February 8, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Alors que le Pentagone n'a eu de cesse d'expliquer que les avions de 4e génération étaient dépassés, il semble que ceux-ci n'ont pas dit leur dernier mot. A l'instar du F-15EX qui a effectué son premier vol le 2 février 2021, le F-16 dans sa nouvelle version Block 70/72, attire de nouveau l'œil des aviateurs américains.
Plus de 47 ans après son premier vol (2 février 1974) le F-16, qui équipe plus de 29 forces aériennes dans le monde et a été produit à plus de 4588 appareils, pourrait connaitre une nouvelle carrière au sein de l'US Air Force. Et ce plus de 16 ans après la livraison du dernier appareil. En effet, son remplaçant programmé, le F-35 accumule les échecs et les retards, avec 871 défaillances selon les auditeurs du Pentagone. Une situation qui provoque l'explosion des coûts d'exploitation, au point que l'US Air Force envisagerait de réduire sa commande à 1050 appareils au lieu des 1765 prévus.
Aussi pour ne pas pénaliser son ordre de bataille, les Américains sont en quête de solutions palliatives au F-35. A savoir des aéronefs fiables, aux coûts maitrisés et à l'architecture ouverte en attendant l'arrivée à partir de 2040-50 de l'avion de 6e génération, le NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance), qui vient d'effectuer ses premiers essais. C'est la même logique qui a présidé au programme F-15EX dans le domaine de la supériorité aérienne, pour suppléer au faible nombre de F-22 en service.
Et il s'avère que Lockheed et ses équipementiers General Dynamics et Northrop poussent progressivement le Pentagone vers l'acquisition d'une nouvelle version F-16 Block 70/72, destinée à l'origine aux marchés exports (neuf et modernisation), au moment où le budget 2021 prévoit une enveloppe de 56,9 G$ pour l'acquisition d'avions de combat. D'ailleurs les marchés anticipent d'ores et déjà la hausse du titre des industriels concernés. Produit depuis novembre 2019 à Greenville, et après plusieurs succès commerciaux (Taiwan, Bahrein ...), le F-16 Block 70/72 intègre plusieurs technologies directement empruntées aux appareils de cinquième génération. Comme le radar AESA APG-83 SABR (dérivé de l'APG-77 du F-22, et de l'APG-81 du F-35) qui équipe également les B1-B modernisés, et les F/A-18C des Marines basés à Miramar. Mais il dispose également de nouvelles aérostructures à la furtivité accrue (réservoirs conformes), d'un nouveau système de guerre électronique apte au combat collaboratif, et d'une avionique offrant des fonctionnalités de fusion de données (radar, pod de désignation) pour l'attaque au sol, avec le Center Pedestal Display (CPD). Cette version qui permettrait donc d'intégrer des capacités de 5e génération sur des appareils de 4e génération, à l'image du prochain standard F4 du Rafale de Dassault, intéresse de plus en plus l'état-major américain, en quête d'un aéronef omni rôle capable de soutenir efficacement et à bas couts les forces américaines alors que Russes et surtout Chinois se sont engagés dans une stratégie d'attaque par saturation et de systèmes de contre furtivité, pour déborder les F-22 et les F-35.
August 27, 2023 | International, Naval, C4ISR
The Navy's live, virtual and constructive (LVC) tech investments support everything from massive Large Scale Exercises to routine pre-deployment training.
November 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace
By Mike Stone, Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department gave Congress notification it plans to sell 18 sophisticated armed MQ-9B aerial drones to the United Arab Emirates in a deal worth as much as $2.9 billion, people briefed on the notification said. The move comes on the heels of last week's notification of a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to the middle-eastern country. This would mark the first armed drone export since the Trump administration reinterpreted a Cold War-era arms agreement between 34 nations to allow U.S. defense contractors to sell more drones to allies. Reuters has reported that UAE has long shown interest in purchasing drones from the United States and would be among the first customers in line after U.S. export policy changed this summer. A $600 million deal to sell four unarmed but weapons-ready MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones to Taiwan was the first to be formally notified to Congress on Tuesday. This informal notification for the Reaper-style drones is the precursor to the State Department's formal and public notification. The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees - whose members have criticized UAE's role in civilian deaths in Yemen's civil war - have the ability to review and block weapons sales under an informal review process before the State Department sends its formal notification to the legislative branch. The U.S. State Department may wait to formally notify Congress of the sale once staff and members are briefed on the potential sale, one of the people said. The formal notification gives Congress 30 days to object to any sales. A U.S. State Department spokesman told Reuters, “As a matter of policy, the United States does not confirm or comment on proposed defense sales or transfers until they are formally notified to Congress.” The armed MQ-9B drones will also be equipped with maritime radar and could be delivered in 2024. The package notified to Congress is for 15 with an option for three additional drones, one of the people said. The UAE is also seeking a package of Boeing Co EA-18G Growlers, an electronic warfare version of the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft, that are capable of jamming radar and other advanced capabilities. Growlers are operated buy the U.S. and Australia. The United Arab Emirates, one of Washington's closest Middle East allies, has long expressed interest in acquiring the stealthy F-35 jets and was promised a chance to buy them in a side deal made when they agreed to normalize relations with Israel. The informal notification for 50 Lockheed Martin Co F-35 jets was made on Oct. 29. But any deal the U.S. makes to sell weapons in the region must satisfy decades of agreement with Israel where the U.S.-made weapon must not impair Israel's “qualitative military edge,” guaranteeing U.S. weapons furnished to Israel are “superior in capability” to those sold to its neighbors. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-emirates-drones-exclusive/exclusive-trump-administration-advances-2-9-billion-drone-sale-to-uae-sources-idUSKBN27M06L
