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November 19, 2021 | International, Aerospace

Ares, la PME française qui rachète les Mirage du Qatar

Cette société aéronautique, implantée dans le sud-est de la France, vient de conclure le rachat au Qatar de 12 Mirage 2000-5 d'occasion, afin de développer le marché du « Red Air » en Europe. Soit l'entraînement des forces armées par des flottes privées.

https://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/air-defense/ares-la-pme-francaise-qui-rachete-les-mirage-du-qatar-1365200

On the same subject

  • The drone defense dilemma: How unmanned aircraft are redrawing battle lines

    February 17, 2021 | International, Aerospace

    The drone defense dilemma: How unmanned aircraft are redrawing battle lines

    By: Tom Kington ROME — First there was the video from Libya of a Turkish drone destroying a Russian Pantsir missile defense system. Next came the veteran S-300 air defense system — also Russian — being taken out in Nagorno-Karabakh by an Israeli-built Harop loitering munition. In the conflicts in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh last year, unmanned platforms often made short work of the ground-based systems designed to neutralize them, paving the way for easy attacks on vulnerable troops. What is more, experts say, is that the balance of power between drones and air defense systems is shaping up to be a key to global wars in the near future. “Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh and also Syria have just showed us that if a fielded force cannot protect its airspace, then the large scale use of UAVs can make life extremely dangerous,” said Justin Bronk, an air force research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in England. Turkey's Bayraktar TB2 armed drone grabbed the headlines during the Libya conflict last year, which saw Turkey deploy the platform to defend the U.N.-backed Tripoli government against strongman Khalifa Hifter, who relied on Russian Pantsir systems. Able to fire their Roketsan munitions from outside the range of the Russian systems, the TB2s scored hits, helping stop Hifter's advance. “Turkey also sent in engineers who improved the software of the drones on the fly, while there was no similar learning curve with the Chinese UAVs operated by the UAE to assist Hifter,” said Jalel Harchaoui at the Switzerland-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. “The bold and effective use of TB2s in Nagorno-Karabakh in October was made possible by the previous success in Libya,” he added. An enclave belonging to Azerbaijan but governed by breakaway ethnic Armenians, Nagorno-Karabakh has been a flashpoint between Azerbaijan and Armenia for years. It exploded in a brief and bloody war between September and November. Turkey, which backed Azerbaijan, reportedly sent in UAV trainers ahead of the conflict. TB2s alongside Israeli loitering munitions were soon racking up successes, with Dutch warfare research group Oryx reporting 134 Armenian tanks destroyed compared to 22 lost by Azerbaijan. “Turkey built up its UAV expertise after leasing Israeli UAVs, then put that expertise to use building its own after frustrations over the limits placed on its use of the Israeli systems,” Bronk said. “The TB2 has a similar aerodynamic profile to the Heron, while the Turkish Anka UAV is similar to the Hermes 450.” Manufacturer Bayraktar has sold the TB2 to Qatar and Ukraine, while Serbia is eyeing a purchase, raising the TB2′s profile as a competitor to the Chinese Wing Loong II, 50 of which have been exported. “China and Turkey are vying for sales, which begs the question: Why doesn't Russia have the equivalent of a TB2 to sell? I am very surprised they are almost absent in this market,” Harchaoui said. The drone's contribution to the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh came with a price, as Canada suspended arms exports to Turkey amid claims the TB2 contained Canadian parts, while a U.K. firm supplying parts to the drone also canceled its contract. A number of nations, including the U.K., are meanwhile beefing up their defenses for ground forces, said Bronk. “In light of this threat, the British Army has recently ordered a short/medium-range [surface-to-air missile] system called Sky Sabre. If deployed forward in significant numbers, it should dramatically reduce the Army's vulnerability to both surveillance and attack by hostile UAVs in situations where friendly air cover is unavailable,” he said. Drones are not, however, invulnerable, he added. “U.S. and British Reapers and Predators in Syria had lots of problems with Russian electronic warfare. Since the Reaper can be targeted, you can imagine that less sophisticated platforms can be more easily affected,” he said. Bronk expects that more militaries will spend more money on air defense to balance out the drone threat — “particularly countries which don't have strong air forces.” “One option is the Russian SA-17 system, which has a 75-kilometer range compared to the 10 kilometers of TB2 missiles, or the cheaper and more contained SA-15 with a 10-kilometer range. Western products include the [National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System] NASAMS, which already helps to defend Washington, D.C., with a roughly 15-kilometer range and the NASAMS 2 with a 30- to 40-kilometer range,” he said. Peter Roberts, the director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, said the world is waking up to the reality of modern warfare. “For a while there was the romantic view that either drones or tanks or missiles would win wars on their own,” he said. “There is no silver bullet on the battlefield, and this is an era which is rediscovering that.” Roberts added that urban warfare is also undergoing a revival, as is the art of deception in war. “Whether it's the Russians in Ukraine or the Iranians, the use of decoys is back — something we once knew about, then forgot in the 1990s.” The world is also returning to an era of proxy wars, he said, from Libya to Nagorno-Karabakh to Yemen. “That means wars fought on the edge of great powers using mercenaries and sponsored guerilla groups and insurgents,” he said. “It also means more sophisticated weapons in the hands of smaller, nonstate groups like the Houthis in Yemen using cruise and ballistic missiles and drones. It is potentially very nasty.” https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/02/15/the-drone-defense-dilemma-how-unmanned-aircraft-are-redrawing-battle-lines/

