March 29, 2019 | International, Land
By: Jen Judson
Update: This story has been updated to reflect correct procurement numbers for the Armored Multipurpose Vehicle (AMPV).
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has telegraphed its plans to terminate 93 programs and truncate another 93to make room for next-generation technology under ambitious and rapid modernization plans, and the first major programs to feel the ax blows in the next five years are vehicles in the current fleet.
According to fiscal 2020 budget request documents released March 12, the service plans to cut back on upgrade plans for its Bradley Fighting Vehicle program, an aging platform in the fleet currently unable to effectively support technology like active protection systems.
But the Army is also planning to cut not-so-legacy systems as well — the Armored Multipurpose Vehicle (AMPV) built by BAE Systems and the Oshkosh-manufactured Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) — that recently replaced legacy systems, Army Comptroller Lt. Gen. Thomas Horlander said during a March 12 budget briefing with reporters at the Pentagon.
The service has not reached a full-rate production decision for the JLTV. That was pushed back from December 2018 to May 2019 due to new plans to alter the vehicles — to include larger windows and the addition of a muffler — based on soldier feedback.
And the first prototype for AMPV — the M113 personnel carrier replacement — rolled off the line in 2016.
The budget documents lay out the Army's FY20 plans to cut Bradley A4 upgrade plans from 167 vehicles to 128.
The plan is to procure five more sets of Bradley A4 vehicles with one going to pre-positioned stock in Europe and the other four replacing the oldest sets of Bradleys. Then the program will stop around 2023 to make way for the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle, or NGCV, according to Lt. Gen. James Pasquarette, the Army's G-8 chief.
Although the Bradley will be curtailed, Pasquarette noted that its funding in FY20 was up 37 percent from last year at $639 million.
While the Army — as of last year — planned to buy 3,035 JLTVs, it now plans to purchase just 2,530 of the vehicles in FY20.
Army Under Secretary Ryan McCarthy told an audience at the McAleese & Associates and Credit Suisse Defense Programs conference in Washington on Wednesday that the service would stop at five brigades of Bradley A4 vehicles. That decision, he said, would sync with an investment increase for the NGCV expected in 2023 and beyond.
And while the Army plans to decrease JLTV buys in 2020, cuts will likely not stop there.
McCarthy said the Army is looking to lower the requirement for JLTVs and could soon be locking in a new top-line requirement number.
Yet, Pasquarette also said at the McAleese conference that the top-line requirement would not change for the JLTV but would just be pushed to the right.
McCarthy added that cutting the fleet of JLTVs was justified because the Army has a wealth of vehicles, from 55,000 Humvees, and 49,000 more JLTVs and another 800 Infantry Squad Vehicles planned.
“We clearly have more capability than we need,” he said.
The AMPV buy holds steady in FY20 at 131 vehicles. The FY19 plan shows the Army wanted to buy 130 vehicles. The five-year plan has yet to be released by the Army, but it's likely to show a decline in AMPV buys following FY20.
Pasquarette said the AMPV top-line requirement remains unchanged, but the service was simply slowing the procurement rate per year.
The cuts to current programs were made following painstaking deliberations among Army leadership over the course of last year in a forum dubbed “night court.” Through the process, the service measured current capability against its contribution to increasing capability in a modern, more lethal Army, and it terminated or truncated programs that didn't fit the bill.
Pasquarette noted that the programs that were fully terminated were small ones that did not contribute to the lethality of the future force. Some of the bigger programs were slowed such as the vehicle programs.
Overall, the Army moved an additional $3.6 billion into modernization funding accounts in FY20 over last year's levels — planning to spend $8.6 billion on programs that get after a more modern force. And across the five-year budget plan, the service moved an additional $32 billion to fund modernization efforts beyond what was planned in FY19 for a total of $57 billion.
The Army isn't cutting or slowing all of its legacy vehicle systems, Pasquarette noted.
The Stryker Double V-Hull (DVH-configuration combat vehicles) will get $550 million per year over the next five years to outfit a half of a Stryker brigade combat team annually.
The Abrams tank will receive $1.7 billion in FY20 funding, a 64 percent increase over last year, Pasquarette added.
August 29, 2023 | International, Aerospace
Heidi Shyu said a visit to Australia this summer started a conversation about how the two countries might partner on air and missile defense projects.
