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  May 13, 2024 | International, Land

  AVON awarded UK Ministry of Defence General Service Respirator contract worth up to £38M

  The contract, over four years, with five further 12-month option periods is valued at up to £38 million.

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  December 31, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Four big questions for the Air Force in 2019

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — As the Air Force leaves 2018 behind and flies into into a new year, the service may face some big changes to its organization and aircraft inventory. Expect to see a lot of these questions answered with the release of the fiscal year 2020 budget, which officials have said will be released in early February. Neither outgoing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis nor its acting head Patrick Shanahan has confirmed a topline budget for the department — the latest reports peg it at $750 billion, up from the $733 billion the Pentagon originally planned for and the $700 billion that President Donald Trump mandated afterward. However, much of this could be dependent on whether the Air Force sees a funding bump this year. What's going on with that F-15X buy? Rumors have swirled for more than a year about whether the Air Force could buy additional F-15s, but it appears that the service will begin purchasing more of Boeing's air superiority jet. On Dec. 21, Bloomberg reported that the Air Force will request 12 F-15Xs for about $1.2 billion as part of the FY20 budget request. The F-15X will be a new variant of the F-15 that includes a new electronic warfare suite, radar, cockpit and the ability to carry more missiles. Bloomberg reports that the decision to buy the new aircraft stems from top Pentagon leaders who want new F-15s to replace the aging models used by the Air National Guard — and pointedly not the Air Force, which has been resistant to buying new, fourth-generation planes. In September, when asked whether the service was considering the purchase of the F-15X, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said the service needed to use its purchasing power to buy more fifth-generation fighter jets like the F-35. "We are currently 80 percent fourth-gen aircraft and 20 percent fifth-generation aircraft,” she said. "In any of the fights that we have been asked to plan for, more fifth-gen aircraft make a huge difference, and we think that getting to 50-50 means not buying new fourth-gen aircraft, it means continuing to increase the fifth generation.” One thing to keep an eye on is how Wilson and her uniformed counterpart, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein, justify the purchase of new F-15s, and how they characterize their own levels of support for the initiative. A lack of enthusiasm could be seen as damning on Capitol Hill. The other big questions: Will the number for FY20 hold if there is more budget fluctuation following Mattis' departure? And what does the Air Force's five-year plan look like? That could provide a hint on just how big this investment ultimately may get. Does the Air Force buy light attack aircraft? The Air Force was supposed to put out a final request for proposals this year for new light attack aircraft. That has officially been pushed back until 2019, leaving two competitors in a state of purgatory. If the service moves forward with a competition, it will come down to Textron's AT-6 and the A-29 Super Tucano made by Embraer and Sierra Nevada Corp. But industry sources are still unsure whether the Air Force will commit to a formal program of record. Another major question is just how big the program will be. If fewer than 100 planes are purchased, those will likely be deployed exclusively by Air Force Special Operations Command for low-intensity combat, Maj. Gen. Scott Pleus, Air Combat Command's director of plans, programs, and requirements, told Air Force Magazine. A larger buy of hundreds of aircraft would allow the Air Force to spread its light attack planes more widely, through the United States, Europe and the Asia-Pacific. How do Air Force space operations change with the addition of a Space Force? The Pentagon's latest draft proposal would funnel the new military branch for space operations under the Department of the Air Force, a decision that would give the Air Force a continued voice on national security space pursuits. The service would be led by a Space Force chief of staff and an undersecretary of the Air Force for the Space Force, who would report to the Air Force secretary. This seemingly gives the service's top civilian a considerable amount of authority over the Space Force. Still yet to be seen is whether that solution will satisfy Congress. Rep. Adam Smith, the incoming head of the House Armed Services Committee, remains skeptical about the need for a separate military branch for space, but other lawmakers may be more bullish about the Space Force's need to remain separate from the Air Force. Another big question is what this means for the military's current space organization. Does Air Force Space Command and the Space and Missile Systems Center transfer over to the Space Force? Do the Navy and Army keep their own portions of the military space enterprise? And who is going to get named as the undersecretary of the Air Force for the Space Force, anyway? Will there be some restructuring of Air Force headquarters at the Pentagon? Earlier this month, Heidi Grant, the outgoing deputy secretary of the Air Force for international affairs, confirmed that the service is considering transferring some of her office's strategy development functions to the Air Staff's office for plans and requirements, also known as the A5. This, she said, was part of a larger reorganization currently being considered by service leadership. These internal decisions reportedly aren't tied to the budget, and Grant said the Air Force could come out with a decision as early as January. However, leaders have said little about what sort of changes have been proposed. Is this just the transfer of some responsibilities from one office to another, or might we see some consolidation or the creation of new offices as a result of the deliberations? https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/12/27/four-big-questions-for-the-air-force-in-2019/

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  February 25, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Astra Transformation Could Enable Nonpilots To Command RAF

  Tony Osborne LONDON—For decades, the top role as Chief of Air Staff in Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) has been the preserve of either pilots or aircrewmen. But that tradition could be turned on its head. Senior officers are undertaking a transformation plan called Astra that aims to better harness the RAF's personnel and prepare the air arm for new technologies and multidomain warfare. This includes those in space and cyberspace as the service strives to be ready for the 2040s. And one of the most tangible changes could be a move away from pilots taking up the most senior command posts. Since 1950, only one Chief of the Air Staff has not had a background flying either fighters or bombers, said Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford, who served in the role from 2013 to 2016 with a background as a helicopter pilot. The current air chief, Air Marshal Michael Wigston, previously flew the Panavia Tornado. Before 1950, some of the most famous chiefs, including Sir Hugh Trenchard—often described as the father of the RAF—and Sir Arthur Tedder served in the infantry. “In the old days, predominantly it was what the pilots said that mattered. That's because we operated in a domain that was an exclusive preserve of pilots,” said Air Vice Marshall Ian Gale, assistant chief of the air staff for strategy. He spoke to journalists here on Feb. 24 as the air arm gears up for its annual Air and Space Power conference in July. “We have quite significant amounts of untapped cognitive diversity that we are trying to break into and give a voice to.” Always selecting pilots for the top job is seen by those in other air force posts as a career-limiting glass ceiling. But Gale argues the role should in the future should go to the “best person for the job,” and that could be a “battlespace manager, a cyber specialist or a space specialist.” Selection of a nonpilot for the role of Chief of Air Staff would, Gale said, “send a zero-message outside the air force, but a huge message inside it ... knowing that they may have a role in directing the future of the organization.” Other benefits of Astra will be the introduction of greater automation into tasks, with Gale hinting at new approaches to air traffic control. This is an issue of particular relevance as the RAF is suffering personnel shortages in this area, which is impacting training operations at some bases. This may suggest the RAF is looking at remote tower operations for some of its quieter airfields. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/astra-transformation-could-enable-nonpilots-command-raf