May 20, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
DÉFENSE
Pour monter en cadence, le secteur français de la Défense a besoin de visibilité
La France a admis, le 22 avril dernier, qu'elle livrait 6 à 12 canons Caesar à l'Ukraine. Ces pièces seront, en effet, prélevées sur les 76 Caesar en service dans l'armée de Terre, qui prévoit d'en avoir 109 dans dix ans (neufs ou modernisés). Le secteur français de la Défense, s'il n'y a pas de hausse de production liée à la guerre pour le moment, s'inquiète sur la contrainte qui pèse sur son industrie. Pour le PDG de MBDA, Eric Béranger, « L'industrie s'adaptera en fonction de ce qu'on lui demandera » et les délais de mobilisation de l'outil industriel « dépendront des moyens qu'on y met ». Les industriels pourront certainement monter en cadence, mais ils auront besoin de prévisibilité, prévient le GICAT (le Groupement des industries de l'armement terrestre). Depuis la parution d'un rapport parlementaire en février 2022, la France prévoit de consentir un effort financier considérable, de plusieurs milliards d'euros, qui s'ajouteraient à la Loi de Programmation Militaire 2019-2025. « Nous percevons une volonté d'investir dans la Défense et c'est une énorme opportunité de renforcer la souveraineté de l'Europe », se félicite Eric Béranger, dont le groupe affiche un chiffre d'affaires en hausse de 16% en 2021 et un carnet de commandes de 17,8 Md€. A condition que ces crédits profitent à des industriels européens.
Le Monde du 20 mai
November 12, 2023 | International, Aerospace
Airbus aims to shed 750 posts as part of a newly announced reorganisation of defence and space activities, union sources said, marking an adjustment equivalent to 2% of its headcount.
August 7, 2018 | International, Aerospace
By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The Air Force is preparing to begin buying light attack aircraft next year — and the winner is going to be either Textron's AT-6 Wolverine or the Sierra Nevada Corp.-Embraer A-29 Super Tucano. According to a pre-solicitation posted on FedBizOpps on Aug. 3, the service will put out a final request for proposals to the two competitors in December with the hopes of awarding a contract by the end of September 2019. However, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told Defense News on Monday that service leaders have not yet made a final decision on whether to green-light a program of record. Should that happen, the pre-solicitation will ensure that the service can move as quickly as it would like to eventually procure new planes, she said. If the new weapons program moves forward, it appears the service will limit the competition to the two aircraft currently involved in the service's light attack experiment. The pre-solicitation states that SNC and Textron Aviation “are the only firms that appear to possess the capability necessary to meet the requirement within the Air Force's time frame without causing an unacceptable delay in meeting the needs of the warfighter.” The Air Force's decision to only consider the A-29 and AT-6 had been foreshadowed by officials like Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, its top uniformed acquisition officer, who repeatedly stated that the service would likely limit a competition to those two participants. Full Article: https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/08/06/the-light-attack-aircraft-competition-will-be-down-to-two-competitors/
May 11, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Pentagon spending on missiles, satellites, and nuclear weapons fuels a production boom, as firms fight off commercial aerospace downturn. As U.S. unemployment reached its highest level since the Great Depression amid the coronavirus pandemic, some of America's largest defense firms are hiring thousands of workers to build fast-flying missiles, satellites and nuclear weapons. Even amid nationwide social distancing practices, companies are interviewing job candidates through video conferencing and other technology as they look to fill positions on national security projects that Pentagon leaders want to keep on schedule. “[W]e recognize that providing jobs during this period of economic downturn is also critically important,” Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson said last month on the company's quarterly earnings call. “We are committed to continued hiring during this crisis.” Lockheed, the world's largest defense company, already has hired more than 2,365 new employees since March when many U.S. companies began furloughing or layoff workers amid coronavirus stay-at-home orders. In addition, Lockheed is “actively recruiting for over 4,600 roles,” in 39 states and Washington, D.C., the company said in a statement Friday. Northrop Grumman says it could hire as many 10,000 this year. Raytheon Technologies another 2,000. Boeing, which is preparing to cut 10 percent of its 160,000-employee workforce as the airlines predict at least a three-year drop in sales, is advertising more than 600 open positions in the United States, largely in its defense, space, cybersecurity and intelligence units. Pentagon spending on missiles, satellites, and nuclear weapons fuels a production boom, as firms fight off commercial aerospace downturn. As U.S. unemployment reached its highest level since the Great Depression amid the coronavirus pandemic, some of America's largest defense firms are hiring thousands of workers to build fast-flying missiles, satellites and nuclear weapons. Even amid nationwide social distancing practices, companies are interviewing job candidates through video conferencing and other technology as they look to fill positions on national security projects that Pentagon leaders want to keep on schedule. “[W]e recognize that providing jobs during this period of economic downturn is also critically important,” Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson said last month on the company's quarterly earnings call. “We are committed to continued hiring during this crisis.” Lockheed, the world's largest defense company, already has hired more than 2,365 new employees since March when many U.S. companies began furloughing or layoff workers amid coronavirus stay-at-home orders. In addition, Lockheed is “actively recruiting for over 4,600 roles,” in 39 states and Washington, D.C., the company said in a statement Friday. Northrop Grumman says it could hire as many 10,000 this year. Raytheon Technologies another 2,000. Boeing, which is preparing to cut 10 percent of its 160,000-employee workforce as the airlines predict at least a three-year drop in sales, is advertising more than 600 open positions in the United States, largely in its defense, space, cybersecurity and intelligence units. Northrop Grumman, the fourth-largest U.S. defense company, expects “significant headcount growth this year because of the program volume increases... sales growth, as well as the anticipated awards in the latter half of this year,” CEO Kathy Warden said on the company's quarterly earnings call last week. The company also has been increasingly winning classified contracts as the U.S. military has shifted spending to develop new weapons to counter China. Northrop is building a new stealth bomber and a new intercontinental ballistic missile for the Air Force. “We are actively recruiting for 10,000 open positions and we hired more than 3,500 people in the first quarter, which included more than 1,300 new hires in March,” Warden said. That said, those 10,000 might not all materialize as attrition rates drop as the broad job market contracts. A portion of those positions that would only make it on the books should Northrop win new government contracts. “[W]e only do that hiring if we indeed get those awards as we look forward,” Warden said. https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/05/us-defense-firms-hiring-thousands-amid-record-unemployment/165270/