Drones, jammers in Ukraine signal new era of warfare, Del Toro says

On the same subject

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  August 28, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval

  India is one step closer to spending billions on new naval helicopters from US, allies

  By: Vivek Raghuvanshi NEW DELHI — India's Ministry of Defence's apex procurement body, the Defence Acquisition Council, approved procurement of naval multirole and naval utility helicopters, but induction will not be made anytime soon. MoD's DAC approved the purchase of 24 MH-60 Romeo multi-role helicopters from the U.S. through a foreign military sale at a cost of more than $2 billion. DAC also approved purchase of 111 naval utility helicopters, costing around $3.39 billion, to be built under the Make in India policy by domestic private companies in partnership with overseas original equipment manufacturers. But this is only budgetary approval for purchase of two types of naval helicopters; that budget has yet to be allocated, and no timeline has been set for when the procurement process would kick-start, said a senior MoD official. “The procurement of naval multirole helicopters will take at least three to five years, while induction of naval utility helicopters will take from eight to 10years,”he noted. Another MoD official said the budgetary allocation for the naval multirole helicopters would come in the next three to six months; thereafter MoD will issue a letter of request, or LOR, to the U.S. Department of Defense, outlining specific requirements., beginning negotiations. MoD plans to pursue the procurement of 111 naval utility helicopters under Make in India's strategic partners policy, under which choppers will be produced by selected private companies though a possible joint venture and technology transfer from foreign companies. No private defense company in India have produced helicopters before, which could create a lengthy selection process. In July last year, Indian Navy floated a request for information (RFI) to both domestic and foreign original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, to participate in naval utility helicopter program. Foreign OEMs including Airbus Helicopters of France, Russian Helicopters of Russia, Lockheed Martin and Bell of United States have expressed interest in supporting procurement efforts. Domestic private defense companies Adani Group, Bharat Forge Ltd, Reliance Defence, Mahindra Aerospace and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd have also responded to the RFI to build naval utility helicopters in the country. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/08/27/india-is-one-step-closer-to-spending-billions-on-new-naval-helicopters-from-us-allies

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  October 10, 2023 | International, Land

  Biden vows US resolve to back Israel as USS Ford enters region

  The White House confirmed it has already begun delivering critically needed munitions and military equipment to Israel.

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  August 14, 2020 | International, Land

  Army buys $189M counter drone system but already has plans to replace it

  Nathan Strout The U.S. Army has invested another $190 million into a counter-small unmanned aircraft system (C-sUAS), but it's determined that the system will need to be replaced by a U.S. Marine Corps alternative. On July 20, the Army announced it was awarding DRS Sustainment Systems $190 million to develop, produce and deploy the Mobile-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System (M-LIDS). While the system will be deployed, it doesn't have a long-term future with the military. Despite the Army investing in the program for years, M-LIDS is a casualty of redundancy. As the Department of Defense has become more concerned by the threat posed by small drones in recent years, the services have each developed their own C-sUAS responses — mobile, stationary and dismounted. Recognizing the redundancy in that approach, the defense secretary delegated the Army to lead the effort to narrow the number of C-sUAS solutions for use by the joint forces. On June 25, the Army's Joint C-sUAS announced it had selected eight C-sUAS for future investment and deployment by the joint forces. M-LIDS didn't make the cut. But then, about a month later, the $190 million M-LIDS contract was announced, “Mobile-LIDS (M-LIDS) was not selected and will be replaced by the next generation mobile system,” said Jason Waggoner, an Army spokesman. In the meantime, “M-LIDS will be deployed with Army units to the CENTCOM area of operations.” M-LIDS would likely be replaced by the Light-Mobile Air Defense Integrated System (L-MADIS), a C-sUAS developed by the U.S. Marine Corps and the only mobile solution approved by the Joint C-sUAS Office. L-MADIS has already been deployed for testing and was reportedly used to down a drone off the coast of Iran last year. The Joint C-sUAS office told reporters in June that the services were conducting an analysis of how many systems would need to be replaced under the new arrangement. However, leaders were not able to provide a timeline for how quickly they expected to replace those systems. The series of announcements in this market came quickly this summer. Two days after the M-LIDS award, the Army announced a contract for one of the C-sUAS solutions that was included on the list for future investment: the Expeditionary-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System (now known as FS-LIDS). The $426 million contract with SRC Inc. provides for the development, production, deployment and support of FS-LIDS, the only fixed-site solution approved for the joint forces by the Joint C-sUAS Office. “Development of FS-LIDS is complete and systems are being deployed to U.S. forces globally, with a focus in the CENTCOM area of operations,” Waggoner said. “FS-LIDS will remain in use until replaced with newer technologies.” C-sUAS spending hasn't been limited to the Army in recent weeks. On Aug. 10, the U.S. Air Force issued Black River Systems Co. an $89 million contract for an operational C-sUAS open systems architecture https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/08/13/army-buys-189m-counter-drone-system-but-already-has-plans-to-replace-it