Leonardo awarded contract for 32 TH-73A helicopters by U.S. Department of Defense

On the same subject

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  May 7, 2019 | International, Naval

  NAVSUP Showcases Innovation at Sea Air Space Expo 2019

  By Matt Morrison, NAVSUP Public Affairs NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (NNS) -- Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) showcases innovative technology and processes at this year's Sea Air Space Exposition, May 6-8, in National Harbor, Maryland. Featured in booth 1201 this year is the latest information on NAVSUP's reform initiative. NAVSUP's reform program is advancing with a series of initiatives to build on the efforts started in 2018. These initiatives are designed to enable audit and inventory accountability, aggressively accelerate contracting speed, deliver on our end-to-end supply chain integrator role, organize internally to deliver on fleet needs, enable the deck plate, and get more from the supply base. These efforts will improve warfighter readiness and lethality, and enable NAVSUP to improve business processes and better align with its customers in delivering supplies, services, and quality-of-life support to the Navy and Joint warfighters around the world. NAVSUP is the single point of accountability for the integrated Navy supply chain with full audit compliance. NAVSUP is also demonstrating the latest in autonomous mobile robot (AMR) technology at the expo. AMR is an emerging technology that provides a powerful toolset to collect, monitor and react to important information regarding asset location. The AMR uses onboard radio frequency identification (RFID) readers to gather data from passive RFID tags placed on material in our warehouses. This provides the ability to constantly collect inventory data and immediately react to discrepancies. This solution does not require an expensive fixed infrastructure to deploy and will enable NAVSUP to perform wall-to-wall inventories on a regular basis and exceed inventory validity goals. Representatives from the NAVSUP Office of Small Business Programs will be in the booth sharing information on NAVSUP initiatives to offer procurement opportunities to small business. The office of small business is committed to maximizing procurement opportunities for all small business concerns and minority-serving educational institutions. This effort is in support of the Secretary of the Navy's goal to identify and develop small businesses that can support the NAVSUP mission and the Navy/Marine Corps force for tomorrow. NAVSUP's procurement includes weapon systems spares and repair parts, Navy medical supplies and services, and commercial supplies and services that support the fleet. Sea-Air-Space is the largest maritime exposition in the United States and is an extension of the Navy League's mission of maritime policy education and sea service support. The expo features the most current information and technology relevant to maritime policy. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and employing a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel, NAVSUP's mission is to provide supplies, services, and quality-of-life support to the Navy and joint warfighter. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsup and http://twitter.com/navsupsyscom. Get more information about the Navy from US Navy facebook or twitter. For more news from Naval Supply Systems Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/navsup/. https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=109498

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  September 28, 2023 | International, Other Defence

  From parts to hypersonics, Pentagon sees 3D printing as ‘game changer’

  A top Pentagon official said additive manufacturing can be used to make complex parts for hypersonic weapons.

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  May 10, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Swiss Air 2030 program clears hurdle of external review — with tweaks

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — Switzerland should package the proposed buy of 40 or so combat aircraft as a unique track under the $8 billion Air 2030 program, according to a new study commissioned by the defense ministry. This, the study argues, will increase the chance the purchase will be approved in an eventual national referendum. The conclusion is part of a report by former Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, who was tasked earlier this year by the new defense minister, Viola Amherd, to critique the envisioned air-defense reboot. The recommendation speaks to the government's strategy of seeing the aircraft acquisition through a circuitous decision-making process in a country with a strong plebiscitary tradition. Buying the aircraft makes up the lion's share of the Air 2030 program, at roughly $6 billion. The purchase of ground-based, air-defense weaponry accounts for the rest. The current Cabinet plan is to pursue the aircraft and ground-based, anti-missile weaponry as a package deal, allowing the populace to vote on both segments en bloc in the likely event that a referendum is called. But advocates for new aircraft, which includes Nicollier, contend that the need for new planes is so great that the decision should be teed up without any distractions whatsoever. “In my opinion, it is wise to choose this track for the combat aircraft, after the past experiences of our direct democracy,” Nicollier wrote in his report. “It is ... useless to mix another weapon system to this next battle, which concerns only the plane and which promises, as usual, to be much more emotional than professional.” Nicollier's comment refers to a previous Swiss decision about replacing parts of its aging combat aircraft inventory, composed of F-5 Tiger and F-18 planes, five years ago this month. At the time, the population voted down the government's pick of the Saab Gripen E following a grueling campaign by advocates and opponents that quickly left the realm of national security arguments. Some believe that putting a specific aircraft model out for a referendum contributed to the program's defeat, a mistake that the defense ministry wants to avoid at all costs this time around. According to a statement on the ministry's website, Nicollier's analysis, submitted in French, recommends that the population should get the chance to vote on the aircraft acquisition only in general terms, leaving the choice of aircraft model up to the government later on. The competitors for the aircraft procurement are Airbus with the Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin with the F-35A, Boeing with the F-18 Super Hornet and Dassault with the Rafale. Saab and its Gripen E also are taking another go at it. Nicollier's report will probably be seen as good news for the industry contenders. For one, it supports the idea that Switzerland must quickly act to modernize its abilities to control the national airspace at a time when traditional geopolitical fronts in Europe are becoming murky. In addition, it proposes a path for the aircraft acquisition that appears mindful of lessons learned from the Gripen debacle of 2014. Cabinet officials are expected to debate the Nicollier report in the weeks ahead and determine how its recommendations will shape the Air 2030 program, a Swiss defense ministry official told Defense News. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/05/09/swiss-air2030-program-clears-hurdle-of-external-review-with-tweaks