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December 17, 2024 | International, Land, C4ISR

Lithuania pushes Leopard 2A8 tank acquisition under new government

The envisioned purchase will constitute the Lithuanian military's biggest-ever purchase, officials said, though no price tag was given.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2024/12/17/lithuania-pushes-leopard-2a8-tank-acquisition-under-new-government/

On the same subject

  • Elbit Systems Awarded Contract Worth Approximately $100 Million to Supply Intelligence and EW Aircraft to an International Customer

    April 18, 2023 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

    Elbit Systems Awarded Contract Worth Approximately $100 Million to Supply Intelligence and EW Aircraft to an International Customer

    As part of the contract, Elbit Systems will equip the aircraft with advanced Intelligence Mission Suite and EW capabilities

  • What do Marines want in their next drone? Everything

    May 14, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval

    What do Marines want in their next drone? Everything

    By: Mark Pomerleau The Marine Corps has revamped its requirements for a large unmanned aerial system after industry leaders said an early version of the drone could cost as much as $100 million. Now, Marine leaders are following a tiered approach to the requirements as a way to manage costs and work closely with industry. The Marines are charting ahead with the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Unmanned Expeditionary, or MUX, group 5 UAS. The Marines have long expressed a desire for an organic drone in the Group 5 category, the largest category of military drones. The initial desired capability set for the MUX was extremely broad, mirroring a Swiss Army knife of mission sets. When first presented to industry, leaders derided the expansive mission set as too costly. “They came back and said you're talking about something that's going to be $100 million, as big as a V-22. Are you sure that's what you want?,” Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, commanding general of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration, told a small group of reporters following his appearance at the Modular Open Systems Summit in Washington May 1. “We said ‘No, that's not what we want, not something that big. We want something to fly off a ship, off an expeditionary site. What that allowed us to do through the industry involvement then was to neck down, if you look at the [request for information] we sent out for the industry day, it tiered the requirements.” The initial RFI was released March 8. With the tiered requirements approach, Walsh explained that the Marines listed four capabilities they wanted most, while others could be nice to haves or even be handled by other assets. Tier 1 capabilities include airborne early warning – which Walsh said industry wasn't heavily considering but is a capability the Marines absolutely need coming off a ship – command and control communications, digitally passing information, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and electronic warfare. Additional capabilities include potential weapons armament if the drone will escort V-22s and logistics. “Amazon, FedEx, somebody else will help us with that and we'll probably buy what they're developing,” Walsh said of the logistics portion. Similarly, Col. James Frey, the director of the Marine Corps' Aviation Expeditionary Enablers branch, told USNI News that the Future Vertical Lift program might fill this void, adding that whatever is not covered by the program could be done with the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter. Ultimately, Walsh noted that bringing industry in early will help the service refine its requirements before setting them in stone, leading to a better capability. The industry day, slated for June 6 and 7, will “bring everybody together and help us with this and have like a workshop approach to that. Both primes and small subs,” he said. “I find this is a way that will allow us to go fast.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2018/05/02/what-do-marines-want-in-their-next-drone-everything/

  • Shanahan: Super Hornet on track to meet readiness goals, but F-16s and F-22s still struggling

    May 2, 2019 | International, Aerospace

    Shanahan: Super Hornet on track to meet readiness goals, but F-16s and F-22s still struggling

    By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The Super Hornet is set to meet the 80 percent mission capable rate goal by the end of the year, the Pentagon's top civilian said Wednesday, but it remains unclear whether the F-35, F-22 and F-16 will be able to meet the mark. Last fall, former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis gave the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps until the end of fiscal year 2019 to bring their F-35s, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, F-22 Raptors and F-16s up to an 80 percent mission capable rate — a key metric to determine the health of a flying squadron's aircraft. Of those, the “real emphasis was on the F-35 and F/A-18,” acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan said May 1 during a House Appropriations Committee panel, and the Super Hornet has made a “tremendous” amount of headway over the past year. “The Navy has made significant progress with the F/A-18s. I think they're on track to meet the goal in September,” he told lawmakers. However, Shanahan suggested that the F-22 and F-16 are unlikely to hit the 80 percent goal, adding that the F-22 “has struggled” and the F-16 “is a bit of a high bar” to clear. Shanahan was unclear on whether the F-35 — which is available in three different variants used by the Air Force, Marine Corp and Navy — will be able to meet the mandate this year. “The F-35s, being brand new aircraft, that [80 percent] should be the baseline where we start,” he said. “The F-35 will come home. We're going to drive that home.” The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps didn't not provide information about the F-35's progress by press time, but the most recent statistics do not seem promising. The services have stopped publishing mission capable rate statistics last year, citing operational sensitivities, but a March report by the Government Accountability Office found that all variants of the F-35 operated at a mission capable rate of about 50 percent from a period of May to November 2018. However, Mattis' mandate specifies that only the F-35s used by operational squadrons must meet the readiness marker. Because there are only a small number of operational F-35 squadrons, and those units typically have newer and more reliable aircraft, the services may stand a better chance of getting to the 80 percent rate. Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek concurred with Shanahan's assessment of the F-16 and F-22, saying that damage from Hurricane Michael to Tyndall Air Force Base's F-22s and ongoing difficulties with maintaining the F-22's low observable coating were likely to prevent the Raptor from achieving an 80 percent mission capability rate this year. However, the service is still “optimistic” that it will be able to get its F-16s over the finish line by the end of FY19, she said. Given the low availability of tactical aircraft in recent years, it would be a massive accomplishment to get any of the fighter jets to meet the 80 percent goal. In August, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told reporters that half of the service's Super Hornet aircraft were mission capable — a huge increase from 2017 when two-thirds of the fleet were not available to fly. In 2017, the last year the Air Force put out data, F-22s held a 49 percent mission capable rate and the F-16 hovered around 65 to 70 percent, depending on the model. Despite the services' difficulties meeting the aviation readiness goal, Shanahan maintained that pushing toward an 80 percent mission capable rate for those platforms was a worthy endeavor. “It's a lot of iron to keep on the ground, and given all the training missions and the productivity we can generate, I think holding that standard is smart for now,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/navy-league/2019/05/01/shanahan-super-hornet-on-track-to-meet-readiness-goals-but-f-16s-and-f-22s-still-struggling

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