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By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — Leonardo has restarted work on the U.S. Navy's new training helicopter after its competitor's protest of the contract was rejected by the Government Accountability Office. Airbus, which lost the competition in January, protested the award of the TH-73 that is slated to replace the Navy's aged TH-57 Sea Ranger fleet. “On Tuesday, the GAO denied the protest of the Navy's contract award of the Advanced Helicopter Training System (AHTS) program to Leonardo,” Leonardo said in a statement. “As a result, Leonardo has immediately resumed work on AHTS in Philadelphia, readying the next generation of U.S. Naval Aviators.” The contract, which is going through Leonardo's Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based AugustaWestland facility, is valued at about $648 million. The first part of the contract was for $176.5 million and covered the first 32 helicopters. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/05/14/government-watchdog-rejects-airbus-protest-over-us-navy-training-helicopter-contract/

By: Andrew Chuter LONDON – Adopting a new hybrid procurement system could save Britain's Ministry of Defence billions of pounds and get cutting edge technology in the hands of troops faster, a top American satellite communications company argued to the parliamentary Defence Committee. Written evidence from Viasat's U.K. arm advocating a shake-up in British procurement processes was published by the committee May 13 as part of its inquiry into the procurement and prosperity aspects of the country's defense industrial policy. Top of the list of proposals submitted by the company is a hybrid approach to procurement that saves money and leads to experimentation to deliver missions faster, said Viasat UK Managing Director Steve Beeching in an interview with Defense News following publication of the evidence. “We need a hyrid process with a platform-centric approach for very long lead, complex structural equipment elements," said Beeching, adding that more agile,, adaptive procurement for technology is required to meet the mission threat. "At the end of the day buying outdated technology doesn't deliver the mission,” Beeching said. The hybrid idea is among a raft of potential procurement changes proposed by Viasat. The company also advocated for ‘test before you buy' solutions from industry to reduce MoD costs and risk; building trusted partnerships between government and the private sector to drive information advantage; sharing risk and design obligations, thereby alleviating the burden on existing program processes; and executing an outcomes-based assessment program. The proposals come as the company is considering a potentially significant investment in the U.K. From a U.K. base near Farnborough, southern England, Viasat has a growing presence in the defense and security sector providing UHF satellite communications, tactical data system, sovereign information assurance and other services. It is currently considering investing about £300 million, or $366 million, in the U.K. and doubling its workforce of some 80 people with additional network and cyber personnel. Viasat, which is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, said a change of direction on procurement in the upcoming integrated review of defense and security could bring big rewards for government, the military and the domestic defense industry. “The 2020 strategic defense and security review will, if carried out correctly, give the MoD an opportunity to save billions of pounds, end complex procurement procedures and ensure that U.K. armed forces have available the most up-to-date equipment,” Viasat said in its evidence. “This will help to meet the rapidly changing adversarial environment the U.K. is facing. The review must provide a process to deliver a stronger industrial base, with more UK jobs at higher skill levels, achieving greater foreign investment and opportunity for exports,” the company told the committee. “To improve, the MoD needs to simplify the complexity of its huge defense organization into elements that can deliver change for the benefit of the nation, troops and way of life. Behavioral challenges occur where the MoD manages risk and outcomes as the primary objective [to keep the nation safe], but to move forward requires risk-taking,” said the evidence. The MoD's performance has been heavily criticized over many years for late delivery and cost overruns; although often the fault lays with government or the military rather than procurement officials. Despite several efforts to reform procurement, most recently through the Levene and Gray reviews, the right remedy to the problem has been elusive, despite some performance gains. Now, the new integrated defense review, virtually paused for the next few months as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, is likely to have another go at getting it right. Beeching, said that the present procurement policy was failing to produce the required results. “Current procurement procedures have yielded program delays, overspending and higher risks to the MoD. We feel very strongly that a more agile, fused-hybrid approach is needed to procure the appropriate systems and services required to keep pace with technology advancement. By modernizing the procurement process, MoD can work toward better processes to keep the nation safer,” said Beeching. “Its about approach and behaviors. We are not advocating stripping everything apart,” he said. With the COVID-19 crisis grabbing most of the government's attention, a major overhaul of defense procurement may not be on the list of priorities. Beeching, though, said if you wait for the perfect time it will never exist. “The lessons we are learning through things like COVID-19, through other things that are happening in the world, make more imperative that an achievable plan like the one we are proposing moves forward. It will give us more options to get the required capabilities to our service men and women, the government and the cabinet office much quicker than we do today,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/05/14/defense-firm-advocates-hybrid-procurement-system-to-save-billions-in-the-uk/

