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September 15, 2020 | International, Naval

Maintenance delays are ‘blood in the water’ for aircraft carrier critics, admiral says

WASHINGTON – The head of the U.S. Navy's East Coast-based aviation enterprise said the service must demand to get aircraft carriers out of their maintenance availabilities on time, and that failure to do so throws fuel on the fire of critics who say the aircraft carrier is becoming irrelevant.

Calling carrier operational availability his “number one concern,” Rear Adm. John Meier, commander of Naval Air Forces Atlantic, said the service had to make sure shipyards delivered its ships to the fleet on time.

“More often than not we've been having delays getting them out of the yards on time,” Meier said at the virtual edition of the annual Tailhook Association Symposium. "With the budgetary pressure we'll be facing, when we don't get the return on the enormous investment in aircraft carriers, every day we lose of operational ability is like a drop of blood in the water.

“It fans the flames of critics who want to cut aircraft carriers. And in my mind, I can't see a naval aviation force or a Navy without carriers in the future.”

A recent government watchdog report said that 75 percent of the Navy's carrier and submarine maintenance availabilities have run late, resulting in 7,425 days of delays.

Both the Truman and Eisenhower have had recent maintenance woes and delays, and the carrier Bush is currently working through a 28-month maintenance period, much longer than the normal 16-month availability.

A forthcoming DoD-led Navy force structure assessment could herald cuts to the 11-carrier fleet. In April, Defense News reported that the Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office within the Office of the Secretary of Defense recommended cutting two aircraft carriers from the current force structure in the coming decades.

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/09/11/maintenance-delays-are-blood-in-the-water-for-aircraft-carrier-critics-admiral-says/

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  • AeroVironment Receives $9.8 Million Raven and Puma 3 AE Awards from NATO Support and Procurement Agency under Multi-Year Contract with $80 Million Potential Value

    June 12, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    AeroVironment Receives $9.8 Million Raven and Puma 3 AE Awards from NATO Support and Procurement Agency under Multi-Year Contract with $80 Million Potential Value

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Capable of landing in water or on land, the all-environment Puma, with its Mantis i45 EO/IR sensor suite, empowers the operator with extended flight time and a level of imaging capability never before available in the tactical UAS class. AeroVironment's family of tactical UAS use a common ground control station and software, allowing for improved interoperability and decreased training and logistics costs for NATO forces. To learn more, visit www.avinc.com. About AeroVironment Tactical UAS The RQ-20A/B Puma™, Puma™ LE, RQ-11B Raven®, RQ-12A Wasp®, together with the VAPOR® Helicopter comprise AeroVironment's family of tactical unmanned aircraft systems. This family of systems provides increased capability to the warfighter that gives ground commanders the option of selecting the appropriate aircraft based on the type of mission to be performed. This increased capability has the potential to provide significant force protection and force multiplication benefits to small tactical units and security personnel. AeroVironment provides logistics services worldwide to ensure a consistently high level of operational readiness. AeroVironment has delivered thousands of new and replacement tactical unmanned air vehicles to customers within the United States and to more than 45 allied governments. About AeroVironment, Inc. AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) provides customers with more actionable intelligence so they can proceed with certainty. Based in California, AeroVironment is a global leader in unmanned aircraft systems and tactical missile systems, and serves defense, government, and commercial customers. For more information visit www.avinc.com. 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These statements are made on the basis of current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors outside of our control, that may cause our business, strategy or actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our ability to perform under existing contracts and obtain additional contracts; changes in the regulatory environment; the activities of competitors; failure of the markets in which we operate to grow; failure to expand into new markets; failure to develop new products or integrate new technology with current products; and general economic and business conditions in the United States and elsewhere in the world. 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  • Qatar signs up for Leonardo's IFTS

    November 13, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    Qatar signs up for Leonardo's IFTS

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  • Macron va t-il faire de la France la cliente de lancement du DHC-515 canadien ? - avionslegendaires.net

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