November 27, 2020 | International, Naval
Il y a une dizaine de jours, les équipes de MBDA ont réalisé le dernier tir de qualification du missile antinavire Sea Venom/ANL sur le site d'essai DGA de l'Ile du Levant. Le missile Sea Venom/ANL qualifié Réalisé le 17 novembre dernier, cet ultime tir de qualification du missile Sea Venom/ANL de MBDA avait pour but de valider les performances du missile en termes "de discrimination de cible en environnement naval dense et complexe". "Les essais précédents avaient permis de tester le domaine de séparation et de tir, le vol rasant à basse altitude, ainsi que les modes d'engagement du missile, tels que l'accrochage après tir (LOAL), l'accrochage avant tir (LOBL), l'opérateur dans la boucle ou encore la sélection du point d'impact", rappelle MBDA. Premiers essais sur hélicoptère Lynx Les premiers essais avaient commencé en 2017 sur un hélicoptère Lynx Mk 8 de la Royal Navy. Des essais d'embarquement et de largage du Sea Venom/ANL. Puis en avril 2018, avait suivi un tir depuis un hélicoptère Airbus Panther "avec vol du missile à très basse altitude et accrochage de la cible en milieu de course ». "La conduite de ce tir anti-navires a permis de mettre en lumière la capacité du missile à naviguer « au raz de l'eau (sea-skiming) et le bon fonctionnement de la liaison de données entre le missile et l'hélicoptère », avait alors précisé le Ministère des Armées. Puis, en fin d'année 2018, s'était déroulé un nouveau tir d'essai qui avait permis "de confirmer la capacité d'accrochage avant tir du Sea Venom-ANL, l'opérateur utilisant les images provenant de l'autodirecteur à infrarouge du missile pour désigner la cible avant le tir". L'essai s'est déroulé au centre d'essai de l'Ile du Levant depuis un hélicoptère d'essai Dauphin de la DGA. Premier tir de qualif. en février dernier Le premier tir de qualification du missile sur l'Ile du Levant au centre d'essais de missiles de la Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) a été effectué en février 2020. "Le missile a été tiré depuis un hélicoptère Dauphin de DGA Essais en vol progressant à une altitude proche de la hauteur minimale nécessaire au lancement du missile, ce dernier atteignant sa vitesse de croisière alors qu'il effectuait un vol rasant (sea-skimming). Pendant la dernière phase du vol, l'opérateur a utilisé les images provenant de l'autodirecteur à infrarouge –transmises par la liaison de données- du missile pour ajuster le point d'accrochage sur la cible. Le missile a ensuite suivi le point désigné jusqu'à atteindre la cible avec une précision extrême", indiquait alors MBDA. Le missile antinavire Sea Venom/ANL, qui équipera bientôt les hélicoptères Wildcat AW159 de la Royal Navy et H160M Guépard de la Marine Nationale, est un programme en coopération réalisé dans le cadre du traité de Lancaster House, conclu entre la France et le Royaume-Uni, il y a eu dix ans ce mois-ci. Le Sea Venom/ANL est également le premier programme à bénéficier pleinement des centres d'excellence franco-britanniques spécialisés dans les technologies des missiles, qui ont été mis en place par le traité de Lancaster House. https://www.air-cosmos.com/article/missile-mbda-sea-venom-les-tirs-de-qualif-sont-achevs-23912
June 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
Arlington, Va., June 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Intelligence and Space, a Raytheon Technologies business (NYSE: RTX), was awarded a multiple award IDIQ to participate in the Air Force's development of the Advanced Battle Management System, a future command and control network that will connect military platforms across the globe, giving military commanders the ability to make decisions faster. Under a multiple award, IDIQ contract valued up to $950 million over the next five years with options beyond, RI&S will participate in the support of the maturation, demonstration and proliferation of capability across platforms and domains to enable Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2). "ABMS will transform the future battlespace for the U.S. Air Force by delivering the right data at the right time to the right people so they can make the right decisions fast," said Barbara Borgonovi, vice president of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems, at Raytheon Intelligence & Space. "This is the first step to delivering the Air Force's vision of JADC2, which will link capabilities across all domains – air, land, sea, cyber and space." To support this effort, RI&S has the opportunity to contribute open systems design, modern software and algorithm development for the future system. Under the terms of the multiple award contract, the Air Force will run competitions under each category that will be issued as task and delivery orders. RI&S will be supported by Raytheon Missiles & Defense. About Raytheon Intelligence & Space Raytheon Intelligence & Space delivers the disruptive technologies our customers need to succeed in any domain, against any challenge. A developer of advanced sensors, training, and cyber and software solutions, Raytheon Intelligence & Space provides a decisive advantage to civil, military and commercial customers in more than 40 countries around the world. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the business generated $15 billion in pro forma annual revenue in 2019 and has 39,000 employees worldwide. Raytheon Intelligence & Space is one of four businesses that form Raytheon Technologies Corporation. About Raytheon Technologies Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. It comprises four industry-leading businesses – Collins Aerospace Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense. Its 195,000 employees enable the company to operate at the edge of known science as they imagine and deliver solutions that push the boundaries in quantum physics, electric propulsion, directed energy, hypersonics, avionics and cybersecurity. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Media Contact Tamar Brill +1 520. 269.5697 Tamar.Brill@rtx.com SOURCE Raytheon Technologies View source version on Raytheon Company,: https://raytheon.mediaroom.com/2020-06-15-Raytheon-Intelligence-Space-selected-to-participate-in-development-of-the-Advanced-Battle-Management-System