  • Airbus pulls out of Polish helo tender due to offset requirements

    December 7, 2018 | International, Aerospace

    Airbus pulls out of Polish helo tender due to offset requirements

    By: Jarosław Adamowski WARSAW, Poland — Airbus Helicopters has decided to pull out of the Polish Defence Ministry's tender to acquire new copters for the country's Navy. The "offset requirements defined by the Polish MoD made it impossible for Airbus Helicopters to submit a competitive offer," the company said in a statement sent to the state-owned news agency PAP. “Airbus Helicopters continues to be interested in supporting the process of the modernization of the Polish Armed Forces in the field of helicopter fleet replacement,” the vendor said with respect to Poland's other helo procurement plans. Earlier this year, Airbus Helicopters and Leonardo placed their offers in the ministry's tender to purchase four helicopters. Leonardo, which is now the only active participant of the tender, owns Polish aircraft plant PZL Swidnik which makes the AW101 copter, among others. The new helos, enabled with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and search-and-rescue (SAR) capabilities, are designed to replace the Polish Navy's Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite copters, according to First Deputy Defence Minister Wojciech Skurkiewicz. Local observers have also said the new helos could replace the Navy's Soviet-designed Mil Mi-14 copters. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/12/04/airbus-pulls-out-of-polish-helo-tender-due-to-offset-requirements

  • Indonesia says it wants to buy Austria’s entire Typhoon fighter fleet

    July 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    Indonesia says it wants to buy Austria’s entire Typhoon fighter fleet

    By: Mike Yeo MELBOURNE, Australia — Indonesia has expressed interest in acquiring Austria's fleet of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, in yet another surprise defense procurement plan from the southeast Asian country. Indonesia's defense minister, Prabowo Subianto, wrote a letter to his Austrian counterpart, Klaudia Tanner, seeking to initiate negotiations to buy all 15 Typhoons belonging to the Austrian Air Force. In his letter, which was published by Indonesian news outlets, Prabowo said the potential purchase will assist in his aims to continue modernizing the Indonesian Air Force. He added that he understood the “sensitivity” of his proposal, which was likely to be a reference to the continued controversy surrounding Austria's 2002 acquisition of the Typhoon. That purchase has been dogged by questions about cost and the effectiveness of the aircraft. More recently, there have been allegations of corruption related to the original contract award. These culminated in Austria's 2017 decision to retire the aircraft from service this year in favor of a “more effective and cost-effective” solution for the central European country's air defense needs. Indonesia's interest in the fleet comes two weeks after the surprise announcement that the U.S. State Department cleared the country to buy the Bell-Boeing MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft. Indonesia has been seeking a fighter aircraft to serve alongside its fleet of 23 refurbished early-block Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon jets. These are all former aircraft operated by the U.S. Air National Guard, and were delivered from 2014 onward. The decision to seek the Austrian Typhoons, which are all Tranche 1 aircraft configured primarily for air defense missions, is a blow to Russian aspirations to sell the Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker interceptor to Indonesia. Indonesia had selected the Su-35 as its next fighter to provide continuity with its existing fleet of Su-27 and Su-30s Flankers acquired in the early part of the last decade. Negotiations for the Russian jets ended in 2018, but Indonesia had been reticent to sign the $1.14 billion contract, reportedly over fears that it may be subject to American sanctions. The sanctions would come from a U.S. law, Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, that targets Iran, North Korea and Russia. CAATSA was passed by Congress in 2017 and is meant to discourage governments or entities from acquiring weapons or military hardware and parts from U.S. adversaries. https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2020/07/20/indonesia-says-it-wants-to-buy-austrias-entire-typhoon-fighter-fleet/

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