Dutch Navy improves radar, adds Tomahawk missile to fleet

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  July 25, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Florence Parly dévoile la stratégie spatiale française de défense

  La France va investir 700 millions d'euros supplémentaires dans le spatial militaire d'ici à 2025, pour renforcer ses moyens de surveillance et se doter de capacités d'auto-défense dans l'espace. Une somme qui s'ajoute aux 3,6 milliards d'euros déjà prévus pour le spatial de défense dans la Loi de programmation militaire française 2019-2025. « Aujourd'hui, nos alliés et nos adversaires militarisent l'espace. Et alors que le temps de la résilience se fait de plus en plus court, nous devons agir. Nous devons être prêts. » Jeudi 25 juillet, Florence Parly, ministre des Armées, s'est rendue au Commandement de défense aérienne et des opérations aériennes (CDAOA), situé sur la Base aérienne 942 de Lyon Mont-Verdun afin de présenter les grandes orientations militaires françaises dans le domaine spatial. Véritable enjeu, l'espace est devenu un lieu de confrontation de plus en plus militarisé. Indispensables au bon déroulement des opérations militaires, nos satellites et leur sauvegarde constituent un impératif stratégique. C'est pourquoi Florence Parly a annoncé que la France allait investir 700 millions d'euros supplémentaires dans le spatial militaire d'ici à 2025, pour renforcer ses moyens de surveillance et se doter de capacités d'auto-défense dans l'espace. Une somme qui s'ajoute aux 3,6 milliards d'euros déjà prévus pour le spatial de défense dans la Loi de programmation militaire française (LPM) 2019-2025. La stratégie spatiale dévoilée par la ministre des Armées se décline selon trois axes : organisationnel, juridique et capacitaire. Montée en puissance progressive du commandement de l'espace Ainsi, comme l'avait annoncé Emmanuel Macron le 13 juillet, un grand commandement de l'espace verra le jour le 1er septembre à Toulouse. Il sera placé sous l'autorité de l'armée de l'Air qui deviendra l'armée de l'Air et de l'espace. Son rôle : fédérer et coordonner tous les moyens consacrés au domaine spatial de défense. « A terme, il doit conduire l'ensemble de nos opérations spatiales, sous les ordres du chef d'état-major des armées et en lien avec le CPCO à l'instar de l'ensemble de nos opérations », a précisé Florence Parly. Doté d'une équipe de 220 personnes, ce commandement de l'espace montera progressivement en puissance sur la durée de la loi de programmation militaire, d'ici à 2025. Pour mettre en place sa stratégie spatiale, la ministre souhaite une évolution des textes régissant l'utilisation de l'espace pour intégrer la spécificité des opérations spatiales militaires. « J'ai décidé que le ministère des Armées assumerait la fonction d'opérateur spatial »explique-t-elle. « Si nous souhaitons être en mesure de mener de véritables opérations spatiales militaires, il nous faut développer une autonomie d'action. » Enfin, Florence Parly a annoncé vouloir perfectionner les capacités de défense spatiale, par le biais d'un nouveau programme d'armement nommé « Maîtrise de l'Espace ». Celui-ci intègrera deux volets : la surveillance et la défense active. Actuellement, la France est une des rares nations à disposer de ses propres capacités de surveillance de l'espace, gr'ce aux radars Graves et Satam ainsi qu'aux télescopes du CNRS et d'Ariane Group. « Demain, nous ferons appel à des moyens et des services plus sophistiqués encore », a souligné la ministre. « Le successeur de Graves devra être conçu pour déceler des satellites de la taille d'une boîte de chaussures à une distance de 1 500 kilomètres. » Afin de mieux protéger nos satellites, des actions seront menées, comme l'intégration de caméras de surveillance aux satellites de communication Syracuse pour leur autoprotection ou encore l'acquisition de nano-satellites patrouilleurs à partir de 2023. Gr'ce à ces futures capacités de surveillance, une défense active pourra être mise en place. La ministre prévient qu'il ne s'agit que d'autodéfense et non d'une stratégie offensive : « Si nos satellites sont menacés, nous envisagerons d'éblouir ceux de nos adversaires. Nous nous réservons le moment et les moyens de la riposte : cela pourra impliquer l'emploi de lasers de puissance déployés depuis nos satellites ou depuis nos nano-satellites patrouilleurs », a-t-elle précisé. https://www.defense.gouv.fr/actualites/articles/florence-parly-devoile-la-strategie-spatiale-francaise-de-defense

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  October 16, 2018 | International, Land

