German ministry seeks data on quicker fighter jet deliveries

On the same subject

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  September 10, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Estonia’s First Cyber Ambassador Seeks to Improve Global Cyber Defense

  By Catherine Stupp Estonia's first dedicated cyber ambassador took office on Monday, following several nations that are considering how diplomats can shape cybersecurity policy. The small Baltic country became known for prioritizing cybersecurity after a major cyber attack shut down websites for Estonia's government offices, banks and media in 2007. NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, which organizes cyber defense exercises, opened in Tallinn one year after the attack. Full article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/estonias-first-cyber-ambassador-seeks-to-improve-global-cyber-defense-1536358734

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  May 25, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  UK nears final stage of Skynet competition

  LONDON — Britain's Ministry of Defence is about to launch the final stage of a competition to manage ground station capabilities for the armed forces Skynet satellite communications network by early June, say industry executives. Release of the invitation to negotiate documents to several industry consortia had been expected last week. Although the date appears to have slipped a little, industry executives, who asked to not be identified, say they still expect the MoD to trigger the final stage of the competition “imminently.” The documents are expected to be issued to selected bidders within the next two weeks. Four bidder groups are in line to be selected for the next stage of negotiations, said people with knowledge of the competition. The ground control elements of the MoD's existing Skynet 5 network are currently managed by Airbus Defence & Space as part of a long running private finance initiative deal with the MoD originally awarded in 2003. Part of that deal is now coming to a close with Airbus's hold on the ground control management of Skynet finishing in August 2022. A one year transition period is expected to kick off in 2021, if Airbus has to handover the role to a challenger. The new competition, for a program known as the service delivery wrap, aims to compete management of the ground control stations until a new generation of communication satellites are launched around 2028. That phase is being called the enduring capability element of the Skynet 6 program. Together the service delivery wrap and the enduring capability competitions are the main parts of a Skynet 6 program, which is aimed at taking Britain's satellite communications into a new era at a cost in the vicinity of £6 billion ($7.3 billion). A new satellite, known as Skynet 6A, is being acquired from Airbus to ensure communication capabilities are not compromised ahead of the new generation of satellites becoming available later in the decade. Negotiations on that deal have been dogged by delays. A new satellite, known as Skynet 6A, is being acquired from Airbus to ensure communication capabilities are not compromised ahead of the new generation of satellites becoming available later in the decade. Negotiations on that deal have been dogged by delays. Airbus were named preferred contractor for Skynet 6A as far back as 2017 but the full contract for that deal has yet to be signed. The company, Britain's biggest space contractor, has been working on long lead components of the satellite in order to stay on track. A contract for the manufacturing of long lead items and preliminary design work was signed, but not announced by the MoD and Airbus in March. A second phase of the Skynet 6A deal covering build, test, launch and deployment is currently working its way through the MoD and wider government approvals process. A spokesman for Airbus told Defense News “We are working on elements of 6A. We are hoping for a full contract mid-year.” With one exception, it's not clear who the runners might be in the final stages of the service delivery wrap competition, as the MoD has insisted all contenders sign a non-disclosure agreement preventing all communication with the media and others. Competing teams are not even allowed to publicly acknowledge they are interested in bidding. The exception is a team made up of service provider Serco, satellite operator Inmarsat, IT specialist CGI UK and the U.K. arm of defense giant Lockheed Martin. It announced its teaming arrangement late last year, just ahead of the MoD bringing the shutters down with its non-disclosure order. The four companies reinforced their bid credentials May 19, announcing they were forming a team known as Athena, after the Olympian god of war and wisdom, to bid for upcoming U.K. and overseas military and civil space capability programs. Kevin Craven, the CEO for Serco UK & Europe, called Athena an “exciting new team that will deliver enhanced space-based technologies and services from the U.K. Athena will boost British capabilities, as well as the economy, via growth in this fast-moving, developing sector. The launch of Athena also ensures diversity and choice in the U.K. space sector for future sustainable development.” There was no mention of Skynet 6 in the Athena announcement. It did however say that Athena will “work on a number of opportunities that leverage space-based technologies, their ground-based systems and end-to-end services as they arise, both in the U.K. and internationally.” A spokesman for Athena declined to comment on whether they were bidding for the service delivery wrap program, but it's clear they are a contender given the announcement of their interest last December when industry prequalification questionnaires had to be returned to the MoD. It remains a matter of speculation for the moment who the other bidders are. Previously Airbus, Babcock, Boeing, BT and Viasat have all been unofficially linked with having an interest in the competition. Companies Defense News tried to contact either declined to comment or didn't return calls. For Serco, who already provide some of the manpower for the current Airbus Skynet ground station operation, the Athena teaming is the latest in a string of announcements over the last few week that have reinforced its position as a space sector services provider here. In short order the company has secured separate contract extensions to continue to operate and maintain key ballistic missile defense radars at Fylingdales, northern England and as part of the Skynet 5 program providing support to the U.S. Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) at Oakhanger, southern England. The U.S. division of the company announced early April it had been awarded a deal to manage and maintain the U.S. Space Force ground-based electro-optical deep space surveillance (GEODSS) system. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/05/22/uk-nears-final-stage-of-skynet-competition/

