weapons and platforms as it brings together defence personnel, academia and industry.
Norway-based company Kitron will supply subassembly electronic modules for F-35 Lightning II aircraft avionics under an agreement with Northrop Grumman announced on 22 September.
Northrop Grumman is delivering the F-35’s Communication, Navigation and Identification (CNI) avionics suite. The suite, which uses software-defined radio technology that allows the simultaneous operation of multiple critical functions, will give pilots more than 27 avionics functions including voice and data communication.
Kitron’s agreement is effective through June 2036, and includes rights for future extensions.
Jeannie Hilger, vice president, network communication systems, Northrop Grumman Information Systems, said: ‘Northrop Grumman is committed to developing a cost-effective and technically superior source that would provide the best value for the F-35 CNI programme. We established a cooperative, supportive relationship with Kitron and forged this agreement to formalise our partnership.’
Andrew Tyler, chief executive, Europe, Northrop Grumman, added: ‘The CNI system is critically important to the F-35 and provides the aircraft with its ability to be integrated into the wider battlespace. This agreement will further strengthen the deep partnership with Norway that we have built up over the years and which dates back to 1940.’
The agreement follows an earlier contract that will see Kitron develop a test program set (TPS) for evaluating and troubleshooting F-35 avionics.
Israel will continue to develop autonomy for its weapons and platforms as it brings together defence personnel, academia and industry.
Clavister CyberArmour, an integrated defence cybersecurity system, will be used on BAE Systems Hägglunds’ CV90 platform in deployments with a Scandinavian country, as well as in an eastern European nation.
The tactical satellite (TacSat) is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system and will participate in exercises in 2025.
The airborne three-domain, the two ground-based and the ¼ ATR OpenVPX-based cross-domain systems were engineered to provide real-time security across multi-domain operations.
DARPA’s Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme was set up to develop an autonomous tactical network and enable critical data flow in contested environments.
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