US Air Force awards $465M contract for new E-11A planes

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  June 18, 2018 | International, Naval

  Naval Group execs head to Poland to extoll virtues of its submarine

  Pierre Tran PARIS — Naval Group has fielded top executives to Poland to pitch the Scorpene submarine in Warsaw's Orka naval program. The senior executives were in Poland June 14 and 15 presenting the Scorpene, which is a frontrunner in the Polish tender, said François Dupont, director of the international trade department. That French Scorpene is competing with the 212CD submarine from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and A26 boat from Saab in a closely watched competition reported to be worth 10 billion zloty (U.S. $2.71 billion). A creation of 2,000 local jobs and offer of the MBDA cruise missile are part of Naval Group's “highly significant offer,” he said. Naval Group has long played down the impact of political discord between France and Poland stemming from Warsaw's cancellation in 2016 of talks for an offset deal tied to 50 Caracal military helicopters. The previous Polish government had picked Airbus Helicopter as preferred bidder, but the present administration cancelled that when it took office. Meanwhile, chances of Naval Group of winning a sale of two Scorpene to Italy and displacing the incumbent supplier TKMS seem to be slim. “This is a complex campaign,” Dupont said. Italy is due to add a further two U212A boats to the present four-strong fleet built by Fincantieri under licence from TKMS. Political ties between France and Italy hit a low this week, calling into question whether Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte would go ahead with a June 15 visit to France. But Conte went ahead with the meeting with president Emmanuel Macron, despite the French head of state three days earlier decrying the “cynicism and irresponsibility” of Rome in turning away the Aquarius, a humanitarian rescue ship with 629 migrants aboard. In Canada, Naval Group has explained why concerns over handing over intellectual property rights led to a joint offer with Italian partner Fincantieri being submitted directly to the Canadian government rather than observing a procedure calling for filing a bid to Irving Shipbuilding. “We have explained, we have been heard,” he said. Naval Group hopes the Franco-Italian offer will win over rival bids which include the Type 26 frigate from BAE Systems, which Dupont points out has yet to be built. In India's plan to acquire six more submarines under the P-75I project, Naval Group hopes its supply of the first six Scorpene in the P-75 program with local partner Mazagon Dock Limited will lead to a follow-on deal. Exports are critical to Naval Group, which seeks to make half of annual sales from foreign deals by 2020, compared to around a third presently. Dupont, a graduate of Columbia University, took up his post as head of international trade on April 2. Dupont previously worked for Thales, specializing in export sales of sonar systems. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/06/15/naval-group-execs-head-to-poland-to-extoll-virtues-of-its-submarine/

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  September 17, 2018 | International, Land

  India lifts blacklisting of South African defense firm Denel

  By: Vivek Raghuvanshi NEW DELHI — After 13 years of a punitive suspension from carrying out defense business in India, the country's Ministry of Defence has officially withdrawn South African company Denel from its blacklisting. The ban was recently lifted following a May 2018 judgement by the Supreme Court, which dropped all corruption changes against the defense company, according to an MoD official. Denel, who is ranked 84 on this year's Defense News Top 100 list, was one of the prime contenders for small arms, ammunition and artillery programs in the 1980s in India. The blacklisting was also lifted following a personal request from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a July meeting in Johannesburg. A few months earlier in April, India's national investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, had filed the closure report on the corruption case against Denel in the Supreme Court. Another MoD official said the South African company waived a $100 million penalty that was imposed on the MoD by the Supreme Court following arbitration proceedings. Denel was blacklisted in 2005 by the then-United Progressive Alliance-run government over allegations that the company paying kickbacks to secure a deal from the year 2000 for the Indian Army's global tender to purchase of 1,000 NTW-20 anti-materiel rifles along with 398,000 rounds of ammunition. Under the deal, 700 anti-materiel rifles were to have been purchased directly and the remaining 300 rifles produced under license in one of the factories of the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board, out of which only 400 rifles were inducted; the remaining were put on hold. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2018/09/14/india-lifts-blacklisting-of-south-african-defense-firm-denel

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  February 3, 2021 | International, Land

  Israeli firm sells Harop, Rotem kamikaze drones to several Asian countries

  By: Seth J. Frantzman JERUSALEM — Israel Aerospace Industries on Monday announced more than $100 million in contracts for loitering munitions in three deals that include the Rotem VTOL and the Harop drones. The latter was sold in its land and naval versions. In keeping with the usual policy in Israel, the company did not reveal its customers, only saying that a foreign country acquired Rotem, while the naval and ground versions of Harop were sold in Asia. IAI said the contracts are proof of the importance that modern armies place in having accurate munitions, noting the deals may serve as a “harbinger of additional business activity.” Loitering munitions are sometimes referred to as kamikaze drones because they can be used as a weapon by crashing into a target. These weapons can also hunt down enemy air defenses, among other critical targets. The Harop maritime variant provides an operational solution for a range of vessels, IAI said. “In a complex naval theater, the Harop system gives mission commanders in a fleet of ships the capability to independently and organically collect intelligence, assess targets and strike,” the firm has said. It can also be used as an alternative to or complement sea-to-sea missiles, and is useful in both low- and high-intensity conflict as well as counterterror operations, according to the company. It is also equipped with day and night cameras. The Harop is sometimes seen in sets of nine on land vehicles but can be configured to a different format for use at sea. The electro-optical assets of the Harop aid the man-in-the-loop operator and also provide for deep strike air superiority capabilities, IAI said. The Rotem is a vertical-takeoff-and-landing drone used by several countries. “The system provides a reconnaissance, observation and attack envelope with maximum autonomous performance, integrating a simple and intuitive operation interface that can be used by a single fighter from a touchscreen tablet,” IAI said. According to Yoel Guzansky, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, the recent Abraham Accords that saw relations improve between Israel and its neighbors, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, has opened a niche in which Israel is more “kosher” to do deals with. That opens doors in the Gulf region and to Muslim countries globally, where Israeli sales would otherwise be viewed skeptically or be very sensitive. Other events boosting sales, he noted, include tension with Iran and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, during which Azerbaijan used loitering munitions against Armenian forces. Israel often doesn't identify the countries to which it sells defense systems because it doesn't want to appear to be part of conflicts, Guzansky explained. But “usually in reports when they don't disclose, it can be an Arab or Muslim country or Singapore, so usual suspects could be Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, etc.,” he added. “Israel must be sensitive, to think hard at what kind of weapon systems and to whom [it is selling],” Guzansky said, as the government doesn't want to become entangled in a conflict between rival countries or have its arms end up in the hands of those for which they were not intended. Tal Inbar, an expert on defense and missile systems and a former chief of the Space Research Center at the Fisher Institute, also pointed to the recent Armenian-Azeri conflict as showcasing the use of loitering munitions. Amid the Abraham Accords, “I believe we will see [a] dramatic increase in [sales of] Israeli products.” Three and a half decades of experience in producing UAVs has led IAI to this point. Its family of systems also include the Harpy, Mini Harpy and Green Dragon. The Harpy was developed with an anti-radiation seeker to suppress surface-to-air missile radar. IAI predicts a future where militaries will use multiple layers of unmanned and remotely operated systems. The company sees the systems as appropriate for a variety of customers, from wealthy nations seeking high-tech weapons to those customers that require an affordable option to compensate for a lack of fifth-generation warplanes. https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2021/02/02/israeli-firm-sells-harop-rotem-kamikaze-drones-to-several-asian-countries