Electronic Military & Defense Annual Resource

3rd Edition

Electronic Military & Defense magazine was developed for engineers, program managers, project managers, and those involved in the design and development of electronic and electro-optic systems for military, defense, and aerospace applications.

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From The Editor 4 Key Factors Driving Military Electronics Development By Jim Pomager, Editorial Director Over the past few months, the VertMarkets Electronics Group has had the privilege of attending several conferences focused on military and defense technology. We attended dozens of sessions and presentations. We spoke with hundreds of companies that supply electronics and electro-optics solutions to the defense community and with the folks who are implementing those solutions in their designs. Based on these (and other) interactions, here are four factors we see having significant influence on the development of current and future military electronics platforms. 1. An Ever-Changing Threat Landscape: Threats to national security no longer come from a "one monolithic overwhelming existential threat," as DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar put it in a recent speech, but from many — nation states, terrorist and criminal organizations within and across nations, and even from individuals. And these entities have access to an expanding assortment of weapons, from EW to cyber, nuclear, chemical, and biological. In response, the U.S. is seeking more adaptable solutions, systems that can be quickly upgraded or modified in real time to address the threat du jour. One possible avenue to realizing this vision is through additive manufacturing. Our cover story on page 8 explains how 3D printing and other additive manufacturing techniques could soon enable on-demand fabrication of weapons, electronics, and other critical parts in the field. 2. Need To Modernize Aging Systems: Many current U.S. military platforms were developed for use in the Cold War (or earlier) and are approaching the end of their service lives. For this reason, U.S. President Barack Obama made the modernization of outdated weapons an important element of his defense strategic guidance, to better equip the military for future engagements. Areas like unmanned systems, cybersecurity, and ISR will be priorities going forward. One offshoot of this is the emergence of multifunction technologies, which integrate diverse capabilities in a single system. Perhaps the most prominent example of this is the active electronically scanned array (AESA) architecture, whose multiple transmit/receive (T/R) modules can each execute a different function simultaneously. We have several articles about AESA in this edition, focusing on: a new NAVAIR AESA characterization capability (page 12), a high-speed digital interface standard that is simplifying AESA system design (page 14), and overcoming the challenges of testing AESA T/R modules (page 32). 3. Reducing Size, Weight, And Power (SWaP): To be more flexible and relevant in today's military context, the next generation of military platforms — and their electronic components — must also be smaller, lighter, and more powerefficient than ever before. The rise of UAVs, particularly the proliferation of small, low-altitude craft, is indicative of this trend. So is the demand for soldier systems, which equip military personnel with a growing number of computing, sensing, and other electronic capabilities. On the topic of SWaP, we have included an article on the viability of COTS hyperspectral sensors for use in low-altitude, tactical UAVs (page 24), and another on the role of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) in the development of compact phased-array radar systems for UAVs and other platforms (page 36). 4. Declining Budgets And Fiscal Uncertainty: The U.S. sequester, the Eurozone crisis, the troop drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq, and many other factors have led to the tightening of military budgets and reductions in defense spending. At the time of this writing, the DoD was projecting a 20 percent drop in the overall defense budget from the post-9/11 peak. The picture certainly isn't pretty, but it's also not unprecedented — we survived a comparable scenario following the decline of the Cold War. In the meantime, the military and its suppliers will need to get creative and be hyper-focused on cost and operational efficiency to succeed. For more on this topic, check out our story on page 46 about a compelling alternative to the traditional repair-or-replace conundrum surrounding defective or obsolete electronics. In addition, the article on page 48 describes how budget constraints have increased the adoption of COTS fiber optic and M12 interconnects. The coming years are sure to be challenging ones for the U.S. military, defense contractors, and the OEMs that support them. But by designing technology that addresses these four trends, we can ride out the storm and be well positioned for the upturn that will inevitably come. 6 Electronic Military & Defense ■ www.vertmarkets.com/electronics

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