August 6, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security
Suspicious Minds: Insider Threats in The SaaS World
Learn how ITDR and SSPM protect your SaaS applications from insider threats, ensuring comprehensive security.
December 18, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Against Army’s wishes, Congress primes pump to buy newest CH-47 variant for active force
By: Jen Judson
WASHINGTON — Congressional appropriators and authorizers have increased advance procurement funds for the newest variant of the CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter as preparation to supply the aircraft to the Army's active force, even though the service asked to only buy a small number of the helos in fiscal 2020 for special operations.
The service's decision to cut the aircraft from the active force was based on the need to free up future cash to cover the cost of an ambitious plan to buy two new future vertical lift aircraft for long-range assault and attack reconnaissance missions.
But Congress has gone against the Army's wishes to divert funding away from procurement for the active force, instead adding $28 million in FY20 funding — in both the recently released spending and policy bill conference reports — for advance procurement to begin to prime the pump to restore CH-47F Block II deliveries to the conventional Army.
The cut the service made would only buy 69 special operations variants — or "G" models. The original plan was to procure 473 "F"-model Block II helicopters for the active force.
The Army approved the Block II effort to move into the engineering and manufacturing development phase in April 2017, and the program officially began in July 2017. In October 2018, the first two EMD Block II Chinooks were already on the assembly line with plans to fly in mid-2019. Boeing, which manufactures the aircraft, expects a production decision in July 2021.
While $28 million won't get the service much, based on the original plan the Army would start building five CH-47F Block IIs in 2021 meant for the active force. The advance procurement in FY20 would support buying longer-lead items from suppliers, but is still a stretch to claim that the additional funding restores the program.
Those five aircraft would be delivered in 2023 based on Boeing's typical three-year lead time to build an airframe.
It remains to be seen whether the congressional plus-up will prompt the Army to restore funding for the five CH-47F Block IIs in its FY21 budget request due out early next year.
It's also unclear how many of those long-lead parts procured in FY20 could be used in G-model aircraft or are exclusive to F-models. Therefore, it's also murky how much of the $28 million in parts might be wasted if the Army sticks to its plan to only procure G-model aircraft.
The Army has indicated it might reconsider the CH-47F Block II cut; the FY21 budget request, when it is released, will likely reveal the Army's decision.
Shortly after the service's plan to cut the CH-47F Block II was revealed in its FY20 budget request, then-Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville, who is now chief, told reporters the Army was comfortable with its decision, but tempered that, adding: “I think in two to three years, we will have a better idea about where we are, as far as developing the helicopters we talked about, and that will drive the decision.”
McConville was referring to the Army's plan to buy two future vertical lift aircraft.
The same day, then-Army Secretary Mark Esper, who is now defense secretary, told another group of reporters that the service would not be rethinking its plans to build CH-47 Block IIs for the conventional force.
The Army has also claimed it is pursuing foreign military sales of its CH-47F Chinooks to soften the blow from cuts made to its intended buy of the Block II variant, but none of the possible sales — to the United Kingdom or to the United Arab Emirates — were newly in the works at the time. And neither country has plans to buy Block II variants. Moreover, the number of helicopters the two countries plan to procure amount to less than 30 aircraft.
On the same subject
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November 9, 2020 | International, Naval
Italy plans new destroyers for 2028 delivery
By: Tom Kington The Italian Navy is laying the groundwork for a new DDX-type destroyer program, adding naval firepower for the country amid an increasingly volatile Mediterranean region. (Italian Navy) ROME — Fresh from a burst of shipbuilding spurred by the retirement of old vessels, the Italian Navy is now back at the drawing board to design what it considers the cornerstone of its fleet — new destroyers. After building 10 FREMM-class frigates — the same type acquired by the United States — as well as designing new 4,500-ton multimission ships, a 33,000-ton landing helicopter dock and new logistics vessels, a risk-reduction study is due to start on two 10,000-ton destroyers dubbed DDX. “Destroyers are fundamental for a blue water fleet like Italy's, which must be capable of projecting capability at sea and from the sea while operating across the whole spectrum of maritime and joint operations,” Vice Adm. Aurelio De Carolis, deputy chief of staff of the Italian Navy, told Defense News. “Apart from carriers, amphibious vessels and submarines, you need destroyers with land strike and task group-protection capabilities,” he added. The Navy wants the 175-meter-long vessels to replace two aging destroyers, the ITS Durand de la Penne and ITS Mimbelli. Those two vessels entered service in the early 1990s and were joined in service by Italy's two more recent Horizon-class ships, which the Navy classifies as destroyers. “We have always had two pairs of destroyers in service, dating back to the 1960s,” De Carolis said. With €4.5 million (U.S. $5.3 million) budgeted so far for two-year feasibility and risk-reduction studies starting early next year, the Navy aims to have a final operational requirement by 2022, sign a construction contract in 2023 — funding permitting — complete the design in 2025, and receive the first ship by 2028. Current plans envisage vessels that are 24 meters wide with a 9-meter draft and more than 300 crew, while offering a top speed of over 30 knots using the CODOGAL (COmbined Diesel Or Gas And eLectric) propulsion system, De Carolis said. The system allows the use of either gas or diesel turbines, plus electric propulsion for lower speeds. Italy is renewing its Navy amid the Mediterranean Sea's shift from a backwater to a tinderbox as Turkey throws its weight