Lockheed picks engine to bolster interim tanker case for US Air Force

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  May 31, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  French Military Launches Development Of Future Joint Light Helicopter

  Program Based On Airbus Helicopters H160 Brought Forward To 2021 The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, has announced that the launch of the Joint Light Helicopter (Hélicoptère Interarmées Léger; HIL) program has been brought forward to 2021. The HIL program, for which the Airbus Helicopters' H160 was selected in 2017, was initially scheduled for launch in 2022 by the current military budget law. Launching the program earlier will enable delivery of the first H160Ms to the French Armed Forces to be advanced to 2026. During a visit to the Airbus Helicopters headquarters, the Minister also revealed the full-scale mock-up of the H160M that will be presented on the Ministry of the Armed Forces stand at the next Paris Air Show. The helicopter was also given its official name and will be designated as “Guépard” (“Cheetah”) by the French Armed Forces. The H160 was designed to be a modular helicopter, enabling its military version, with a single platform, to perform missions ranging from commando infiltration to air intercept, fire support, and anti-ship warfare in order to meet the needs of the army, the navy and the air force through the HIL program. “We are proud that the HIL is considered a strategic program. I would like to thank the Ministry, the French Defence Procurement Agency DGA and the armed forces for their trust and for the close collaboration which helped create the conditions for the program to be brought forward within the framework of the current military budget law. This will make it possible to speed up the replacement of the older generation of aircraft, while optimising the support and availability of the French State's helicopter fleet,” said Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters. “Our teams are committed to delivering an aircraft in 2026 that meets the needs of the French armed forces in terms of availability, performance and capability, thus enabling it to rapidly become the new benchmark on the world's medium-lift military helicopter market.” Built around a platform that will enter service next year, the HIL program will benefit from many of the advantages inherent in the civil H160, particularly in terms of support, with simplified maintenance and lower operating costs than the previous generation of helicopters in this category. http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=5c30e0d6-3111-42dc-a6fa-63252c17dd58

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  October 30, 2018 | International, Naval, C4ISR

  UK MoD gets budget boost of more than $1B with three programs in mind

  By: Andrew Chuter LONDON — Britain's Ministry of Defence has been given a £1 billion (U.S. $1.28 billion) spending boost in the Treasury budget announcement Oct. 29, with Chancellor Philip Hammond suggesting the money would be mainly spent on three strategic military programs. Hammond said the additional money would be available in the coming months. Cyber, anti-submarine warfare and the Dreadnought nuclear submarine build program all got named as destinations for the extra cash. “As a former defense secretary myself I understand the immediate pressure our armed forces are facing, so today I will provide £1 billion to cover the remainder of this year and next to boost our cyber, and anti-submarine warfare capacity and to maintain the pace of the Dreadnought program,” Hammond told Parliament. The increase caught many by surprise. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has been battling with Hammond for months for extra cash, but a massive funding commitment to the National Health Service made new funds toward security seem unlikely. Jon Louth, the director for defence, industry and society at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank in London said the additional funding was good news, but fell well short of what is required. “It's welcome, but comes nowhere near addressing the potential funding gap if you add up all the programs in the equipment plan. It does appear to be a significant increase in percentage terms, although the devil will be in the detail,” he said. The RUSI analyst said the outcome was “better than we expected a few months ago. Politically people will be chalking that up as a win for Williamson in the context of the wider government budget. One billion pounds is a win,” he said. Louth cautioned against getting too hung up on the chancellor's announcement about where the extra cash will be spent. “I suspect when we come to see how the money is used next year it will potentially be a little different from the chancellor's headlines today,” he said. Defense consultant Alex Ashbourne Walmsley of Ashbourne Strategic Consulting said the new money was a “sticking plaster, but it will buy the MoD a bit more time to work out how to do more with less.” Earlier this year the MoD received a total of £800 million in funds to keep the program to build four Trident missile equipped Dreadnought nuclear submarines on track. Some £600 million of that cash came from a £10 billion contingency fund set aside by the government for the Dreadnought program. Ashbourne-Walmsley described the Dreadnought program as a “money pit.” The MoD is trying to bridge a funding gap in its £179 billion 10-year equipment plan. The black hole is put at anywhere between £4 billion and £20 billion by the National Audit Office, the government's financial watchdog. The final figure is dependent, in part, on how effective an ongoing efficiency drive is at the MoD. The MoD budget for this year is £36.6 billion with 15.6 percent of that spent on equipment procurement and 18.7 percent on support. The Conservative government is committed to increasing equipment spending in real terms by 0.5 percent a year until 2020. A long running review, known as the Defence Modernisation Program, has been looking at how British armed forces can adapt and transform to meet the changing and growing military threat, while at the same time balancing the books — an effort that could require capability cuts in several areas. Publication of that report has already been kicked down the road a couple of times. Although Williamson may announce something before the end of the year, analysts and industry executives expect little of substance ahead of a comprehensive spending review due to take place across all government departments next year. Hammond appeared to say as much today when he told Parliamentarians the modernisation review will “form the basis for a comprehensive consideration of defense spending next year.” “The Modernizing Defence Program is increasingly tied into the comprehensive spending review and the 10-year equipment plan in 2019. We might get a whitepaper in late winter or early spring to set up some of the themes but the details won't be out until beyond April,” said Louth. Some industry executives though are starting to wonder if the modernization program could be published even by April. One executive who asked not to be named, said he wondered whether the comprehensive spending plan might be the trigger for a full blown strategic defense review, particularly if Brexit goes badly and the economy takes a big hit. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/10/29/uk-mod-gets-budget-boost-of-more-than-1b-with-three-programs-in-mind

