AeroVironment pitches Army drone for quick battlefield changes

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  June 27, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Le voie est ouverte pour une votation sur les jets de combat

  KEYSTONE/EDDY RISCH La voie est ouverte pour une votation sur les avions de combat. Le Conseil fédéral a remis mercredi au Parlement son projet d'arrêté attaquable par référendum. La facture est de six milliards. Les exigences pour les affaires compensatoires ont été revues à la baisse. Quatre jets sont sur les rangs. De ce côté-ci de l'Atlantique, on retrouve le Rafale français (Dassault) et l'européen Eurofighter (Airbus). S'y ajoutent deux avions américains: le successeur du FA-18, le Super Hornet de Boeing, et le F-35A de Lockheed-Martin. Le Gripen E suédois (Saab) n'est plus dans la course depuis deux semaines. Les Suisses ne voteront pas sur le modèle d'avion mais uniquement sur le principe de l'achat. Le Conseil fédéral se prononcera sur le type de jet après le scrutin populaire, qui devrait avoir lieu en septembre ou en novembre 2020. Le recours aux urnes est une attente dont il faut tenir compte sur le plan politique, selon le gouvernement. Les deux derniers projets d'achats de jets avaient été marqués par un scrutin populaire. L'acquisition de F/A-18 avait été rendue possible après l'échec en 1993 de l'initiative populaire s'y opposant. L'achat de Gripen a été rejeté en 2014 après un référendum contre le fonds qui aurait dû être mis sur pied pour le financer. A la mi-mai, la ministre de la défense Viola Amherd avait déjà exposé la marche à suivre pour les nouveaux jets. Elle avait alors revu et corrigé le projet d'arrêté de planification lancé par son prédécesseur Guy Parmelin. Seulement les avions Plus question désormais d'impliquer aussi l'achat d'un système de défense sol-air de longue portée, qui se fera dans le cadre des programmes d'armement ordinaires. L'arrêté précise toutefois que l'acquisition des jets sera coordonnée, sur le plan technique et du point de vue du calendrier, avec la défense sol-air. Dans un rapport, l'expert, ancien spationaute et pilote militaire Claude Nicollier plaidait pour l'acquisition d'une quarantaine d'avions ainsi que pour un système de défense sol-air de longue portée pouvant couvrir environ 15'000 km2. Soit une facture totale de 9 milliards. Le gouvernement en reste à son plafond de 8 milliards. L'arrêté de planification ne comporte que le volume de financement maximal pour les avions, soit 6 milliards. Un volume inférieur compromettrait la taille de la flotte. Prévoir davantage ne laisserait pas de cadre financier suffisant pour le système de défense sol-air, selon Viola Amherd. Affaires compensatoires Le Conseil fédéral est surtout revenu sur ses exigences en matière d'affaires compensatoires. Les entreprises étrangères qui se voient confier des mandats dans le cadre de l'acquisition des jets devront compenser 60% de la valeur contractuelle par l'octroi de mandats en Suisse, dont 20 % directement et 40 % indirectement dans le domaine de la base technologique et industrielle en lien avec la sécurité. Dans un rapport, l'ancien directeur du Contrôle fédéral des finances Kurt Grüter s'était montré sceptique face à une compensation à 100%, qui enfreindrait le principe de la liberté du commerce et de l'industrie. Pour lui, les compensations ne doivent être utilisées que pour renforcer la base technologique et industrielle suisse et il est impossible de compenser intégralement un volume de 6 à 7 milliards. Une exigence moindre en affaires compensatoires pourrait aussi faire baisser le prix des avions, a reconnu Viola Amherd. D'ici 2030 Pour le reste, l'arrêté précise que la mise en service des nouveaux avions de combat doit être achevée d'ici à fin 2030. Et que leur acquisition est proposée à l'Assemblée fédérale dans le cadre d'un programme d'armement. Le Conseil fédéral en profite pour souligner qu'il faut que l'armée puisse protéger la Suisse, à l'avenir aussi, contre des attaques aériennes, qu'elles soient menées par des forces armées ou par des groupes terroristes. Cette protection est cruciale. Les avions de combat actuels (30 F/A-18 et 26 Tigers) arriveront à la fin de leur durée d'utilisation au plus tard vers 2030. S'ils ne sont pas remplacés à temps, l'armée ne pourra plus remplir sa mission. Le projet d'acquisition s'étendra sur plus de dix ans. https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/le-voie-est-ouverte-pour-une-votation-sur-les-jets-de-combat/45057728