By: Meagan Metzger In today's crisis-stricken world, it is heartening to see leaders recognizing the importance of government support for innovative, private sector solutions to the problems facing the defense industry. For the Department of Defense, reforming policies and refocusing priorities so that commercial tech can be successfully implemented to support the defense industry's mission is essential. The DoD's endorsement not only encourages emerging tech startups to consider government compliance and scale in their business models from the very beginning; it also protects our national security — and service members in uniform — by putting the most innovative technology into play. But creating more opportunities for commercial tech companies to secure government contracts is only the beginning. For government agencies to successfully take advantage of innovative tech from the private sector, a few things need to happen — and the sooner, the better. First, the government needs to look beyond legacy contracts. As has been noted by venture capital leaders, the announced provisions of the coronavirus relief legislation, the CARES Act, “to streamline the Defense Department contracting process” currently apply only to contracts worth $100 million or more. This excludes emerging commercially successful tech companies that could have a significant impact at the government level. Separate, though related, are needed reforms to the Small Business Innovation Research program. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2020 provides additional SBIR flexibility for small businesses that are more than 50 percent owned by venture capital, but the DoD has yet to fully promulgate this new flexibility authority. Until eligibility standards are adjusted, the DoD is missing the chance to work with proven, VC-backed companies. Of course not all commercial tech companies are equipped to support government missions; and to ignore the importance of a rigorous evaluation process is even more harmful than ignoring commercial tech all together. Finding emerging tech is easy. Evaluating and equipping tech companies for success in government is hard, particularly when national security is a critical concern. The COVID-19 crisis has made it even more apparent that government agencies need to be able to implement tech solutions quickly and trust that they will perform as expected. A tech company with proven success in the private sector may draw the government's attention and show that it can deliver, but there are other equally important indicators to consider when determining if a company is capable of performing as expected at the government level. The Pentagon, like any government agency, must rely on data-backed advice and expertise to identify which commercial tech solutions are most likely to succeed in the federal market. Finding technology companies should not be a quantity play, but focus more on fit and quality. Moving fast requires working with private sector partners who have experience vetting tech companies for government contracts, which we've seen leaders do, like Space and Missile Systems Center's Air Force Col. Russell Teehan and the head of Air Force Program Executive Office Digital Steven Wert. Partners that are federally focused — with deep knowledge of government problem sets and missions — can identify which tech companies are viable technically and will be viable in the federal market. Assessing tech's viability requires specific experience evaluating a set of qualitative characteristics unique to this market, in addition to the typical “can they work with government" questions like: “Where is the code compiled?” Government agencies should also look to VCs and accelerators that can specifically guide tech companies through the government market contracting process and equip them to succeed in the long term. For instance, in 2019, the United States Air Force worked with Dcode to scout technology for the service's Multi-Domain Operations Challenge, and seven of the 30 finalists were companies that had completed the Dcode accelerator to prepare for success in the federal market. Supporting these tech companies requires more than just a singular contract award. To get over the “valley of death,” companies have to understand everything from compliance to how to staff, rework operational processes and market effectively, to name a few. There is no question that working with the right emerging tech companies is imperative for the DoD and other government agencies. But at a moment in history when time is particularly of the essence, there is no room for trial and error when it comes to identifying which tech companies can meet the government's specific needs. By working with private sector partners that have extensive government expertise and proven results, the DoD can confidently implement innovative technology that addresses its most critical needs in a time of crises and well into the future. Meagan Metzger is the founder and CEO of Dcode. She also serves on an advisory board for Booz Allen Hamilton, and another advisory board for the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum. She previously worked as chief operating officer of a mobile and cloud company, as well as chief strategy officer at an IT consultancy. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/05/14/choosing-the-right-commercial-tech-for-government/

