Defence cooperation: Council launches 17 new PESCO projects

On the same subject

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  September 25, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Security

  Air Force awards $38M in contracts for upgrades to airfield in Iceland

  Christen McCurdy Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The Air Force has awarded three contracts totaling $38 million to improve the airfield at Naval Air Station Keflavik in Iceland. The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center's Detachment 4 will direct the construction project with support from Naval Facilities Engineering Command Europe Africa Central, the Air Force said Thursday. The work includes expansion of the airfield's parking aprons, beddown site preparation and an upgrade to the airfield's hazardous cargo pad for the safe unloading and unloading of explosives. "We are upgrading infrastructure at Naval Air Station Keflavik to provide a high level of readiness for U.S. Air Forces in Europe," said Col. David Norton, director of AFCEC's Facility Engineering Directorate. "We have incorporated innovative design and construction techniques to build resilient facilities to ensure the longest lifespan at the overall lowest life cycle cost." The construction projects support the European Deterrence Initiative implemented by U.S. European Command -- an initiative intended to increase the responsiveness of U.S. Air Forces and NATO members and allies in Europe. The EDI includes military exercises and training -- including the annual Dynamic Mongoose exercise, which this year was held off the coast of Iceland -- as well as a rotational presence of U.S. forces in Europe. An April Department of Defense memo said Defense Mark Esper planned to divert funding from overseas military construction projects -- including, critics said, some projects under the auspices of EDI -- to domestic military construction in order to compensate for funding lost to wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2020/09/24/Air-Force-awards-38M-in-contracts-for-upgrades-to-airfield-in-Iceland/6351600969330/

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  July 17, 2023 | International, Land

  Berlin aims to have "best equipped" NATO army division in Europe in 2025

  Germany is confident it will have the best equipped army division amongst European NATO allies in 2025, Army Chief Alfons Mais told Reuters, as countries are scrambling to gear up their troops in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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  May 2, 2019 | International, Land

  Army to outfit all Double V-Hull Strykers with 30mm firepower

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army has decided to outfit all of its brigades equipped with Double V-Hull A1 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles with 30mm guns following an evaluation of the vehicle equipped with the cannons in Europe, according to an Army official. The service plans to open up a competition to integrate and field up-gunned DVHA1, the official told Defense News on background. The Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and the Army Requirements Oversight Council decided on March 20to equip future Stryker brigades with 30mm Medium Caliber Weapon System (MCWS) capability after reviewing lessons learned from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Europe, but also directed the Army to ensure that the new MCWS capability be applied to the more mobile, better protected DVH ICVVA1 that will be the basis for the future Stryker fleet, according to the official. Based on an urgent operational need out of Europe, the Army was provided emergency funding from Congress in 2015 — a little over $300 million — to rapidly develop and field a Stryker with a 30mm cannon specifically for the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which is permanently stationed in Germany. The funding covered development, eight prototypes and upgrades to 83 production vehicles, as well as spares. The Army spent 18 months to put together its upgunned Stryker using off-the-shelf solutions, such as the remote turret, from Kongsberg in Norway, and the 30mm cannon from Orbital ATK and shipped those vehicles off to Europe for an evaluation that went on for the better part of a year. The plan going forward is to execute a competition in two phases to select a 30x173mm-equipped MCWS integrated onto a Stryker DVH ICVVA1, the official said, which will lead to equipping the first brigade with a new capability in fiscal year 2022. Army Contracting Command released a Request for Quote to begin the first phase of the Stryker MCWS program on April 9. The recent request called for integration designs. The Army will award up to seven design integration study contracts for potential vendors to study integrating a MCWS onto a Stryker ICVVA1 platform. The Army will supply both a Stryker platform and the XM813 30mm cannon to build production representative system samples, the official said. The service will then circulate a draft request for proposal this fall to begin the second phase of the program, which will establish a full-and-open competition to award a production contract for a MCWS integrated onto an ICVVA1, which will be based on vendors' production representative system samples and proposals. The MCWS will be part of a suite of lethality improvements for Stryker formations which include the Common Remote Operated Weapons Station-Javelin (CROWS-J) — that was also on the Stryker ICV Dragoon in Europe — and the Stryker Anti-Tank Guided Missile Vehicle (ATGM) engineering change proposal program. The Army is also developing a host of other capabilities for the Stryker through the Army Futures Command Cross-Functional Team initiatives, according to the official. Col. Glenn Dean, the Stryker program manager, told Defense News last fall that between early user testing in 2018 and subsequent fieldings, there had been an overall “very positive response” to the lethality and effectiveness of the Stryker ICVD. “The cannon provides a tremendous standoff and additional maneuver space, and it is very effective against the threats they are concerned about in Europe,” he said. But some feedback suggested that the physical layout of the vehicle could use some improvements, particularly when it came to situational awareness. The turret for the cannon takes up a lot of roof and hatch space and also affects how equipment is stowed. But the Army was already making modifications to the Dragoon based on feedback from the field, according to Dean. It is unclear what the specific requirements might be for a more lethal Stryker, but one factor up for debate could be whether there is a need to reload and operate the turret under armor, which could change the physical nature of the vendors' designs. Another issue to work out is what is necessary for a field-of-view inside the vehicle and how that might be achieved and who might control the cameras providing a view of the battlefield. Soldiers in the Stryker ICVD noted a lot of dead zones where users couldn't see. The Army made improvements to the cameras used on the vehicles in Europe providing an overlapped field-of-view. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/05/01/army-to-outfit-all-double-v-hull-strykers-with-30mm-firepower/