October 1, 2018 | International, Aerospace
FABRICE WOLF
Avec plus de 4000 avions de combat modernes de tout type, l'OTAN dispose de la plus formidable force aérienne au monde, très supérieure aux forces russes (1300 appareils) et chinoises (1500 appareils).
Consciente qu'elle ne pourra jamais rivaliser numériquement avec cette force, la Russie a développé une stratégie de défense aérienne multi-couches reposant sur des systèmes de défense anti-aérienne à longue, moyenne et courte portée, intégrée dans un réseau global et coordonnant ses actions avec l'importante flotte de chasseurs russes de plus de 800 appareils Su27-30-35 et MIG-29, et les 130 intercepteurs MIG-31. Ainsi organisée, la défense anti-aérienne russe représente un challenge important pour les forces aériennes occidentales, qui doivent utiliser des avions de brouillage ou des appareils furtifs pour espérer garder la supériorité aérienne.
Pour articuler cette puissance aérienne, qui représente aujourd'hui 80% de la puissance de feu de l'Alliance selon le British Defense Comittee, l'OTAN déploie un nombre important d'appareils de veille aérienne AWACS, de surveillance électronique, et une flotte massive d'avions ravitailleurs.
Le missile à longue portée hypersonique R37M a été développé pour engager et abattre ces appareils, avec une portée supérieure à 300 km et une vitesse supérieure à Mach6. Destiné à équiper les intercepteurs rapides MIG-31 et les chasseurs lourds furtifs Su-57, le R37M permettra de repousser les appareils de soutien de l'OTAN très loin de la zone d'engagement, limitant de fait très sensiblement leurs performances. Un appareil qui, comme le F-35 américain, n'a qu'un rayon d'action de 1000 km, sera ainsi largement contraint s'il doit se ravitailler à 500 km de ses objectifs. En outre, les forces russes auront la possibilité de mener des « raids tactiques », des incursions rapides destinées à porter le danger au plus profond du dispositif adverse, suivi d'un retour rapide dans la zone de supériorité alliée. Au delà des AWACS et ravitailleurs, le nouveau missile menacera donc l'ensemble des appareils lourds de l'alliance atlantique, incluant les avions de transport en charge du train logistique transatlantique indispensable, ainsi que les appareils de patrouille maritime, surtout ceux évoluant à moyenne altitude comme le P8 Poséidon, très exposés dès qu'ils évolueront à moins de 2000 km d'une base aérienne russe.
Les mêmes causes ayant les même conséquences, la Chine a elle-aussi développé un missile à très longue portée, estimée à 400 km, et destiné à abattre les appareils de soutien occidentaux. Le nouveau missile, dont la nomenclature est encore floue, a déjà été aperçu sous les ailes des J-11 et des J-16 de l'Armée Populaire de Libération.
Ce type de missile n'a pas d'équivalent en Occident. En effet, les forces aériennes chinoises et russes dépendent beaucoup moins des appareils de soutien que leurs homologues occidentaux. En revanche, les états-majors de l'OTAN ont privilégié des missiles d'une portée inferieure, de l'ordre de 150 km, mais très efficaces contre les agiles chasseurs adverses, comme le missile européen Meteor.
L'entrée en service du R37M devra donc engendrer une rapide évolution des doctrines aériennes de l'OTAN, comme dans la conception des appareils lourds, qui devront nécessairement être équipés de systèmes d'autodéfense performants capables de détecter, brouiller et leurrer de tels missiles.
October 26, 2023 | International, Aerospace
Air France-KLM announced on Thursday a new financing agreement between one of its affiliate and funds and entities managed by Apollo Global Management in a bid to strengthen its balance sheet.
