April 6, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Anduril buys tube-launched drone developer Area-I
Anduril acquires Area-I, aiming to change the game in air-launched effects.
June 26, 2020 | International, Naval
Congress aims to strip funding for the US Navy’s next-gen large surface combatant
By: David B. Larter
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy's interminable quest to design and field a next-generation large surface combatant is going back to the drawing board once again, a victim of the Pentagon's disorganization around this year's long-range shipbuilding plan, according to documents and a source familiar with the situation.
The Senate Armed Services Committee stripped $60.4 million dollars from the Navy's proposed fiscal 2021 budget intended to be used for preliminary design work for the future large surface combatant, according to documents released by the committee. Instead, the money is being funneled into a land-based testing facility in Philadelphia that will work on the future combatant's power system, which is the raison d'être for the envisioned class, a source familiar with the deliberations told Defense News.
The money for the large surface combatant design is one of the victims of the Pentagon's inability to produce an annual 30-year shipbuilding plan, an annual requirement that is intended to give Congress an idea of where the Navy wants to steer its fleet, the source said, adding that the large surface combatant was not in the five-year future years defense program which is submitted with the President's budget.
The 30-year shipbuilding plan has been held up this year by the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the Pentagon struggles to come up with a fleet that more closely integrates the Navy and Marine Corps for the Pacific theater and incorporates a significant fleet of unmanned surface and subsurface systems.
It's the latest setback in the effort to field next-generation surface combatants, which has seen more than 20 years of false starts and setbacks.
The Navy initially intended to field a fleet of 21st Century cruisers and destroyers to replace the current Arleigh Burk-class DDGs and Ticonderoga-class cruisers. But the DDG-1000 program was truncated to just three hulls, and the so-called CG(X) cruiser was cancelled in 2010 at the beginning of the Obama Administration.
Given the long lead times for new ship development, as much as a decade or more, the situation is becoming increasingly urgent for the U.S. Navy. Many of the cruisers have reached their effective service lives and the oldest Arleigh Burke-class ships are closing on 30 years of age, but the Navy is not currently planning a class-wide service-life extension program.
For its next-generation large surface combatant, the Navy is looking to field a ship that uses the latest AEGIS combat system destined for its Flight III DDG, but with a hull and power system that has ample margin for integrating future systems such as lasers and rail guns, and with missile magazines able to haul larger hypersonic strike missiles.
But according to the SASC, the Navy is way too early in the process to justify funding for design, especially when Congress doesn't know what the Navy's plans are for fielding it and when.
“The committee lacks sufficient clarity on the Large Surface Combatant (LSC) capability requirements... to support the start of preliminary design for the LSC program or completion of the Capabilities Development Document,” according to a document released by the committee.
The document also shows the SASC directing $75 million toward the Integrated Power and Energy Systems test facility in Philadelphia, known as the ITF, which a source said is where the heavy work of fielding a power system with plenty of margin for future weapons would be performed. That facility should be up and running by 2023, according to the documents.
The FY21 NDAA is currently working its way through Congress and is not yet in its final form, meaning funding for large surface combatant design work could still be reinstated at some point in the process.
Subsystem Development
Congress has been increasingly agitated by the Navy's design-on-the-fly approach to fielding new capabilities, such as the littoral combat ship's mission modules or several of the key technologies that have been holding up the lead Ford-class carrier.
In the view of lawmakers, the delays could be mitigated by taking a more cautious approach to developing new classes of systems, by maturing technologies ahead of launching into construction. For example, if the Advanced Weapons Elevators on Ford had been developed before the start of construction, there would not be a months-long delay in getting the carrier ready for deployment because the system would work before it was installed.
To that end, Congress has been inserting itself heavily into the development of unmanned surface vessels, restricting funding for procurement until the Navy can produce a reliable system.
In its markup of the 2021 NDAA, the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee called for restricting funding for procurement of any large unmanned surface vessels, or LUSV, until the Navy can certify it has worked out an appropriate hull and mechanical and electrical system, and that it can operate autonomously for 30 consecutive days.
