January 14, 2020 | International, Aerospace
By: Valerie Insinna
WASHINGTON — Last year, the Air Force tapped seven defense companies for a $6.4 billion opportunity for “Red Air” training where contracted pilots pose as aggressors in air-to-air combat. With the fiscal 2020 budget finally approved, those firms are hungry to hear for more information about when and where they start flying.
The companies — Air USA Inc., Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC), Blue Air Training, Coastal Defense, Draken International, Tactical Air Support and Top Aces Corp. — currently find themselves waiting for the next phase of the competition, when the Air Force will issue individual work orders for a total of 22 bases that will allow contractors to begin flying this year.
“I think we've all watched the Air Force program develop over the last two years kind of in awe at the size of it and the ambition, the commitment they're making to have enough adversaries out there to challenge their pilots,” said Russ Bartlett, CEO of Textron Airborne Solutions, which is the parent company of ATAC. “That's great for industry, because the Air Force knows they need to do that.”
Unlike major programs for weapon systems, which have a dedicated line item in the budget, the work orders for adversary air services will be paid out of the operations and maintenance account, which is more flexible. While the Air Force's FY20 budget request flags a $151 million increase for “contract air training,” it's unclear how much of that amount will ultimately be set aside for that adversary air services.
It will be up to Air Combat Command “to decide how much money they're going to put against the adversary air budget. So we're really just waiting to figure out how that all works,” said Russ Quinn, president of Top Aces. “We and the program office are looking very forward to hearing how Air Combat Command is planning on funding the contract.”
Draken International is already conducting aggressor flights at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., as part of a five-year contract awarded in 2018. That work is helping the company keep its Red Air planes ready ahead of work at other bases, said Sean Gustafson, Draken's vice president of business development.
"We're flying 6,000 to 7,000 hours a year out there right now,” he said. “We're excited for the task orders to come out shortly, looking to expand and set up operations on the East Coast and then supporting those bases.”
The Draken pilots, who currently fly the Aero Vodochody L-159E Honey Badger and Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, regularly deploy from Nellis AFB and visit other installations, including Hill AFB in Utah, Eglin AFB in Fla., and Holloman AFB in N.M.
The company will begin adding Mirage F1s to the mix next month, Gustafson said.
“We're very excited about that, because that will be the first radar-equipped, supersonic aircraft in the industry. We have the first three [of 24 total] going out there in February,” he said. The company has also purchased 12 radar- equipped, supersonic Atlas Cheetah fighters that will help cover Air Force requirements outside of Nellis.
Meanwhile, the other companies are doing training and modifications necessary to get their aggressor fleets ready to fly whenever the U.S. Air Force decides it needs those planes.
Top Aces has purchased 29 used F-16s from an undisclosed user specifically for the Air Force's adversary air contract. Those aircraft are not yet in the United States, but Quinn is confident that the company will have the aircraft in hand in early spring, he said.
After that, Top Aces will begin modifying each jet with an open architecture system that will allow the company to more easily outfit the aircraft with a range of radar, sensors, electronic warfare pods or other technologies that increase the capability of Red Air forces, he said.
Depending on whether the company wins a contract with Germany for adversary air services, it may also have excess capacity with its Douglas A-4N Skyhawk fleet, which it could also offer to help supplement the U.S. Air Force's needs, Quinn said.
ATAC plans to use its new fleet of Mirage F1 jets to meet the Air Force's requirements. So far, the company has fully trained one F1 pilot, who flew the first ATAC Mirage in August. Another two pilots were set to begin training in December, Bartlett said late last year.
“On the airplane side, we're in really good shape. Sixty-three airplanes is a huge win for us. There are a lot of economies of scale that we intend to capitalize on,” he said. “The challenge is going to be — of course — hiring and retaining pilots. The services are trying keep their pilots and grow their pilot cadres; the airlines are hiring aggressively and paying lucrative salaries, and this industry is growing by leaps and bounds with just this Air Force program.”
So far, recruiting pilots has not been a problem for Draken, Gustafson said. The company has employed 52 aggressor pilots to meet the demands of its contract with Nellis, and has a “stack of resumes” from pilots that jobs as the company expands to other bases.
“We're doing well on [hiring],” he said. “Some folks, they don't want to go to the airlines. They recently retired from the military and they want to keep flying fighters.”
The company is looking to grow its fleet with new aircraft, as well, he added.
“We should have some pretty exciting news about five to six months from now,” he said.