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  June 17, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  British MoD shortlists four vendor teams for its multibillion-dollar Skynet satellite program

  By: Andrew Chuter LONDON – Four international consortia have been shortlisted by Britain's Ministry of Defence to enter the final stage of bidding to operate ground control facilities for its Skynet satellite communications network. Teams led by Airbus Defence & Space, Babcock Integrated Technology, BT and Serco, have been down-selected for the Skynet 6 Service Delivery Wrap program following the MoD's Defence Digital organization release of an invitation to tender document to the remaining contenders June 12. The make-up of one of the teams vying for the ground station operations contract is already known, while others have yet to announce who their partners are. Serco has declared its team will involve satellite operator Inmarsat, IT specialist CGI UK and the U.K. arm of defense giant Lockheed Martin. British communications company BT, Babcock and Airbus are all keeping their teaming arrangements under wraps for the time being. Airbus, Britain's biggest satellite builder, did though coincide the MoD Skynet 6 down-select with a separate space partnering announcement of its own. The company said June 16 it had teamed with KBR, Leidos UK, Northrop Grumman and QinetiQ to launch a new space initiative known as Open Innovation-Space aimed at increasing British involvement in future satellite communications efforts. No mention was made by Airbus of the Skynet 6 program. All the companies are working under strict Skynet 6 non-disclosure agreements with the MoD which forbid communication with the media and others. The ground station program is the second part of the MoD's wider Skynet 6 project to equip the military and government with a new generation of beyond-line-of-sight communications capabilities starting around 2028. The Skynet 6 program has already seen Airbus start work on a new satellite, called Skynet 6A, to act as a capability gap filler between 2025 and the introduction of the follow-on, new-generation capacity. A deal for preliminary design work and long-lead time manufacture was signed by Airbus and the MoD in March and the contract to build the Skynet 6A spacecraft is in the final stages of government approval and expected to be announced within weeks. The other two key parts of a program presently expected to cost in total around £6 billion ($7.6 billion) are the Enduring Capability project, to provide next generation communications capabilities, and the Secure Telemetry, Tracking and Command (STTC) project for providing assured sovereign control and management of satellites. The MoD has settled its STTC requirements for SkyNet 6A but its options for the longer term remain open. Work on defining what the Enduring Capability requirement might look like has been underway for a while and industry executives here expect the effort to be ramped up in the coming months with the first tranche of recommendations due to be presented to the MoD early next year, said people with knowledge of the program. The next-generation communications requirement is planned to get underway next year with the release by MoD of a pre-qualification questionnaire. One industry executive, who asked not to be named, said securing the Service Delivery Wrap deal was an important stepping stone towards satellite builders securing the big prize – the Enduring Capability requirement. “It will help the winning consortium secure local skills in the sector, help in understanding the customers communications requirements and assist in filling in the revenue gaps between what is often sporadic investment in satellites and payloads,” the executive said. Space is an industrial and military priority for the British, and while it remains unclear how the worsening economic picture here might impact defense spending it is hoped the sector ,and programs like SkyNet 6 and the Galileo global navigation satellite system replacement project, might escape the worst of the expected cuts. One cost cutting option the British are reckoned to have been looking at is to use future SkyNet 6 spacecraft to double up its use by carrying a GNSS capability as well. Skynet ground facilities are currently operated by Airbus as part of a wider private finance initiative (PFI) deal signed in 2003 to build, own and operate a constellation of communication satellites and associated capabilities on behalf of the British military. That deal expires Aug 2022. The winning Service Delivery Wrap contender is slated to take over ground operations from that point after a transition phase. In a contract note issued June 16 the MoD said the return date of the invitation to tender is set for June next year. The Service Delivery Wrap arrangement runs for five years, not including any transition phase, with two single-year extension options also expected to be included in the deal. The terms of the existing PFI arrangement entail the MoD paying a nominal fee of a Pound in exchange for which it will take ownership of hundreds of millions of Pounds worth of assets in the shape of ground infrastructure and the Skynet 4 and 5 satellite fleets currently operated by Airbus. This time around the MoD wants to retain overall ownership of the capability in order to help grow its space skills and management experience by way of owning the ground station assets with the winning consortium working under a straightforward service provision deal. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/06/16/british-mod-shortlists-four-vendor-teams-for-its-multibillion-dollar-skynet-satellite-program/

