Full COVID-19 Recovery For F-35 Deliveries Pushed To 2022

On the same subject

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  July 19, 2019 | International, Other Defence

  Northrop Grumman Announces New Orders for its Optionally Piloted Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance System Ahead of European Debut

  The company is also announcing signed agreements with Tenax Aerospace and Grand Sky Development Company, LLC ("Grand Sky") for rights to purchase Firebird, the company's new, optionally piloted intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft system. “Flexibility, whether in cockpit configuration, payloads, or in owning and purchasing Firebird, is at the core of what makes this aircraft such an attractive ISR option for government partners and private industry,” said Brian Chappel, vice president, autonomous systems, Northrop Grumman. “Having flown over two dozen sensors on Firebird's proven architecture, we are ready to offer Firebird to a wide range of nations, U.S. government and civilian agencies, and businesses with critical data collection needs.” Northrop Grumman's Firebird product line delivers medium altitude, long endurance multi-mission flexibility and an unbeatable value. Available in manned, autonomous and optionally piloted configurations, Firebird is designed to deliver critical ISR capability to meet customer mission needs. Grand Sky is the nation's first commercial unmanned aerial vehicle testing and training center. Located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Grand Sky is home to one of Northrop Grumman's North Dakota locations. Tenax Aerospace is a leading provider of special mission aircraft and related aviation services to the U.S. government and commercial customers. Both companies see Firebird as meeting critical information gaps for their businesses. “We are excited to bring Firebird to Grand Sky and to utilize its long-endurance and variable payload capabilities for commercial customers. Our goal is to support energy infrastructure monitoring and humanitarian and disaster relief operations by leveraging Firebird's range, altitude and endurance,” said Thomas Swoyer Jr., president and partner with Grand Sky. “We see the incredible efficiencies to be gained in the market with technology like Firebird, enabling affordable data gathering on a scale not previously available to the commercial market space.” “Firebird allows Tenax Aerospace to bring industry leading adaptability and flexibility in data collection at an extremely affordable price point to meet the needs of our sophisticated U.S. government and global security customers,” said Tom Foley, chairman, Tenax Aerospace. “Firebird provides a unique flexibility and responsiveness that we feel is essential for the critical missions we support today and in the future.” Firebird is equipped with wide band Line-of-Sight (LoS) and/or Beyond-Line-of-Sight (BLoS) data links, onboard storage and accessible processing for rapid data exploitation to ensure timely completion of missions for industry and government customers. The system's unique design allows sensors to be changed rapidly as plug-and-play devices, reducing first time payload integration time from months to days and enabling rapid field changes in less than an hour to increase operational availability and tailored mission suitability. Firebird delivers 30-plus hours of endurance and up to 25,000 feet, providing customers near real-time actionable intelligence. Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, space, strike, and logistics and modernization to customers worldwide. https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-announces-new-orders-for-its-optionally-piloted-intelligence-surveillance-and-reconnaissance-system-ahead-of-european-debut

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  July 22, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  L’Europe débloque 1,2 milliard d’euros pour favoriser les coopérations en matière de défense

  La commission européenne va consacrer 1,2 milliard d'euros pour accélérer une soixantaine de projets européens de défense menés en coopération....-aero-spatial

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  October 21, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Swiss, French procurement chiefs meet amid high-stakes ‘Air 2030’ race

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — French procurement chief Joël Barre met with his Swiss counterpart Martin Sonderegger this week for bilateral talks on a multibillion-dollar Swiss air-defense program and other defense topics. The Oct. 15 gathering in Switzerland was the first high-level meeting between the two procurement organizations since Barre took office in August 2017. It follows France's recent acquisition of an initial batch of PC-21 trainer aircraft, made by Swiss manufacturer Pilatus Flugzeugwerke. The visit comes as French companies Dassault and MBDA each await the fate of their offerings in the upcoming Swiss “Air 2030” program, valued at more than $8 billion. The effort amounts to a complete revamping of the neutral country's air-defense and air-policing capabilities, with roughly $6 billion envisioned for a new fleet of fighter aircraft and $2 billion for ground-based defenses. The Swiss government over the summer invited bids from Dassault for its Rafale jets, and from MBDA and its parent joint venture Eurosam for the SAMP/T air-defense weapon. Also in the running for the aircraft portion are Airbus and its Eurofigher Typhoon, Saab and its Gripen E, Boeing with its F/A-18 Super Hornet, and Lockheed Martin with its F-35A. Vendors were asked to submit pricing options for a fleet of 30 or 40 aircraft. In the ground segment, MBDA's competitors include Raytheon's Patriot system and Rafael's David's Sling. A spokesman for Armasuisse, Switzerland's defense procurement arm, told Defense News that similar bilateral meetings would be held with other governments whose companies have a stake in the Air 2030 program. “We talk to all governments,” said the spokesman. Meanwhile, the “competitive dialogue” phase of the program is in progress, which means the Swiss government engages in the complicated game of answering contractors' questions about programmatic details – some individually, some directed at the whole group. Companies are expected to deliver their offers by February. Asked what types of questions the procurement chiefs discussed this week, the Armasuisse spokesman said, “Of course there were questions, but we don't make those types of conversations public.” Swiss government officials are in the midst of sifting through feedback from political parties, trade unions, and regional governments on the best path toward making Air 2030 a reality. The key question for proponents is how to convince the population, under the rules of Switzerland's famous direct democracy, that the bulk sum of more than $8 billion is worth spending while leaving the decisions on hardware types to the government. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/10/17/swiss-french-procurement-chiefs-meet-amid-high-stakes-air-2030-race