October 11, 2018 | International, Naval
By: Tom Kington
ROME – Italian firms Leonardo and Fincantieri have announced tighter cooperation on naval systems work to help them build better ships and get ready for an expected Italo-French team-up in warship construction.
The two firms said they would relaunch Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, an existing joint venture between them, to develop naval combat systems.
Leonardo, which holds 49 percent of the joint venture, has long supplied radars, guns and systems to ships built by shipyard Fincantieri, which holds a majority 51 percent stake.
OSN was created in 2002 to integrate the work of the two firms on Italy's Horizon frigates, Cavour carrier and FREMM frigates, but was not used for the more recent construction of Italy's new PPA frigates.
In its new form, OSN will “assume responsibility for the development of the combat systems and the definition of subsystem requirements and individual components' architecture, including the Combat Management System (CMS),” in new vessels, the firms said in a statement.
“Fincantieri will act as prime contractor, the single interface to customers and hold responsibility for the warship as a whole (Whole Warship Design Authority), therefore in charge, on behalf of OSN, of the architecture of the ship system concerning both the platform and the combat system. Leonardo will be the preferred partner for the Combat Management System and the equipment and systems of the ship,” the statement reads.
An Italian industrial source said the deal was designed to make systems integration more central to shipbuilding by the two firms.
“Until now a lot of work on integration took place during the ship building process. Now, integration should happen earlier in the process,” the source said.
November 16, 2023 | International, Aerospace
Marc Allen will step down as Boeing's chief strategy officer at the end of the year and leave the company in 2024 as the U.S. planemaker pares down its strategy arm.
August 6, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security
Mark Pomerleau Members of the National Guard from New England states concluded a two-week cyber exercise that sought to test the cyber skills of guardsmen and critical infrastructure operators. Cyber Yankee 2020, which took place July 21-31 in New Hampshire, involved more than 200 National Guard members and their civilian counterparts from across New England states, along with some active-duty partners and participants from local, state and federal agencies. In its sixth year, there was less attendance than previous years due to the coronavirus pandemic, but several were able to participate remotely. “Cyber Yankee is primarily a hands-on keyboard cyber incident response exercise for National Guard soldiers and airmen in FEMA Region 1, which are the six New England states,” said Lt. Col. Woody Groton, a member of the New Hampshire National Guard and the director for Cyber Yankee, according to a Facebook post by the New Hampshire Air National Guard. Groton said in a video that the exercise is primarily focused on the electrical and water sector. The exercise is “a great training opportunity for us to work with those people who would actually own the network that we would potentially respond on and for our soldiers and airmen to get that experience and for the engineers from those various entities, they get the training in working with us,” he said. The Guard units within the various states are a critical resource to defend against cyberattacks when they overwhelm localities. “If a large-scale attack happened against a power company, water company, or any other critical department around the state, we would be able to get activated and help them mitigate the threat,” Capt. Frederick Bond, 103rd Air Control Squadron cyberspace operator and exercise Team 3 lead from the Connecticut National Guard, said in a release. “It's similar to when a storm comes and we help remove fallen trees or shovel snow from roofs to help get critical infrastructure going again.” The friendly blue team had to deal with simulated attacks from an opposing red team. Social media posts were used to simulate a real internet environment, where forces must sift through the noise and discern what information is needed to make decisions and identify threat actors. In one case, these actors defaced a public website. “We found some discrepancies including website, it looks like it may have been defaced. The team is digging into finding the source of that defacement and then making steps to correct it,” Master Sgt. Eric Lewis, a blue team member in the New Hampshire Air National Guard, said in a video. Other actions tested included protecting computer files from being stolen or manipulated. “We received intel that potential threat actors may be using a certain capability to transfer files,” said Senior Airman Stephen LaLuna, 103rd Communications Flight cyber systems operations specialist with the Connecticut National Guard. “We see the traffic that's using it, that sets off a flag on our end to look deeper into that. If we determine it is malicious, we send it up the chain with our findings and recommendations to block it.” Officials explained that one of the most critical aspects of these training events is the partnerships built between Guard units, critical infrastructure operators and government entities so that when a crisis breaks out, everyone is acquainted. “We have built enduring partnerships with state government and the critical infrastructure sector. Something that if we did have a major cyberattack against one of those, we would be ready to respond and already know each other,” Groton said. Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Lt. Col. Woody Groton. He is with the Army National Guard. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/08/03/new-england-guardsmen-test-their-skills-in-cyber-yankee-2020
January 14, 2019 | International, Aerospace
CLÉMENT CHARPENTREAU One company's demise is another one's opportunity. Or in this case, two companies. Lockheed Martin and Airbus signed a memorandum of agreement to “jointly explore opportunities to meet the growing demand for aerial refueling for US defense customers.” The manufacturers are taking advantage of the difficulties encountered by Boeing's KC-46A Pegasus. It was Airbus (partnered with Northrop Grumman at the time) that initially won the KC-X tender launched by the Pentagon for a new refueling system to equip the United States Air Force. With its A330 MRTT already in production, the European manufacturer was way ahead of its American rival whose KC-46 “Pegasus” was still on the drawing board. However, political concerns invited themselves into the acquisition process, and after several years of lobbying, the contract was eventually taken away from Airbus and given to Boeing. 179 aircraft were ordered, with the first aircraft to be delivered around May 2016, and the following 17 by 2017. But since then, the KC-46 program had a bumpy flight, and the USAF is still waiting for its planes. The development of the tanker exceeded the initial forecast by $3 billion (which hints at a deliberate underestimation to win the contract over Airbus), and the delivery has been constantly delayed. The last precise deadline in date, October 2018, was finally postponed to “a little later” by Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson in an interview to Bloomberg. In March 2018, Wilson commented on the matter in front of the Congress: “One of our frustrations with Boeing is they're much more focused on their commercial activity than on getting this right for the Air Force and getting these aircraft to the Air Force”. As Boeing was contractually obliged to deliver 18 planes and 9 refueling pods by October 2018, it will now face financial penalties. The KC-46 is currently ongoing certification with the FAA. Boeing's struggle comes as a perfect opportunity for Airbus and Lockheed Martin to offer their services to the USAF and its allies, both in the short and long term. “These may range from ways to support critical near-term air-refuelling needs, such as a fee-for-service structure to conceptualizing the tanker of the future,” they said in a common press release. In the coming twenty years, the USAF will need two new types of refueling aircraft. The programs should be respectively known as KC-Y, to replace the gigantic KC-10s, and KC-Z, a stealth tanker. This new partnership could allow Airbus to put its A330MRTT on the table once more, in a version adapted to the needs of the USAF that would use Lockheed Martin's competence in the matter. The tanker is now operated by six air forces around the world, and has already seen some actions. While awaiting for the KC-Y tender to begin, Airbus could offer a leasing service to the USAF, in a similar way as AirTanker is already doing for the Royal Air Force with its ten Airbus Voyagers (A330 MRTT). With Lockheed Martin as a partner, Airbus could set a foot in the U.S. defense industry... for good this time. https://www.aerotime.aero/clement.charpentreau/22151-airbus-joins-forces-with-lockheed-to-step-in-boeing-s-backyard