April 27, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Contracts for April 26, 2021
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February 7, 2019 | International, Land
French vehicle maker Arquus sets its sights on new European battle tank
PARIS – Arquus, formerly Renault Trucks Defense, is keen to get a piece of the emerging Franco-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) program.
"We think we have things to contribute, notably concerning fuel cells, hybrid drivetrains and robotization,” CEO Emmanuel Levacher told reporters in Paris on Tuesday.
While the Franco-German program is generally thought of as a future main battle tank, Arquus is thinking more along the lines of the program's official name: a combat system. “Will tomorrow's tank even be a tank?” asked Arquus' director of innovation, François Deloumeau. He argued that “pushing existing concepts further is not very interesting,” contending that the MGCS was “unlikely to be a super Leclerc tank or a Leopard 3.”
Arquus is not being financed to develop ideas for the MGCS, “but we are thinking about it and thinking out of the box,” said Levacher.
He mentioned that France and Germany “are not yet aligned in terms of concept, or even of their needs,” which means nothing has been set in stone. “We are talking with the end-users, the DGA and other manufacturers about this,” Levacher said, using shorthand for the French government's defense-acquisition organization.
Also on the subject of Germany, Levacher remarked that Arquus was forced to find alternative suppliers of components such as joints, automatic gear boxes or engines designed for civilian vehicles but destined for inclusion in military products for export. That is because Germany export approval procedures “are extremely long” for these types of products, he explained. In addition, the list of countries that Berlin will not give approval for “is getting longer,” with Indonesia and India recently added to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Levacher said.
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June 19, 2024 | International, Land
MBDA expands its Deep Precision Strike capabilities with the Land Cruise Missile system
LCM builds on all of MBDA’s expertise in the field of Deep Precision Strike, and is based on the combat proven Naval Cruise Missile (NCM) in-service on French Navy frigates...
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July 22, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence
US Army commissions ‘world’s largest 3D printer’
3D Systems and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) have been awarded a US$15 million contract by the Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (ARL) to create what they say will be the ‘world's largest, fastest, and most precise metal 3D printer'. The machine will be used for long-range munitions, combat vehicles, helicopters, and air and missile defense applications, the company said. According to the US Army, it already uses additive manufacturing (AM) to refurbish worn parts and create custom tools. Plans are to develop large-scale systems for installation in its depots and labs. Subsequently, 3D Systems and its partners also aim to make the new 3D printer technology available to aerospace and defense suppliers. The printer's build envelope is planned to be 1000 mm x 1000 mm x 600 mm, with ability to build minimum wall thickness of 100 µm and layer thickness of 30 µm. This is a significant increase over current large-scale metal 3D printers with a build envelope of 500 mm x 500 mm x 500 mm, 3D Systems said. 'Up until now, powder bed laser 3D printers have been too small, too slow, and too imprecise to produce major ground combat subsystems at scale,' said Dr Joseph South, ARL program manager. 3D Systems also plans to integrate the new technologies and processes into its existing range of 3D printers. https://www.materialstoday.com/additive-manufacturing/news/us-army-commissions-worlds-largest-3d-printer/