Warren to FTC: Block L3Harris-Aerojet deal, undo Northrop-Orbital ATK

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  February 8, 2021 | International, Aerospace

  NATO names location for new military space center

  By: Christina Mackenzie PARIS — The French city of Toulouse is to be NATO's new center for excellence in military space. The decision was taken by NATO on Jan. 28 but was officially announced Feb. 4. Germany had also lobbied to host the center, which will be set up at the CST (Centre Spatial de Toulouse), which is also to be the headquarters of France's Military Space Command, on the site of France's national space studies center known as CNES. The new center will be NATO's 27th center of excellence. These are military organizations that train and educate leaders and specialists from NATO member and partner countries. They assist in developing doctrines, identifying lessons learned, improving interoperability and capabilities, and testing and validating concepts through experimentation. NATO said the centers “offer recognized expertise and experience that is of benefit to the Alliance ... while avoiding the duplication of assets, resources and capabilities already present with the Alliance.” France already hosts one such center: the Center for Analysis and Simulation of Air Operations located on the Air Force base of Lyon-Mont Verdun. Hervé Grandjean, a spokesman for the French Armed Forces Ministry, said in a radio interview that “Toulouse is the beating heart of the space industry and research in France with the CNES, Airbus, Thales. ... The minister of the armed forces, Florence Parly, had decided to establish the space command in Toulouse, so we already have military personnel in situ. The choice made by NATO was logical, but we welcome it.” Françoise Dumas, president of the National Assembly's Defense Commission, said in a statement: “We are extremely pleased that NATO has recognized France's excellence in the space domain, in particular in the region of Toulouse. This is extremely good news for the city of Toulouse, the Occitanie region and the whole of the space ecosystem which is implanted there and constitutes a European reference.” The first of 42 experts, of whom 25 will be French, are expected to arrive this summer, the remainder being in place by 2025. https://www.defensenews.com/space/2021/02/05/nato-names-location-for-new-military-space-center/

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  October 5, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  US defense-industry report finds 300 security risks needing 'immediate action'

  by James Langford A sweeping Defense Department review ordered by President Trump has identified roughly 300 gaps in weapon-makers' supply chains that could threaten U.S. military campaigns if they're not corrected, a senior administration official said Thursday. The report, commissioned in July 2017, will be presented to Trump on Friday, and the president is expected to earmark funds available through both the Defense Production Act and a 1939 defense stockpile program to address some of them, the official said. The issues were identified largely at small and midsize firms that have supplied top-line U.S. contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin and have been harmed more than their larger customers by cuts in U.S. government spending, the official said. Compiled by 16 working groups with hundreds of subject-matter exports, the report found both fragile markets and weakened companies, situations that could affect the production of devices such as propeller shafts, as well as supplies of raw materials like rocket fuel, ceramics used in body armor, and metals used in combat vehicles. "We have a situation where we've identified a number of vulnerabilities which demand immediate action," the official said. "This administration's hallmark is immediate action, and with this report, there's also a blueprint for actions that will be launched immediately." The review reflects the president's belief that economic security is synonymous with national security, highlighted with the imposition of double-digit tariffs on steel and aluminum earlier this year. Those duties were set under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the White House to intervene in markets to protect national security. Full article: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/business/us-defense-industry-report-finds-300-security-risks-needing-immediate-action

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  September 28, 2020 | International, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Air Force awards laser-armed RADBO contract to Parsons

  Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has awarded a nearly $40 million contract to Parsons to produce ground vehicles that can clear mines or unexploded ordnance from airfields — using a laser. The package covers the procurement of 13 Recovery of Airbase Denied by Ordnance (RADBO) vehicles, as well as three spares. The system is made up of a Cougar MRAP, Parsons' three-kilowatt ZEUS laser weapon, and an arm assembly that can move debris or other objects out of the way. The idea behind the RADBO is to allow airmen to clear threats from current or future airfields – hardly the laser warfare capability sought by Pentagon planners for decades, but still a potentially important step, as it represents the first DoD ground-based laser system to be ordered into full production. The service awarded Parsons the sole-source contract on Sept. 23. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Ala., with a completion date of Sept. 2023. According to a 2018 video from the Air Force's Installation and Mission Support Center, the majority of development work on the RADBO design was done at the Army's Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville. Parsons claims the ZEUS design can hit targets “more than 300 meters away from the vehicle and is powerful enough to detonate small submunitions from cluster bombs, land mines, general purposed bombs and thick-cased artillery rounds,” per a company announcement. “This is Parsons innovation: delivering a game changing warfighting product,” Hector Cuevas, Parsons executive vice president of missile defense and C5ISR, said in a statement. “We're proud to partner with the Air Force in deploying this critical force protection and mission enabling technology that will greatly increase safe and effective explosive ordnance disposal operations.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/industry/2020/09/25/air-force-awards-laser-armed-radbo-contract-to-parsons/