Le consortium SAMI (Saudi Arabian Military Industries) signe des accords avec Airbus et Figeac Aéro pour la création de deux coentreprises

On the same subject

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  April 29, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  10,000 made-in-Québec masks for manufacturing SMEs in the aerospace sector

  MONTRÉAL, April 29, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Aéro Montréal proudly announced today the launch of a new, innovative initiative that will provide 10,000 reusable masks to manufacturing SMEs in the aerospace sector. This project aims to support the continuation or resumption of their activities in a safe work environment. This Montréal-made face mask will help protect thousands of qualified employees in the aerospace industry without jeopardizing supplies necessary for the proper functioning of health services. Companies in the aerospace industry have already deployed a wide range of health measures to ensure business continuity, and this new initiative by Aéro Montréal will complement what is already in place. The COVID-19 crisis is unprecedented and will require the maintenance of these safety protocols for many months to come. Numerous companies are preparing for the resumption of operations and will undoubtedly face procurement challenges to ensure that they provide personal protective equipment to their employees, including masks. Promoting a gradual and safe resumption by supporting local entrepreneurship Aéro Montréal will draw on the strength of its network to offer reusable masks free of charge. Our team will be contacting our many SMEs over the next few days so that they can take advantage of this offer. Inspired by the Panier Bleu program, this initiative also aims to support the local textile economy. This is why it is being implemented with the support of the Metropolitan Fashion Cluster mmode, and Quartz Co., a Montréal based coat supplier. The company Quartz Co. modified its production line to manufacture protective textile products. This inter-cluster collaboration will enable the supply of washable masks to be available in record time at very competitive costs. Once the 10,000 free masks have been distributed, aerospace SMEs wishing to purchase additional masks, will be able to do so by contacting Aéro Montréal. "Through this initiative, Aéro Montréal is reaffirming its support for small and medium-sized enterprises, which play a crucial role in the supply chain. By working with local players, Aéro Montréal will help ensure a safe and efficient resumption of activities for a key sector that represents more than 42,100 direct jobs in Québec," stated Suzanne M. Benoît, President, Aéro Montréal "Over the past months we have invested significantly in acquisitions of viable Quebec production plants. At Quartz Co., we believe in the importance of retaining and developing a local production force. Thanks to these efforts, we can contribute today to the fight against COVID-19, manufacturing masks among other items for our corporate clients," added Jean-Philippe Robert, President of Quartz Co. About Aéro Montréal Created in 2006, Aéro Montréal is a strategic think tank that groups all major decision makers in Québec's aerospace sector, including companies, educational and research institutions, as well as associations and unions. The activities of Aéro Montréal are made possible thanks to the participation of the governments of Québec and Canada, the Montréal Metropolitan Community, as well as company members of the cluster. SOURCE Aéro Montréal For further information: Léa Guicheteau, Project Manager, Communications and Media Relations, Aéro Montréal, 514 550-7494, lea.guicheteau@aeromontreal.ca; Kaven Delarosbil, Director of Communications, Aéro Montréal, 514-743-2728, kaven.delarosbil@aeromontreal.ca Related Links http://www.aeromontreal.ca/

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  September 21, 2022 | International, Land

  DARPA autonomous vehicles take on California hills in off-road testing

  DARPA began the second round of off-road testing for its autonomous vehicle program, this time turning to the steep hills and trees of central California.

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  November 6, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Unmanned aircraft could provide low-cost boost for Air Force’s future aircraft inventory, new study says

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Air Force looks to increase the size and capability of its aircraft inventory, the service should assess the possibility of using drones as a low-cost and highly available alternative to manned airplanes, posits a new study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The CSIS report, which was obtained by Defense News and other news outlets ahead of its Oct. 29 release, compares three recent congressionally mandated studies on the Air Force's future force structure by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank, the federally funded research organization MITRE Corp. and the service itself. All three studies were broadly supportive of retaining existing unmanned aircraft, or as the Air Force terms them, Remotely Piloted Aircraft or RPAs. However, the CSIS report makes the case that the low cost and high mission capable rate of RPAs like the MQ-9 Reaper or RQ-4 Global Hawk merits more attention when making future force planning. “I think we need a roadmap for RPAs in terms of what are the new missions that we can begin to transition over to RPAs and some new operational concepts for how we use them,” CSIS senior analyst Todd Harrison told reporters at a Oct. 28 briefing. “I say this more from a cost perspective and a readiness perspective because our RPA fleet stands out from the rest of the Air Force in that it costs a lot less to operate [them] and we utilize them much more,” he said. “We need to leverage that. That's a strength that we need to double down on.” Harrison pointed to two data points supporting a wider use case for RPAs. Despite clocking in the highest number of flight hours per airframe, drones boast some of the highest mission capable rates in the Air Force's inventory, averaging near 90 percent for the MQ-9 and its predecessor, the MQ-1, and around 75 percent for the RQ-4 Global Hawk. Those aircraft are also cheap to operate, with some of the lowest costs per flying hour or total ownership costs in the inventory, Harrison said. The Air Force, MITRE and CSBA studies provide solid support for keeping the Air Force's current RPA force. The Air Force's study, which proposes a growth to 386 total operational squadrons, would add two squadrons of unmanned strike aircraft, although it does not say what kind of aircraft should be acquired. It also recommends an increase of 22 squadrons of aircraft devoted to command and control or the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission sets, but does not provide a breakdown of what specific capability gaps need to be addressed or whether they could be filled by unmanned aircraft. The MITRE and CSBA study, by contrast, advocate retaining the current inventory of MQ-9 Reapers and RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drones. CSBA also recommends the procurement of a new, stealthy MQ-X drone that could be used for strike, electronic attack and other missions in a contested environment. Despite the broad support, the three studies do not necessarily portend a wider acceptance or demand for unmanned aircraft in the next budget, Harrison said. “I wouldn't count on it happening that soon. I think this is a wider term change that's going to be needed. Part of it is a cultural change within the Air Force and part of it requires some real strategic thinking about what are the types of missions where unmanned is going to make sense and how do we best leverage those,” he said. “The RPAs that we have today, they didn't come about overnight. They evolved. A lot of the time they faced a lot of institutional resistance, but they proved themselves. They proved themselves valuable in the kind of fights that we've been in in the past 20 years.” One mission area that could be flown by unmanned aircraft in the future is aerial refueling, Harrison said. The Navy in 2018 awarded Boeing a contract to produce an unmanned carrier-based tanker drone known as the MQ-25. That aircraft, like all Navy planes, will use the simpler probe and drogue for refueling. Refueling via a rigid boom, as utilized by Air Force tankers, makes for a more challenging development, but the remote vision system on Boeing's KC-46 tanker — which allows the boom operator to steer the boom using a series of cameras as his or her only visual cue — is a step in the right direction, he said. Another potential area for expanded RPA use could be the development of low-cost drones that can be flown in swarms or as “loyal wingmen” to manned aircraft, the CSIS report stated. These “attritable” aircraft can be expended during a conflict without making an adverse impact on the mission or putting human pilots at risk. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/10/29/unmanned-aircraft-could-provide-low-cost-boost-for-air-forces-future-aircraft-inventory-new-study-says/