March 18, 2024 | International, Land
North Korea’s Kim test drives new tank
The tank was first unveiled during a military parade in 2020.
August 30, 2019 | International, Aerospace
How Poland plans to land an F-35 deal and ‘Fort Trump’
By: Jaroslaw Adamowski
This story has been updated to provide details about President Trump's decision to stay in the United States rather than make a planned visit to Poland in order to deal with a hurricane at home.
WARSAW, Poland — By 2026, the Polish Ministry of Defence plans to allocate about 185 billion zloty (U.S. $47 billion) toward acquiring new weapons and military equipment, with fifth-generation fighter jets a top priority.
Twenty years after Poland joined NATO, and despite the integration of some Western-made fighter jets and armored vehicles, the country still uses Soviet-designed gear dating back to the 1955 Warsaw Pact.
Poland and other allies in Eastern Europe are intensifying their military modernization efforts in response to Russian activity along NATO's eastern flank and its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.
For 2019, the Polish MoD set a record budget, at more than 44 billion zloty, as required by the country's plan to raise defense spending to 2.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2020, and reach 2.5 percent in 2030. A significant share of the country's defense spending is to be directed at the acquisition of Western-made gear.
Warsaw's potential acquisition of fifth-gen fighters is one of the top modernization projects in the pipeline. In May, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the ministry sent a letter of request to the U.S. regarding Warsaw's plan to acquire 32 F-35A aircraft. The fighters are to replace the Air Force's outdated, Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-22 and Mikoyan MiG-29 jets.
Negotiations for the jets are taking place as Warsaw is seeking a permanent U.S. military presence in Poland, dubbed “Fort Trump.” Warsaw offered to allocate at least $2 billion toward the project under which the U.S. would build a military base in the country. On June 12, Polish President Andrzej Duda met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington to discuss the initiative and ink a joint declaration on defense cooperation regarding U.S. force posture in Poland.
“The United States plans to enhance its current military presence of approximately 4,500 rotational U.S. military personnel in Poland. This enduring presence is expected to grow by about 1,000 additional U.S. military personnel in the near-term, and would focus on providing additional defense and deterrence capabilities in Poland,” the declaration read. “With the understanding that the increased U.S. force presence in Poland is made sustainable with Polish support, Poland plans to provide and sustain jointly determined infrastructure for the initial package of additional projects listed below, at no cost to the United States and taking into account the planned level of its use by U.S. forces.”
Trump was scheduled to visit Poland, but he canceled the trip to deal with a hurricane at home. The topics of a stronger U.S. troop presence in the country, as well as a potential F-35 sale, were expected to come up.
Trump is instead sending Vice President Mike Pence to observances Sunday marking the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II and for meetings with Polish leaders Monday expected to include new military and energy deals.
But F-35 acquisition negotiations will likely be separate from Fort Trump discussions, as the logistics and technical aspects of a troop deployment deal are nearing a conclusion, according to Tomasz Smura, the director of the research office at the Warsaw-based Casimir Pulaski Foundation.
“If Poland decides to buy the F-35, this will open an array of new possibilities before the Polish Air Force in the upcoming decades. This aircraft offers stealth and interoperability capacities that are currently not available to the Polish military,” Smura told Defense News. “However, there are also some critical voices on this potential purchase. Some analysts doubt whether we should introduce a second type of fighter instead of expanding Poland's fleet of 48 F-16s. This number of modern fighter jets doesn't match Poland's military needs and the country's size. Other analysts add that we're simply not ready to fully use the capacities offered by the F-35, and that further F-16s would suffice to match the current state of development of the air forces of our eastern neighbors.”
Despite the country's rising defense expenditure, some observers also doubt Poland's capacity to finance the F-35 acquisition alongside other ambitious military procurements, such as the Wisla air defense program.
In March 2018, Poland signed a letter of offer and acceptance with the U.S. government to purchase Raytheon's medium-range Patriot system. Under the deal, Warsaw is to acquire two Patriot Configuration 3+ batteries fitted with Northrop Grumman's Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, as well as Lockheed Martin-made Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement missiles.
Deliveries are expected by the end of 2022, with plans to reach an initial operational capacity around the 2023-2024 time frame, according to data from the Polish MoD.
Warsaw's other procurement plans include short-range air defense systems, combat helicopters for the country's Air Force, new submarines for the Polish Navy, UAVs for various military branches, and the buildup of cyber warfare capacities using new hardware, the ministry said.