Nathan Strout and Valerie Insinna Satellite communications provider Intelsat declared bankruptcy May 13, although its subsidiary which provides services to the Department of Defense is not part of the Chapter 11 proceedings. CEO Stephen Spengler spun the action as a positive move, claiming it gave the company more financial flexibility for the Federal Communication Commission's clearing of C-Band spectrum to make way for 5G uses. Major satellite communications companies, including Intelsat, saw their stocks take a massive hit last fall when FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced plans for a public auctioning of C-Band spectrum, which C-Band holders like Intelsat had hoped to sell off directly. The company says it will need to spend more than $1 billion to meet the FCC's deadlines for clearing out C-Band spectrum, which it needs to do in order to be eligible for $4.87 billion in accelerated relocation payments. Wiping the company's significant legacy debt off the books will help it accomplish those actions, said Spengler. “We intend to move forward with the accelerated clearing of C-band spectrum in the United States and to achieve a comprehensive solution that would result in a stronger balance sheet,” said Spengler in a statement. “This will position us to invest and pursue our strategic growth objectives, build on our strengths, and serve the mission-critical needs of our customers with additional resources and wind in our sails.” Subject to court approval, the company said in a statement it had already secured $1 billion in new financing in debtor-in-position funds, giving it the liquidity to continue current operations and finance C-Band clearing costs spurred by the Federal Communications Commission. The company claims that day-to-day operations will not be impacted by the restructuring process—it will continue to launch new satellites and invest in its network with no changes planned. The Chapter 11 petitions for Intelsat and some of its subsidiaries were filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division. However, Intelsat General, which provides satellite communications to the U.S. military and allied military customers, is not part of the bankruptcy proceedings. “The immediate concern (for DoD) is continuity of operations and it sounds like that is not going to be a big issue,” said Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at CSIS. “The longer term concern for DoD is how does Intelsat eventually emerge from bankruptcy, and is there any kind of transfer in ownership or an increase in ownership stake that would be concerning from a national security perspective.” Specifically, investment from Chinese companies could raise alarms for the military and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. “I think that's something that DoD will be watching, that Treasury will be watching,” he said. “It will be a positive side from DoD's perspective if wherever the capital is coming from is from a U.S. source.” When asked about potential Chinese investment in a bankrupt Intelsat May 14, U.S. Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Will Roper acknowledged he had concerns. “It's a topic that's harder for me to talk about, but we are mindful of adversarial tactics in this period. Every crisis is an opportunity, and with companies coming under duress it is an opportunity for predatorial tactics targeting IP that countries would not have access to otherwise," he told reporters. Furthermore, Roper noted that the decision to financially support a company like Intelsat to prevent foreign investment requires a different calculus than a traditional stimulus. “The way to engage if we risk losing IP to a nation for whom it's not in our interest to have it, it's a very different strategy (than whether we) should engage to prop up a company through stimulus," he said. "When the former appears to happen, then we need to pivot into a different gear than we would be in the latter. We simply cannot do stimulus for every company that is in duress right now.” Intelsat isn't the only major satellite company to declare bankruptcy. OneWeb—who have been building a proliferated low earth orbit constellation to provide broadband—declared bankruptcy in March. DoD had been exploring utilizing OneWeb for communications in the Arctic among other things, and Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of Headquarters Space Force, noted earlier this week that the department's new Space Acquisition Council was looking into helping OneWeb and other financially vulnerable space companies impacted by COVID-19. Intelsat noted in a statement that several of its end markets had been impacted by COVID-19. Roper said he was concerned with how COVID-19 was disproportionately affecting space and aviation companies, which rely more heavily on commercial revenue than other parts of the defense industrial base. “That's why we've taken such aggressive means to accelerate contract awards," said Roper. “We're worried about space, as well, especially microelectronics. All of the Space Acquisition Council shares that concern. And as we see the Chapter 11s being filed—we're tracking them—but our concern as an acquisition enterprise has got to be industrial base health and not picking winners or losers with specific companies. It's ensuring that we are engaging to have a healthy industrial base on the other side." Roper added that he had approved the acceleration of a major satellite award that should be announced this week as part of the department's efforts to increase the flow of funding to defense companies during COVID-19. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/05/14/intelsat-declares-bankruptcy/

