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September 18, 2018 | International, Naval

Ukraine plans new naval base as US offers more weapons sales

By JOHN VANDIVER | STARS AND STRIPES

Ukraine announced plans to establish a naval base along the Sea of Azov, a move that came a day after the U.S. said it is mulling more military assistance for Kiev to counter Russia's actions.

“This (base) will create conditions for rebuffing the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation in this region,” the Ukrainian government said in a statement on Sunday.

U.S. military officials have been watching as tensions have increased in the Sea of Azov and the strategic Kerch Strait, which connects Ukrainian port cities to the Black Sea and from there to the Mediterranean.

Since April, Russia has delayed the transit of hundreds of commercial ships attempting to sail through the Kerch Strait. Some security analysts have described Russia's actions as a de facto blockade.

Full article: https://www.stripes.com/news/ukraine-plans-new-naval-base-as-us-offers-more-weapons-sales-1.547866

On the same subject

  • Aircraft makers sweeten their offers in high-stakes Swiss warplane race

    November 30, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    Aircraft makers sweeten their offers in high-stakes Swiss warplane race

    By: Sebastian Sprenger and Valerie Insinna COLOGNE, Germany, and WASHINGTON — Four aircraft makers have submitted final offers for Switzerland's $6.5 billion aircraft program, with Airbus and Lockheed Martin touting different approaches to assembling their planes locally. Nov. 18 was the deadline for the quartet of hopeful vendors, which also includes Boeing and Dassault, to deliver their vision — and price — for one of the largest procurement programs in Europe. Switzerland is looking for somewhere between 36 and 40 new aircraft to police the country's airspace. The degree of local industry participation is shaping up to be a major factor for the famously independence-minded Swiss. Airbus got an assist from four Eurofighter operators — Germany, Spain, Italy and the U.K. — who sent their ambassadors in Switzerland to a Nov. 19 news conference to talk up the prospect of a grander industrial and political partnership that would follow a Eurofighter pick. The Swiss are expected to make a decision in early summer 2021, following a referendum vote this September that narrowly greenlighted the budget. The Airbus offer includes final assembly of all aircraft by way of a partner company in Switzerland, the details of which the company plans to announce in December. Michael Flügger, Germany's ambassador in Switzerland, touted the possibility of Eurofighter-based airspace-patrol cooperation along the Italy-Switzerland-Germany axis. In addition, he said, Switzerland joining the airplane's user club would mean the country can “export” training flight noise to remote areas in the other partner countries. Franz Posch, who heads the Airbus campaign in Switzerland, told reporters that the company's plan to locally assemble all 40 of the notional aircraft would “more than fulfill” the offset requirements established by the Swiss government. Lockheed Martin, with its F-35, also has high hopes for the Swiss competition, hoping to broaden the plane's user base in Europe. The company's offer includes a basic program of 36 jets, with options for an additional four aircraft, Mike Kelley, who leads the company's F-35 efforts in Switzerland, said during a Nov. 19 roundtable with reporters. While Switzerland would be able to purchase parts through the spares pool shared by all F-35 operators, the offer also contains a six-month deployed spares package — a separate pot of parts that would be managed by the Swiss government, which was necessary to meet Swiss autonomy requirements. To meet requirements for industrial participation, Switzerland would have the opportunity to domestically produce about 400 canopies and transparencies for F-35 aircraft, and Lockheed would establish a European hub for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of F 35 canopies and transparencies in Switzerland. In addition, the country would take on certain F-35 engine and airframe sustainment projects focused on maintaining the Swiss Air Force's operational autonomy, Kelley said. Lockheed also plans to partner with Swiss industry to create a cyber center of excellence, which would prototype a unique data network for Switzerland and build a test bed that would allow Swiss companies to test cyber capabilities in a secure environment. On top of those efforts, Lockheed is offering one last industrial participation opportunity to Switzerland. For an additional cost, Switzerland will be able to conduct the final assembly of four F-35 aircraft at existing RUAG facilities in Emmen, allowing the Swiss technicians that currently work on the country's aging Hornet fleet to build a deeper knowledge of the aircraft's design. That option would add a “significant cost” to the total program, Kelley said, but could allow for overall savings throughout the life cycle of the program. Boeing, meanwhile, has positioned its offer of an F-18 Super Hornet fleet as a logical extension of Switzerland's existing F-18 infrastructure. “As an F/A-18 operator, Switzerland will have the option to reuse up to 60 percent of existing physical and intellectual infrastructure, making the transition to a Super Hornet easier and more cost effective over the life of the aircraft,” the company said in a statement. The aircraft offer, the statement added, would “easily fit” within Switzerland's current F-18 operating budget. The reference to cost comes after Swiss officials stressed that the fighter portion of the Air 2030 air defense modernization program includes a cost ceiling of 6 billion Swiss francs (U.S. $6.6 billion), with with an eye on potential price reductions along the way. “Currently, Boeing is working with more than 100 current and new partners across Switzerland to identify the right opportunities for its New Fighter Aircraft industry plan,” the company said. France's Dassault, with its offer of the Rafale, is the only vendor keeping its cards close to its chest. Citing a commitment to confidentiality, a spokeswoman told Defense News the company had no plans to characterize its offer nor the “nature of the relationship” between the Swiss and French governments to that end. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/11/29/aircraft-makers-sweeten-their-offers-in-high-stakes-swiss-warplane-race/

