October 1, 2020 | International, Land, Other Defence
Ashley Roque
Weight and mobility challenges have forced the US Army to abandon a government-designed autoloader for its Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) programme and the service is now looking for help from six tech companies.
Brigadier General John Rafferty, the head of the Long-Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team, spoke at a virtual Fires Conference on 29 September and provided an update of programmes under his purview. One notable change is an army's decision not to move forward with an autoloader that it had been developing for the new weapon based off BAE Systems' Paladin M109A7 self-propelled howitzer.
“The integration challenge for [it] was too much of a trade with mobility and durability, and some of the results from putting 3,000 miles on a combat vehicle [out at Yuma Proving Ground] weighted up with the centre of gravity issue that we had,” the one-star general told the audience. “It was an easy decision to say that we can't do that.”
Instead the army is looking to a group of six companies previously picked to help find artillery munition resupplying solutions – Actuate, Apptronik, Carnegie Robotics, Hivemapper, Neya Systems, and Pratt Miller. Although Brig Gen Rafferty did not provide in-depth information on the path ahead, he noted that a future capability may not be an autoloader at all.
”I've learned that it was really stupid to go into this saying, ‘Hey, we want an autoloader'. I don't want an autoloader; What we want is an improved rate of fire,” he added.
”What I told them is I don't care if there's cannoneer there setting fuses if we're able to get the six to 10 rounds a minute,” Brig Gen Rafferty furthered.
August 10, 2023 | International, Aerospace
We analyze Boeing's P-8A Poseidon offering for the Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft project, where interchangeability has become a recent recurring theme.
September 24, 2018 | International, Aerospace
By: Pierre Tran PARIS — France renewed a pledge to speed up by two years delivery of 12 Airbus A330 multirole transport tanker jets for the French Air Force by 2023. “At the ministerial investment committee, the Direction Générale de l'Armement received the mission to accelerate the delivery of the A330 MRTT Phénix,” the armed forces ministry said in a Sept. 20 statement. A 12-strong fleet of the A330 MRTT by 2023 brings forward delivery of the air tankers by two years, the ministry said. A further three units will be ordered to bring the total fleet to 15 in the following years, the ministry added. No dates were given for a contract for the A330 MRTT or the value of the planned order. No date was set for a further batch of three more units. That boost for inflight refuelling was among the equipment modernization measures included in the 2019-2025 military budget law, formally signed by French president Emmanuel Macron just before an official garden party on July 13. The French Air Force has long lobbied for renewing the aerial capability, as the present aging tanker fleet is a key element in the airborne nuclear deterrent. French air operations in allied operations in the sub-Saharan Sahel region and the Middle East rely heavily on U.S. air tankers. The A330 MRTT will replace a mixed fleet of C-135FR and KC-135R tankers — some of which are close to 60 years old — and A310 and A340 strategic troop and transport aircraft. The A330 MRTT is a military conversion of the Airbus A330 airliner. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/09/21/france-wants-to-buy-airbus-tankers-sooner
September 7, 2023 | International, Naval
Five companies are building competitive prototypes, and the Marines will select one to fulfill the Landing Ship Medium program within the next two years.