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November 4, 2022 | International, Aerospace

Bulgarian parliament votes to buy F-16s under $1.3 billion deal

The first eight F-16 Block 70 fighter jet previously ordered and set to arrive in 2025 are deemed insufficient for air policing missions.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2022/11/04/bulgarian-parliament-votes-to-buy-f-16s-under-13-billion-deal/

On the same subject

  • For satellite imagery to thrive, industry wants reforms

    March 20, 2018 | International, C4ISR

    For satellite imagery to thrive, industry wants reforms

    By: Brandon Knapp Leaders from the satellite imaging industry presented a long list of regulation reforms they want to see from the Trump administration during a panel discussion March 14 during the 2018 Satellite show held in Washington D.C. To allow the space industry to thrive, industry officials called for a regulatory process that is more efficient, transparent and narrowly focused. The panelists described the current regulatory regime as a convoluted process that stifles innovation and “tells you no slowly, but can't tell you why.” The remote sensing regulatory environment currently operates on “the presumption of no,” said Walter Scott, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Maxar Technologies. Last year Maxar acquired satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe. “If telecommunications had been regulated this way, instead of smartphones we'd be up here with devices that have big dials and wires attached to them.” A common concern among the industry panelists was the rise of competition in the space domain, especially from foreign actors that are less constrained by regulatory burdens imposed on American space companies. “Taking three months to write a report to make a committee to study something about a decision just doesn't cut it in a world where this technology is becoming rapidly available to almost everyone,” said Peter Platzer, the chief executive, a satellite imagery company based in St. Louis. DoD leaders have historically said reviews are necessary to understand the national security implications of new satellite technology. Only a handful of DoD officials served on panels during the four day conference. Industry leaders said they hoped their grievances will be well received by the Trump administration, which has taken a both a pro-space and anti-regulation posture in its first year. The administration reactivated the National Space Council last summer and President Donald Trump recently floated the idea of creating a new “Space Force” dedicated to space warfare. A report from the Department of Commerce on space regulations is due out by July 1. The department's secretary, Wilbur Ross, has said he wants to reform the process by creating a single space commerce office. (Ross headlined a keynote dinner to satellite leaders during the conference.) The panelists said they were hopeful that the report would lead to a more streamlined and transparent space licensing process. Some in the space community have proposed the idea of “permissionless” authorization, in which space licence applications would be automatically approved unless a specific objection is proposed within a determined number of days. “I don't think we're going to go that far,” said Peter Hays, a space policy consultant who works with the Department of Defense. “But I think we're heading in that direction.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/intel-geoint/2018/03/19/for-satellite-imagery-to-thrive-industry-wants-reforms/

  • AM General unseats Oshkosh to build Joint Light Tactical Vehicle

    February 9, 2023 | International, Land

    AM General unseats Oshkosh to build Joint Light Tactical Vehicle

    The Army has chosen to oust incumbent Oshkosh in favor of AM General to build Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.

  • The Corps just slapped a counter-drone system on an MRZR all-terrain vehicle

    September 20, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Land

    The Corps just slapped a counter-drone system on an MRZR all-terrain vehicle

    By: Shawn Snow In yet another sign the Corps is becoming increasingly concerned about air defense, the Corps decided to slap a counter-drone system on a Polaris MRZR all-terrain vehicle. It's called the Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or LMADIS, and it's comprised of two MRZR vehicles, a command node and a sensor vehicle. The system is a “maneuverable ground-based sensor, electronic attack, C2 [ command and control] system," 1st Lt. Ariel Cecil, the commander of the Low Altitude Air Defense detachment for Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 166, said in a video posted by the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The LMADIS can detect, track, identify and take down drones with electronic attack, according to Cecil. The MRZR counter drone system is currently deployed with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit where it recently participated in the Theater Amphibious Combat Rehearsal exercise in Djibouti. The Corps has been investing heavily in counter air and drone threats. It's an issue the Marines really haven't had to focus on for some time now. But as the Corps begins to face down more sophisticated hostile actors there's no guarantee Marines will always operate on a battlefield where they own the airspace. That means enemy air or drone attacks are now a reality the Corps must plan for. And increasingly, drone technology has found its way into the hands of terrorist groups and ragtag militias. ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria have been known to weaponize small commercial quadcopter drones, dropping small munitions and hand grenades on Iraqi and partner nation forces. Even the Taliban in Afghanistan have gotten in the game, using small drones to film attacks on remote Afghan army outposts. But the big threat, according to the Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert B. Neller, is that adversaries will eventually learn how to control these small attack drones in massive swarms. “When you think about enemy air attacks, you think about jets and bombers and stuff,” Neller said at the Atlantic Council in April. “I think the real future in enemy air attack is going to be swarming drones.” So, the Corps has embarked on an ambitious plan to field a new suite of tech to bolster the Corps' air defense and counter drone capabilities. Two such systems are the Ground Based Air Defense-Transformation, or GBAD, and the Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar, or G/ATOR. The GBAD systems is basically a detection system with laser weapon that can track and destroy drones, and it's mountable on the Corps' new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle or Humvee. That program is still undergoing testing and evaluation. The G/ATOR system has been in the Corps' arsenal since 2013 and it can detect rockets, mortars, artillery cruise missiles, and drones. The system is highly mobile making it integral to the Corps' distributed operations plan in the Pacific should a conflict come between the U.S. and China. And the Corps is also dishing out money to modify Stinger missiles as part of Service Life Extension Program. https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2018/09/19/the-corps-just-slapped-a-counter-drone-system-on-an-mrzr-all-terrain-vehicle

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