March 8, 2021 | International, Aerospace
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The US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) has announced that key communication upgrades are being delivered to the E-4B fleet.
August 11, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Support to pursue Hawaii-based missile defense radar continues after DoD drops funding
By: Jen Judson
WASHINGTON — Support is growing both in Congress and in the Pentagon to pursue a Hawaii-based ballistic missile defense radar that the Missile Defense Agency did not include in its fiscal 2021 funding request.
Previous MDA budget requests in FY19 and FY20 asked for funding for the discriminating radar as well as another somewhere else in the Pacific. The plan in FY19 was to field the Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii, or HDR-H, by FY23, which meant military construction would have taken place beginning in FY21. Then in FY20, MDA requested $247.7 million for the radar. Lockheed Martin received an award to develop the radar in December 2018.
But in FY21, funding for both the Hawaiian radar and the Pacific radar was missing in the request. MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said in February, when the request was released, that the agency decided to hit the brakes on its plans to set up the radars in the Pacific, instead planning to take a new look at the sensor architecture in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command region to figure out what is necessary to handle emerging threats.
Hill noted that the area is covered by a forward-deployed AN/TPY-2 radar in Hawaii as well as the deployable Sea-Based X-Band radar. Additionally, Aegis ships with their radars are mobile and can be repositioned as needed to address threats in the near term, he added.
Yet, over the summer, the Hawaiian radar gained traction in Congress via funding support in the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee's version of the FY21 defense spending bill and the Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the defense policy bill.
The House subcommittee injected $133 million to pursue the homeland defense radar in Hawaii, and the SASC added in $162 million to continue HDR-H development. The SASC also included language that essentially reminded the Pentagon that HDR-H was a response to a mandate in the FY18 National Defense Authorization Act to improve coverage for the threat of ballistic missiles in Hawaii.
The HDR-H was also listed as an unfunded requirement for FY21 by Indo-Pacific Command.
The SASC also directed the MDA to provide an updated plan that accounts for delays related to finding a site in Hawaii, noting it expects the Pentagon to fund the program in subsequent budget requests.
During a presentation at the virtually held Space and Missile Defense Symposium on Aug. 4, Hill showed a slide listing focus areas for the agency in FY21. The presentation included the currently unfunded radar, third from the top of the list.
“The potential for getting a radar onto Hawaii as part of another major sensor allows us to have that launch-all-the-way-to-intercept view out in a very large ocean area in the Pacific,” Hill said.
The HDR-H is categorized as a focus area for the MDA “because if the [Defense] Department decides to move forward with HDR-H, then the HDR-H will be deployed as part of the U.S. homeland defense architecture against long-range threats,” Mark Wright, MDA spokesman, told Defense News in an Aug. 6 statement.
The missile defense architecture “must evolve with advancements of the threat,” he added. “Space sensors do not replace but complement ground-based radars by providing track custody during radar coverage gaps. Having both terrestrial radar and space sensors provides dual phenomenology to accurately track and discriminate the threat as it continues to become more complex.”
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October 30, 2020 | International, Naval
Naval Group keeps its head down during the pandemic
By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — French shipbuilder Naval Group is counting its blessings of full order books during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, conscious that defense companies will be scrutinized as national economies contract, according to CEO Eric Pommellet. The company so far has seen no impact on its activities, including big-ticket shipbuilding programs in Europe, Australia and South America, Pommellet told reporters during a conference call last week. “We have not lost any projects, we have not lost any customers. All of the defense programs have been kept intact in terms of government budgets for all of our customers,” he said. Pommellet's comments fall in line with a trend throughout Europe of governments trying to preserve, if not boost, their defense budgets in the midst of an economic crisis whose contours are still taking shape amid drastic new measures aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19. France and Germany announced new lockdown measures this week, with offers by the governments to ease the blow to companies. In France — which represents 70 percent of Naval Group's business, according to Pommellet — officials consider defense spending a national stimulus. Still, the situation remains fluid, as the company has worked to adapt its operations to keep the workforce healthy. “When I look at the overall situation for now, I would say: ‘No impact,' ” Pommellet said. “The question will be tomorrow, of course. And here, I'm unable to look into the crystal ball.” The uncertainty has driven the company to keep its head down and plug away on the work at hand. “This is a moment where we must stick to our projects and stay in touch with our customers,” Pommellet said. “Delivering and serving our customers at absolutely perfect performance in this period sends a key message. Because tomorrow, they will remember that we were there.” It also may not be the time for bold moves when it comes to pursuing further consolidation in Europe's naval shipbuilding sector in the face of competition from China and Russia. The perennial vision of consolidation has yet to gain traction across the continent. For now, Pommellet said, he wants to ensure cooperation with Italy's Fincantieri, under the banner of the Naviris joint venture, can bear fruit. “Let's stick to what we do. Let's deliver, let's satisfy our customer, let's demonstrate that what we're doing is good and see tomorrow where the wind is blowing,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/smr/euronaval/2020/10/29/naval-group-keeps-its-head-down-during-the-pandemic/
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September 22, 2020 | International, C4ISR
How Relativity Space plans to win the Pentagon’s launch contracts
Nathan Strout Relativity Space wants to be the first company to launch an entirely 3D-printed rocket into orbit and it wants the Pentagon as a customer. While the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a wrench into plans, a growing number of companies are looking to provide small and medium launch services to the U.S. government. The establishment of the U.S. Space Force, Space Development Agency and U.S. Space Command in 2019 signaled the Pentagon's ambitious plans for launching more payloads into space, and providing a vehicle for just a portion of those launches would prove lucrative to any company. For Vice President of Business Development and Government Affairs Josh Brost, Relativity Space stands out from the competition, bringing disruptive 3D printing technology to bear on the small launch sector. Prior to joining Relativity, he worked at SpaceX for nine years, where he was responsible for the company's government sales. Even as the company works toward the launch of its first Terran One rocket in fall 2021, Relativity has worked to secure contracts in the commercial world. In June, the company announced it had secured a deal with Iridium Communications for six dedicated launches to low Earth orbit, with the first launch taking place no earlier than 2023. That same month, Relativity also announced a Right of Entry Agreement with the 30th Space Wing for development of rocket launch facilities at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Recently, Brost and Relativity Space co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis spoke with C4ISRNET about how the company plans to win launch contracts with the U.S. government. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/09/21/how-relativity-space-plans-to-win-the-pentagons-launch-contracts/