Eve Air Mobility Signs With Two More Helicopter Operators

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  April 5, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  Lockheed Martin Collaborates with SAS on Cutting-Edge Analytics

  FORT WORTH, Texas, April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is collaborating with analytics leader SAS to deliver innovative, next-generation analytics across the company's F-35, C-130J and LM-100J programs. Proven capabilities supporting Lockheed Martin programs today also serve stakeholders integrating artificial intelligence and enabling digital transformation. Lockheed Martin's collaboration with SAS underscores the company's commitment to drive innovation that helps customers solve their toughest problems and achieve critical missions. SAS will help Lockheed Martin place powerful analytics at sustainment experts' fingertips to create new efficiencies and ensure cross-platform collaboration is effortless. SAS analytics will infuse decision-making with new insights derived from advanced machine learning, deep learning and natural language processing. "With the first phase of SAS technology completed, these new capabilities enable our data scientists and engineers to quickly develop self-service applications that provide a range of analytics-driven products and services with an initial focus on predictive maintenance, fleet performance management, intelligent diagnostics, and supply chain optimization," said Bruce Litchfield, vice president, Sustainment Operations, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. "The result will be more effective and efficient flight line operations." Powered by SAS® Viya, Lockheed Martin is deploying a broad portfolio of SAS products throughout its global technology platform. "As the industry adapts to the forces of disruptive technological change and new forms of competition, SAS stands ready to help Lockheed Martin capitalize on opportunities to deliver richer products and services from artificial intelligence, machine learning and IoT analytics deployed throughout the value chain," said Jason Mann, vice president of IoT, SAS. Tim Matthews, vice president, F-35 Sustainment Operations, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, added, "These new capabilities will help the F-35 program deliver a total performance-based logistics sustainment solution that meets warfighter needs and significantly reduces total ownership cost." About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 100,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. About SAS SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®. https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2018-04-05-Lockheed-Martin-Collaborates-with-SAS-on-Cutting-Edge-Analytics

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  October 22, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  French, German leaders provide fresh top cover for new warplane, tank projects

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — German and French officials emerged from a meeting in Toulouse, France, this week with fresh promises that a next-generation aircraft program and new European battle tank spearheaded by the two countries would advance soon. The summit declaration follows repeated reports that both projects are at risk of failure due to political and industry-related differences. In the case of the Future Combat Air System — a next-generation fighter jet with sidekick drones — Berlin and Paris have long been at odds about the exportability of the future weapon, with Germany favoring a more restrictive stance than France. Airbus and Dassault are the two main industry players in FCAS. The Main Ground Combat System — the two countries' idea for a European tank ready for action in the late 2030s — had been caught up in a maneuver by German manufacturer Rheinmetall to take over the Franco-German industry team of Nexter and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, called KNDS. According to a report in Germany's newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, officials recently came to an agreement in which Rheinmetall would become a subcontractor in the project, receiving 25 percent of the work share, with Nexter getting 50 percent and KMW getting 25 percent. The aircraft and tank projects made it into the Toulouse declaration only in passing, expressed in the typical diplomatic rhetoric of bilateral enthusiasm meant to mask whatever problems brew underneath. The envisioned cooperation “requires mutual trust and common rules,” the document read. Specifically, both sides negotiated a binding agreement on arms exports in Toulouse that would be implemented once unspecified “final steps” are taken, it added. French newspaper La Tribune reported that the Oct. 16 meeting reiterated the objective of awarding study contracts for an FCAS demonstrator early next year. That means the financial commitments will now begin to grow larger, eventually reaching a level of billions of Euros in just a few years' time. German lawmakers, meanwhile, are still awaiting details on exactly how the government plans to proceed. A formal spending request to the appropriations and defense committees was still outstanding as of this week, and a Defence Ministry spokeswoman declined to be specific on the envisioned timing in a statement to Defense News. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/10/18/french-german-leaders-provide-fresh-top-cover-for-new-warplane-tank-projects/

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  June 22, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Germany’s fighter jet race could start dropping bidders this summer

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany ― A multibillion dollar program to replace the German military's Tornado aircraft is nearing another round of decisions that could narrow the field of bidders. The due date for a “quality gate” review, as the wide-ranging analysis is called in Bundeswehr jargon, has been on the calendar for this month. But officials now say the exercise could last through the summer. The discussions are principally about realizing an extended service life for the 1970s-era Tornados, though exactly by how long remains to be seen. Closely linked to that question is an examination of what potential follow-on aircraft are best suited to pick up the legacy planes' roles in a variety of life-span scenarios. Officials emphasize that no decision has been made on who will build the new planes to replace roughly 90 Tornados. A formal competition is expected to begin later this year or early 2019 among those aircraft types still deemed suitable by the government at that time. In the running is the Eurofigher Typhoon, Lockheed Martin's F-35, and Boeing's F-15 and F-18. The Typhoon is made by a European consortium of Airbus, Leonardo and BAE Systems. Defence Ministry officials have said they prefer the Eurofighter option, arguing that keeping the European aircraft industry busy will be key in strengthening the continent's defense capabilities. That goes especially for the Franco-German alliance in charge of developing a combat-capable aerial drone and, later, a sixth-generation Future Combat Air System. Some in the Luftwaffe, the German air force, are rooting for the F-35. The affinity partly stems from personnel exchanges with the U.S. Air Force, giving German pilots some exposure to the marquee American defense program. All companies delivered their formal offers to the Defence Ministry in April, coinciding with the ILA Berlin air show. Lockheed Martin staged a sizable promotional showing at the event for its F-35, mixing promises about the jet's advanced capabilities with a professed obliviousness to the political minefield of Europe's economic powerhouse that is Germany weighing a U.S. aircraft at this time. As German analysts continue to crunch the numbers on the Tornado-replacement effort, Reuters reported this week that Berlin requested information from the Pentagon in April about what it would take to certify the Eurofighter to deliver nuclear weapons. NATO policies for nuclear burden-sharing dictate that German pilots will carry American atomic bombs in case of a war on the continent. The Luftwaffe has set aside a number of Tornados for that purpose, and any follow-on aircraft will have to be configured to carry out the mission. While the Pentagon has no say over which jet Germany will eventually pick, officials in Washington must approve the integration of American nuclear bombs on the aircraft. Citing sources on both sides of the Atlantic, Reuters reported that the process could take up to 10 years and that the F-35 was in line for the nuclear weapons integration before the Eurofighter would be considered. A wait time of seven years could conflict with Berlin's plan to begin phasing out Tornados starting in 2025. But according to officials, that's where the fine-tuning of the “quality gate” could come into play, making it possible to alter the timing accordingly. “We are confident that Eurofighter Typhoon can deliver all the capabilities the German Air Force requires and perform all the roles that are currently performed on Tornado for Germany,” a Eurofighter spokesman said. “This of course includes the nuclear role.” https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/06/21/germanys-fighter-jet-race-could-start-dropping-bidders-this-summer/