NEWS

Letter by Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed

““Dear Mr Hamid Mir,

As’salaam’u’alaikum’wa’rahmatAllaah

I hope you are doing well. It has been almost a year since the Mumbai attacks took place. I am writing to you because I would like to offer some thoughts in this regard…”

Zardari — Mysterious shifting of Swiss case documents

“GENEVA: Pakistani High Commissioner in Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan headed a secret operation in Geneva and received at least 12 cartons comprising the original documents and evidences against some Pakistani high-ups in Swiss money laundering case, Geo News reported Tuesday.

… The sources at Pakistan embassy said if the concerned officials or the courts do not interfere by taking the evidences back from Wajid, then these documents would be wasted for good…”

DEFENSE

Sighted: A Secret US Aircraft in Afghanistan

“Since April, a steady string of reports have detailed sightings of a mysterious, unidentified UAV prowling the skies above Kandahar. Grainy, Loch-Ness-Monster-like photos revealed a flying-wing-type aircraft with stealth features.”

New laser weapon can safely destroy IEDs from distance

“During the laser firings Sept. 22-24 at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., Laser Avenger neutralized different types of IEDs, including large-caliber artillery munitions and smaller bomblets and mortar rounds.”

WEBSITE

Royal Society Launches Web Site Celebrating 350 Years of Science

“To mark the occasion, a team of scientists and historians have launched a new web site called “Trailblazing,” and it essentially lets you take a virtual tour through three and a half centuries of scientific discovery (1660-2010).”

Today, Loïc Morvan, who created the UAV  simulation (UAV stands for unmanned aerial vehicle). I have presented in a video last week, is going to tell us more about his work.

Loïc, what is exactly behind this UAV simulation?

Well, this is a real physic 3D real-time simulation that you see here. It is based on Microsoft XNA for 3D rendering, and on different physic engines for physics. The simulated drone which is flying here has real physic attributes such as its mass, inertia, collision shapes… and it behaves realistically to torques and forces we apply to it. The physic equations are solved by precise discrete solvers, which make the drone having a behavior close to reality.

How did you build that simulated drone, and how long did that take?

The whole construction of the simulated drone did not take more than a few days.

First, we need the 3D model of the drone. That part of the work is done by our 3D designers, and it is actually the longer (1 or 2 days).

Then, we have to define the physic shapes of the drones, and physic constraints (mass, dynamic friction, static friction…). As the physic shapes are defined independently from the 3D model, we can choose our degree of complexity by using more or less accurate physic shapes.

Once the 3D model and physic properties are defined, I have attached some sensors, like the camera and the inclinometers.

Finally, I have added the rotors which are generic objects composed by a rotor blade and an engine (mechanic joint), so that the drone flying algorithm can be implemented.

That was over. The next step was to implement the drone control algorithms to test its behavior.

The simulated drone is supposed to behave like the real one, but you use generic objects, how can you explain that?

Generic objects such as the rotors have many parameters so that you can customize them to create your precise item. Here I have set particular max rotation speed and max torque for my rotors, but we could imagine setting other values for another drone.

What about the drone sensors (camera, inclinometers…)?

We also use generic elements. If you want to create a particular simulated motion camera, you just have to take our generic one and modify the parameters: size and quality of the pictures, number of frames per second, additional noise… That’s it!

Could you tell us more about how the wind is simulated?

The simulated wind is pre-generated considering the static objects (buildings…) which compose the simulation. This generation produces a 2D or 3D map which contains the wind information in each 3D point of the environment. Some of the algorithms we use for that come from the world of image processing.

The map is then inserted into the simulation and the wind is applied to every physic object.

You talk about “multi physic engine compatibility”, could you explain what it is exactly?

A physic engine is the program which computes the physic calculations. It contains the discrete solver used to integrate the equations. There are many physic engines available on the market: PhysX, Newton Game Dynamics, Havok, ODE…

Today, most of simulations are compatible with only one of these physic engines. What we do at SimplySim, is to provide the ability to be compatible with any of them, thanks to a technology that we have called SimplyDynamics. This is why we can talk about “multi physic engine compatibility”.

When you create a 3D simulation, do you only need the SimplyEngine?

