Italy tees up $5 billion-plus program to build 1,000 combat vehicles

On the same subject

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  May 7, 2024 | International, Naval

  Teledyne unveils Rogue 1 exploding drone sought by Marine Corps

  Should the Rogue 1 drone not explode or be recalled, it can be disarmed and reused thanks to a mechanical disconnect.

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  December 31, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Land

  Russia says its new weapon is 27 times faster than the speed of sound

  By: Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press MOSCOW — Russia's new strategic weapon has rendered any missile defenses useless at a small fraction of their cost, officials said Thursday. The Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle flies 27 times faster than the speed of sound, making it impossible to intercept, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told Russian state television. The new weapon “essentially makes missile defenses useless,” he said. Borisov spoke a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw what he described as the conclusive successful test of the Avangard and hailed it as a reliable guarantee of Russia's security for decades to come. In Wednesday's test, the weapon was launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Ural Mountains. The Kremlin said it successfully hit a practice target on the Kura shooting range on Kamchatka, 3,700 miles away. The Defense Ministry released footage from the test launch, in which a ballistic missile could be seen blasting from a silo in a cloud of smoke, but it hasn't released any images of the vehicle itself. Putin said the Avangard will enter service with the Russian Strategic Missile Forces next year. The test comes amid bitter tensions in Russia-U.S. relations, which have been strained over the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and the allegations of Moscow's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Sergei Ivanov, a former Russian defense minister, said in televised comments that the Avangard constantly changes its course and altitude as it flies through the atmosphere. He emphasized that unlike previous nuclear warheads fitted to intercontinental ballistic missiles that follow a predictable trajectory allowing it to calculate the spot where they can be intercepted, the Avangard chaotically zigzags on its path to its target, making it impossible to predict the weapon's location. A smiling Ivanov likened the weapon's flight through the atmosphere to a pebble skipping off the surface of water. Ivanov, who now serves as Putin's adviser, said the Avangard could be fitted to the Soviet-made UR-100UTTKh intercontinental ballistic missile, which is code-named SS-19 Stiletto by NATO. He noted that Russia has a stockpile of several dozen such missiles, which are in a factory-mint condition and not filled with fuel, allowing them to serve for a long time to come. Ivanov added that they could be put in existing silos, sharply reducing the costs of Avangard's deployment. "The Avangard has cost hundreds of times less than what the U.S. has spent on its missile defense," Ivanov said. He noted that Russia began to develop the Avangard after the U.S. started to develop defenses against ballistic missiles. Moscow feared that the U.S. missile shield could erode its nuclear deterrent, and Putin announced in 2004 that Russia was working on a new hypersonic weapon. Ivanov recalled that when Russian officials warned their U.S. counterparts about the new weapon program at the time, American officials were openly skeptical about Russia's ability to carry out its plan. “We aren't involved in saber-rattling, we simply ensured our security for decades to come,” he said. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/12/27/russia-says-its-new-weapon-is-27-times-faster-than-the-speed-of-sound

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  January 22, 2019 | International, Naval

  Lockheed Martin And Fincantieri Marinette Marine Awarded Contract To Build Littoral Combat Ship 31

  WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 21, 2019 – The U.S. Navy awarded the Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) team a fixed-price-incentive-fee contract to build an additional Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). LCS 31 will be built in Marinette, Wisconsin, at FMM, the Midwest's only naval shipyard, and is the 16th Freedom-variant LCS ordered by the Navy to date. The team will leverage capital investment and improvement in the shipyard and efficiencies created with serial production to maintain high quality at an affordable cost. "We are excited to continue our partnership with the Navy and FMM to build and deliver capable ships to the fleet,” said Joe DePietro, vice president and general manager, Lockheed Martin Small Combatants and Ship Systems. "With the Freedom-variant in serial production, we continue to enhance efficiency and incorporate capability while maintaining ship and program affordability." Since the LCS program's inception, Freedom-variant LCS production has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into local economies throughout the Midwest. The program supports thousands of direct and indirect jobs throughout the United States, including more than 7,500 in Michigan and Wisconsin. The Lockheed Martin and FMM team is in full-rate production of the Freedom-variant and has delivered seven ships to the U.S. Navy to date. There are seven ships in various stages of construction at FMM. Lockheed Martin's Freedom-variant LCS is highly maneuverable, lethal and adaptable. Originally designed to support focused missions such as mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare, the team continues to evolve capabilities based on rigorous Navy operational testing, sailor feedback and multiple successful fleet deployments. The Freedom-variant LCS integrates new technology and capability to affordably support current and future mission capability from deep water to the littorals. For additional information, visit: www.lockheedmartin.com/lcs. https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2019-01-21-Lockheed-Martin-and-Fincantieri-Marinette-Marine-Awarded-Contract-to-Build-Littoral-Combat-Ship-31