April 28, 2024 | International, Land
October 29, 2020 | International, Naval
French warships to get new drone swarm-killing gun derived from land weapons
PARIS – France's future navy surface ships will be protected from swarm attacks by the RAPIDFire very short range weapon system developed by a Thales and Nexter consortium, the DGA French procurement agency has announced.
Based on the medium-caliber, cased, 40mm gun developed by CTAI, the international subsidiary of Nexter Systems and BAE Systems, RAPIDFire was designed to respond to new threats, notably low, small, slow, stealthy, swarm attacks that can saturate conventional missile defenses. It has a range of 4 kilometers (2.5 miles).
Integrated onto the unmanned turret, the gun has an optronic fire-control system which can be controlled by the operator. Threat analysis is shared with the ship's combat management system, and the gunner can validate or adjust the strategy proposed by the gun. There are five different types of ammunition that the gun can choose from automatically to best engage a given threat.
In a joint statement Thales and Nexter specify that “the system is compatible with the full range of ammunitions developed for land forces programs and is predisposed to the use of future ammunition as the smart Anti Aerial Airburst (A3B) round” for use against UAVs for example.
The surface-to-air and surface-to-surface gun has been designed to be used on a common turret for ground and naval systems. This means the RAPIDFire system will be able to be used on land vehicles in the future.
Although the program is still in the development phase, the DGA French procurement agency has already undertaken firing tests with it and has chosen it to equip the French Navy's future surface vessels. First delivery is scheduled for 2022.
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February 26, 2020 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
US Army wants $364 million for Defender Pacific in FY21
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is requesting $364 million to conduct a division-sized exercise in the Indo-Pacific region in fiscal 2021, the service confirmed to Defense News. Yet, the cost breakout details are classified, according to an Army spokeswoman. The exercise is fueled by a rising China, characterized in the National Defense Strategy as a long-term, strategic competitor of the United States. The NDS lays out a world where great power competition rather than counterterrorism will drive the Defense Department's decision-making and force structure. While the U.S. Army has 85,000 permanently stationed troops in the Indo-Pacific region and is already conducting exercises such as Pacific Pathways with allies and partners, the service is aiming to practice rapid deployment from the continental United States to the Pacific. In FY20, the Army will conduct a smaller version of Defender Pacific while Defender Europe will get more investment and focus. But then attention and dollars will swing over to the Pacific in FY21. Defender Europe will be scaled back in FY21. The Army is requesting just $150 million to conduct the exercise in Europe, according to the Army. This year it has been reported that Defender Europe, already underway with troops and equipment arriving at ports on the continent this month, will cost about $340 million, which is roughly in line with what the service is requesting in FY21 for the Pacific version. The only specific funding lines broken out for the FY21 Defender Pacific exercise is home station training; it's unclear if those numbers are included in the total cost. The Army is requesting $150,000 for home stationing training devoted specifically for Defender Pacific and is also asking for another $214,252 for an “expanded level deployment exercise that demonstrates employment of [Continental United States]-based forces into the Pacific Theater,” according to budget documents. The funds include additional transportation, maintenance and operations for the exercise. Defender Pacific will build upon the U.S. Army's expanding role in the region. The service is already growing its Pacific Pathways exercise series and plans to focus on reinforcing the Oceania region this year. The series began in 2014 and has supported training efforts that satisfy bilateral needs between the U.S. Army and its allies and partners in the region in roughly three rotations each year for about 10 months total. Last year, Pacific Pathways shifted from shorter rotations that involved more countries to longer visits that involve fewer countries as a way to improve bilateral relations. And participation has grown from a battalion-sized task force to roughly the size of a brigade. The Defender series is intended to be a regular exercise each year in the Pacific and Europe with the regions trading off being the larger exercise every other year. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/02/25/army-wants-364-million-to-put-on-defender-pacific-in-fy21/
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November 8, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Lockheed nets $184.5M for organic depot level repairs on F-35s
BySommer Brokaw Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin has been awarded $184.5 million repair capabilities on a production lot of F-35 aircraft operated by the Pentagon and other non-Department of Defense program participants. The contract, announced Wednesday by the Department of Defense, tasks Lockheed with establishing organic depot level repair capabilities for the F-35 aircraft under a previously awarded low-rate initial production Lot 11 contract. The work, to support the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and non-DoD participants, is expected to be complete by March 2023. Half of the work will be done in Fort Worth, Texas, where Lockheed is headquartered, with the rest at locations across the United States. Among the aircraft systems and parts the company will be working on are common components, conventional controls, surfaces and edges, electrical/mechanical activation, firewall shutoff valve, radar, wing flap actuator system, hydraulic power generation system, arresting gear, standby flight display, fuel system fan, alternating current contractor module and rudder pedals, according to a Pentagon press release. The F-35 aircraft uses advanced sensors "packaged within a supersonic, long-range, highly maneuverable fighter," according to Lockheed Martin, which allows the stealthy fifth generation aircraft to serve simultaneously in attack and intelligence-gathering roles. Last month, the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin reached a $34 billion deal for 478 F-35s as the price per aircraft dropped. A Lockheed Martin statement noted the deal lowered the cost of an F-35-A, the U.S. Army's variant of the aircraft, below $80 million, in Lot 13 and Lot 14, representing a 12.8 percent reduction from Lot 11 costs, and an average of 12.7 percent savings across all of the combat aircraft's variants from Lots 11 to 14. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2019/11/07/Lockheed-nets-1845M-for-organic-depot-level-repairs-on-F-35s/9821573147758/