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  June 10, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  German spat over Airbus could spoil fighter fest at Paris Air Show

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — A lingering dispute between German lawmakers and Airbus could nix immediate plans to move forward with a future Franco-German-Spanish fighter aircraft, Defense News has learned. The kerfuffle goes back to a February request for information by members of the Bundestag's Budget Committee. Citing the government's role as a major shareholder in the company, lawmakers called on the administration to provide in-depth information about Airbus locations, programs and management equities throughout Europe. Airbus is one of two prime contractors for the Future Combat Air System, an ambitious project to field a sixth-generation fighter aircraft by 2040. The envisioned weapon also includes new sensors, drones and a complex data infrastructure, making it Europe's preeminent industrial project for decades to come. Lawmakers in Berlin are worried that German defense-industry interests, presumably channeled through Airbus, could get the short shrift once substantial contracts are up for grabs amid French competition, led by Dassault. The Budget Committee reiterated its request for the company deep dive on June 5, when members approved the initial batch of funds for the FCAS program: $37 million for a study on propulsion options. Lawmakers inserted a note into their approval text that makes answering the February request a condition for entering into follow-on agreements with France. Meanwhile, officials in Paris and Berlin have been planning signing ceremonies for such pacts with Ursula von der Leyen and Florence Parly, the German and French defense ministers, respectively, at the Paris Air Show in mid-June. It's expected the pair will ink the concept study plan and a key governance document called the framework agreement. Meanwhile, the Spanish defense minister, Margarita Robles, is expected to be on hand to sign the program's memorandum of understanding, a more high-level, vague text beginning Madrid's road to full participation. As of Friday, lawmakers had yet to receive the requested information on Airbus, which is to include an analysis of management personnel down to the third tier throughout different locations, separated by programs and individual job functions. As June 10 is federal holiday in Germany, that leaves four business days next week before the Paris Air Show begins. An Airbus spokesman told Defense News on Friday the company is working to resolve the issue and is coordinating with the government. A Defence Ministry spokesman did not immediately return an emailed request for comment. Documents obtained by Defense News suggest that a previous back-and-forth between the Budget Committee and Airbus, through the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, left a bit of bad blood, raising the question of whether the company will comply at all. While executives provided some information — forwarded in a confidential letter to the Bundestag by the ministry on April 26 — Airbus largely claims the detailed data demanded by the committee would needlessly reveal competitive secrets. “Airbus, in return, asks for information about the background of the request,” the company's written response states. “The question must be raised whether other companies where the German government is a shareholder, like Deutsche Bahn [the German rail service], is subject to similar requests.” The company claims to have given the administration a detailed personnel breakdown by subsidiary and nationalities in 2018, which was also offered to committee members. According to Airbus, no lawmakers were interested. Airbus Defence and Space, which would lead the conglomerate's work on FCAS, is based in Ottobrunn near Munich, Germany. As of December 2018, roughly 40 percent of the subsidiary's employees were based in Germany, around 22 percent in France, 27 percent in Spain and 12 percent in the United Kingdom, the company wrote to lawmakers in April. As the FCAS program progresses, Budget Committee members want the government in Berlin to safeguard a 50-50 cost and workshare plan with France. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/06/07/german-spat-over-airbus-could-foil-fighter-fest-at-paris-air-show/