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September 17, 2021 | International, Aerospace

Procurement decision for powerful Navy jammer heads to court

L3Harris Technologies has filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims protesting a decision by the Government Accountability Office.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/electronic-warfare/2021/09/16/procurement-decision-for-powerful-navy-jammer-heads-to-court/

On the same subject

  • Tank-killing missile tests ‘Europe First’ weapons policy

    September 20, 2019 | International, Land

    Tank-killing missile tests ‘Europe First’ weapons policy

    By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The defense chiefs of France, Belgium and Cyprus have signed an agreement to pursue a common anti-tank missile meant for wider adoption in Europe — an effort that puts the spotlight once again on accusations of protectionism in defense programs here. The three defense ministers inked the cooperation deal for the Beyond-Line-of-Sight Land Battlefield missile project on the sidelines of a meeting of European defense chiefs in Helsinki, Finland, in late August. The goal is to develop a new “family” of missiles for integration on an “extensive variety of platforms,” according to the official project description. It would be operated by a “dedicated users' club” under a common European doctrine for such weapons. Pan-European missile company MBDA has claimed the project as its own since officials announced it under the Permanent Structured Cooperation framework, or PESCO, in fall 2018. The vendor wants to sell its Missile Moyenne Portée, or MMP, to other armies besides the French, eyeing a far-reaching partnership with Belgium on ground vehicles as a potential avenue. Aside from being handed a potentially lucrative market on the continent, products or concepts picked as PESCO leads can win sizable funding contributions from common coffers like the envisioned €13 billion (U.S. $14 billion) European Defence Fund, or EDF. MBDA executives have danced around the question of how they came to be the quasi-incumbent for the missile project, arguing that the company is the only eligible manufacturer because the weapon is wholly developed and made in Europe. At the same time, company officials coyly painted the selection of the MMP weapon as a decision still up in the air. That is because there is a formal solicitation process under the European Defence Industrial Development Programme with a closing date of Sept. 20. The process envisions weapons trials sometime in 2020 or 2021 funded by the European Union, according to an MBDA spokesman. “The next step is that we hope to achieve this trial campaign and demonstrate the capability to inform future acquisitions from European nations,” the spokesman told Defense News. The problem is, however, that several other European nations already have a different weapon in their arsenals: a variant of the Spike missile, made by Israel's Rafael and sold in Europe by Germany-based Eurospike. Over the summer, Estonia moved to buy the weapon under a €40 million deal, becoming what Rafael said is the 19th user within NATO and the EU. Germany, which seeks to drive Europe's new defense posture alongside France, also relies on Spike — both the man-portable and the vehicle-mounted variants. Eurospike officials at the DSEI defense trade expo in London, England, last week complained about being left out of the nascent European missile program. While the Spike weapon is entirely produced in Germany, it is based on Israeli technology, resulting in what one company executive in London estimated to be an overall ratio of roughly 70 percent European and 30 percent Israeli. According to still-emerging rules for access to European defense projects, only members of the European Economic Area are eligible for EDF funding and collaboration-inducing mechanisms promised by PESCO. As it stands, Britain — after it leaves the EU — and its wares likely would be in, but the Israel connection means the Spike missile is out. For now, Eurospike officials said they are closely watching the process. “I can't imagine that they will just take the market by storm,” one executive said of MBDA and its missile offering. With its industrial infighting, the anti-tank weapons serve as something of a test case for whether common projects set up under EU auspices can truly serve the purpose of increasing collaboration among member states. Industry insiders suggest that the raft of existing PESCO efforts — covering everything from battlefield communications to future naval platforms to ground vehicles — comes with a built-in potential for turf battles. In the end, it seems a good number of PESCO projects come with a vendor team pushing a specific product under the banner or European unity. And as the dust of Euro enthusiasm settles, insiders say, vendors that weren't part of the initial project considerations are bound to find out that defense cooperation on the continent is also about winners and losers. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/09/19/tank-killing-missile-tests-europe-first-weapons-policy/

  • US Space Force completes upgrade to help protect GPS capabilities

    August 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    US Space Force completes upgrade to help protect GPS capabilities

    Nathan Strout WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force has completed upgrades to the Global Position System's ground segment that will allow it to partially use a new military GPS signal known as M-code, the service announced Aug. 6. While the new anti-spoofing, anti-jamming, encrypted M-code signal has been available on many GPS satellites for years, the military has not had the corresponding ground and user equipment to access and leverage it. The $6.2 billion Next-Generation Operational Control System, or OCX, being built by Raytheon Technologies for that purpose is five years behind schedule and isn't expected to be delivered until June 2021. To provide access for war fighters in the interim, the Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a contingency operations contract in 2016 to build an M-code upgrade to the current GPS Operational Control System. That M-Code Early Use upgrade will allow war fighters with the appropriate equipment to use some aspects of the new military signal until OCX is ready. M-Code Early Use was delivered in June 2019, entered a trial period in October and was approved for everyday use in March 2020. The M-Code Early Use hardware and software upgrades were completed July 27, clearing the path for the system to enter the operational acceptance phase in November 2020. Installation took place at the master control station at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado and the alternate master control stations at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The upgrades allow OCS to task, upload and monitor M-code on the GPS constellation and will support testing and fielding military ground user equipment that can receive the signal. “Working closely with Lockheed Martin and our other mission partners — with the common national goal of providing enhanced [positioning, navigation and timing] signal security and safety always in sharp focus — means we're able to deliver the right mission capability faster to our warfighters,” said Lt. Col. Steven Nielson, program manager of the M-Code Early Use project. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/08/07/space-force-complete-m-code-upgrades-to-gps-control-segment/

  • Global Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability Extends AUKUS Partnership

    January 13, 2024 | International, Aerospace

    Global Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability Extends AUKUS Partnership

    Leaders from the three countries recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to host and operate DARC as a collaboration to expand beyond what individual nations could achieve alone in one...

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