US defense shares, government contractors fall after Trump efficiency picks

On the same subject

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  August 6, 2021 | International, Aerospace

  Italy hikes 2021 defense spending, finds cash for Tempest

  Italy has hiked defense spending with a new budget that includes the first 20 million euro Italian funding for the Tempest fighter.

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  July 10, 2020 | International, Land, C4ISR

  Army to award new contracts to support mobile comms units

  Mark Pomerleau The Army is awarding delivery orders to three vendors to support equipment for three Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced (ESB-E) units. Specifically, the awards will support fielding of satellite baseband equipment, said Paul Mehney, director of public communications at Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical. Expeditionary signal battalions support units that don't have organic communications capabilities. These groups could include military intelligence battalions, chemical battalions, engineering battalions or air defense artillery branches. The ESB-E aims to be more mobile and require less equipment in order to drop in, support units and move more quickly on the battlefield. Overall, the vendors will be responsible for providing 48 baseband sets of equipment for each ESB-E formation. “Due to aggressive initial fielding timelines, after the first six ESB-E formations are fielded, the program office intends to open baseband capability competition for future ESB-E needs,” Mehney said. PacStar was recently awarded a contract to support the ESB-E program to provide its 400-Series modular platform to enhance tactical expeditionary communications, the company said in a July 7 release. The 400-Series is lightweight allowing these smaller and expeditionary units to maneuver more quickly. It includes 128 GB RAM, virtual routing and the PacStar 463 Radio Gateway. “Network modernization to meet warfighter needs and defense priorities is a core focus for the Army and across the DoD, and we are proud to support these efforts with PacStar 400-Series for ESB-E,” Peggy J. Miller, chief executive of PacStar, said in a statement. “With these solutions, ESB-E [Scalable Network Node] will get the smallest, lightest, modular tactical communications platform in the industry, which is part of our larger initiative to enable increased reliability and innovation for warfighters.” The other vendors include Klas and DTECH, with all three supporting one ESB-E. An additional delivery order for each vendor to a second ESB-E will be issued, meaning in the near future, each vendor will support two units a piece. After that, the Army will open up the contracts to competition. This approach follows how the Army has been experimenting to date by providing similar, yet comparable equipment to several ESB-E's. These companies have provided separate equipment to three units allowing the Army to gain useful feedback from units to see what they liked and disliked about the gear. This has allowed the Army to execute rapid prototyping and experimentation on a tighter timeline for making fielding decisions while providing equipment to soldiers in the interim. The first two ESB-Es fielded include the 57th ESB-E at Fort Hood and the 50th ESB-E at Fort Bragg. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/2020/07/08/army-to-award-new-contracts-to-support-mobile-comms-units/

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  July 27, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval

  Boeing preps for next test of US Navy’s future aerial tanker drone

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier-borne tanker drone, the MQ-25 Stingray, is preparing to head into the fall resuming test flights, this time with the crucial fuel store pod attached. The store pod — the same one integrated into the Navy's stalwart F/A-18 Super Hornet for aerial refueling — was recently integrated into the MQ-25 test article under the wing. “When we resume flight testing later this year, we'll have the opportunity to gather test points about the aerodynamics of that pod and the software commands that control it — all happening well before we deliver the Navy's first MQ-25 jet with the same pod,” MQ-25 program director Dave Bujold said in a statement from the aircraft's manufacturer, Boeing. “That early testing and early software development is a big part of supporting the Navy's goal to get MQ-25 to the fleet as quickly as possible,” he added. The engineers will primarily observe the aerodynamics of the pod mounted on the Stingray test article, then seeing how the hose and drogue behave while being dragged behind the airframe. Possible delays In June, Defense News reported that the MQ-25 could face a three-year testing delay if it doesn't get its designated test ships through the required modernizations on time, a possibility the Navy said was remote. Two carriers — Carl Vinson and George H.W. Bush — have limited windows to complete the installation of unmanned aircraft control stations, and if operational commitments intervene, the program could experience significant problems, according to Navy officials and a government watchdog report. “Program officials stated that, among other things, the Navy's potential inability to maintain its schedule commitments could require modifications to the contract that would impact the fixed-price terms,” the Government Accountability Office reported. “Specifically, the Navy faces limited flexibility to install MQ-25 control centers on aircraft carriers. “If the Navy misses any of its planned installation windows, the program would have to extend MQ-25 development testing by up to 3 years. According to officials, such a delay could necessitate a delay to initial capability and result in a cost increase.” The Navy's MQ-25 Stingray aerial refueling drone took its first flight Sept. 19, a historic step toward integrating an unmanned aircraft into the service's powerful strike arm. Navy officials say a three-year delay is “extremely unlikely”; however, the Navy has struggled in recent years to balance its modernization schedules with operational commitments, a problem that its “Optimized Fleet Response Plan” deployment rotation scheme was supposed to address. Ultimately, a delay would further push back the Navy's ability to extend its carrier air wing's range through unmanned tanking, critical to keeping the service's powerful strike arm relevant against long-range guided munitions. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/07/24/boeing-preparing-for-the-next-big-step-testing-the-us-navys-new-aerial-tanker-drone/