March 30, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval
In a new test, the USS Michael Mansoor will provide command and control to a variety of remotely crewed drones and ships.
July 25, 2022 | International, Aerospace
An official from defense contractor Boeing said the company will talk with the U.S. Air Force to get the E-7 Wedgetail ready faster.
April 28, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
By: Mackenzie Eaglen As Washington begins to draft another stimulus spending bill to combat coronavirus, the Pentagon needs a new plan to articulate its needs to lawmakers. Simply submitting unfunded lists whole cloth comes across as tone deaf and opportunistic. A better plan would be to focus on the health, safety and continuity of all the Pentagon's workforce: uniformed, civilian and contractor. Capitol Hill is (virtually) busy as ever these days, completing another injection of funds into the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act last week. Congress and the White House will now begin formulating a phase 4 bill. President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have indicated they would both like to see domestic infrastructure spending inside. Negotiations are just beginning, but this bill will open the spending aperture compared to the CARES Act. For national defense, this legislation must focus on taking care of people and protecting jobs. Even as the U.S. military mobilizes to support the fight against COVID-19, the disease is hitting the Defense Department and its workforce much the same as the rest of America. The first order of business is for the Pentagon to ensure health and wellness for service members, their families, civilians and contractors by encouraging safe and flexible work policies. The Pentagon will need additional funding to pay for COVID-19 support deployments, mitigate the effects of stop-movement orders, increase the availability of personal protective equipment and sanitation, and expand its IT infrastructure for telework. Second, Congress and the Pentagon should provide financial assistance to the thousands of small businesses, subcontractors and suppliers to defense contractors building weapons, conducting maintenance or developing classified software. The defense-industrial base is built for maximum efficiency, not resiliency. Even seemingly minor production pauses of weeks are combining with broader quarantine restrictions to wreak havoc on program schedules. While the Pentagon has many tools at its disposal — accelerating awards and progress payments as well as lifting contracting restrictions — the acquisition team simply cannot respond to this crisis without more resources available. Absent additional liquidity, contractors face the impossible choice between letting workers go or facing the reality that they will have no jobs to return to. Small businesses and subcontractors are particularly vulnerable, as they have far less slack to respond to crises. Many live contract to contract, as indicated by a 2018 Department of Defense report on industrial base fragility. These small firms providing needed materials, labor and technology to companies designated as “essential” are struggling with COVID like everyone else. Their employees are either afraid to come to work out of fear of contraction and contagion, or they're sick with the virus. The vicious cycle — where people want to work but can't — means schedules slip. If there is no work, there is no revenue, which means layoffs. Already around the country, a major defense contractor had to shut down two plants; a shipbuilder is struggling to get employees to show up; another defense firm has laid off employees; and still others can't get to work because classified spaces are off limits. To ensure workforces remain intact, lawmakers need to move quickly to pay contractors who cannot work because of COVID-19 effects, as delays are now averaging three months. Fixing this is as simple as measuring the impact of COVID-19 on contracts and ensuring a reasonable payment for that delay, which will be billions of dollars, according to acquisition czar Ellen Lord. It's no different than legal remedies for “acts of God.” Also, the DoD can consider a subset of its unfunded priorities list to get projects on contract that are executable very quickly and inject liquidity into the defense contractor workforce. These unfunded priorities run the gamut, from weapons production to software development. Similarly, there are always “incremental” projects that can be accelerated, like facilities sustainment and depot maintenance. Using unfunded priorities to inject liquidity into the defense-industrial base isn't the ideal tool, but all options must be brought to bear to deal with this crisis. The majority of defense dollars allocated to the big prime contractors go back out the door to their suppliers and vendors — many of which are small businesses. While many of the easiest financial levers to pull involve getting contracts to primes, Congress and the Pentagon need to emphasize that this money — whether it be new contracts, accelerated contracts or increased progress payments — must be passed on to major suppliers and subcontractors. If the behemoths of defense industry don't share the wealth