Furthermore, the Navy must demonstrate a reliable operating system and that any systems integrated into the platform — sonars, radars, etc. — are likewise functioning and reliable.
In short, the language would mean the Navy could not spend procurement dollars on a large unmanned surface vessel until it has a working model, and it may not try to develop those technologies on the fly.
The Defense Department has been championing a major shift away from large surface combatants, based on decisions by Defense Secretary Mark Esper that are in line with his in-house think tank, the Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office. The Pentagon wants to focus on fielding more unmanned platforms with missile cells that can be more expendable in a fight and act as an external missile magazine for larger manned combatants with more exquisite sensors.
But Congress has repeatedly balked at the idea because the Navy has yet to produce a concept of operations or a coherent public strategy to back up the investment plan.
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July 27, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Dassault Aviation : le bénéfice net s’écroule de 87% sous l’effet de la crise sanitaire
Avec la crise économique du coronavirus et l'effondrement du trafic aérien, les commandes d'avions ont chuté pour le constructeur français. Dassault Aviation a annoncé jeudi avoir enregistré un bénéfice net en chute de 87%, à 32 millions d'euros, sous l'effet de la crise provoquée par l'épidémie de Covid-19. "Nos clients, pour certains, ont décalé la date des avions à livrer" et "les commandes ne sont pas au rendez-vous", a expliqué le PDG Eric Trappier lors d'une conférence de presse. Moins de livraisons Les conséquences économiques de la crise sont "sévères" et "impactent de plein fouet" le marché de l'aviation d'affaires, estime Dassault Aviation. Au premier semestre, l'avionneur a livré 7 avions de combat Rafale à l'Inde et au Qatar et 16 avions d'affaires Falcon. Le chiffre d'affaires ajusté, en baisse de 13,6%, s'est établi à 2,6 milliards d'euros, réalisés aux neuf-dixièmes à l'export. Il sera "en retrait" en 2020, prévoit l'avionneur. En raison des conséquences économiques de l'épidémie et de l'effondrement du trafic aérien, Dassault Aviation prévoit dorénavant de livrer 30 Falcon en 2020, soit un quart de moins que précédemment. Les livraisons prévues de Rafale sont inchangées (13). "Nous verrons comment adapter nos effectifs" Les prises de commandes se sont elles effondrées de 66%, à 984 millions d'euros, avec 5 Falcon et aucune pour le Rafale. Eric Trappier a évoqué une note d'espoir avec une "remontée forte de l'activité aérienne" observée dans l'aviation d'affaires ces dernières semaines, notamment aux États-Unis et "beaucoup de transactions" sur le marché de l'occasion. "En fonction du retour de la commande Falcon, nous verrons comment adapter nos effectifs", a-t-il indiqué, précisant que le groupe aurait recours au dispositif d'activité partielle de longue durée https://www.sudouest.fr/2020/07/23/dassault-aviation-le-benefice-net-s-ecroule-de-87-sous-l-effet-de-la-crise-sanitaire-7686090-705.php
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May 22, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval
‘Major Milestone’ As Allies Join SPACECOM’s War Plan
"The hesitation to include allies in Olympic Defender was on our end as well," says Secure World Foundation's Brian Weeden. "National security space is sort of the last bastion of America's 'crown jewels'." By THERESA HITCHENSon May 21, 2020 at 5:50 PM WASHINGTON: A number of US allies may now join Space Command in the US military's baseline plan for protecting and defending satellites during war, Operation Olympic Defender, we hear, following in the footsteps of the first country to sign up, the United Kingdom. SPACECOM today announced its leader, Gen. Jay Raymond, has signed the first order under OOD in his capacity as head of the combatant command. OOD is the US military's operational plan for protecting and defending US and allied satellites in conflict. “This is a major milestone for the newly established command,” Raymond said. “As the threats in the space domain continue to evolve, it is important we leverage and synchronize capabilities with our allies not only to understand each other's national perspectives, but to work seamlessly together to optimize our multinational space efforts.” Strategic Command created OOD in 2013 as the foundational plan for how the military will protect and defend US and allied satellites in a conflict. As Breaking D readers know, OOD was updated in 2018 to open up allied participation. “The purpose of OOD is to strengthen allies' abilities to deter hostile acts in space, strengthen deterrence against hostile actors, and reduce the spread of debris orbiting the earth,” the