December 9, 2023 | International, Land
KNDS commissioned to supply 50 Dingo 2 vehicles to the Bundeswehr
The resupply project encompasses a framework agreement for 50 DINGO 2 protected command and special-function vehicles (GFF) of the A4 variant.
April 29, 2019 | International, Naval
China’s latest class of warship makes its public debut
By: Mike Yeo
MELBOURNE, Australia – the first of a new class of guided missile destroyer from China made an appearance at a naval review to mark the 70th Anniversary of the country's navy.
The Type 055 destroyer, named the Nanchang, was among several ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy or PLAN that took part in the naval review held off the northern Chinese city of Qingdao with Chinese President Xi Jinping in attendance.
China's first aircraft carrier Liaoning, a refurbished Soviet-era ship, was also in attendance along with 18 warships from 13 other nations including Australia, India and Japan. The United States declined an invitation to send its ships to the naval review, and France was disinvited after its frigate Vendémiaire sailed through the Taiwan Straits prior to the event, Reuters reported.
The Nanchang was launched at Shanghai's Jiangnan Changxin shipyard in June 2017. The Type 055, which is classed as a cruiser by the Pentagon, measures almost 590 feet and displaces 10,000 tons according to specifications released by China — although some naval analysts believe that figure is an underestimation. Each ship is also equipped with a total of 112 vertical launch cells that are capable of launching either surface-to-air or anti-ship missiles, and fitted with a modern sensor suite that includes phased array radars.
Speaking at a regular press briefing conducted by China's Ministry National Defense on Thursday, Senior Col. Ren Guoqiang confirmed that the Nanchang is on the verge of completing sea trials and will be officially handed over to the PLAN later this year.
In addition to the Nanchang, recent open-source satellite and aerial imagery show that seven other Type 055s are in various states of construction and fitting out at the two major Chinese naval shipyards in Shanghai and Dalian. The latter is also where China's first domestically-built carrier, which is based closely on the Liaoning, is currently being completed. Further underscoring the astonishing pace of China's ongoing naval buildup, the photos also show five other smaller Type 052D destroyers undergoing construction at Dalian with six more being built at Shanghai. The latter shipyard has four more destroyers of an unknown sub-type being put together, along with what are reportedly the modules for China's third and largest aircraft carrier.
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May 6, 2019 | International, Naval
Robots and Lasers Are Bringing Shipbuilding into the Digital Age
BY MARCUS WEISGERBER Even decades-old aircraft carriers are being mapped onto digital models at Newport News Shipbuilding. NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — When the USS George Washington took shape here in the late 1980s, endless paper blueprints guided the welders and shipfitters of Newport News Shipbuilding. Now, with the aircraft carrier back in a drydock for its midlife overhaul, shipyard workers are laser-scanning its spaces and bulkheads. They're compiling a digital model of the 104,000-ton carrier, which will allow subsequent Nimitz-class projects to be designed and planned on computers. That will help bring the shipyard's carrier-overhaul work in line with its digital design-and-manufacturing processes that are already speeding up construction and maintenance on newer vessels. Newport News executives say these digital shipbuilding concepts are revolutionizing the way ships are designed and built. “We want to leverage technology, learn by doing and really drive it to the deckplates,” Chris Miner, vice president of in-service carriers, said during a tour of the shipyard. This is the future. This isn't about if. This is where we need to go.” This storied shipyard, now a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, has been building warships for the U.S. Navy for more than 120 years. Some of its buildings are nearly that old, and some of its employees are fifth-generation shipbuilders. But the technology they use to design, build, and overhaul submarines and mammoth aircraft carriers is rapidly changing. Paper schematics are quickly becoming a thing of the past, being replaced by digital blueprints easily accessible to employees on handheld tablets. “The new shipbuilders coming in, they're not looking for you to hand them a 30-page or a 200-page drawing,” Miner said. “We're really transitioning how we train folks and how we do things as far as getting them proficient.” This digital data will “transform the business,” said Miner. The technology is spreading beyond the shipbuilding sector. Boeing used digital tools to design a