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/01/13/red-air-providers-prep-for-a-big-year
May 17, 2021 | International, Land
The international event is meant to initiate an “opening wave” of interested countries from the European Union, NATO and elsewhere – provided that Germany and France agree on the prerequisites.
May 8, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval
By: Joe Gould NATIONAL HARBOR — The Romanian Navy is exploring the purchase of a new drone for its expansion and modernization plans, the chief of the Romanian Naval Forces said Monday. Amid growing tensions with Russia on the Black Sea, the service is looking at a “totally new” unmanned aerial system for the maritime and riverine domain, Vice Adm. Alexandru Mirsu said at the Sea-Air-Space forum here. The capability would be used by Romania's Danube flotilla and for coastal surveillance, operated from the shoreline, Mirsu said. He did not provide a timeframe or a budget for the possible acquisition. Plans are underway to buy four new multipurpose corvettes as the core of the Romanian navy, and to modernize its Type 22 frigates. Also expected are purchases of new coastal missile batteries and three new submarines — all part of Romania's commitment to spending 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense for the next decade. The idea is to expand Romania's presence in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean and elswhere as needed by allies, and to maintain a submarine program beyond 2030. Mirsu has previously said the submarines are needed to ensure Romania's operational capacities in the Black Sea, as the one Kilo-class submarine does not meet that need. Its Delfinul submarine was reportedly withdrawn from service and was being used for training purposes. Mirsu also pointed to “a new iron curtain” of Russian anti access/area denial (A2/AD) hubs in Kaliningrad, Sevastopol and Syria. He lauded major multinational exercises and NATO operations on the Black Sea for sending a message that the Black Sea is open, and an international body of water. Romania led NATO's Poseidon antisubmarine exercise on the Black Sea in March. Also notable, the Romanian-led Sea Shield in April involved 20 ships and crews from Romania, Bulgaria, Canada, Greece, the Netherlands and Turkey, all working with maritime patrol aircraft from the U.S. and Turkey. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/navy-league/2019/05/07/romania-eyes-new-maritime-drone-to-counter-russia
December 1, 2020 | International, C4ISR
Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — Raytheon's intelligence and space business is partnering with C3.ai, a software company known for its predictive maintenance business with the U.S. Air Force, the companies announced Monday. The alliance between C3.ai and Raytheon Intelligence and Space aims to speed up artificial intelligence adoption across the U.S. military. The partnership will pair Raytheon's expertise in the defense and aerospace sector with C3.ai's artificial intelligence development and applications. “The military and intelligence community have access to more data now than any time in history, but it's more than they're able to make quick use of,” said David Appel, vice president of defense and civil solutions for space and C2 systems under Raytheon Intelligence and Space. “Artificial intelligence can be used to help them make sense of that data, which will allow them to make smarter decisions faster on the battlefield. And that's just one of the benefits.” In recent years, C3.ai has positioned itself as a trusted partner of the Air Force, providing predictive maintenance capabilities for the service's E-3, C-5 Galaxy, F-15, F-16, F-18 and F-35 aircraft. The Pentagon's Silicon Valley arm that helped bridge C3.ai into the Pentagon, the Defense Innovation Unit, estimated that the program could save the service $15 billion annually in maintenance funds if it was scaled to the Defense Department's entire aircraft fleet. In January, DIU awarded a five-year, $95 million contract to C3.ai for predictive maintenance. The alliance between the two companies will also focus on helping the intelligence community. “Raytheon and C3.ai are driven by similar purposes: Anticipating and solving our customers' most difficult problems,” said Thomas Siebel, CEO of C3.ai. “Together, we offer an end-to-end enterprise AI platform and mission-tailored applications that will dramatically reduce cost and risk, accelerate adoption and deployment of AI solutions, and scale the impact of AI across any organization.” In September, the Air Force's rapid sustainment office selected C3.ai's C3 AI Suite platform and C3 AI Readiness product to support predictive maintenance across the service's enterprise. “Raytheon and C3.ai represent key partners for the U.S. Air Force, and specifically the Rapid Sustainment Office, in realizing the vision of harnessing AI to transform the military into a digital organization,” said Nathan Parker, deputy program executive officer for the Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office. “Fulfilling this vision of broad implementation requires identifying applicable use cases for AI across the Air Force, rapidly piloting solutions, and scaling successes across our enterprise to accelerate the transformation.” Also on Monday, C3.ai announced that it will be launching an initial public offering. It expects shares to be valued between $31-$34. https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2020/11/30/raytheon-and-c3ai-announce-alliance-on-artificial-intelligence-solutions/