June 4, 2024 | International, Aerospace
Proposed House spending bill would add more F-35s
The defense appropriations bill would take a different approach than the proposed NDAA, which would cut F-35 purchases.
June 21, 2019 | International, Naval
Naval Engineers Must 'Lean In' to Advance Technological Agility
Rebuilding "strategic momentum" and growing advantages in the maritime domain are challenges Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John M. Richardson addressed in "A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority, Version 2.0," which updated a 2016 document.
At an annual meeting of the American Society of Naval Engineers today in Washington, Richardson said meeting those challenges is a "human problem" that must be met, in part by naval engineers.
His plan for how the Navy will maintain maritime superiority relies in part on three aspects of agility. "With the joint force, we will restore agility — conceptual, geographic, and technological — to impose cost[s] on our adversaries across the competition-conflict spectrum," the report reads.
For engineers, Richardson focused on their contribution to technological agility.
"The technological landscape is changing so fast across all of technology," Richardson said. "It's really fueled by this information revolution that we are in the middle of right now. And so as we think about the Navy as a learning engine in and of itself, restoring these technical agilities is really important. We do need to move at pace."
For comparison, the admiral referred back to Dec. 8, 1941 — a day after the bombing at Pearl Harbor. It was then, Richardson said, that the Navy began a quick transition from battleship-based tactics to aircraft carriers and aerial battles. He said the switch in strategy wasn't a surprise for the Navy, because it had been researching and engineering for that possibility for years.
"We had been 20 years into naval aviation," he said. "This was not just something that we did as a pickup team on Dec. 8. We had been putting investments in with folks like [Joseph] Reeves and [William] Moffett and all those pioneers of naval aviation. We had evidence. A lot of experimentation, a lot of engineering that had gone into that."
Now, Richardson said, the Navy must again have that kind of experimentation, engineering and prototyping to ready it for the next conflict — and it must get on that mission quickly to stay ahead of adversaries.
"We do not want to be the second navy on the water with these decisive technologies: the directed energy, unmanned, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc., you name it," he said. "That's the great challenge now: to get out, start prototyping, get at this pace, plus evidence ... to yield a relevant Navy that is ready to defend America from attack and protect our interests around the world."
The admiral said that a knee-jerk reaction might be to cite Defense Department acquisition regulations, like DOD 5000, for inhibiting the type of rapid development, engineering and research he thinks will be needed to maintain maritime dominance. But he said that's not entirely correct.
"I think a new set of rules would help," he said. "But this is, I think, a human problem at the end of the day. If we are all biased for action, if we all lean into this, we will get it done. There is nothing that will prohibit us or inhibit us from getting that done if we are all leaning in."
On the same subject
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August 16, 2018 | International, Naval
U.S. Navy Opens Innovation Hub At Pax River
Lee Hudson In keeping with the Pentagon's focus on rapid prototyping, the U.S. Navy opened an Innovation Hub (iHUB) this month at the Naval Air Warfare Command Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) in Patuxent River, ... http://aviationweek.com/awindefense/us-navy-opens-innovation-hub-pax-river
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November 18, 2020 | International, Naval
Damen and Thales to build the German MKS 180 frigate of the future
Hengelo, November 18, 2020 – Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding and Thales signed on November 17, 2020,the contract for the delivery and full integration of Thales's Mission and Combat System for the four MKS 180 class frigates contracted by the German Navy. The system will be designed by Damen and completely built by German shipyards, under Damen's project management. Valued at €1.5B, the contract illustrates Thales's leading position in global naval integration. It will be executed by Thales's naval Centers of Excellence in Hengelo (the Netherlands), Kiel and Wilhelmshaven (Germany) in cooperation with a substantial number of German subcontractors. Underpinning this contract is the proven cooperation of German and Dutch naval industries, including numerous joint opportunities for Damen and Thales in the Netherlands to innovate within naval shipbuilding projects, often with the participation of the Netherlands' Ministry of Defence. The project underscores Damen's and Thales's ambition to build further cooperation with shipyards and partnering industries in high-end European naval programmes. Thales's Mission and Combat System includes the comprehensive Tacticos Combat Management System and the AWWS (Above Water Warfare System) Fire Control Cluster. The contract includes four ship systems, logistic services and multiple land-based test and training sites, as well as the option for one or two additional ships. AWWS is a cutting-edge warfare suite that helps the ship crews to counter and neutralise complex saturation attacks by continuously analysing and optimising the tactical environment and deployment of resources. AWWS will be combined with APAR* Bl2, the evolved version of Thales's proven AESA* multifunction radar. In 2019, Thales signed an AWWS development contract for the new M-frigates for the Belgian and Dutch Navies. In the past years, Thales has been awarded several large contracts by European NATO navies, thanks to innovative solutions and its proven reliability as an industrial partner. These contracts have made Thales the de facto naval combat system partner of NATO. The first ship of the MKS 180 class will be operational in 2028. The entire programme will run for over ten years. “Winning such a substantial contract within the strict framework of an objective scoring system reinforces our global leading position in high-end naval integration. Thanks to our innovative capabilities, the German Navy will be able to execute both current and future tasks whilst substantially contributing to stability in the operational theatres all over the world.” Gerben Edelijn, CEO of Thales Netherlands. “As a partner in the MKS 180 programme, Thales Deutschland not only contributes to a high German value-added share, but also brings many years of experience in European cooperation and proven systems expertise. This programme will create new, high-quality jobs in Germany, within an exemplary framework of European defence cooperation. We will also contribute to maintaining the German Navy's operational capability at the highest level within the alliance,” Dr. Christoph Hoppe, CEO of Thales Deutschland. “We are very honoured by this notification which further solidifies our long-standing cooperation with the German Navy and Damen. We sincerely thank our customers for their continued trust. This huge contract anchors our position as global leader in high-end naval systems integration. The German Navy will benefit from cutting-edge technological systems thanks to the diversity of talents at Thales”. Patrice Caine, Chairman and CEO of Thales. * APAR: Active Phased Array Radar * AESA: Active Electronically Scanned Array Faiza Zaroual Media Relations and Social Media, Land & Naval Defence, Thales Group faiza.zaroual@thalesgroup.com Press office : +33(0)1 57 77 86 26 +33 (0)7 81 48 80 41 @ThalesDefence View source version on Thales Group: https://thales-group.prezly.com/damen-and-thales-to-build-the-german-mks-180-frigate-of-the-future?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=TCKM