new pilot training jet for the Air Force and an aerial refueling drone from the Navy. The Air Force is planning to evaluate new engines for its B-52 bombers, nearly six-decade-old planes, using digital tools. The technology is allowing companies to build weapons faster than traditional manufacturing techniques. Engineers here at Newport News Shipbuilding are already using digital blueprints to design ships, but they plan to expand the use of the technology into manufacturing in the coming years. “We want to be able to leverage off all that data and use it,” Miner said. “There's lots of things we can do with that [data].” The USS Gerald Ford — the Navy's newest aircraft carrier and first in its class — was designed using digital data. The Navy's new Columbia-class nuclear submarines are being digitally designed as well. Parts for the future USS Enterprise (CVN 80) — the third Ford-class carrier — are being built digitally. Data from the ship's computerized blueprints are being fed into machines that fabricate parts. “We're seeing over 20 percent improvement in performance,” Miner said. When the Navy announced it would buy two aircraft carriers at the same time, something not done since the 1980s, James Geurts, the head Navy acquisition, said digital design would contribute to “about an 82 percent learning from CVN79 through to CVN 81” — the second through fourth Ford ships. Geurts called the savings “a pretty remarkable accomplishment for the team.” In the future, even more of that data will be pumped directly into the manufacturing robots that cut and weld more and more of a ship's steel parts. “That's the future,” Miner said. “No drawings. They get a tablet. They can visualize it. They can manipulate it, see what it looks like before they even build it.” As shipyard workers here give the George Washington a thorough working-over, they are using laser scanners to create digital blueprints of the ship. These digital blueprints are creating a more efficient workforce and reducing cutting as many as six months from a three-year overhaul, Miner said. The top of its massive island — where sailors drive the ship and control aircraft — has been sliced off. It will be rebuilt in the coming months with a new design that will give the crew a better view of the flight deck. The island already sports a new, sturdier mast that can hold larger antennas and sensors. Shipyard workers lowered it into place in early March. The yard is also combining its digital ship designs with augmented reality gear to allow its designers and production crews to virtually “walk through” the Ford class's spaces. This helped the yard figure out, for example, whether the ship's sections were designed efficiently for maintenance. In addition to robots, the additive manufacturing techniques, like 3D printing, could speed shipbuilding even more and reduce the Navy's need for carrying spare parts on ships. The Navy is testing a valve 3D-printed here. Right now, at a time when the Navy is planning to drastically expand its fleet size, shipyards like Newport News are expanding, but not yet to the levels of the Reagan military buildup of the 1980s. Despite the technology advantages, Miner said people still play essential roles in the manufacturing process. “It's really not about reducing our workforce as much it is about doing more with the workforce we have,” he said. “We're still going to hire people. We still have to ramp up. There's still hands-on things that are always going to have to be done. But it definitely helps us with cycle time to be able to build things quicker” and “enable our workforce to be more efficient.” https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2019/05/robots-and-lasers-are-bringing-shipbuilding-digital-age/156763/
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December 21, 2020 | International, C4ISR
LE NOUVEAU PARTENARIAT ENTRE INDRA ET THALES PERMETTRA D'OFFRIR DES COMMUNICATIONS TACTIQUES DE NOUVELLE GÉNÉRATION AUX FORCES ARMÉES ESPAGNOLES
Thales et Indra ont signé un protocole d'accord en vue de proposer un système radio tactique interarmées (JTRS) qui garantira la souveraineté et l'autonomie technologique des forces armées espagnoles • Cette offre s'inscrit dans le cadre du programme espagnol de renouvellement de son système de communications tactiques et propose de développer une solution nationale basée sur une technologie radio logicielle éprouvée • La proposition inclut également un plan pour accélérer la spécialisation de l'industrie espagnole dans les activités à valeur ajoutée et renforcer sa compétitivité globale Madrid, le 18 décembre 2020 – En réponse à la décision prise par l'Espagne en vue de renouveler les infrastructures existantes du pays, Indra et Thales, deux des principales entreprises high tech européennes dans le secteur de la défense, ont signé un protocole d'accord pour proposer ensemble aux forces armées espagnoles un système de communications