and take care of their supply chain, there won't be more money, contracts or authority for additional progress payments from Congress. Contractor leadership must take care of workers — including those of its vendors. Lastly, Congress can provide Defense Production Act Title III funding to directly target injections of cash to the emergent needs of small businesses and subcontractors, including many up-and-coming innovative firms and single-source suppliers. So far, DPA funding has been focused on contracting for additional personal protective equipment, but the DPA was equally built to protect the defense-industrial base. The industrial base was already hurt by the Budget Control Act, and it's been busy rebuilding under Trump, only to get whacked again by COVID-19. Employees need to know the work is there, their safety is a priority and their jobs are safe. If the Pentagon and primes don't take care of their suppliers and subcontractors, the defense-industrial base will contract again, losing crucial skills and talents permanently — and possibly seeing those companies bought up by China. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/04/27/what-the-pentagon-should-and-should-not-get-in-the-next-stimulus-bill/
December 19, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Spending rose by nearly 5 percent in 2018 to reach USD1.78 trillion, driven by budget increases in North America and Europe December 18, 2018 03:00 AM Eastern Standard Time LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Global defence expenditure grew by 4.9 percent in 2018, the fastest growth rate since 2008, according to the annual Jane's Defence Budget report, released today by business information provider IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO). Global defence spending grew for the fifth consecutive year to reach a total of USD1.78 trillion in 2018, significantly exceeding the post-Cold War record of USD1.69 trillion in 2010, according to the report. Fueling this global growth was a 5.8 percent boost to NATO spending, which totaled USD54 billion, largely due to higher defence spending in the US. Jane's by IHS Markit forecasts that overall NATO defence expenditure will exceed USD1 trillion in 2019. “Following a challenging period for NATO members in the wake of the global financial crisis, countries have begun to increase defence spending again, in response to emerging threats,” said Fenella McGerty, principal analyst, Jane's by IHS Markit. “This has slowed the rebalance in defence expenditure toward emerging markets.” Jane's by IHS Markit projects that global defence spending growth will moderate to a level of around 2 percent per year over the next five years as budget increases in Europe and North America slow and emerging markets again become the key source of growth. “In 2018, we've seen a reversal of recent trends with Western states driving growth,” said Craig Caffrey, principal analyst at Jane's by IHS Markit. “Going forward we still see Asia and the Middle East as the key sources of sustainable increases in defence spending.” NATO members increase spending In 2010, NATO member spending accounted for two thirds of global defence expenditure. As emerging markets expanded and developed economies implemented cuts over the decade, the balance of global defence expenditure shifted dramatically. The NATO share of expenditure steadily declined to just 55 percent in 2017 with non-NATO spending on track to surpass NATO expenditure by the early-2020s. “As 24 of the 29 NATO members increased their defence budget in 2018, the decline in the NATO share of global spending has stalled,” McGerty said. “The recommitment to defence in Western states means the global balance of expenditure between NATO and non-NATO markets is now more likely to shift from the mid-2020s.” Nine NATO members will reach the 2 percent of GDP benchmark for defence expenditure in 2019 – compared to just four members in 2014. These countries are the US, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Poland, France, Latvia and Romania. US continues to invest in modernisation US defence spending increased by USD46 billion in 2018 to reach USD702.5 billion as the Pentagon sought to improve military readiness and bolster missile defence capabilities. The 7 percent boost to the Pentagon's budget represents the largest increase in US defence spending since 2008. “Modernisation accounts will reach USD244.1 billion in FY19 – the highest level of investment funding since the period FY07-10, which experienced the maximum Overseas Contingency Operations and maximum US Department of Defense (US DoD) spending levels,” said Guy Eastman, senior analyst at Jane's. “The funding levels for FY18 and FY19 have enabled the US DoD to start on the road to improved readiness and acquire improved warfighting capabilities.” Eastern European budgets continue to expand, while Germany's 11 percent spending boost will bolster Western Europe's total Six of the ten fastest growing defence budgets in the world in 2018 were situated in Eastern Europe. Defence spending in the region grew by almost 9 percent in 2018 with Poland, Romania and the Ukraine driving increases. Notably, spending on military equipment has more than doubled in the region