Here's what industry is offering to meet Army's electric vehicle needs

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  July 14, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security

  Australian Defence Force Private and Husband Charged with Espionage for Russia

  Australian couple arrested in Brisbane for spying on behalf of Russia, marking first espionage charges under 2018 laws.

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  July 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval

  Forecast: Western Maritime Helicopter Deliveries/Retirements 2020-2029

  July 06, 2020 Aviation Week Network forecasts that over the next ten years, 677 new, Western-designed helicopters performing maritime missions will be built, 114 will be re-engined/remanufactured, and 355 will be retired. Aviation Week defines this mission market as helicopters performing search and rescue (SAR) over bodies of water without special equipment, general-purpose helicopters based primarily on ships performing specifically maritime missions, or helicopters carrying specialized technology for anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions and over-water airborne early warning (AEW) missions. The V-22 is included in the forecast due to the CMV-22B's role performing the traditional helicopter mission of vertical replenishment. The largest procurement of maritime helicopters this decade will be the U.S. Coast Guard's upgrade of its fleet of 95 Airbus MH-65Ds (based on the H155) to the MH-65E standard. The largest new-build procurement of maritime helicopters will be NH Industries NFH90s going to several European countries. While the NH90 still has a customer in Qatar, it has definitively failed to gain wider traction in the Middle East as it struggled to compete with Leonardo and Sikorsky offerings. Very close behind the NH90 is the ubiquitous Sikorsky S-70/H-60, with new-build helicopters in the next 10 years. The two largest procurements of maritime helicopters in the world both belong to the Indian Navy, which has a 123-aircraft Naval Multi-Role Helicopter (NMRH) requirement for anti-submarine warfare helicopters and a 111-aircraft Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH) requirement. Leonardo's continued blacklisting by India has removed its ability to compete for 2/3rd of the worlds yet -to-be-decided maritime helicopters but it remains a strong competitor for much of the remaining helicopters in open competitions and requirements. For more information about the 2020 Forecast and other Aviation Week data products, please see: http://pages.aviationweek.com/Forecasts  https://aviationweek.com/special-topics/vertical-lift/forecast-western-maritime-helicopter-deliveriesretirements-2020-2029

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  May 29, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  F-35 Costs Drop for Building Jets But Rise for Operating Them

  By Anthony Capaccio 29 mai 2020 à 04:00 UTC−4 The Pentagon's costliest program, Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-35, is starting to look a little less expensive, with the latest estimate for development and procurement down 7.1% to $397.8 billion. Less encouraging for the lawmakers who craft defense budgets and for taxpayers: Operating and maintaining the fleet for 66 years is projected to cost $1.182 trillion, a 7.8% increase over the estimate from the Pentagon's F-35 office last year, according to the Defense Department's annual assessment of the jet obtained by Bloomberg News. The lower acquisition estimate produced by the F-35 program office is the latest in a string of good news that also includes improved on-time delivery of aircraft, the elimination of all flaws that were considered life-threatening to pilots and a steady reduction since 2018 in the number of potentially mission-crippling software deficiencies. The Selected Acquisition Report, which hasn't been released to the public, also said the F-35 program anticipates sales over time of 809 aircraft to international partners, up from the 764 projected last year. Cumulatively, the improvements might protect the F-35 from pressure to cut defense budgets as the federal deficit balloons due to spending for the Covid-19 pandemic. The Pentagon is already projecting mostly flat budgets through 2025. Even under the current budget forecast, the Pentagon report discloses that previous plans to buy 94 F-35s in fiscal 2022 will be reduced by nine. The blueprint then calls for buying 94 each year in fiscal 2023 and 2024 and 96 in fiscal 2025. Those are up from the 79 requested for fiscal 2021. The report was prepared in December before the coronavirus pandemic crippled the global economy. Lockheed announced last week that Covid-19 impacts will temporarily slow F-35 production because of subcontractor parts delays and that the Bethesda, Maryland-based company might fail to deliver as many as 24 of a planned 141 jets this year. Earlier: Lockheed Slows F-35 Production on Covid-Related Parts Delays More than 500 of a potential 3,200 F-35s for the U.S. and allies already have been delivered and will have to be retrofitted as flaws are fixed, at a cost of as much as $1.4 billion. The F-35 is in the final stages of intense combat testing to demonstrate it's effective against the most advanced Russian, Chinese and Iranian threats. Lockheed spokesman Brett Ashworth said the report “highlights our ability to work with our partners to produce the world's most advanced fighter at the cost of legacy aircraft” the F-35 is intended to replace. Brandi Schiff, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon's F-35 program office, declined to comment on the report before its release. The Pentagon assessment says that updating its numbers based on actual production performance data by Lockheed and its subcontractors, rather than projections, resulted in the reduction in acquisition cost estimates. For example, the “unit flyaway cost” of an F-35 for the Air Force's version of the fighter, not including the engine, declined by $12.1 million to $57.4 million. The Air Force plans to purchase 1,763 jets, the most of the U.S.'s planned 2,456 aircraft. The Marine Corps version dropped to $72.1 million from $80 million, and the Navy model fell to $72.3 million from $79.5 million. None of that resolves the projected long-term trillion-dollar burden of operating and sustaining the fleet through 2077. Outlining the stakes, then-acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in March 2019 that “this is the largest program in DoD history and the cost of sustainment is about the same cost as nuclear modernization.” In the new report the F-35 program office said that it “remains committed to and continues pursuing multiple efforts to drive down” those costs. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-29/f-35-costs-drop-for-building-jets-but-rise-for-operating-them