July 24, 2019 | International, C4ISR
Munich 22-Jul-2019 - IDZ-ES and the PUMA infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) for the VJTF 2023 are making a start on the end-to-end digital command radio link over the first mile using software defined radios from Rohde & Schwarz. The seamless command radio link for the PUMA armored infantry system with the infantryman of the future (IdZ-ES) for the Very High Readiness Joint Taskforce (VJTF) 2023 is provided by Rohde & Schwarz. With the Budget Committee of the German Lower House of German Parliament (Bundestag) having given its approval for the armored infantry system service package at the end of June, the necessary contracts for procurement have now also been completed. "This order is a milestone that we have reached after winning against international competitors in challenging trials and comparative tests set by the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) in 2018 in Munster, Germany," explained Hartmut Jäschke, Senior Vice President Market Segments Secure Communications Sales and Projects at Rohde & Schwarz. Its basis is the intention of the Bundeswehr to be ready with the PUMA IFV/armored infantry system and the latest version of IdZ-ES for NATO VJTF (Land) in 2023. Rohde & Schwarz is a subcontractor of Rheinmetall Electronics, which is responsible for the IdZ-ES system, and will supply the latest tactical software defined radios (SDR) together with suitable waveforms, integration, training and services. The SOVERON family works with the high data rate and interference-immune SOVERON WAVE waveforms for tactical rugged use on the first mile, and is thus an exact match for the spectrum of requirements of a battle group for territorial and collective defense as well as for international crisis management operations. All members of the SOVERON WAVE family of waveforms offer mobile ad hoc network (MANET) functionality. Radios equipped with this capability function as routers within the IP network group, forwarding the information via other communication nodes and thus ensuring that a robust, interference-immune link can be maintained under all circumstances. The Rohde & Schwarz VHF/UHF radio systems selected for this project will establish and maintain the command radio link with simultaneous voice and IP data from dismounted troops up to the platoon and company level. The systems concerned are handheld (SDHR/SOVERON HR) and vehicular radios (SDTR/SOVERON VR) that are interoperable with the German Armed Forces joint radio system (SVFuA, series name: SOVERON D) that has already been commissioned by the Bundeswehr and the SDR waveforms procured with it. The first batch of SOVERON D commissioned for command vehicles will be delivered to the troops in the first half of 2020. This interplay is also of great importance for future viability in the context of the Digitalization of Land Based Operations/Tactical Edge Networking (D-LBO/TEN) major project for highly secure and trusted interoperable connections that will only come into effect after VJTF 2023. SOVERON D also provides backward compatibility with the analog SEM radio infrastructure that will be in service for some time yet even though it is obsolete. This capability was also recently demonstrated in further tests. "With our innovative overall approach – SOVERON – we provide national trusted solutions that can be tailored to the customer's needs but which, due to their open architecture, are compatible with established radio systems and architectures and, at the same time, will be viable in the future," Mr. Jäschke continued. "It is an honor for us to bring into operation by the troops the latest state of the art for the VJTF. By doing so, we are not only paving the way for the next steps of D-LBO/TEN and for further strategic projects of the Bundeswehr. There are also significant synergies with the Telecommunications of the Army (TK A) project in Switzerland, comparable to the networking part of D-LBO/TEN. We are in the final round of a multi-year competition here." Rohde & Schwarz The Rohde & Schwarz technology group develops, produces and markets innovative communications, information and security products for professional users. The group's test and measurement, broadcast and media, aerospace | defense | security, networks and cybersecurity business fields address many different industry and government-sector market segments. On June 30, 2018, Rohde & Schwarz had approximately 11,500 employees. The independent group achieved a net revenue of approximately EUR 2 billion in the 2017/2018 fiscal year (July to June). The company has its headquarters in Munich, Germany. Internationally, it has subsidiaries in more than 70 countries, with regional hubs in Asia and America. R&S® is a registered trademark of Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co.KG. View source version on Rohde & Schwarz : https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/tr/about/news-press/details/press-room/press-releases-detailpages/german-army-relies-on-rohde-schwarz-press-release-detailpage_229356-663180.html https://www.epicos.com/article/449211/german-army-relies-rohde-and-schwarz
August 7, 2020 | International, C4ISR
by Carlo Munoz The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is soliciting industry proposals to revamp its command-wide battlefield intelligence analytics programme, updating the legacy system with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and cloud computing architectures to support current and future operations. Potential industry participants in the Global Analytics Platform (GAP) update programme will lay out their tentative proposals to SOCOM acquisition officials, and members of the command's science and technology directorates, during the upcoming GAP virtual industry day at the end of August. Industry proposals will focus on technological applications in data management and dissemination that are designed to support “the search, discovery, and collaborative analysis of large volumes of data within a suite of secure web-based applications,” the 3 August solicitation states. “Companies with experience in information system environments that search, discover, and analyse large volumes of data within a suite of secure web-based applications across a multi security cloud architecture are highly desired,” the solicitation stated, regarding the upcoming industry day. “Additionally, companies with experience in data movement and transport, and data science are also encouraged to attend,” it added. SOFWERX, in conjunction with SOCOM's Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Center, will sponsor the three-day industry event, beginning on 25 August. The main thrust of the 3 August solicitation is to “add, upgrade, and replace individual [GAP] components, tools, and services, using defined interoperability and interface controls to maintain a leading-edge capability” to keep pace with SOCOM's evolving operational requirements, the solicitation stated. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/socom-industry-day-solicits-proposals-to-update-global-analytics-platform