Silicon Chip – May 2019

siliconchip.com.au Australia’s electronics magazine May 2019 17

in software and is thus far more com-
putationally efficient, because only
changes in the image are sent as data.
Such a system could be used for look-
ing for astronomical events such as
meteorites, monitoring satellite or
space debris or aircraft movements or
indeed anywhere where the subject of
interest changes against a mostly static
background.
All pixels in the camera operate in-
dependently of each other, so it has
a high dynamic range and objects in
space can be tracked even during the
day. See the video via siliconchip.com.
au/link/aaoq

Phoenix Jet

The Phoenix Jet is produced by the
Australian company Air Affairs Aus-
tralia (www.airaffairs.com.au). It is
an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
target drone, used as a training aid for
military personnel, as a realistic tar-
get for guns or other air defence sys-
tems (Fig.14).
It can be recovered via parachute
for reuse, or it can be destroyed, de-
pending on what the training exercise
requires. Typically, it is flown on sev-
eral training missions where it can be
recovered before the more expensive
exercise of destruction is undertaken.
It has an endurance of 60 minutes,
can fly at a speed in excess of 330 knots

(610km/h), has a range of 100km, a

maximum altitude of 6000m (19,700ft),

a maximum launch weight of 66kg,

an internal payload (such as flares)

of up to 3.5kg, a jet engine with 40kg

thrust and is launched by a catapult

(see Fig.15).

It can be augmented with a Luneberg

lens to increase its radar cross section

(making it easier for air defence ra-

dars to pick up), an IFF (identification

friend or foe) transponder, and smoke,

infrared and acoustic emitters. The

aircraft is 2.4m long, 2.2m wide and

740mm tall. See the video titled “Air

Affairs Australia” via siliconchip.com.

au/link/aaor

Titomic Kinetic Fusion

Titomic (www.titomic.com) is an

Australian company that specialises in

additive manufacturing. It has exclu-

sive rights to a CSIRO-developed pro-

cess known as Kinetic Fusion, which

involves the cold-gas spraying of tita-

nium or titanium alloy onto a scaffold

(which can be later removed) to make

components without size or shape lim-

itations (Fig.16).

Titanium is usually very difficult

and expensive to machine, but this pro-

cess avoids that. It has advantages over

conventional 3D printing of metals (in-

cluding titanium) because the particles

are accelerated and fuse by collision, a

mechanical process, rather than with

heat which means there are no prob-

lems with oxidation and therefore no

controlled atmosphere is needed.

Also, the components are fully

formed; therefore, there is no weakness

created by bending during fabrication.

Dissimilar metals can also be fused.

Very high build rates are possible.

The Joint Strike Missile (JSM)

The Joint Strike Missile is a multi-

role version of the Naval Strike Missile

developed by the Norwegian company

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (www.

kongsberg.com/en/kds) – see Fig.17. It

is a fifth-generation missile, designed

for internal carriage in the F-35A and

F-35C jets for anti-ship and land attack

missions, as well as for external car-

riage on other aerial platforms.

According to the manufacturer, it

has high levels of survivability against

anti-missile threats, an extremely low

radar cross-section (stealth), extreme

sea skimming ability, high lethality

and it features autonomous target rec-

ognition. Two JSMs can be carried in-

ternally in the F-35 with more exter-

nally (with reduced stealth).

The project to adapt the missile to

the F-35 is being funded by Norway

and Australia. Australia is also fund-

ing development of a new seeker for

the missile, by BAE Systems Australia.

Fig.13: the Neuromorphic imaging system, Astrosite, aimed Fig.14: the Phoenix Jet target drone.
at the sky.

Fig.15 (left): the Phoenix Jet on its

catapult launcher.

Fig.16 (right): components produced

by the Titomic Kinetic Fusion process.