Macron va t-il faire de la France la cliente de lancement du DHC-515 canadien ? - avionslegendaires.net

On the same subject

• 

  August 13, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Rafale jets won’t save India’s air force

  The first five of India's new Rafale fighter aircraft touched down in country on July 29. According to the terms of a 2016 contract with the French manufacturer Dassault, 31 more will follow. They will go some way toward filling India's larger requirement of 126 such jets. The Indian Air Force has long needed refurbishing, but it has been perennially delayed both by New Delhi's infamous bureaucratic red tape and by budgetary issues. Now, the arrival of the new fighters—the first in over 20 years—in the middle of an unprecedented border face-off against China, will be a boost for Indian military capability as well as morale. But it won't do much to change the hard reality that, as an air power, India is falling far behind, foreign media report. The Indian Air Force has historically been one of the best-equipped air forces in the region, but it has seen its advantage, both qualitative and quantitative, against China and Pakistan narrow dramatically over the past two decades. Even worse, it now faces the challenge of mustering enough aircraft to tackle any possible collusion between the Pakistani and Chinese air forces. Related to tensions in Ladakh, China seems to be activating air platforms in its Tibetan airfields. And along the border with Pakistan, the Pakistan Air Force recently conducted an air exercise out of the Skardu base in Gilgit-Baltistan. Taken together, those are tough challenges for an underequipped air force to take on. The Rafale may help somewhat. After decades of fielding upgraded legacy fighters and struggling to develop contemporary jets, the Rafale finally provides the Indian Air Force with a comprehensive combat craft that requires very little further tinkering. Unlike any previous procurements, the Rafale fighters' capabilities are already up to par, and small enhancements will be relatively easy and cheap via the so-called India-specific enhancements. These India-specific changes are being carried out under a concurrent design, modification, testing, and certification program carried out by Dassault. The modifications involve a mix of hardware and software changes, including an improved infrared search-and-track capability, the addition of an Israeli helmet-mounted display and sight system, changes to the electronically scanned radar, a new device for jamming low-band radio frequencies, integration of an Israeli-created decoy system, an upgraded radar altimeter, expanded navigation aids, and a more robust cold start system for the engines to make them suitable for winter operations from the Air Force's Himalayan bases. Once all changes are tested and certified in 2021, the entire Indian Rafale fleet will be updated. This allows Dassault to keep producing fighters at an economical rate and the Air Force to induct jets and train personnel in an organized manner, while still ensuring that the final aircraft does not compromise on the original capability requirements. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/699521-rafale-jets-won-t-save-india-s-air-force

• 

  June 30, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Sub, helo deliveries to Singapore delayed by pandemic

  By: Mike Yeo MELBOURNE, Australia – The fallout from the global COVID-19 pandemic delayed the deliveries of new submarines and helicopters from Europe and the United States to Singapore. Deliveries of its F-35B fifth-generation stealth fighters to remain on track, however. Speaking to media via video conference during Singapore's annual armed forces day, Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said that the delivery of the first of four Type 218SG submarines from Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, which are also known as the Invincible class, will be pushed back from 2021 to sometime in 2022. Similarly, Ng confirmed that initial deliveries of the Airbus Helicopters H225M medium-lift and Boeing CH-47F Chinook heavylift helicopters for the Republic of Singapore Air Force or RSAF, which were due to start at the end of this year, will now take place in early 2021 instead. He attributed the delays to disruptions in global supply chains arising from the pandemic, although he expects the delivery of the first four of up to 12 Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters to be on track for a 2026 start. Training spooling up Ng also said that military training is getting back on track, after the suspension of basic training for the conscript army with enlistees sent home. Basic military training resumed in late May, and overseas military training is also expected to restart soon. This includes the participation in the upcoming Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC multinational naval exercise, which is due to take place in Hawaii in August. Singapore will send a frigate to the exercise, which will be taking place amid precautions and restrictions to limit to potential spread of COVID-19. The RSAF is also in discussions with Australia about resuming training. The two countries have agreements in place for Singaporean military aircraft to conduct unilateral training in northern Australia, utilizing the vast airspace, good weather and training ranges that are not available in Singapore. https://www.defensenews.com/coronavirus/2020/06/29/sub-helo-deliveries-to-singapore-delayed-by-pandemic

• 

  June 11, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Security

  Why the new Raytheon Technologies will eschew platforms for new technology development

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — “Platform agnostic.” It's a term getting a lot of play from United Technologies CEO Greg Hayes and Raytheon CEO Tom Kennedy, in the wake of this weekend's surprise announcement that the two companies would be merging into a new firm,known as Raytheon Technologies Corporation. Neither company works as a platform producer, eschewing the production of aircraft or ground vehicles and instead focusing on the technology that makes them work. It's a business model that has produced well for both firms, and in a Monday interview with Defense News, the two CEOs made it clear they see no need to deviate now. “One of the first and foremost things we absolutely agree on is, we want to be platform agnostic,” Hayes said, noting that UTC sold off its Sikorsky helicopter unit almost five years ago because “we didn't like the programmatic risk associated with platforms.” “We'll supply all the content and all the systems, all of the offensive, defensive capabilities necessary to make the system successful, but we really think it's important that we remain agnostic among the platform providers,” Hayes added. Said Kennedy, “Neither of us essentially develop platforms or sell platforms. Why that's important is, really, the amount of capital that you have to go and spend in maintaining and creating these platforms kind of takes your eye off the ball relative to investing in technology moving forward. So that was a big feature, that both companies are platform agnostic.” Instead, both men said the new firm will remains focused on developing high-end technologies which can be inserted on, or in, platforms developed by the other major defense primes. With that goal in mind, the company is preparing to spend $8 billion in R&D funds in the year following its merger. When the merger is completed in early 2020, Kennedy will become chairman of the board, with Hayes serving as CEO. Two years later, Kennedy will step down, with Hayes adding the chairman title. One area Kennedy highlighted as having good synergies is hypersonic weapons, a major interest for the Pentagon. Raytheon has already been working on hypersonic missiles, including the guidance and control systems, but UTC's experience with propulsion and materials science might be able to help deal with a specific challenge for Raytheon's weapon designers. “It just turns out when you're flying at Mach 5, you really increase your temperature on all your surfaces," Kennedy said. "If you have a propulsion system, the air is coming in at such a high speed, that creates a significant amount of heat; it has to be dissipated in a very efficient way,” Kennedy said. “And one of the areas that the United Technologies has, really based in the Pratt & Whitney guys, is all the technology that they've developed over the years in working very high temperatures internal to their turbine engines,” he continued. “So not only do they have, I would call it the heat management capabilities, but also the material science to go implement those.” Hayes identified two areas where shared R&D will have a near-term impact, and they underline the benefit of having a new company that will be roughly 50-50 defense and non-defense business. The first is on aircraft control systems, where each company has technologies that can be brought to bear for the FAA's next-generation air traffic control networks. The second comes in the form of cybersecurity. “I think Raytheon is second to none as it relates to cyber, and we view this as a core competency that can benefit the entire commercial aerospace ecosystem,” Hayes said. “Not just the connected aircraft, which is probably the first order of business, but the whole ecosystem. How do you protect passenger data, how do you protect the equipment that's on the ground? How do you protect the airplane while it's flying? “I think we'll see that shortly in the marketplace.” https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2019/06/10/why-the-new-raytheon-technologies-will-eschew-platforms-for-new-technology-development/