On the same subject
-
-
June 15, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Comment les Rafale et véhicules aériens ont réduit le déficit commercial de la France en 2019
Les exportations d'armements ont dopé la balance commerciale de la France en 2019. Selon des données dévoilées le 15 juin par l'Observatoire économique de la défense, les exportations de matériels de guerre ont atteint un niveau historique. En 2019, la France a réussi à diminuer son déficit commercial de 3,9 milliards d'euros. Comment ? Notamment gr'ce au succès de ses armements à l'international. Les exportations de matériels de guerre et produits liés ont atteint un record décennal de 11,3 milliards d'euros (+34 %), selon le bulletin du mois de mai de l'Observatoire économique de la défense (OED). Les véhicules aériens ont particulièrement contribué à ces résultats. Quatrième meilleur secteur en excédent commercial Le succès des armes françaises à l'export n'est pas nouveau. Début juin, le ministère des Armées rapportait un haut niveau de prises de commandes. Cette fois, on connaît la valeur totale des exportations, le type de biens exportés et également les zones géographiques vers lesquelles ils sont expédiés. Avec 2,7 milliards d'euros d'importations, l'excédent commercial lié aux livraisons de matériels de guerre s'élève à 8,5 milliards d'euros en 2019 (+2,1 milliards d'euros et +32,8 % par rapport à 2018). “Cet excédent sectoriel est une des principales sources d'atténuation du déficit commercial de la France”, fait remarquer l'Observatoire économique de la défense. Seuls trois secteurs dépassent cet excédent commercial en France : en premier l'aéronautique civile (+29,6 milliards d'euros), l'agro-alimentaire des boissons (+13,2 milliards) et l'industrie manufacturière des parfums et des cosmétiques (+12,5 milliards). L'aviation de défense repart Après une stagnation entre 2017 et 2018, les exportations d'avions et d'autres véhicules aériens repartent avec une augmentation de 24,4 % entre 2018 et 2019. Cette catégorie représente à elle seule 2,8 milliards d'euros, soit 25 % de l'ensemble des exportations de matériels de guerre. Les systèmes de propulsion (turboréacteurs, turbopropulseurs) enregistrent également une belle performance : leurs exportations ont cru de 34 % à 2,3 milliards d'euros, soit 20 % de la valeur totale exportée par la France. “Ces exportations sont principalement à destination, dans l'ordre, du Proche et Moyen-Orient, de l'Union européenne, de l'Amérique et de l'Asie”, note l'OED. L'Observatoire économique de la défense ne détaille pas les produits livrés mais l'avion de combat Rafale de Dassault Aviation a sans doute contribué à ces résultats. En 2019, les livraisons de cet appareil vers l'étranger ont explosé à 26 exemplaires. Belle croissance pour les instruments d'optique Derrière, les avions et les systèmes de propulsion les armes et les munitions comptent pour 2,1 milliards d'euros (+34,7 %), soit 18 % des exportations françaises de matériels de guerre. “Près de trois quarts de ces exportations sont des bombes, des grenades, des torpilles ou des missiles”, décrit l'OED. Les chars, les véhicules blindés, les instruments d'optique, de mesure et de précision représentent moins d'argent. En revanche ces catégories affichent les plus fortes croissances. Les exportations de véhicules blindés décollent de +56,8 % (1,1 milliard d'euros). Les instruments ont quant à eux progressé de 47 % (700 millions d'euros). “Il peut s'agir de télémètres ou encore d'appareils pour la navigation à usage militaire. 80 % des exportations sont à destination du Proche et Moyen-Orient, de l'Afrique et de l'Asie (hors Proche et Moyen-Orient)”, détaille l'OED. Pour le secteur maritime, l'année 2019 n'a pas connu de grandes livraisons à l'international. Les navires de guerre affichent une contre-performance de -20,4 % et n'ont compté que pour 128,3 millions d'euros dans les exportations. Les appareils de détection et de radiosondage (radars, sonars et leurs composants) affichent une croissance de 59 % à 1,8 milliards d'euros. Selon l'OED, ces matériels sont principalement exportés vers le Proche et Moyen-Orient. Le Proche et Moyen-Orient, principaux clients de la France De manière générale, le Proche et Moyen-Orient concentrent 42,4 % des exportations françaises (4,8 milliards d'euros, +205 %). Les résultats sont plus serrés entre les autres zones géographiques : l'Amérique représente 11,4 % des exportations (1,3 milliard), derrière l'Afrique (13,8 %, 1,6 milliard), l'Asie (15,7 %, 1,8 milliard) et l'Europe (16,7 %, 1,8 milliard). Pour les importations, la préférence européenne joue aussi. “La majorité des importations françaises de matériels de guerre et produits liés provient de l'Union européenne : 56,2 %, soit un 1,5 milliard d'euros”, fait remarquer l'OED tandis que l'Amérique représente 27,3 % des importations (0,8 milliard). https://www.usinenouvelle.com/editorial/comment-les-rafale-et-vehicules-aeriens-ont-reduit-le-deficit-commercial-de-la-france-en-2019.N975531
-
August 11, 2020 | International, Aerospace
German Air Force Eurofighter Jets Demo Future Combat Air System Networking
Interconnectivity between remote carriers and Eurofighter Typhoons has been successfully proven for the first time during a live exercise. During the recent German Air Force Timber Express exercise over Northern Germany and the North Sea, the Airbus Defence and Space remote carrier technology in a multi-data link environment was demonstrated with real fighter aircraft. The remote carriers were not only connected with all tactical combat aircraft of the Air Force, but could also receive and executed orders without the need for technical modifications to the aircraft. This marks a first in Europe and is also a further milestone towards a future combat air system (FCAS). The communications, which also included Tornado fighters and NATO cooperative ESM Operations, were established within the framework of existing IT security regulations and NATO classification levels. The remote carriers which currently use the Compact Airborne Networking Data Link (CANDL), were successfully connected to Link16, the operational tactical data link of the German Air Force. A further step was the demonstration of interoperability with the NATO concept of Co-operative ESM Operations (CESMO). This is a reconnaissance network spanning several branches of the armed forces aimed at locating threat systems in the electromagnetic spectrum in real time. Airbus has succeeded in integrating the remote carriers as full component in the CESMO reconnaissance network. The simulated reconnaissance results of the remote carriers were made immediately available to the CESMO Fusion Element during the exercise and merged in real time with other reconnaissance results such as those of a flying Tornado ECR. https://www.defenseworld.net/news/27608#.XzK7wShKiUk