tactiques de nouvelle génération. Ce système permettra notamment d'améliorer l'interopérabilité lors des missions internationales, et d'assurer la souveraineté et l'autonomie technologique des forces armées en termes de communications stratégiques. La supériorité sur l'ennemi, dans le cadre des thé'tres d'opération actuels, dépend d'un échange d'informations rapide, agile et sécurisé. Les plateformes et les véhicules, de plus en plus intelligents, sont aujourd'hui équipés de capteurs dotés d'une extrême précision, capables de collecter un fort volume de données et d'opérer en réseau avec d'autres systèmes. Les actions menées conjointement avec les forces d'autres pays se traduisent par une complexité technologique accrue sur les thé'tres. Dans ce type de scénarios : les radios logicielles (software-defined radio - SDR) constituent un facteur clé pour assurer le succès d'une armée moderne. Les forces armées les plus avancées vont se tourner vers les radios logicielles dans les prochaines années pour assurer leurs capacités de transmission, avec des échanges d'information rapides et sécurisés, et la souplesse requise pour des interopérations efficaces avec les forces alliées. Souveraineté, soutien et plan industriel pour l'industrie espagnole L'offre élaborée par Indra et Thales comprend le développement de produits et de solutions high tech en Espagne, sur la base d'une solution Thales déjà éprouvée. Les nouveaux produits s'appuieront sur sa gamme de systèmes radio SYNAPS, renforcée par de nouvelles fonctionnalités mises en œuvre avec Indra. L'expertise d'Indra et de Thales en termes de matériels et de logiciels radio, ainsi que leur expérience des opérations, permettront aux deux entreprises d'offrir aux forces armées espagnoles un soutien et des services adéquats tout au long du cycle de vie des produits. Le plan industriel qui fait partie intégrante de l'offre permettra d'accélérer la spécialisation des entreprises espagnoles dans des activités à plus forte valeur ajoutée, allant au-delà de la fabrication et l'assemblage de solutions proposées par des tierces parties. S'il est mis en œuvre, il permettra aux entreprises espagnoles d'être plus compétitives sur les marchés internationaux, avec le maintien d'emplois durables dans le pays, tout en renforçant le savoir-faire national et son autonomie technologique. Le partenariat établi entre Indra et Thales se traduira par des avantages mutuels significatifs, venant renforcer le portefeuille de solutions d'Indra, et consolider l'implantation industrielle de Thales dans le secteur de la défense en Espagne. A propos de Indra Indra est l'une des principales entreprises de consulting et de technologie au monde, et le partenaire technologique des activités stratégiques de ses clients à l'international. La société propose une offre complète de solutions propriétaires dans des segments spécifiques des marchés du transport et de la défense. Indra est un leader international dans le secteur de la défense, avec le développement des projets critiques pour la défense nationale des pays que l'entreprise accompagne, pour sa participation dans des programmes européens majeurs dans le cadre de l'OTAN, ainsi que pour ses capacités à l'export. Indra est, en Espagne, le coordinateur national du programme européen de défense NGWS/FCAS. Indra est également une entreprise de pointe dans le conseil en transformation digitale et dans les technologies de l'information, en Espagne et en Amérique latine, via sa filiale Minsait. Implantée dans 46 pays, et opérant dans plus de 140 pays, Indra a enregistré en 2019 un chiffre d'affaires de 3 204 millions d'euros avec 49 000 employés. www.indracompany.com A propos de Thales Thales (Euronext Paris : HO) est un leader mondial de hautes technologies qui façonne aujourd'hui le monde de demain. Le Groupe propose des solutions, services et produits à ses clients dans les domaines de l'aéronautique, de l'espace, du transport, de l'identité et sécurité numériques, et de la défense. Avec 83 000 collaborateurs dans 68 pays, Thales a réalisé un chiffre d'affaires de 19 milliards d'euros en 2019 (sur une base intégrant Gemalto sur 12 mois). Thales investit notamment dans les innovations numériques - connectivité, big data, intelligence artificielle et cybersécurité – technologies au cœur des moments décisifs des entreprises, des organisations et des Etats. En Espagne, avec plus de 1 400 collaborateurs, Thales apporte son expertise aux clients dans les secteurs de la défense, de l'aéronautique, de l'espace, de l'identité et sécurité numériques et du transport. Les activités de défense sont assurées via la société Thales Programas de Electrónica y Comunicaciones, basée à Leganés (Madrid). https://www.thalesgroup.com/fr/group/journaliste/press_release/le-nouveau-partenariat-entre-indra-et-thales-permettra-doffrir-des#:~:text=Madrid%2C%20le%2018%20d%C3%A9cembre%202020,proposer%20ensemble%20aux%20forces%20arm%C3%A9es