No, I also need the 3D models of what I want to simulate. For the drone, we have modeled the drone and the 3D environment with 3D modeling tools which our not created by SimplySim. After that, we worked with the SimplyEngine and with our own edition tools.

Can you tell us a bit more about these edition tools ?

These edition tools represent an easy and graphic way to create the different parts of a simulation. For instance, we have one editor to design the physic properties, which is more user-friendly than typing code! There are a lot of other editors we prepare, some of them will be released in 2010, the goal is really to ease as much as possible the process of creating a 3D simulation.

ENTVKX3SPZDZ

We are looking for help in searching for local land for sale or rent to use to operate our drones during service developement and training. We can operate from most types of land and are looking for between 1 – 3 acres.

Our air vehicles are environmentally friendly and near silent. They are small and lightweight so they will have very little impact on the local area.

We would also consider areas further afield if anyone out there has suitable land.

Any land owners or people who have contacts please let us know at info@ajs-support.co.uk

Having learnt from our recent experiences with our remote imagery support service developement phase using our current UAS the microdrone MD4-200, we  have been down selecting options for a future air vehicle. Now we understand the payload capacities for a future air vehicle, today we set out looking at options for FLIR, video and still cameras.

We are looking at optimising weight against image quality. Any solution would need operating remotely from the ground.  Remote control will require the camera to be pointed at a target and if possible for stills, shutter control from the remote position.

The number of solutions available is making the task  of identifying options for cameras more difficult than selecting the airvehicle. Any advice is welcomed. (info@ajs-support.co.uk) We will post our progress here.

Celente forecasts next 9/11 will be in 2010

The Fire Scout unmanned helicopter got its first job—hunting drug smugglers.

MQ-8B became the first unmanned helo to conduct actual operations on a navy ship. The UAV left on an anti-narcotics mission when from a port in Florida on Monday. The USS McInerney (FFG-8) is no stranger to the unmanned aerial vehicle because it hosted it during developmental testing. A crew of Northrop Grumman engineers are on board to help the aircraft stay healthy.

The operational tests will help the Navy field rotorcraft UAVs on its Littoral Combat Ship, which is still in development.

http://www.as.northropgrumman.com/products/mq8bfirescout_navy/index.html

Canada won’t arm Afghan drones

By David Pugliese

The Ottawa Citizen

November 20, 2009

The Canadian military has decided against putting missiles on the unmanned aerial vehicles it now operates in Afghanistan.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay was briefed in March by air force officials on the various options for arming the drones, according to documents obtained by the Citizen.

Such aircraft, also known as UAVs, are used by various militaries in Afghanistan to conduct surveillance on insurgent activities. In addition, the U.S. uses armed UAVs to conduct attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan on insurgent leaders.

The Canadian Forces is currently leasing Israeli-built Heron UAVs from MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates of Richmond, B.C. That deal, worth $95 million, has a number of Herons operating out of Kandahar airfield. The UAVs are flown by Canadian Forces personnel, but maintained by civilian contractors.

Canadian air force spokesman Maj. Jim Hutcheson said a number of factors were considered before the idea of arming the UAVs was dropped. “After due consideration of all relevant factors, including costs, capabilities and timelines, it was decided that no project would be initiated to arm the Heron UAVs,” he noted.

The lease on the Herons runs until January 2011. There are also options in the contract to extend that.

Stephen Priestley, a researcher for the Canadian-American Strategic Review, noted that there are no technical hurdles to arming the Herons. But there would have been additional costs, requiring the existing contract to be amended, he added.

The Canadian military has plans to eventually purchase long-endurance UAVs over the next several years. Dubbed the Joint Unmanned Surveillance and Target Acquisition System (JUSTAS) program, it is not expected that those aircraft would be flying until after 2012.

For more Canadian Forces and Defence Department news or articles by David Pugliese of the Ottawa Citizen go to David Pugliese’s Defence Watch at:

http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/defencewatch/

Today we introduce a first video of the SimplyEngine (our new 3D simulation engine). This video shows a demo we created around the use case of a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) simulation in a city center.