  • Balloon-tracker Synthetaic partners with Microsoft for cloud power

    August 29, 2023 | International, Aerospace

    Balloon-tracker Synthetaic partners with Microsoft for cloud power

    Synthetaic said the cloud resources will empower its RAIC tool, which lets users mine vast collections of imagery for specific objects.

  • Top Air Force general defends Advanced Battle Management System from critical report

    April 24, 2020 | International, C4ISR

    Top Air Force general defends Advanced Battle Management System from critical report

    Valerie Insinna A report by a government watchdog that slammed the Air Force's major command-and-control program did not include key classified information and was outdated by the time it was released last week, the service's top general said Wednesday. On Friday, the Government Accountability Office delivered a scathing report on the Air Force's Advanced Battle Management System, which seeks to overhaul the U.S. military's command-and-control infrastructure so that any platform will instantly and seamlessly be able to share data with another weapon system on the battlefield. The problem, according to the GAO, is that the Air Force has not provided enough detail on exactly what technology it needs, how it plans to field it and how much it will cost. But speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein said the agency did not have access to key information that may have fleshed out the service's plans. “There is a bit of latency to the reporting,” Goldfein said. “Two things I would offer is that they were not able to get to our December ABMS demo. So they didn't actually ... see in real time what we were connecting.” The other problem, Goldfein said, is that the organization was not cleared to receive information about the classified portions of the program. “That makes it challenging because if the technology you're moving forward, if a lot of it is in the classified realm — if a lot of it, quite frankly, was in the space realm — and the GAO doesn't have access or clearance to be able to look at it, then the report is going to be on a very small portion of what the Advanced Battle Management System really is,” he said. In an email to Defense News, GAO director Marie Mak disputed Goldfein's characterization of the report, saying that the organization has a full understanding of past and present ABMS efforts, including the December exercise and numerous classified discussions. “Those discussions did not change our finding that the Air Force still does not have an overall plan for ABMS, a point which they openly acknowledged and in fact concurred with our recommendations,” she said. “The Air Force still needs to develop an overall plan, to include preliminary costs and schedule. Without some type of overall plan in place, it will be difficult for the Air Force to prioritize this program among the acquisition efforts within the Air Force.” When Goldfein became the Air Force's chief of staff in 2016, he made connecting the joint force one of his major priorities. Since then, the service has canceled efforts to replace legacy aircraft that play a role in battlefield management, such as a recapitalization of the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft. Instead, it has put its financial resources toward ABMS, which it envisions as a family of systems that will be more survivable than a direct replacement for JSTARS aircraft or other assets. The service tapped Preston Dunlap to manage the ABMS effort in 2019. It then conducted its first set of technology demonstrations in December, where it tested 28 different technologies, with 26 of them proving to be successful. However, some lawmakers have remained skeptical about the Air Force's approach and lack of transparency. In March, Republican Sen. David Perdue called for the Air Force to deliver an analysis of alternatives and capability development document — two pieces of documentation typical to defense acquisition programs. “The development of ABMS is encouraging, but we need to make sure Congress has proper oversight throughout the process,” said Perdue, whose home state of Georgia is the location of Robins Air Force Base, where ABMS is slated to be based. Goldfein did not directly address one of the GAO's major complaints: that the program is at greater risk for schedule delays and cost growth because it does not have a firm business case that spells out capability requirements and cost. But he acknowledged that the Air Force has to do more to share information with Congress and the GAO in a timely matter. However, the pace of the ABMS program may also require lawmakers and the GAO to put in more time to keep updated on the effort's progress, he said. “The GAO has got to keep up ... and we've got to help,” Goldfein said. “This is not a poke or criticism. We've got to help them. We've got to help Congress. We've got to help think tanks. We've got to help others realize that we are moving out and we are developing capability faster than we've ever developed capability before. We're connecting things faster than we've ever connected them before.” “Every four months we are connecting new capabilities that have never been connected. That's a hard one to deliver a report on, but I'm eager to sit down with the GAO and get them up to speed.” Updated on 4/23/19 at 11:45 a.m. with comment from the GAO. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/04/23/top-air-force-general-blasts-critical-advanced-battle-management-system-report/

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