SPACECOM release explains. OOD is only one of a number of operational plans for space war Raymond has been working on since SPACECOM was established as a geographic command with an area of responsibility (AOR) 100 kilometers above sea level and up to infinity. He told reporters yesterday that he last week inked the new “campaign plan” for SPACECOM's day-to-day operations; every Combatant Command has such a campaign plan; this will be SPACECOM's first. “That's our foundational plan, if you will,” Raymond explained, “that drives our day-to-day activities across the command of SPACECOM.” In addition, SPACECOM now has responsibility for developing, updating and enacting when the ball drops specialized contingency plans for space war, mapped to specific adversary countries. Former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter back in 2016 set the precedent, naming Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as the key strategic challengers to the US military. SPACECOM's announcement today also noted that the United Kingdom was the first ally to publicly acknowledge this past July its participation in OOD. London subsequently sent additional personnel to Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) and the 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg AFB to support its decision, SPACECOM added. CSpOC is responsible for command and control of day-to-day space operations and includes allies representation. The 18th Space Control Squadron is responsible for space domain awareness operations. Up to now, many allies were leery of signing up due to the fact that space operations were being commanded by STRATCOM, which also oversees US nuclear war planning. Public opinion in many US allies, such as Germany and Italy, traditionally has been strongly anti-nuclear. It is not by chance that even the UK, which had joined OOD under STRATCOM's control, kept its participation silent until now. “Some of those same concerns were initially raised about having USSTRATCOM be the lead agency for signing SSA data sharing agreements with other countries,” noted Brian Weeden, head of program planning at Secure World Foundation and a former Air Force officer who worked on space situational awareness operations at STRATCOM. “But the hesitation to include allies in Olympic Defender was on our end as well,” Weeden added. “National security space is sort of the last bastion of America's “crown jewels” and there are a lot of people in that community who are very reluctant to open the kimono to our allies, even the allies who we've been deeply collaborating on intelligence sharing for decades.” DoD and expert sources say interest in participation in space war planning has increased not just because of SPACECOM's standup, but also because concerns about Russian and Chinese efforts to build up their military space capabilities. Indeed, NATO in December declared space an operational domain of joint allied action — albeit insisted that this does not mean NATO endorses space weaponization. France last summer adopted an aggressive space strategy, including pursuit of offensive anti-satellite weapons. Japan on May 19 announced its new Space Operations Squadron, under the Japanese Air-Self Defense Force, to monitor and protect Japanese satellites. For example, the number of countries signing SSA agreements with DoD has jumped to 25, with Peru signing a memorandum of understanding with SPACECOM just last week to gain access to data about space objects collected by the military's Space Surveillance Network of radar and optical telescopes, as well as data to help the country's satellites avoid on-orbit collisions. “This agreement will give Peru access to the highest quality satellite tracking data available to assist them with PerúSat-1 and its eventual follow-on and will provide a linkage to the experts at the 18th Space Control Squadron. In addition, the SSA Agreement enables Peru to request seven advanced services available only to agreement holders,” SPACECOM said in a May 12 announcement. Spain, France and Italy — all of which operate military satellites — have expressed interest in participating in OOD, we are told. Besides the UK, the other members of the so-called “Five Eyes” — Australia, Canada and New Zealand — who already shared intelligence with the US are expected to join in. Although Germany has been hesitant to be seen as pro-space weapons, Berlin has a sophisticated military space program and is unlikely to stay outside of operational planning if rival France joins in. Japan too can be expected to sign on, as it has been seeking myriad ways to be more active in partnering with the US military on space protection — including agreeing to host US military payloads on Japanese satellites. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/05/major-milestone-as-allies-join-spacecoms-war-plan