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  July 21, 2020 | International, Naval

  US Navy takes delivery of new, more powerful radar

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy has taken delivery of the first AN/SPY-6 radar array for the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Jack Lucas, which was designed and built specifically to accommodate the upgraded air and missile defense radar. The Raytheon-built system is about 30 times more sensitive than the SPY-1 arrays on the Navy's cruisers and destroyers, but it requires much more power. That led to a significant redesign of the Flight IIA DDG. Jack Lucas, being built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, is the first of the new builds. The ship is scheduled to be delivered in 2024, according to Navy budget documents. The delivery of the first SPY-6 marks a significant step for the radar, which looks poised to rapidly become the fleet standard. The Navy plans to install a scaled-down version of the radar on the older Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to keep them relevant, as well as on the future frigate, FFG(X), being built by Fincantieri. Wes Kremer, president of the Raytheon Missiles & Defense business, said in a July 15 interview with Defense News that the radar is designed to simultaneously handle multiple missions without losing fidelity on any individual mission. “SPY-6 is an evolutionary step forward in radar capability, but it was, most importantly, designed with incredibly long range and sensitivity to support all the missions that Navy destroyers do: ballistic missile defense, surface warfare and anti-air missions simultaneously,” Kremer said. “And what's sometimes lost in the noise is that it can do [its job] in the presence of electronic attack or jamming. That's really the magic of that radar.” Kremer is confident the radar has been put through its paces in the acquisition process and that the next major hurdle for the program will be Jack Lucas' sea trials. “These radars are being delivered under the low-rate initial production run,” he said. “For about three years now we've had a test radar in Hawaii and proving out the radar. We've also delivered an array to Navy's [Combat Systems Engineering Development Site] in Moorsetown, New Jersey. This isn't just a radar — it's part of Flight III, which is not just the radar, it's Lockheed Martin's Aegis Baseline 10, and we are fully integrated. So we've already gone through all that, so really the next step is sea trials.” The Navy wants to start backfitting the scaled-down version of SPY-6 in 2021, Capt. Jason Hall, who is the above-water sensors program manager at Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems, said in January. But beyond that, Kremer said Raytheon is looking to Japan and South Korea as potential customers for SPY-6. The Navy's investment in SPY-6 is not without some controversy. Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said while the Navy needs a radar like SPY-6 for ballistic missile defense, the service still must figure out how to perform passive detection to avoid giving away its location to adversaries that will be able to electronically sniff out a big, powerful radar. Kremer said he wasn't comfortable discussing concepts of operations surrounding the issue of keeping electronically quiet with SPY-6. But he reiterated that during active electronic attack, the radar would perform. “You have to be able [to] operate around electronic attack, and on the active side we have a lot of capability to do that,” he said. “But when you get into that other stuff, you're really starting to talk about concepts of operations, and I don't think it's appropriate for a contractor to talk about CONOPS.” The Navy is also planning to scale back construction of the Flight III destroyer. In its most recent budget submission, the Navy cut four of the planned 12 Flight IIIs over the next five years as the service tries to juggle the enormous bill for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/07/20/us-navy-takes-delivery-of-new-more-powerful-radar/

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  March 24, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  COVID-19: Farnborough Cancellation Another Blow For Defense Biz

