Safran appoints new CEOs for its Aircraft Engines, Electrical & Power units

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  January 15, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  France hires two firms to soup up jets with an electronic warfare capability

  By: Christina Mackenzie PARIS — France has awarded a contract for Archange, its strategic airborne intelligence program aimed at strengthening the country's signals intelligence capabilities, to Thales and Dassault Aviation. The procurement agency DGA awarded the contract on Dec. 30, but it wasn't announced until Tuesday. The program was launched Nov. 18 by Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly. The companies would not specify how much the contract was worth. Thales is expected to install a universal electronic warfare capability on three Dassault-manufactured Falcon 8X aircraft, although the announced deal is only for two aircraft. Another contract is expected to cover a third aircraft at a later date. The first two aircraft should, by 2025, replace the two Transall C-160 Gabriel aircraft that provide the French Air Force which signals intelligence. The electronic warfare system, known by its French acronym CUGE (capacité universelle de guerre électronique), will make use of sigint technologies developed by Thales over the past decade to enable the system to simultaneously detect and analyze radio and radar signals. Thales said in a statement that this is possible thanks to multipolarization antennas and the use of artificial intelligence for automated data processing. The tri-jet Falcon 8X is Dassault's flagship business jet. It has a range of 7,500 miles, but a spokesman for Dassault told Defense News that this did not necessarily mean the sigint version, called Archange (avion de renseignement à charge utile de nouvel génération), would have the same range. The contract also includes the supply of a ground-based training platform, which will be based at Evreux, south of Paris. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/01/14/france-hires-two-firms-to-soup-up-jets-with-an-electronic-warfare-capability/

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  December 3, 2021 | International, Aerospace

  Rafaut Group, nouveau champion européen de la défense

  Rafaut Group, sous-traitant du Rafale de Dassault Aviation, aspire à grandir à l'échelle européenne. La PME française pèse désormais 160 M€ de chiffre d'affaires pour 640 salariés, et ambitionne d'atteindre les 250 M€ de chiffre d'affaires en 2025. Basée à Villeneuve-la-Garenne (Hauts-de-Seine), Rafaut Group est spécialisé dans les systèmes d'emports et d'éjection, mais aussi les réservoirs carburants et d'autres équipements. Après une réorganisation et une modernisation de ses sites, le groupe veut devenir un fournisseur de premier rang. Soutenu par le fonds d'investissement HLD (actionnaire majoritaire avec 55% du capital), aux côtés d'ACE (Tikehau), d'Etoile Capital et de BNP Paribas, le groupe a acquis différentes entreprises depuis trois ans : AEds, Secapem, Alkan... Des acquisitions qui lui ont permis de renforcer ses compétences dans les hélicoptères, systèmes d'entrainements pour pilotes ou encore des systèmes d'emport et d'éjection. Mais le groupe tient à maintenir une stratégie duale, et pourrait viser prochainement une acquisition dans le secteur civil. Le groupe s'intéresse également aux drones, et travaille à la numérisation de ses sites comme ceux de Villeneuve-la-Garenne et Vitry, dans le cadre du programme Industrie du Futur chapeauté par le GIFAS. L'Usine Nouvelle de décembre 2021

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  February 17, 2021 | International, Land

  State Department approves possible $197M missile sale to Egypt

  By Christen McCurdy Feb. 16 (UPI) -- The State Department approved a possible $197 million deal Tuesday to sell RIM‑116C Rolling Airframe Missiles Block 2 tactical missiles to Egypt. According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Egypt's government has asked to buy up to 168 of the missiles. Its bid also includes shipping and storage containers, operator manuals and technical documentation as well as engineering, technical and logistical and support services. The proposed sale will support U.S. foreign policy and national security by "helping to improve the security of a Major Non-NATO Ally country that continues to be an important strategic partner in the Middle East," according to the DSCA's announcement. "The proposed sale will support the Egyptian Navy's Fast Missile Craft ships and provide significantly enhanced area defense capabilities over Egypt's coastal areas and approaches to the Suez Canal," the DSCA said. "Egypt will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces since Egypt already operates previously procured RAM Block 1A missiles," the agency said. Developed and produced cooperatively with Germany, the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile is a lightweight, quick-reaction, fire-and-forget missile built to destroy anti-ship cruise missiles and asymmetric air and surface threats. Raytheon Missiles & Defense will be the primary contractor on this sale if it goes through. At the end of December, the State Department approved a potential $104 million sale of a Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures System to Egypt. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2021/02/16/State-Department-approves-possible-197M-missile-sale-to-Egypt/3421613515782/