  General Dynamics Griffin Takes Lead To Replace M2 Bradley

  By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. BAE System's CV90 Mark IV is the latest upgrade of a 25-year-old vehicle widely used in Europe; the Rheinmetall-Raytheon Lynx is an all-new design, although individual components have a good track record; but the General Dynamics Griffin III is in the middle, combining a new gun and new electronics with the time-tested chassis from the European ASCOD family. AUSA: General Dynamics looks like the early favorite to replace the Army's 1980s-vintage M2 Bradley troop carrier. That's my personal assessment after talking at length to officers and contractors at last week's Association of the US Army conference, where months of uncertainty finally gave way to some real clarity about both what the Army wants and what industry can offer. In brief, GD's Griffin III demonstrator seems to hit the sweet spot between innovative and proven technologies that the Army wants to start fielding a Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) as soon as 2026. Of the three vehicles on display at AUSA, BAE System's CV90 Mark IV is the latest upgrade of a 25-year-old vehicle widely used in Europe; the Rheinmetall-Raytheon Lynx is an all-new design, although individual components have a good track record; but the General Dynamics Griffin III is in the middle, combining a new gun and new electronics with the time-tested chassis from the European ASCOD family. The competitors do have a lot in common. All offer tracked vehicles with diesel engines — even BAE, which once touted its hybrid-electric drives as a key selling point. All three boast open-architecture electronics to ease future upgrades, an integrated Active Protection System to shoot down incoming anti-tank warheads, modular armor that can be layered on or stripped down depending on the mission, and a turret capable of mounting a 50 mm gun, the Army's preferred caliber. Only the Griffin actually has a 50mm installed right now, however. The others currently have 35mm cannon. It's also the only vehicle that can point its gun almost straight up, at an 85 degree angle, to hit rooftop targets in urban combat, something the Army has worried about extensively. Details like this suggest that General Dynamics has been listening more closely to the Army than its competitors. In fact, even where the Griffin III underperforms its competitors, most notably by carrying fewer infantry, it does so in areas where the Army is willing to make tradeoffs. The End of the Beginning Now, it's still early in the NGCV race. While we only saw three contenders on the floor at AUSA, it's still entirely possible a fourth player could jump in. My money's on the team of SAIC and Singapore-based STK, which is already offering a modified Singaporean army vehicle for the US Army's Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) light tank. The other MPF competitors are BAE, with an update of the Armored Gun Systemcancelled in 1996, and GD, offering a version of the Griffin. By November, the Army will award two of the three companies contracts to build prototypes. If either GD or the SAIC-ST team wins, they'll have at least a slight advantage for NGCV, since buying related vehicles for both roles will simplify training, maintenance, and supply. (BAE's AGS is totally unrelated to its CV90, so an MPF win wouldn't help it on NGCV). By contrast to MPF, the competition for NGCV is only at the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end. The Army's still refining its requirements, in part based on discussions with industry at AUSA. What's the timeline? Col. James Schirmer, the program manager, said at the conference that “we are within weeks of having that requirement finalized.” Brig. Gen. Richard Ross Coffman, the Army's director of armored vehicle modernization, said a formal Request For Proposal (RFP) based on those requirements will come out no later than January. So there'll be time for the competitors to revise their NGCV designs before submitting them. Even after that, more than one company will get a contract to build prototypes for Army testing. What's the objective that drives both this pace and the technological tradeoffs the Army is willing to make? Fielding the first operational unit in 2026 — nine years earlier than the original plan — to help deter Russian aggression. Deadline 2026 “All options are on the table, but the schedule will be the schedule,” Brig. Gen. Coffman told reporters at AUSA. “We would like to field this vehicle by 2026.” “If someone could develop a clean sheet design that could meet that timeline,” he said, “it'd be great, but I don't know that's doable.” (By contrast, the potential replacement for the M1 Abrams tank is coming later, so the service is looking for radical innovation). Schirmer offered more specifics. “We have a pretty challenging test schedule... very similar to MPF, (so) we really can't afford a clean sheet design,” he said. The more mature the component technologies, the better, he said, but what's best is that those individual components have been proven as an integrated system. Specifically, Schirmer said, “for the Bradley replacement, we are going to be buying vehicles that are based on a mature architecture — powertrain, track, suspension — that's already in service somewhere in the world.” While these remarks leave the door open for the Lynx, or at least ajar, they're not particularly encouraging. By contrast, the CV90 series entered service with Sweden in 1993, with variants now serving in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Holland, Norway, and Switzerland. The Griffin III is the latest member of the ASCOD family — the Spanish Pizzaro, Austrian Ulan, and British Ajax — which debuted in Spain in 2002. While the Army wants a proven hull, however, Schirmer says there is one area where technology is advancing fast enough for it be worth taking some risk: lethality, i.e. the gun and sensors. In particular, while the Bradley has a 25mm chaingun, the Army really wants NGCV to have a 50mm cannon — firing shells about four times as big — that's now in development at the service's Ammunition Research, Development, & Engineering Center (ARDEC). That gun, the XM913, is currently integrated on just one competitor, the Griffin, although both the Lynx and CV90 turrets could accommodate it. All three vehicles, like the Bradley, also have room in the turret to mount anti-tank missiles of various types. The Griffin on the show floor also mounts a launcher for AeroVironment Shrike mini-drones, while the Lynx will have the option to launch Raytheon's Coyote: Both mini-drones can be configured either with sensors to scout or with warheads to destroy. Even on weaponry, however, the Army is willing to make compromises to speed fielding, just as it introduced the original M1 Abrams with a 105 mm gun but with room to upgrade to the desired 120mm when it was ready a few years later. For NGCV, Schirmer said, they want the vehicle to have the 50mm gun eventually but “may settle on the 30 in the near term, just to meet schedule.” Armor & Passengers Besides gun caliber, the other easily measured aspect of an armored vehicle is its weight, which is very much a two-edged sword. There's been no breakthrough in armor materials since the 1980s and none on the horizon, so the only way to get better armor is to make it thicker. So a heavier vehicle is probably better protected, but it also burns more fuel, wears out more spare parts, and has more trouble getting places: Bridges and transport aircraft in particular can only take so much weight. Full article: https://breakingdefense.com/2018/10/general-dynamics-griffin-takes-lead-to-replace-m2-bradley