November 4, 2019 | International, Naval
By Rich Abott | The Secretary of the Navy today said the cost cap on the first Ford-class aircraft carrier helped lead to problems resulting in delays to the advanced weapons elevators (AWEs) and explained the government's issues and changing strategy with the shipbuilder. Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer said on Wednesday at a Heritage Foundation press roundtable that the Navy and shipbuilder/AWE builder Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] planned to build a test elevator site, similar to the electromagnetic advanced landing system (EMALS) located in Lakehurst, N.J. The Navy has used Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to test the General Atomics advanced arresting gear (AAG) and EMALS hundreds of times before testing them on the first new carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78). “Then we had the cost cap come in. And as [HII president and CEO] Mike Petters can say, you know fine, the cost cap comes in and no one builds the land site elevator. We had to cut costs somewhere. Sometimes we're our own worst enemy,” Spencer said. In February, the Navy said it would start building the AWE land-based test site, after the fact, in Philadelphia (Defense Daily, Feb. 20). Spencer said he thinks about it and wonders if anyone was expecting there to be second and third order effects of a cost cap. “You don't get anything for free and you're not going to drive quality by cost cap. We have to start thinking differently when we go to cost control.” Spencer also further illuminated the Navy's work with HII on the elevators. Last week, he strongly criticized the company after delays on the AWEs, saying the Navy's faith and confidence with HII senior management on the project were very low (Defense Daily, Oct. 25). On Monday, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts said the Navy-HII team's output on the elevators has been much better in the last few months and he was cautiously optimistic on progress of the Ford elevators (Defense Daily, Oct. 29). Spencer said in fall 2018 the Navy was finalizing the HII elevator plan. The company gave him a chart that said all 11 AWEs would be tested and certified by the end of the planned post-shakedown availability (PSA), which was then planned for July 15. He said HII management reported high confidence of this timeline while Naval Reactors told him due to throttle and bearing issues the PSA would likely be pushed into September or October, “so I had more margin there. Did I feel confident? Completely confident.” Then, in January, Spencer said he made a bet with President Trump that the AWEs would be finished with the PSA or he could be fired (Defense Daily, Jan. 8). Spencer explained this was meant to rally the shipbuilders. “What we weren't seeing down there was the spring in the step of the people on the waterfront, to be very frank with you. It was business as usual. So we said ok, here's a rally point, we're going to commit to this.” However, in May 2019 he said HII management “goes oops, here we are, elevators aren't going to be ready until the end of 2020, possibly 2021. And that's when I went, do they really know what they're doing?” Spencer called that a moment of inflection and called Thomas Fargo, chairman of the board of HII, asking if the board knew what was going on with management “because out trust and confidence on this specific project of the elevators has eroded significantly.” While Spencer said Fargo said yes, there were continued frustrations on the government side. “That's when Hondo [Geurts] and I said let's get a tiger team down there and let's take this over as the general contractor and HII can sub to us. And that's basically what's happened this last 3 months.” Spencer said he went to the president and, after explaining the situation, was told “it's a complex system, keep knocking down the dragons.” When asked if these lessons would apply to future ships, Spencer said the Navy wants to avoid a cost cap for the lead ship in a new class like upcoming guided-missile future frigate, FFG(X). “We have to have an open discussion on first of class. Now, these are proven designs so it's going to be a little different, but we are adjusting it here and there and yes we should expect some hiccups,” he continued. “Expectation management, I think, is key.” Going forward, Spencer argued perhaps the Navy should make requirements for ships more flexible. He compared the Navy's process to the airline industry, which requires an airplane that can fit a certain number of people to transport them a certain amount of miles and has few change orders, then examines the options. However, the government has shrunk the competitive base so far that contractors agree to following requirements but only if the government takes 60 to 100 percent of the risk. “In some cases, you'd love to say should we change requirements to requests? Because if in fact you're a shipbuilder, why should I definitively lock you in if you have better ideas? Where is the flow to say if you want to get here you might want to consider this, which his 80 percent of the solution versus I will drive to 100% of your solution but the cost is going to be up here?” Spencer said he understands it is difficult to change requirements because they serve a definite purpose but wondered at what cost and percent mission capability can the government make a compromise compared to the current inflexibility. Relatedly, Spencer said he has “medium confidence” that a recent $197 million reprogramming request to Congress to fund more Ford fixes will be enough, simply because “first of classes is tough.” “I'd be remiss if I said that was the last, to be very frank. I'd rather have the option to say we're going to come for more than saying no we're capped off now. I feel good on what we're finally learning on the end of this birthing process,” Spencer said. https://www.defensedaily.com/secnav-ford-issues-due-cost-cap-might-need-money/navy-usmc/