September 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Revenant sur la vente de Rafale à la Grèce, la ministre des Armées Florence Parly cherche à rassurer, en promettant de minimiser l'impact pour l'armée de l'Air de la France. Dans un contexte de tensions accrues avec la Turquie voisine, Athènes a annoncé samedi son intention d'acquérir 18 Rafale, dont six appareils neufs et douze d'occasion, selon le Premier ministre grec Kyriakos Mitsotakis, qui a évoqué de premières livraisons à la Grèce en 2021.
"C'est une excellente nouvelle pour l'Europe", a insisté Florence Parly, interpellée en commission défense de l'Assemblée nationale sur le risque de trou capacitaire pour l'armée de l'Air, très engagée sur de multiples fronts mais qui va devoir céder à Athènes certains appareils sur sa flotte actuelle de 102 Rafale. "C'est ma priorité de m'assurer que de tels prélèvements n'auront pas d'impact opérationnel sur nos forces. C'est ma responsabilité première", a réagi Mme Parly. "Nous examinons ces possibles prélèvements avec infiniment de sérieux", a-t-elle assuré. "Est-ce à dire qu'il n'y a pas de marge de manoeuvre, qu'il n'y a pas de solution intelligente? La réponse est évidemment non", a poursuivi la ministre.
"Il y aura un petit creux sur une période qui reste à définir mais on fera en sorte de minimiser l'impact au maximum pour l'armée de l'Air", commente-t-on au ministère des Armées, en soulignant notamment que "l'armée de l'Air rénove 55 Mirage qui permettent d'assumer un certain nombre de missions". Entre 2022 et 2024, Dassault Aviation doit produire 28 appareils pour la France. En fonction de la cadence de production, tout ou partie des 6 avions neufs grecs pourraient être finalement prélevés sur les 28 à produire pour Paris.
"Nous ne pouvons pas à la fois vouloir promouvoir une politique de préférence européenne et puis nous désoler lorsque la Grèce fait ce choix", une première pour un pays européen, a poursuivi la ministre devant la commission parlementaire, en vantant également "une très bonne nouvelle pour notre industrie" dans un contexte économique profondément assombri par la crise sanitaire.
"Sans les exportations d'armement, nous ne pourrions pas assurer à nous seuls l'entretien et la pérennité des chaînes industrielles", a-t-elle insisté. En outre, "les activités d'exportation permettent aussi de réduire le coûts d'acquisition pour nos armées des capacités dont nous avons besoin".
March 10, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
This year, companies large and small will constantly have to assess and reassess where they can best compete.
May 27, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
By: The Associated Press BEIJING — A study says Southeast Asian countries are cutting defense spending as a result of the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus outbreak, potentially opening up room for China to further assert its claims in the region. Aristyo Rizka Darmawan, a maritime security expert at the University of Indonesia, writes that slashing defense spending is seen as a relatively easy way to cut costs when countries are facing pressure on their budgets. “Indonesia, for example, has announced it will slash its defense budget this year by nearly US$588 million. Thailand has likewise reduced its defense allocation by $555 million. Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines all face similar pressure,” Darmawan wrote in the online journal of the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank. “Less defense spending will invariably mean less patrols at sea.” China recently announced it will increase its defense spending by 6.6 percent in 2020, despite a major downturn in the country's economic growth due to the pandemic. The increase is the lowest in years, but will still allow China to expand its ability to enforce its territorial claims in the South China Sea and grow its military presence in the Western Pacific and Indian oceans. Another key priority is maintaining a credible threat against Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China considers its own territory, to be brought under its control by military force if necessary. China has maintained its presence in the South China Sea throughout the virus outbreak. Recent frictions include Chinese ships shadowing Malaysian mineral exploration operations and the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat by a Chinese maritime security vessel. However, China's foreign minister dismissed claims that the country is exploiting the coronavirus outbreak to expand its regional footprint, labeling such accusations as “sheer nonsense.” State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters at a news conference on Sunday that China is cooperating closely on anti-virus efforts with Southeast Asian countries, several of whom have overlapping territorial claims with China in the strategically vital waterway. While China has long been stepping up its presence in the region, Wang said other countries — likely meaning the United States and its allies — have been creating instability with military flights and sea patrols. “Their ill-intentioned and despicable moves are meant to sow discord between China and [Southeast Asian countries] and undermine the hard-won stability in the region,” Wang said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2020/05/26/downward-trend-southeast-asian-countries-cut-defense-spending/
June 8, 2020 | International, Aerospace
David Axe The Russian defense ministry has insured its new stealth drone and its control station for 1.4 billion rubles. That's $20 million. And it's probably worth every ruble. The S-70 Hunter-B, a jet-powered flying-wing drone, perhaps is the most significant new warplane to emerge in Russia since the Su-57 stealth fighter that first flew in 2010 and now is in low-rate production. The Hunter-B first appeared in January 2019 on the ground at an airfield in Novosibirsk in southern Russia. It flew for the first time on Aug. 3, 2019. The Sukhoi-designed drone zoomed over the airfield for more than 20 minutes at a maximum altitude of around 2,000 feet, according to TASS, the state news organization that also reported the value of the robot's insurance. It's easy to dismiss the Hunter-B as a developmental dead-end, owing to Russia's poor track record when it comes to fielding unmanned aerial vehicles and the satellite infrastructure that helps controllers on the ground direct a UAV's flight. But the likelihood of Hunter-B eventually entering front-line service with the Russian air force is "big," said Tom Cooper, an author and independent expert on Russian military. "The Russian military is running multiple UAV-related projects," Cooper said. "Thus the emergence of this project is perfectly normal." "At this point, it is going to be the heaviest and fastest UAV [in Russian service] if and when fielded,” said Samuel Bendett, an analyst with the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C. Bendett estimated the Hunter-B's weight at around 20 tons and its top speed at more than 600 miles per hour. The drone is in the same class as a manned lighter fighter. The Russian air force reportedly is considering assigning Hunter-Bs as robotic wingmen for Su-57 pilots, extending the coverage of an Su-57 flight's sensors and adding to the manned pilots' firepower. On Sept. 27, the sole Hunter-B prototype flew in formation with an Su-57. The U.S., Japanese and Australian air forces are developing their own wingman drones. But Sukhoi has its work cut out for it completing the Hunter-B. “A a host of aerodynamic, electronic and high-tech issues need to be worked out,” Bendett said. And to be stealthy, the drone needs a new engine layout. In its current configuration, the Hunter-B's AL-31F motor projects from the rear of the airframe, creating a major source of radar reflectivity. Sukhoi has tinkered with a new version of Hunter-B that buries that engine deep inside the airframe, in the same way that Western firms do with their own stealth drones. As the high-stakes development continues, Sukhoi at least can take comfort that its drone is fully insured. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2020/06/05/how-much-does-it-cost-to-insure-your-russian-made-stealth-drone/#5a88c68023aa