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  February 3, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 02, 2021

  AIR FORCE ViaSat Inc., Carlsbad, California, has been awarded a $50,800,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for development on prototype space systems. The contractor will provide studies, design, manufacturing, integration, performance qualification, network space segment elements, launch, flight and demonstration of prototype space systems. This also includes the development, integration and demonstration with ground terminals in conjunction with the government ground segment to reduce risk and assess performance and functionality for future protected service. Work will be performed in Carlsbad, California, and is expected to be completed May 2, 2028. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $754,337 will be obligated when the first task order is awarded. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9453-21-D-0029). NAVY ACTS-Meltech JV1 LLC,* Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00178-21-D-4403); Athena Construction Group Inc.,* Triangle, Virginia (N00178-21-D-4404); Cremer Global Services Inc.,* Melbourne, Florida (N00178-21-D-4405); Encon Desbuild JV2 LLC,* Bladensburg, Maryland (N00178-21-D-4406); HSU EGI JV LLC,* Gaithersburg, Maryland (N00178-21-D-4407); Matos Builders LLC,* Baltimore, Maryland (N00178-21-D-4408); New Dominion Construction LLC,* Dumfries, Virginia (N00178-21-D-4409); Signature Renovations LLC,* Capitol Heights, Maryland (N00178-21-D-4410); and Trinity USA Contracting Inc.,* White Stone, Virginia (N00178-21-D-4411), are awarded a combined $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for facility repairs and renovations in multiple buildings, trailers and labs. This contract was competitively awarded among HUBZone small businesses. It provides standard maintenance, sustainment, repair and minor construction as well as field surveying of sites, mapping of new site conditions, soil boring sampling, sampling and testing of potential existing hazardous construction materials, performing and providing engineering analysis and evaluations for purposes of structural and electrical capacities and providing energy computations for infrastructure solutions. Operation and execution are primarily focused in repairing, upgrading and nonstructural construction in accordance with and not exceeding Category II of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Engineering & Construction Bulletin Issue No.2006-04. Each awardee will be awarded $500 (minimum contract guarantee per awardee) at contract award. These contracts do not include options and consist of a cumulative value of $30,000,000 over a five-year period to the nine vendors combined. Work will be performed in Dahlgren, Virginia (85%); Wallops Island, Virginia (5%); Virginia Beach, Virginia (5%); and Washington, D.C. (5%), and is expected to be completed by February 2026. Fiscal 2021 sustainment, restoration and modernization funds in the amount of $4,500 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. All other funding will be made available at the delivery order level as contracting actions occur. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov website, with 11 offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding division, Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $12,500,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-4316 to continue performance of the repair, maintenance and upgrade efforts on the USS Helena (SSN 725) Dry-Docking Selected Restricted Availability. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by April 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $12,500,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Newport News, Virginia, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Federal Prison Industries Inc.,** doing business as UNICOR, Washington, D.C., has been awarded a maximum $21,978,000 modification (P00009) exercising the first one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-20-D-F057) with four one-year option periods for various types of coats. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Locations of performance are Illinois, Texas, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C., with a Feb. 5, 2022, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Delavan Inc., West Des Moines, Iowa, doing business as Collins Aerospace, has been awarded a maximum $9,999,999 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for T700 aircraft engine fuel injector assemblies. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Iowa, with a Feb. 2, 2026, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2026 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4A721D0099). ARMY Weeks Marine Inc., Covington, Louisiana, was awarded an $11,791,200 modification (P00001) to contract W912P8-20-C-0059 for maintenance dredging of the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico. Work will be performed in Venice, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2021. Fiscal 2020 civil construction funds; and fiscal 2020 non-federal sponsor, state of Louisiana funds in the amount of $11,791,200 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity. *Small business **Mandatory source https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2490862/source/GovDelivery/