If you want to learn more about our drone simulation, check out this page. We’ll also make a longer post here in the following weeks to give you a more detailed view of our work on this simulation. By the way if you have questions or comments, feel free to ask

Many thanks for the update of the Falcon 8 air vehicle option from Stefan Eichhorn of Ascending Technologies GmbH.

The Falcon 8 details in the options matrix in the previous posting. Here.

FALCON 8

For more information on the Falcon 8 contact:

Ascending Technologies GmbH
Konrad-Zuse-Bogen 4
82152 Krailling, Germany

Tel:     +49 (0)89 – 89 55 60 79-10
Web:     http://www.asctec.de

Elbit Systems is important to people in the UK because it is an important contractor for the UK Watchkeeper drone system. Elbit is also involved in  providing ’security’ to many agencies in Israel, including those that protect the ‘apartheid wall’, and protect numerous illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Elbit is involved in Israeli security primarily through Elbit Security, and Elbit Electro Optics (some products). Elbit Systems also supplied UAV’s during combat in both Gaza and the West Bank, according to ‘Exposing the Israeli Occupation Industry‘ website. The same website suggests that Elbit has been building and unmanned ground vehicle for patrolling the ’seamline’, along with Controp Precision Technologies, and Tomcar. They list the major shareholders of Elbit as the Federman family, (since 2004) through the Federman Group. (See end of article for more on the Federman Group)

More than one director of Elbit Systems, have been high ranking officers in the Israeli military, including Gideon Sheffer, executive officer,  and Nathan Sharony(74), who retired as a Major General after 30 years in the IDF. Sharony is a well connected high flyer. Sharony is a member of the Council for Peace and Security, (composed mostly of retired military) which supports a Palestinians state in the West Bank and Gaza, but which opposes most other Palestinian demands.

Elbit has provided surveillance technology to the US for its wall between the US and Mexico. More-includes border drone.

Elbit Electro Optics (El-op) provided LORRO surveillance cameras for the Ariel section of the wall, and the A-ram section.

The Federman Group is composed of David Federman, his brother and his father, Michael Federman.  David Federman(bio)  has a B.A. from Tel Aviv University, and is a Captain in the Reserve of the Israeli Air Force. Along with another company Federman Group recently bought controlling interest in Haifa Oil Refineries. They appear to be involved in many other companies, including Carmel Olefins, Elite Industries, etc. Here’s an article discussing more of David Federman’s business affairs.

We have been procrastinating for too long over the updating of our A J S Support Limited website. We have at last employed the services of local professionals to update and host a new website.

From Dec 09 onwards we will be operating a newer more efficient and effective website delivered by Animedia Studios Ltd – http://www.animediastudios.com/

Please feel free to have a look around the site in December 09, all feedback is encouraged.

Here’s a piece on the newest vehicle’s in today’s air war arsenal……

We are looking to invest in additional equipment to replace or complement our current Remote Imagery Support service system. Support service developement identified some key shortfalls with the current equipment capability for the Survey and Security Support services we aim to provide. With our recent experience, knowledge and lessons learnt from operating the microdrone, we have been looking at a number of types of air vehicles ranging from 2, 4 and 8 rotor solutions.

 QUAD COPTER SOLUTIONS

MD4-1000, MD4-200, DRAGANFLY X6

We are planning to select the new equipment by the end of this year, for procurement as soon as possible in the new year. The types of equipments we are considering have reasonable lead times so we need to work fast to have a service up and delivering early in the New Year.

 THE TRADITIONAL AND THE OCTO COPTER SOLUTIONS

FALCON 8, SR 20, KESTREL 1000ES

For more information and an idea of our thoughts so far, visit our microdrone operators log at  http://microdrones.wordpress.com/

We have been experiencing random closure of the md cockpit application for our MD4-200 drone. Because of this we had been keeping an eye on the microdrones GmbH website and updated our mdCockpit application with the latest version (website current – mdCockpit V2.4.4.6) to see if this would help with a number of issues with the system.

We are posting to let other operators know that we found out on Friday that there is a newer version of mdCockpit available  and were given a copy of mdCockpit V2.5.8.8 dated 24/09/09 by the UK suppliers MW Power Limited.  Operators that have never updated mdCockpit need to be made aware that previous versions have saved flight files in different locations.