around, Libya remains tense after years of conflict and Russia tries to increase its regional influence. When fully budgeted, the ships likely will be built by Italian state firm Fincantieri, keeping the yard busy after a run of recent naval construction thanks to Italy's $6.3 billion so-called Naval Law in 2014 that led to the landing helicopter dock (LHD), multimission vessels (PPA) and logistic ship programs. Equipping the warship Long-range firepower for the destroyers will be guaranteed by six eight-cell missile launchers for a total of 48 cells, with two launchers toward the bow (ahead of the bridge) and the remainder amidships. Aster anti-air missiles, already in use on other Italian vessels, will be adopted, as well as a land-strike missile. “The Navy needs a credible land-strike capability and we are considering options now,” De Carolis said. That could lead the Navy to consider MBDA's naval variant of the Scalp missile. What is confirmed is the acquisition of the European consortium's Teseo Mk2 Evolved anti-ship missile, which the admiral said offers “land-strike capability in the littoral.” The weapon will be fired from launchers located immediately behind the bridge, he confirmed. A rear helicopter deck and hangar will be able to host two Navy EH101 or two SH90 helicopters. The ship's cannons will be the same Italian-built types that have become standard issue for Italy's naval vessels in recent years. A Leonardo 127mm gun at the front of the vessel will fire the firm's Vulcano guided munitions, while two Leonardo 76mm guns at the center of the vessel will fire the guided Dart munition, again developed by the Italian firm. A third 76mm gun sits astride the helicopter hangar at the rear of the ship. Dubbed “Sovraponte” and built to be positioned on top of ship structures, the cannon was first developed for the PPA vessels. “We are satisfied with Sovraponte,” the admiral said. The cannon is one example of how the destroyer will leverage new technologies funded by the Naval Law, with radar another example. The destroyers will mount Leonardo's Kronos, an active electronically scanned array radar with a fixed face as well as C- and X-band antennas, which are mounted behind panels above the bridge. This technology was used in the two “Full” versions of the seven PPA vessels. Leonardo will also supply the same rotating L-band long-range radar, to be positioned at the rear of the vessel, which has also been adopted for the LHD Trieste. The combat management system as well as the communications and electronic warfare suites will be derived from those developed for the newest ships of the fleet, while anti-submarine capabilities will include sonars (both hull-mounted and towed array), torpedo launchers, and decoys. What's next? The Trieste is set to join Italy's three San Giorgio-class amphibious assault ships to provide a four-strong amphibious fleet, which will require protection, De Caroils said. “We will need at least two destroyers ready at all times, which means four destroyers in total,” he explained. “The procurement is also part of our commitment to NATO since we are part of a project to stand up new amphibious task forces, each containing three battalion-level landing elements with related combat and combat-service support, which means four amphibious ships and destroyers for protection. “These destroyers will defend — together with [anti-submarine warfare] frigates, submarines and embarked naval aviation — amphibious naval task groups during their movement towards assault areas, and then provide effective naval fire support for the sustainment of projection and ashore operations carried out by elements of the landing force. All this is required, including the capability to play the crucial role of coordination and control of the airspace over the amphibious objective area. “The U.S. and Russia still operate cruisers, but most other navies today rely on destroyers for fighting power. They must cover anti-air, anti-ship and anti-submarine operations with a focus on integrated air and missile defense, including ballistic missile defense.” The most “critical task” for destroyers, he added, is protecting carrier battle groups and playing the typical “shotgun role” for carriers. Examples he gave included the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War when the Italian vessel ITS Audace was part of the escort to the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, and during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2002, when the ITS Durand de la Penne escorted the U.S. Navy carriers John C. Stennis and John F. Kennedy. “Italy cannot do without a balanced Navy covering all operations from blue to green to brown waters and well into the littorals, from minesweeping to submarines and fixed-wing carriers, with overall air protection provided by destroyers and anti-submarine warfare mostly played by frigates,” he added. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/11/09/italy-plans-new-destroyers-for-2028-delivery
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January 7, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Les inquiétudes persistent sur la taxonomie européenne réservée au secteur de la défense
Le président du GIFAS Guillaume Faury s'inquiète des réticences du secteur bancaire à financer le secteur de la défense, appelant les pouvoirs publics français à exercer « une influence sur les critères de sélection des bons investissements (...) un message positif et une direction claire des autorités en général sur tout ce qui est ESG (Environnement, Social, Gouvernance) et taxonomie ». Bruxelles travaille sur la mise en place de nouveaux critères de label écologique de l'UE pour les produits financiers. Un projet de label dont seraient pour le moment exclues les industries de défense européennes. « Nous voulons nous assurer que la défense n'aura pas non seulement un traitement de défaveur, mais au contraire un traitement de faveur dans la capacité de financement » a insisté Guillaume Faury. Sous la pression d'éventuelles sanctions américaines et des ONG, les banques appliquent désormais des règles de conformité (compliance) strictes pour les entreprises de défense considérées comme des entreprises à risque pour un financement, de plus en plus difficile à trouver pour certaines ETI, PME et startups de la filière, dont certaines se voient même refuser d'ouvrir un compte bancaire. Un constat que faisait le président du Comité Défense du Conseil des Industries de Défense Françaises (CIDEF) et PDG de MBDA, Eric Béranger, au Paris Air Forum. La Tribune du 6 janvier