February 14, 2024 | International, Aerospace
The next-generation Baseline 4 mission systems will deliver powerful, long-range electromagnetic attack capabilities to disrupt and suppress the enemy’s use of the electromagnetic spectrum for communications, navigation, and air defense.
April 28, 2023 | International, Other Defence
Taiwan and Canada are currently negotiating a trade agreement that will grant both sides favoured treatment in the others’ market and prohibit discrimination that favours domestic or other international investors.
May 14, 2020 | International, Aerospace
By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The COVID-19 pandemic has not had an impact on the production and delivery of Apache helicopters, but Boeing is closely watching the international supply chain for signs of slowdown, a company official said Tuesday. The coronavirus impact going forward is difficult to predict, said T.J. Jamison, Boeing's director of vertical lift international sales. Still, he expressed a belief that the company should be able to stay on track with its plans to produce more than 100 Apache models in 2020. While production on the CH-47 Chinook and V-22 Osprey in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area was stopped for two weeks in April, the Mesa, Arizona, Boeing plant that produces the Apache never had to stop work. However, there have been a number of individuals working remotely, primarily from the sales team; it will likely be a month or more before they are all back working at their desks, Jamison said. Some international customers have signaled that “we might need a potential slowdown in operations. But not one has said: ‘Hey, we need to cancel these orders because of the COVID-19 issue,' ” Jamison said. “There have been no cancellations, and there have been no significant requests for delay.” However, just like the Pentagon, the company is closely watching the international supply chain. For the Apache, that includes fuselage production in Hydrabad, India (managed by Tata) and in Sacheon, South Korea (managed by Korea Aerospace Industries). Boeing's decision to maintain two suppliers for that production has “served us very well” in the current situation, Jamison said, adding that while India has been hit hard by COVID-19 and is undergoing government-mandated shutdowns, the Korea Aerospace Industries plant is able to keep production on track. “We really do not like to have a single point of failure with any of our components that we receive through the supply chain,” he said. “There hasn't been a dramatic impact to the supply chain today. Again, I don't have that crystal ball and I can't tell you how this pandemic is going to play out. But right now, there hasn't been a dramatic impact.” https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/05/13/no-covid-impacts-on-apache-production-supply-chain-says-boeing/
October 22, 2019 | International, Land
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army has invited four teams to compete to build prototypes for its future light Robotic Combat Vehicle, according to an announcement on the National Advanced Mobility Consortium's website. Out of a large pool of white paper submissions, a Textron and Howe & Howe team, a team of Qinetiq North America and Pratt & Miller, HDT Global and Oshkosh were each issued a request for prototype proposal. The Army plans to procure a light, medium and heavy RCV as part of an effort to bring next-generation combat vehicle capability to the force by 2028. The RCV-Light competition is being managed by the NAMC. While the Army is the decision maker, the consortium is tasked to execute the competition and is also running the RCV-Medium effort. The Army is expected to award up to two contracts toward the end of the second quarter of this fiscal year to deliver four non-developmental RCV-L surrogate vehicles for government evaluation, testing and manned-unmanned teaming experimentation over the course of a year. The RCV-M effort is not far behind the RCV-L as white paper submissions are currently being evaluated for down-select. NAMC also executed a week-long RCV market research demonstration with the Army at Texas A&M's RELLIS campus in May in order to better inform requirements. Out of the companies chosen to move forward, only Oshkosh was not present at the event. At the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference, Textron and Howe & Howe dramatically unveiled their RCV Ripsaw M5, which is based on Howe & Howe's deep history of building unmanned ground vehicles, but adds technology like scalable armor and suspension and drive options to cope with the challenges expected in the future fight. FLIR Systems is also part of the team, contributing advanced sensors. “Bringing together Howe & Howe, Textron Systems and FLIR Systems really represents a dream team,” Textron's CEO Lisa Atherton, said in a statement released at the show. “We formed this team based on our shared focus to serve this customer with disruptive ideas and proven experience, and we are dedicated to meeting and exceeding their requirements through the RCV program.” The team told Defense News before AUSA that it planned to submit a version of Ripsaw both for the light and medium variant of the Army's RCV. HDT brought its Hunter WOLF to AUSA, and Qinetiq North America announced its partnership with Pratt & Miller at the show. Qinetiq and Pratt & Miller plan to submit a variant of the Expeditionary Modular Autonomous Vehicle (EMAV) tailored for the Army's needs. The offering combines Qinetiq's modular open-architecture control systems with Pratt & Miller's advanced mobility platform. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2019/10/21/the-field-narrows-in-light-robotic-combat-vehicle-competition/