We do not know what the new version changes are, but we will post if this has any noticeable effects on the system operation.

(PhysOrg.com) – An Australian team from the The Vision Centre and Queensland Brain Institute has developed highly effective new visual systems inspired by honey bees and how they navigate successfully around the landscape, despite their tiny brains. …

http://www.physorg.com/news173621893.html

Remote Imagery Support Service (RISS) developement.

Whilst we have been awaiting the return of our batteries, we have been preoccupied generating funds to finance additional or replacement equipment. As a parallel activity we have been looking at some options for future equipment. I am writing this entry in hope that interested parties may feel the urge to comment or email in order to correct, agree or discuss the approach and our results so far.

I will emphasise at this stage that this activity is purely as an activity for our decision making process for the procurement of new equipment. The requirements are aligned with AJS Remote Imagery Support service requirements and taking cognisance of the fact that we already have an MD4-200.

During this time we have listed over 100 individual requirements based on lessons learned so far with the MD4-200. These have been decanted down to a small number of Key User requirements with an indication of how well an equipment solution aligns.

There are still a number of NK (Not Knowns). We will attempt to gather the info over the next few weeks for these. Some of them have a NK but we have an idea of the result, and so have colour coded accordingly.

To summarise where we are regarding the 6 equipment solutions:

QUAD COPTER SOLUTIONS

 MD4-200 - Our current equipment

This has poor wind tolerance above 5 m/s. The downlink is inconsistent and the batteries are dangerously erratic and inconsistent. It is worth noting we would have trouble selling this with its limitations and price tag.

We are however considering its continued use for sensitive areas, and procure a large equipment for the more industrial applications and greater flexibility of payload.

MD4-1000 – Option discounted after inital review.

Having had an inital look at the information available, this is not a contenders. It is extremely expensive and with very little concrete information at the time of writing this, we can only go on its predecessor the MD4-200. That was expensive, has undefined warranty and support. Parts are expensive and still no documented commitment or plan for future developement for this model by MW Power Limited or microdrones GmbH.

DRAGANFLY X6 – Option discounted after inital review.

Due to its similarity, cost and specialist parts to our current MD4-200, this has limited appeal. The wind tolerance is better than our current equipment but is another £20+ K

THE TRADITIONAL AND THE OCTO COPTER SOLUTIONS

ASM SR20 – Option discounted after inital review.

This equipment is large and would certainly cover a wide spectrum of support services with the MD4-200 but its airvehicle alone without an imagery payload takes it to the 7KG limit. For this reason it is discounted.

KESTREL 1000ES – Remains a contender

Having seen a demo in Hull, if this equipment was a few £K cheaper I would have bought one by now. It would certainly cater for the industrial end of the market but it does however not come with a ground station. Also some work would be required to enhance the water resistance.

A concern over the availability of the airvehicle parts and the single supplier for the stab and nav systems is also making us think carefully.

FALCON 8 – Remains a contender

A lightweight safe to operate in sensitive areas. If we had not already bought the MD4-200 this would be the purchase. Since we have an MD4-200, a proportion of the purchase of this solution would be duplication of what the MD would be able to achieve.

We have a concern over the availability of the airvehicle parts and the single supplier not in UK. We have not seen a live demo of the equipment, although fellow MD4-200 operators agree it is a great vehicle. I would be interested in its handling, water resistance and maintainability.

This is as far as we have managed to progress so far.

 This is intended as a summary log for AJS development of its Remote Imagery Support service. If anyone wishes to discuss or and a point of view please do so.

As previously explained, current equipment limitations have driven us to look at equipments to enhance or replace our current system (MD4-200). This log entry is AJS notes of information found so far, aligned to its own support service requirements.

If any interested party reads this and knows of any changes or can fill in the Not Known fields (NK), we would be gratefull if you could let us know. info@ajs-support.co.uk.

The bullet points below are AJS initial assessment and viewpoint of the listed equipments as viewed in support to its developing support services.