  "Looking ahead, defense acquisition is in uncharted territory," says Air Force acquisition head Will Roper of the effects of the COVID-19 virus. By THERESA HITCHENS WASHINGTON: While the cancelation of the biennial Farnborough Air Show due to the COVID-19 pandemic may not have an immediate impact on the bottom lines of aerospace firms in the defense sector, the decision to close one of the world's top two airshows is yet another harbinger of pending upheaval in the overall market, analysts say. In particular, it deprives US firms of publicity abroad and highly valuable face-time with customers and potential customers from foreign governments. “Things like Farnborough are important to US aerospace companies because they help to facilitate sales and marketing,” said Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “It's traditionally been a place where you show off your latest technology and latest systems, but it's also where you finalize deals that have been in the works for a while. And so, some of that can still happen, but some of it may not happen.” Richard Aboulafia, a veteran aircraft industry analyst at Teal Group, echoed: “It's just a reflection of a sad reality: economic time has simply come to a halt for our industry and for others. That means fewer big opportunities to meet clients, advertise products and capabilities, share information, and look for opportunities. Big air shows are essential for these, but here we are.” The Farnborough Air Show — which takes place south of London — registered representatives from 96 countries in 2018, and some logged $192 billion in orders and contract commitments. The cancelation of the 2020 show, slated for July 20-24, was announced today. “I don't see the cancellation of Farnborough as a big blow to defense contractors. It is generally a way of raising their profile, but has no immediate impact on their business prospects,” said Phil Finnegan, Teal Group's director of corporate analysis. That said, Finnegan and a number other analysts agreed, the aerospace market is in for a rough ride — and not just on the commercial side as airlines see their profits for 2020 nosediving, making it increasingly unlikely that they will invest in new planes. “Looking ahead, defense acquisition is in uncharted territory. Near- and far-term impacts of Coronavirus evolve daily,” Air Force acquisition head Will Roper said this afternoon. “As we complete our first week of response, our teams navigated potential work stoppages, changing local and state directives, halted supply chains, and gearing up to support any national Defense Production Act requirements.” The Defense Production Act, which allows the government to order companies to boost production or produce new things, was invoked last week by President Donald Trump. Finnegan said “the biggest threat to defense contractors will come to those with significant commercial aerospace operations. The cash flow drain from those operations potentially could hurt them. “It also reiterates the importance of maintaining a balance in operations,” he added. “Obviously, in recent years commercial aerospace has offered greater growth and potentially high profit margins. This crisis reiterates the importance of a diversified approach to defense and aerospace to take advantage of the stability of the defense market in a crisis.” Indeed, several other long-time industry analysts said that DoD may face price hikes as firms try to shift the costs of commercial overhead to the defense contracts — especially for spare parts. Further, Harrison noted, governments around the world are going to be cash-strapped and likely loathe to make new commitments to large buys of new fighter jets or drones. According to the latest report from the Aerospace Industries Association, US aerospace and defense exports in 2018 amounted to $151 billion: civil aerospace accounted for the majority with $131.5 billion; defense products the remaining $19.5 billion. “So, Farnborough may not be the reason that sales go down, It's more of a symptom of the fact that there just aren't going to be as many opportunities for a while,” he said. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/03/covid-19-farnborough-cancelation-another-blow-for-defense-biz

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  April 26, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  No stealth? No problem ― Eurofighter makes its pitch against F-35 in Berlin

  By: Sebastian Sprenger BERLIN ― Eurofighter officials are downplaying the F-35 fighter′s stealth capability at the Berlin Air Show, positing that the consortium's non-stealthy Typhoon still beats out the American competition in the race to replace Germany's Tornado fleet. “Stealth is only 10 percent of the capability mix,” Eurofighter marketing chief Raffael Klaschke told Defense News on Wednesday. “We're still better at the other 90 percent,” he argued, referring to the aircraft's combat capabilities. While the company could rest easy with the German Defence Ministry's recent proclamation that the Eurofighter is the preferred path for the upcoming multibillion-dollar Tornado-replacement program, Lockheed Martin's massive showing at the air show may have some officials nervous. Eurofighter CEO Volker Paltzo doubled down on the argument that the Typhoon would guarantee continued vibrancy in the European military aircraft market. “I want to underscore that every euro spent on Eurofighter within Europe stays in Europe,” he told reporters. Executives also stressed that the European aircraft would come free of any “black boxes,” a reference to the expectation that all technological and operational details would be owned by Europeans, which may not be the case with the F-35. F-35 advocates have touted the fifth-generation aircraft's stealth and other advanced capabilities for deep-strike and standoff combat, and there are some in Germany, especially in the Air Force, who believe that European technology simply cannot compare. At the same time, whatever follow-on aircraft Berlin chooses for its 90-strong Tornado fleet is only expected to be a bridge toward a brand-new development, raising the question of whether a costly acquisition of the U.S. planes would be a worthwhile investment. Klaschke described stealth as a “niche capability,” adding with a nod to the F-35′s competition: “We're not scared.” Officials were less willing to discuss the expected nuclear-weapons capability of the Eurofighter, which it would pick up from the Tornado. Paltzo pointed to “confidentiality” in discussing the topic, referring to the Defence Ministry for information. What is clear, however, is that the Eurofighter will be able to carry forward Germany's pledge to deploy U.S. atomic arms at the behest of NATO, according to Paltzo. And while the U.S. Defense Department must certify the aircraft-weapon pairing, the CEO said he does not expect America to influence the fighter decision toward its own industry's product. “This is a subject where we would not expect leverage by the U.S. over the Eurofighter,” Paltzo said. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2018/04/25/no-stealth-no-problem-eurofighter-makes-its-pitch-against-f-35-in-berlin/