since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Western European defence spending increased for the third consecutive year in 2018 to reach USD248 billion – 2.4 percent higher than 2017. In 2019, regional spending should exceed pre-financial crisis levels as growth accelerates to 3.6 percent driven by a major 11 percent increase in the German defence budget. “As fiscal balances have improved, countries are able to respond to a markedly poorer security environment and address the capability gaps that have emerged,” McGerty said. “European defence cooperation is also a driving factor as countries look to bolster domestic capabilities but also partner on new technologies, all of which requires greater investment.” While the outlook for defence spending growth in Europe appears on an upward trend, this hinges on a stable UK defence budget and therefore upon the outcome of Brexit negotiations and the impact on the UK economy. Strong economic conditions in Asia-Pacific drive accelerated growth Growth in Asia-Pacific accelerated to 3.6 percent in 2018 but remains below the average 4.8 percent rate seen over the past decade. Total regional spending reached a record high of USD465 billion in 2018. Despite security concerns, economic growth continues to be the primary driver of defence budget growth in Asia. “Strategic drivers are undoubtedly becoming more important, but trends continue to be dictated by economic and fiscal conditions. Strong underlying economic fundamentals mean that Asia is where we expect the majority of the sustainable long-term growth will come from,” Caffrey said. “From a budgetary perspective, we're still seeing very few indicators that an arms race is underway in Asia.” Saudi surpasses France as fifth largest defence spender Higher oil prices over the course of 2018 contributed to an uptick in growth in the Middle East and North Africa with total spending in the region reaching USD180 billion. Saudi Arabia increased its defence outlay by 7 percent to hit USD56 billion, making the Kingdom the fifth largest spender on defence globally. “The large increase in Saudi Arabia's defence budget drove trends in MENA,” Caffrey said. “With oil prices falling again in the latter part of the year, regional growth is likely to remain relatively conservative in the short term.” Brazil dominates defence spending in Latin America Latin America's defence spending grew by 10.4 percent in 2018, reaching a new high of almost USD62 billion. Brazil's allocation of USD29.9 billion accounted for 48.3 percent of this total. “The recovery in Latin American defence budgets continued this year, but aside from Venezuela, where hyperinflation necessitated massive spending supplements, growth was markedly slower than in 2017,” said Andrew MacDonald, senior analyst at Jane's by IHS Markit. Top 20 defence budgets - 2017 and 2018 (USD billion) Position Country 2017* Position Country 2018* 1 USA 656.7 1 USA 702.5 2 China 191.2 2 China 207.6 3 India 61.2 3 India 62.1 4 UK 57.0 4 UK 58.4 5 France 52.5 5 Saudi Arabia 56.0 6 Saudi Arabia 52.1 6 France 53.6 7 Russia 50.9 7 Russia 51.6 8 Japan 48.3 8 Japan 45.1 9 Germany 43.5 9 Germany 44.5 10 South Korea 38.0 10 South Korea 39.1 11 Australia 32.1 11 Australia 32.0 12 Brazil 28.9 12 Brazil 29.9 13 Italy 26.7 13 Italy 27.2 14 UAE 19.3 14 UAE 21.4 15 Canada 16.5 15 Iran 17.4 16 Israel 16.4 16 Canada 16.1 17 Iran 16.2 17 Israel 16.0 18 Taiwan 14.6 18 Spain 15.3 19 Spain 14.4 19 Taiwan 14.5 20 Pakistan 12.0 20 Turkey 13.0 *Figures in constant 2018 USD billions. The intelligence cutoff for this report is 13 December 2018. About IHS Markit (www.ihsmarkit.com) IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO) is a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. The company delivers next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government, improving their operational efficiency and providing deep insights that lead to well-informed, confident decisions. IHS Markit has more than 50,000 business and government customers, including 80 percent of the Fortune Global 500 and the world's leading financial institutions. IHS Markit is a registered trademark of IHS Markit Ltd. and/or its affiliates. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners © 2018 IHS Markit Ltd. All rights reserved. About the Jane's Annual Defence Budgets Report The Jane's Defence Budgets team produces the annual Jane's Defence Budgets Report every December. The report examines and forecasts defence expenditure for 105 countries and captures 99 percent of global defence spending. The Jane's Annual Defence Budgets Report is the world's most comprehensive, forward-looking study of government's defence budgets. Tracking 99 percent of the global defence expenditure from 105 of the world's largest defence budgets, data is compiled from Jane's Defence Budgets online solution platform. It includes five-year forecasts, historical data, budget charting, trend evaluation and in-depth analysis by country. In this study, values are based on constant 2018 US dollars. Contacts Freya Lewis IHS Markit +44 203 159 3255 freya.lewis@ihsmarkit.com Press Team +1 303 858 6417 press@ihsmarkit.com https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181218005033/en/NATO-Members-Drive-Fastest-Increase-Global-Defence