April 6, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Saab and FMV Extend Support and Maintenance Contract for Gripen
The order value amounts to approximately SEK 1.6 billion for the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 December 2022
March 26, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Pentagon: We’re Buying Boeing F-15s to Keep 2 Fighter Makers in Business
BY MARCUS WEISGERBER
The acting defense secretary's ties to the company had nothing to do with the decision, a senior defense official said Friday.
The decision to buy new Boeing F-15s reflects the Pentagon's desire to keep two American companies making fighter jets into the next decade — and not the acting defense secretary's ties to the company, a senior defense official said Friday.
The 2020 budget request contains $1.1 billion to buy eight F-15X jets, a new variant of an aircraft the Air Force last bought nearly a decade ago. The twin-tailed plane was chosen over Lockheed's cheaper single-engine F-16 in part to keep a second U.S. manufacturer in the tactical-jet business as the Pentagon begins exploring new technologies for a new generation of warplanes, the official said.
“One of the considerations was the diversity of the industrial base,” the official said. “If we look at something as important as the tactical aircraft industrial base and we look forward into sixth-generation [fighter] production and competition and that kind of stuff,...gaining diversity in that industrial base is going to be critical.”
The senior defense official emphasized that Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, who formerly worked as a Boeing executive, was not involved in the decision to buy the F-15X.
Full article: https://www.defenseone.com/business/2019/03/pentagon-were-buying-f-15s-keep-2-fighter-makers-business/155773
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August 20, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Saab Signs Contract to provide Belgium with a Combat Training Centre
19 August 2019 - Saab has signed a supply contract with the Belgian MoD for the deliveries of training systems to the Belgian Army. The order value is approximately SEK 160 million and deliveries will take place in 2021. The contract includes providing a complete training centre with infantry simulators, anti-tank simulators, vehicle systems and communication systems for controlling, monitoring and collecting training data to enable detailed analysis of exercises. The support contract will be negotiated separately later on. One of the requirements was interoperability with NATO, and with Saab's training system Belgium will be capable of participating in multinational exercises. “This means Belgium will share the same standards as members in the Interoperability User Community (IUC). They can therefore take part in multinational exercises together with, among others, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK and the US 7thArmy,” says Åsa Thegström, head of the business unit Training & Simulation within Saab's business area Dynamics. “The Belgian Army has used our training systems for the last four years and have clearly seen the benefits of realistic training. This order strengthens our position as one of the world's leading suppliers of solutions for combat training,” says Henrik Vassallo, head of the country unit France & Benelux within Saab's market area Europe. The business unit Training & Simulation develops, manufactures and markets advanced military training equipment, such as laser simulator systems, instrumented training systems and target equipment. It also provides service and maintenance for delivered systems. https://saabgroup.com/media/news-press/news/2019-08/saab-signs-contract-to-provide-belgium-with-a-combat-training-centre/
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July 9, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Les Armées face au défi des drones
Faisant suite aux deux rapports parlementaires à l'Assemblée nationale et au Sénat, Le Figaro consacre une double page aux drones militaires. Pour la ministre des Armées, la menace des drones « s'accroît et s'accélère », a-t-elle déclaré en assistant, à Biscarrosse, à un premier tir antidrone par laser. « C'est un véritable enjeu technologique, car il s'agit de faire face à une menace qui ne peut pas toujours être prise en compte par notre défense aérienne classique : elle est trop petite, trop lente, trop basse et avec une signature radar trop faible » poursuit la ministre. Pour y répondre, les systèmes Milad ou Bassalt conçus avec le groupe ADP ont déjà été utilisés à l'occasion de la fête nationale ou du sommet du G7 à Biarritz. En outre, le système Arlad est capable de détecter un objet volant entre 700 mètres et 1 kilomètre et d'orienter un tir de destruction automatique. Toutefois, la « chaîne détection-identification-neutralisation n'est pas encore consolidée » reconnaissent les armées. Les régiments vont donc aussi s'équiper de fusils brouilleurs Nerod. Dans le domaine offensif, la France cherche à rattraper son retard. « Nous allons multiplier le nombre d'aéronefs au sein de l'armée de terre par plus de 10 pour passer de 250 en 2017 à 3 000 en 2023 », explique le lieutenant-colonel Pierre-Yves. Par ailleurs, s'agissant des munitions rôdeuses, le général François Lecointre, chef d'état-major des armées, s'est montré clair : « l'emploi de munitions rôdeuses n'est pas acceptable d'un point de vue éthique. Les drones que nous utilisons permettent de contrôler la munition tirée sur la cible qui est identifiée précisément jusqu'au moment du déclenchement du tir ».