February 19, 2024 | International, C4ISR
Rheinmetall and Ukrainian partner produce 155mm rounds in Ukraine - Army Technology
Rheinmetall establishes a joint venture with an unnamed Ukrainian industry partner to produce 155mm rounds in Ukraine.
June 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Ensuring Future Air Power Capability - Key to European and National sovereignty
June 9, 2020 - Contested environments: Threat levels are rising due to the increasing development and dissemination of Anti Access/Areal Denial means. European air forces and navies need to prepare themselves for potential large scale high tempo operations in contested environments. To maintain air superiority and minimize attrition levels, Europe's Future Combat Air System (FCAS) will be a system of systems leveraging manned and unmanned collaborative combat, bringing the next level of Air Power.
Decisive tactical edge: FCAS will ultimately require a New Generation Fighter in 2040, which will be more sophisticated with very low observability, cutting edge passive and active sensors, on board smart applications and human machine collaboration. Such a New Generation Fighter will be a battle management platform capable of operating deep within enemy space. When teaming with unmanned modular platforms, named Remote Carriers, New Generation Fighters will have the needed scalable and flexible force multipliers to open new fields of tactics based on deception and numeric superiority.
Accelerated operational tempo: European air forces and navies will need to accelerate the operational tempo to complete OODA (Observe Orient Decide Act) loops faster than the adversary and take control of the situation. The interoperable Air Combat Cloud will provide common situational awareness by instantaneously capturing, sharing, merging and processing massive amounts of data from all connected manned and unmanned platforms. The Air Combat Cloud's warfare analytics and real-time coordination will provide better situational awareness, tactical options, decisions and collaborative effects to speed-up the OODA loop.
Better effects paths: Operating as a system of systems orchestrated by an Air Combat Cloud, FCAS will allow the OODA loop to be distributed across platforms allowing the dynamic combination of sensing, shooting and battle management capabilities. With a distributed OODA loop, FCAS will provide European air forces and navies with better, faster and more resilient effects paths under human supervision.
Incremental journey: FCAS will be an incremental journey. In a world with increasing threats, Airbus and its industrial partners need to start providing from 2025 the first capabilities to maintain European and National sovereignty. FCAS will lead to a doctrinal and technological change. Using such new capabilities will be a huge challenge for European air forces and navies, which cannot be instantaneously achieved. New doctrines, processes and skills need to be gradually developed in alignment with the planned arrival of FCAS capabilities and meeting the related technological challenges. FCAS will require a step by step approach to be jointly tackled by European air forces, navies and industry.
More on FCAS here
View source version on Airbus: https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/stories/Ensuring-Future-Air-Power-Capability.html
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October 24, 2023 | International, Aerospace
Airbus and Northrop Grumman sign strategic partnership in UK military satellite communications bid
Airbus and Northrop Grumman say the partnership is vitally important as military forces increasingly use space-based assets to fulfil their missions and require specialised technology to transmit information via space
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January 2, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Lockheed Martin Delivers 134 F-35s in 2019, Exceeding Annual Commitment
Fort Worth, Texas, December 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) delivered the 134(th) F-35 aircraft for the year today, exceeding the joint government and industry 2019 delivery goal of 131 aircraft. One hundred and thirty-four deliveries represent a 47% increase from 2018 and nearly a 200 percent production increase from 2016. Next year, Lockheed Martin plans to deliver 141 F-35s and is prepared to increase production volume year-over-year to hit peak production in 2023. "This achievement is a testament to the readiness of the full F-35 enterprise to ramp to full-rate production and we continue to focus on improving on-time deliveries across the entire weapons system," said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 program. "We have met our annual delivery targets three years in a row and continue to increase production rates, improve efficiencies and reduce costs. The F-35 is the most capable fighter jet in the world, and we're now delivering the 5(th) Generation weapon system at a cost equal to or lower than a less capable 4th Generation legacy aircraft." The 134(th) aircraft is a Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) model for the United States Marine Corps. In 2019, deliveries included 81 F-35s for the United States, 30 for international partner nations and 23 for Foreign Military Sales customers. Unit and Sustainment Costs Decrease, Readiness Improving Using lessons learned, process efficiencies, production automation, facility and tooling upgrades, supply chain initiatives and more - the F-35 enterprise continues to significantly improve efficiency and reduce costs. The price of an F-35A is now $77.9 million, meeting the $80 million goal a year earlier than planned. The F-35's mission readiness and sustainment costs continue to improve with the global fleet averaging greater than 65% mission capable rates, and operational squadrons consistently performing near 75%. Lockheed Martin's sustainment cost per aircraft per year has also decreased four consecutive years, and more than 35% since 2015. Program Maturity and Economic Impact With more than 490 aircraft operating from 21 bases around the globe, the F-35 plays a critical role in today's global security environment. Today, 975 pilots and 8,585 maintainers are trained, and the F-35 fleet has surpassed more than 240,000 cumulative flight hours. Eight nations have F-35s operating from a base on their home soil, eight services have declared Initial Operating Capability and four services have employed F-35s in combat operations. In addition to strengthening global security and partnerships, the F-35 provides economic stability to the U.S. and international partners by creating jobs, commerce and security, and contributing to the global trade balance. Thousands of men and women in the U.S. and around the world build the F-35. With more than 1,400 suppliers in 47 states and Puerto Rico, the F-35 Program supports more than 220,000 jobs. For additional information, visit www.f35.com. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lockheed-martin-delivers-134-f-35s-in-2019-exceeding-annual-commitment-300979931.html SOURCE Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company