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  November 17, 2020 | International, Land

  Iron Dome batteries activated to fill cruise missile defense gap

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army has activated two air defense artillery batteries at Fort Bliss, Texas, that will evaluate the Iron Dome system for possible integration into the Army's air-and missile defense architecture, according to a Nov. 13 statement from the service. The Iron Dome batteries will serve as an interim capability to fill a cruise missile defense gap. The change was mandated by Congress while the Army determines a long-term solution to combat such threats in addition to countering rockets, artillery, mortars and drones. The Army took receipt of the first Iron Dome battery in Israel in October. The Fort Bliss-based units are expected to receive one Iron Dome system in December followed by the second in January. To stand up the two batteries, the Army is converting a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and realigning resources from the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery School — which is a part of the Army's force realignment initiative — according to the statement. The move is expected to be complete by Nov. 16 and will result in 26 additional personnel at Fort Bliss. The Army chose Fort Bliss because of its proximity to White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, where the systems will be tested and evaluated. The units will spend the next year training, testing and working with the systems to prepare Iron Dome for operation deployment by late 2021. Part of the effort, according to the statement, will include integration of Iron Dome into the Army's Integrated Battle Command System, which is the command-and-control element of the service's future Integrated Air and Missile Defense architecture. The IBCS system is expected to reach a production decision this month and will undergo an initial operational test and evaluation in 2021. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor on the program. The Army plans to make a final stationing decision on where and how to employ the systems “through either a forward stationing decision and/or Dynamic Force Employment concept in response to contingency operations” when the batteries reach operational deployment capability, the statement notes. The service plans to hold a shoot-off to determine an enduring capability for its Indirect Fires Protection Capability Increment 2 system — designed to defend against C-RAM, UAS and cruise missile threats — in the spring of 2021. Elements of the Iron Dome system will be part of that shoot-off. Iron Dome has a long track record of operational success in Israel and is produced through a partnership with Israeli-based Rafael and Raytheon. Those companies are making plans to produce Iron Dome systems in the United States and are expected to pick a location for production by the end of the year. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/11/13/iron-dome-batteries-activated-to-fill-cruise-missile-defense-gap/