Today for a fee, our MD4-200 microdrone has had a firmware upgrade to the latest version. This includes the Dynamic Position Hold functionality. We at AJS are looking forward to carrying out our own airtests this weekend. It is hope that this will improve control in windy conditions.

It is however a pity that we will be using the same flakey batteries that recently returned from the supplier. We have taken advice and we are continuing to persevere with these for a few more flights whilst strictly following the guidance by the UK distributor MW Power Limited.

Vediamo di fare il punto sugli AMX dell’A.M.I, sul programma ACOL, sull’addestramento di piloti e macchine a Nellis in Nevada e sull’arrivo in Afghanistan dei 4 Aermacchi-Embraer. Comiciamo da Dedalonews, una fonte vicina al Ministero della Difesa.
Ecco cosa scriveva questo bollettino di informazione il 31 luglio 2009: “Il generale Tei CSM dell’ Aereonautica comunica che 10 AMX ACOL e 34 piloti in forza ad Istrana ed Amendola raggiungeranno con partenza 2 agosto la base aerea di Nellis in Nevada per effettuare delle esercitazioni mirate ad una preparazione forse finalizzata ad un loro impiego in Afghanistan in autunno. Tei precisa inoltre che l’addestramento si protrarrà per quattro settimane e sarà articolato in esercitazioni chiamate Red Flag e Green Flag”.
Eravamo rimasti al sequestro disposto nel luglio 2006 dalla Procura di Cagliari dell’intera documentazione tecnica degli AMX nella sede della società Aermacchi di Venegono Superiore (Varese) e la precedente messa a terra dell’intera flotta di questo cacciabombardiere di costruzione italo-brasiliana in dotazione all’ A.M.I.
I sequestri degli AMX da parte di più distretti della Magistratura proseguono dal dicembre 2007 fino al marzo 2008 per accertare l’esistenza di difetti strutturali sui jets.
Lo sblocco degli AMX coinciderà con l’impegno da parte dell’ A.M.I di effettuare un piano completo di revisione su questo tipo di aereo.
E’ il programma di aggiornamento ACOL che appronterà nel tempo modifiche su 50 dei circa 110 esemplari in dotazione all’ A.M.I con un finanziamento ad hoc di 285 milioni di euro.
Correrà voce di un interessamento della Alenia North America (società di Finmeccanica) a rilevare dall’A.M.I il surplus (60) degli AMX non sottoposti ad aggiornamento ACOL per destinarlo all’Afghan Army Air Corps (?) attraverso una cessione al Pentagono (!).
Un vortice, grigio-fumo, di centinaia e centinaia di milioni di euro, se fosse andato a buon fine l’”affare” estero su estero.
Nell’agosto del 2008, La Russa stanzia per i primi velivoli portati allo standard ACOL un bilancio supplementare di 35,4 milioni di euro per “attività di supporto e servizio”.
Formuletta che servirà a nascondere la volontà del Consiglio Supremo di Difesa presieduto da Giorgio Napolitano, d’intesa con Palazzo Chigi, di impiegare gli AMX in “missione di pace” sul teatro afghano.
Tempi e uscite che lasciano intravedere un’accurata programmazione dell’intervento bellico di ISAF-Italia in Afghanistan ben al di là delle decisione politiche e militari di volta in volta comunicate all’opinione pubblica italiana dai governi della Repubblica delle Banane.
A dirla tutta, del possibile impiego operativo degli Aermacchi-Embraer in questo Paese del Centro Asia cominciò già a parlarne l’allora Ministro della Difesa Arturo Parisi con Prodi a Palazzo Chigi.
Il progetto non ebbe seguito per i sequestri effettuati dalla Magistratura oltre che per l’allora minore pericolosità degli “insorti” pashtun e mujaheddin che verrà “contrastata” dalla primavera del 2006 fino al 2008 (solo) con l’invio ad Herat di elicotteri di attacco A-129 Mangusta e UAV Predator.
I 35,4 milioni di euro serviranno, in che frazione non lo sappiamo, a finanziare il trasferimento di 10 AMX ACOL, del personale di volo, gli addetti alla manutenzione, il soggiorno, i costi carburante (saranno necessari dopo il primo atterraggio alle Azzorre degli AMX dotati di serbatoi supplementari, sei rifornimenti in volo di tanker USA per la missione andata e ritorno ed una fortuna sfacciata per poter attraversare, senza perdite, l’Atlantico con questo tipo di velivolo), uso e consumo di proiettili a canne rotanti, missili, razzi e bombe laser per 30 giorni di esercitazioni a fuoco. Anche l’Esercito e Marina faranno la loro parte inviando nella base USA per addestramento otto squadre del 185° RAO della Folgore ed Incursori di Comsubin per l’addestramento all’uso dei puntatori laser in tandem con UAV e cacciabombardieri da attacco al suolo USA ed AMX “tricolori” dotati di munizionamento GBU12 Paveway.
Una costosissima superbomba da una tonnellata di alto esplosivo che segue il puntamento monocromatico da terra sul “target” da utilizzare in ambiente UCAS, acronimo di Urban Close Air Support.
Giandomenico Gaiani su Il Sole-24 Ore ripreso da “Analisi Difesa” scrive che ne sono state utilizzate dagli AMX Ghibli 300 (a carica inerte?).
Cosa voglia dire questa roba in termini di costi e che effetti possa produrre la sbandieratissima “precisione chirurgica” in ambienti abitati su obbiettivi nemici “paganti” è intuibile.
Ecco, abbiamo fatto un breve spaccato dell’addestramento a quella “missione di pace” in Afghanistan sulla quale Napolitano, La Russa & Soci pontificano senza soste da giornali e tv raccontandoci una colossale montagna di menzogne.
Il problema grosso, e irrisolto, degli AMX è di progetto. Le specifiche richiedevano un notevole carico alare (carico bellico utile) a fronte della disponibilità di un unico propulsore-turbina Rolls Royce-Fiat Avio da 5.000 kg di spinta che sviluppa una velocità massima di 0,86 mach senza picchi di potenza erogabile.
In parole povere, l’AMX è assimilabile ad un furgone da 18 quintali di peso con un motore diesel da 1.500 cc, nato con difetti nella propulsione e nell’allestimento.
Usato da D’Alema sui cieli di Pristina in ambiente prevalentemente pianeggiante e collinare ad altissima protezione dove la precarietà e l’asfitticità della motorizzazione poteva risultare non penalizzante, l’AMX ha colpito gli “obbiettivi” facendo il suo carico di distruzioni, morti e feriti. In Afghanistan per la conformazione montuosa, la quota operativa da mantenere con aria rarefatta le “cose” potrebbero andare diversamente anche per il possibile uso da parte della guerriglia “talebana” di missili antiaerei spalleggiabili.
Giancarlo Chetoni

