December 13, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
By Tony Osborne
LONDON – Britain's aerospace industry is waking up to Brexit certainty after Prime Minister Boris Johnson secured a landslide majority in a Dec. 12 general election.
Johnson's Conservative party secured a significant majority in the British Parliament – the largest since Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s - which will enable him to push through his vision of Brexit on Jan. 31, 2020 ending Parliamentary and legal deadlocks that have delayed the UK's departure from the EU since the original date of March 29, 2019.
For aerospace, the Parliamentary majority means stability in planning and investment, and there are unlikely to be any more delays to the process. It should also mean that the threat of a no-deal Brexit – widely considered the worst-case scenario for aerospace – has largely evaporated for now.
The current iteration of the withdrawal agreement between Britain and the EU calls for regulatory alignment with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), but the two sides still have to negotiate future trade agreements once the UK has exited the EU. A lack of agreement here could result in a no-deal.
British aerospace and defense trade association ADS said it was looking forward to working with the new government but said that ministers needed to “deliver a close future relationship with the European Union."
In a statement, ADS CEO Paul Everitt called on the government to push forward with “investments in innovation and green technologies, develop a defense and security industrial strategy and an ambitious national space program.”
Airbus, one of the most vocal aerospace companies against Brexit, said it welcomed the fact that the British government now has a “clear mandate” and is looking forward to “positive discussions.”
“Airbus remains concerned by the potential for a ‘no-deal' in December 2020 and we will continue to plan for that scenario as that is the only way any responsible business can plan,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to run our major Brexit project in order to further eradicate and/or mitigate risks.”
If the election result made Brexit more likely, it makes the break-up of the UK more probable too after the Scottish National Party (SNP) secured 48 of the 59 Parliamentary seats in Scotland.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said the result was a mandate for a second Scottish independence referendum. The Conservative government is unlikely to green-light such a referendum, but independence would have significant ramifications for UK defense given the presence of several airbases and the UK's ballistic missile submarines carrying the nuclear deterrent.
https://aviationweek.com/defense/brexit-certainty-after-boris-johnson-election-landslide
October 29, 2023 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
At least two key U.S. lawmakers have not committed to greenlighting the Turkey F-16 sale, citing concerns beyond Sweden's NATO accession.
May 14, 2019 | International, Aerospace
BY MARCUS WEISGERBER A U.S. delegation is scheduled to brief Polish defense officials eager to buy the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter later this month, U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said Monday. The American team is expected to discuss the costs of buying the Lockheed Martin-made jet as well as the warfighting capabilities it would bring to the Polish military. “They want to deepen their relationship with the United States of America in part by interoperability of advanced equipment,” Wilson said after a Meridian International Center event in Washington. “Those discussions are continuing. We're providing the information that might be needed for them to make a decision.” Poland has been looking to replace its Soviet-era MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-22 Fitter fighters for several years. Its air force has 31 MiG-29s and and 18 Su-22s, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies' 2019 Military Balance. In recent weeks, Polish officials said they would buy 32 F-35s. “The Polish government has decided that they want the F-35 and they're in discussions with the United States,” Wilson said Monday. U.S. officials heading to Poland is a sign that the potential deal is going through the standard foreign military sale process. The F-35's design and electronic equipment make it difficult to track for advanced surface-to-air missiles — like the long-range S-300 SAMs that Russia deploys in its Kaliningrad exclave north of Poland. When the U.S. Air Force deployed F-15 fighters from the 104th Fighter Wing to Estonia in 2016, the jets flew close to those Russian surface-to-air missiles. “When you take off [in Estonia] you were either in or very close to being in a Russian [surface-to-air-missile] system out of Kaliningrad,” Col. Tom Bladen, operations officer with the 104th Fighter Wing, told Defense One in October 2016. Earlier this year, the U.S. Marine Corps flew its F-35B jump jets in Syria, where Russia has also deployed the S-300. Last month, the F-35 program director listed Poland as a potential purchaser along with Greece, Singapore, Spain, and Romania. Vice Adm. Mat Winer submitted his written testimony to the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee. Later in April, Poland Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told local media that a F-35 deal was “not far away.” While the sale has not been approved by the U.S. State Department, Wilson said it came up when she visited Poland in April. “[T]hey want to be allied with the United States,” the secretary said. “If there's one thing that's really clear, is they fear and detest the Russians.” Wilson touted Warsaw's defense spending, which has been increasing for nearly three decades. Poland is one of seven NATO members who spends above 2 percent of its annual gross domestic product on defense. Buying a fifth-generation fighter is expensive and includes an abundance of training, infrastructure, and maintenance costs beyond the aircraft themselves. Right now, an F-35A, the Air Force version of the Joint Strike Fighter, costs just under $90 million each. For comparison purposes, in January 2018, the Pentagon estimated the sale of 34 F-35s to Belgium at $6.53 billion when all associated costs are factored in. Poland already flies 48 Lockheed-made F-16 fighters. https://www.defenseone.com/business/2019/05/mw-poland-f-35/156971/
September 30, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Graham Warwick Italy has become the first F-35 operator to deploy the fifth-generation fighter on a NATO mission, sending the aircraft to perform air policing in Iceland. Six Italian F-35s touched down at Keflavik airfield on Sept. 25 for the temporary deployment. Unlike the Baltic Air Policing mission, which is supported year-round by NATO air forces, the Icelandic mission usually lasts several weeks and occurs three-four times each year. The F-35s are due to make Iceland their home for three weeks. According to NATO's Air Command, the deployment by Italy is the country's fifth detachment to Iceland and the second this year; Rome previously provided Eurofighter Typhoons for the mission. “The Italian Air Force detachment is scheduled to work with the controllers at the Combined Air Operations Center in Uedem, Germany, and the Control and Reporting Center at Keflavik, Iceland,” NATO Air Command officials said. No details of the deployment had been released by the Italian air force or defense ministry at the time of writing. The deployment was supported by one of Italy's Boeing KC-767 tanker aircraft, a C-130J airlifter, and a P-72 maritime patrol derivative of the ATR-72 providing cover in the event of an ejection over water. The F-35s will perform a series of familiarization flights to achieve certification for the mission. Italy declared its F-35s operational last November, becoming the fourth air arm to do so after the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Air Force and the Israeli Air Force. Iceland does not have an air force, and the U.S. stopped basing fighters on the island in 2006, prompting the government in Reykjavik to request occasional fighter deployments starting in 2008. NATO describes the mission as a “peacetime preparedness mission,” helping the country to “stay prepared, to monitor and to manage its airspace in peacetime.” The UK Royal Air Force will deploy Typhoons to the island later this year. https://aviationweek.com/defense/italian-f-35s-iceland-first-nato-deployment