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  February 3, 2021 | International, Naval

  National Defence says $60B warship project delayed until 2030s

  By Lee Berthiaume The Canadian Press Posted February 2, 2021 10:40 am OTTAWA – The Department of National Defence says the first of 15 new warships being built for the Royal Canadian Navy will be delivered years later than expected as officials working on the $60-billion project grapple with unexpected design and construction challenges. The delay means Canada will need to spend more on its 12 aging Halifax-class frigates to keep them floating longer, and is sure to set off a fresh wave of debate and lobbying around what amounts to the largest military procurement in Canadian history. Yet the Defence Department's head of procurement insists the project remains on budget thanks to built-in contingencies, while navy commander Vice-Admiral Craig Baines expressed confidence that his force would not be unduly affected by the delay. That is despite a recent report that outlined concerns about the advanced age of the frigates, which was making it more difficult to find spare parts and conduct other maintenance on the 1980s Halifax-class warships. “When you put ships in saltwater over time, there's going to be an effect,” Baines told The Canadian Press in an interview. “But right now, based on all our estimates on the conditions of the ships, we're very comfortable that we'll be able to transition with this plan.” The delay is nonetheless the latest setback for the new fleet of warships, which are known in military circles as Canadian “surface combatants” and are expected to serve as the Navy's backbone for the better part of the century. The warship project was launched in earnest nearly a decade ago when Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax was selected in October 2011 to build the fleet, with the total cost estimated at around $26 billion and the first ship to be delivered in the mid-2020s. That vague schedule remained largely unchanged, at least on paper, even as the estimated price tag ballooned to $60 billion and Ottawa ordered several smaller ships so Irving would have work until the surface combatants were ready for construction. But Troy Crosby, the Defence Department's assistant deputy minister of materiel, revealed Monday that the first ship is now scheduled for delivery in the early 2030s as officials grapple with the final design and face longer-than-expected construction times. The new warships are based on the Type-26 frigate, which is also being built by the United Kingdom and Australia, but Canadian officials have been making numerous changes to the design to meet Canada's unique military – and industrial – requirements. At the same time, Crosby said the British and Australian experiences have shown that construction of the new vessels will take 7 1/2 years, rather than the original estimate of five years. “So when we look at the overall timeline, we're looking at slightly longer timelines,” he said. “We're looking at the first ship being delivered to us in the early 2030s. ... In this case, we're really more specifically looking at the 2030-31 timeframe.” The schedule slippage comes as the parliamentary budget officer is preparing to release a highly anticipated update on the estimated cost of the warship project. Defence officials have quietly expressed concern the review will show a sizeable increase. Crosby, however, was adamant that the project remains within the $60-billion budget established by the Liberal government in 2017. “The project had originally included a significant amount of contingency that had been put there to address these unknowns,” he said. “That contingency is now being applied, and that's exactly what it's there for. So with that update done, we're still confident at this point that it's going to fit within the budget.” He also said Ottawa will not pony up more money for Irving to retain its workforce as the current plan is to start cutting steel on the first new warship as scheduled in 2023-24, while work on the final design continues. A similar approach is being taken with the Navy's two new supply ships, which are being built in Vancouver. Irving is currently working on a fleet of much smaller Arctic patrol ships for the navy. It originally planned to build five, before the government ordered a sixth in November 2018 to keep Irving's workers busy until the new warships were ready for construction. The government then committed $1.5 billion for two more Arctic patrol ships in May 2019, this time for the Canadian Coast Guard, for the same reason. The delay does mean the navy will need to continue operating its Halifax-class frigates longer, which means investing more money into the ships and managing how and when they are used. Defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute expressed concern about the new delay and what it means for the frigates, some of which are dealing with corrosion and metal fatigue that could limit how long they can remain in service. An internal Defence Department report published last year echoed some of those concerns, saying the navy's maintenance facilities were having an increasingly tough time repairing the frigates thanks in part to a lack of spare parts and the age of the fleet. And while Crosby said the government is working with British and Australian officials as well as industries to find ways to save time, Perry said the warship project has a long history of delays and cost overruns. “At this point in time, this project hasn't met a single one of its major milestones,” Perry said. “So 2030-31 is now the no-earlier-than-that-date for me.” Ottawa has rebuffed repeated calls to scrap its plan to build the ships in Canada, which advocates say could save the country tens of billions of dollars. https://globalnews.ca/news/7614144/national-defence-60b-warship-project/