Remember this about the CF looking into swarming UAVs and recce robots? Next step:  finding the UAVs and robots to try it with – this, from MERX:

Public Works and Government Services Canada, on behalf of its client Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) Valcartier, intends to negotiate with Quanser Consulting Inc. for the supply and delivery at Quebec City of a unmanned fleet research environment.

The unmanned fleet research environment shall consist of integrated set of unmanned aerial vehicles and ground vehicles that are linked together with a host mission development environment that is capable of generating and uploading guidance and control algorithms to the platforms and functioning as a master or monitoring node for a  non-homogeneous fleet.

The “fleet” in this contract will consist of four little helicopter UAVs (for use indoors) and three recce robots.

PDF of the bid document available here if link doesn’t work.

Previously, the MD4-200 pilot would have to compensate for wind influence when manually directing the drone away from GPS Hold function. Once an operator had input a manual control movement, the GPS Hold function would disengage completely. 

We are looking forward to the microdrone GmbH Dynamic Position Hold (DPH) upgrade to the AJS Remote Imagery Support service microdrone . Its is expected that the GPS Hold will then control the drone during the manually directing. Another positive aspect is expected to be the increased wind stability up to 6 m/s and a longer flight duration.

We will post results of our first flight after the upgrade.



[Jack], [Cory], and [Maciej] are playing Pac-Man with Roombas on a lab floor. The Roombas are outfitted with ALIX3d2 single board computers running Gentoo and a software suite developed for UAVs at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles. The hardware and software sections are quite in-depth and make for a good read.