"We'll take anybody's sensors," MDA's John Bier said, "as long as it contributes to the missile warning, missile defense and space domain environment." By THERESA HITCHENSon May 14, 2020 at 2:44 PM WASHINGTON: Senior Missile Defense Agency officials say Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) will be fundamental to rapidly and seamlessly integrating future capability to track and intercept hypersonic and cruise missiles into its current architecture focused on ballistic missiles. “We need the ability to globally see, track and engage the threats in a multispectral environment in real time with persistent capabilities, so that we can provide the right data to the right targets,” MDA's chief architect Stan Stafira said. MDA has been able to develop its C2 network to link various layers in the overarching US missile defense architecture, but that integration has been achieved largely through “brute force,” John Bier, MDA program director for C2BMC, told a webinar sponsored by the Missile Defense Advocacy Association (MDAA) yesterday. “Where JADC2 is trying to drive the C2 community is: how do you make that easier?” MDA is working on first assessing how to tie in its current Command and Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) architecture with JADC2 as it develops, then look at how to integrate its future planned capabilities “when applicable,” a MDA spokesperson clarified in an email. Toward that end, MDA is planning on participating in the Air Force's second “On Ramp” exercise of the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) family of systems initiative aimed at developing a number of critical technologies to underpin JADC2, Bier said. The exercise, which would have involved a space-oriented scenario, was planned for last month, but has been postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis. After first being slipped to June, it now is slated for Aug. 31-Sept. 4 moved back to A MDA fully expects to be involved in the exercise, although Bier did not elaborate on exactly what role the agency would play or what systems might be involved. He said that MDA is working on spiral development of new technologies on an every two- to three-year cycle, but hopes to move even faster to integrate new capabilities. Part of that effort will involve moving to open standards, just as the ABMS program is doing now. “We'll take anybody's sensors,” Bier said, “as long as it contributes to the missile warning, missile defense, and space domain environment.” The ABMS On Ramp exercises are “great integration environments” to test out the new standards, he added. Bier said that up to now MDA has been successfully able to develop and manage a C2BMC system across the missile defense enterprise — one that links strategic systems such as the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GBMD) interceptors in silos in California and Alaska with regionally deployed, tactical systems such as Patriot batteries — in large part because of its special governance structure and flexible contractual authorities. Although Bier didn't say it, the obvious inference is that DoD and the Joint Chiefs of Staff may want to consider how to centralize authority over various service C2 and battle management programs and projects that will need to connect to make JADC2 a reality. “The JADC2 environment allows us to bring in multiple services along with MDA and the Intelligence Community and discuss these issues,” he said. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/05/mda-all-domain-c2-key-to-countering-hypersonic-missiles

t's harder to win business amid a pandemic, said one-third of industry respondents in a Defense One reader survey. Federal contractors and private-sector workers say the coronavirus pandemic is hurting business and their ability to compete for government work, a new survey of Defense One readers has found. More than 75 percent said COVID-19 had a moderate, major, or extreme impact on their company's day-to-day operations. About 22 percent said the virus had a minimal impact; 2 percent, no impact. Nearly 60 percent of the respondents said coronavirus has forced them to slow or pause production. Nearly 40 percent said their business has seen disruptions to its cash flow. Defense One commissioned the survey, which was conducted by Government Business Council, a division of Defense One's parent company, Government Executive Media Group. The survey was conducted May 8-14 and received 677 responses, yielding a 5 percent margin of error. Of those, 313 self-identified as a government contractor or private sector employee. Related: 62% Disapprove of Trump's Coronavirus Response, Reader Survey Finds In March, the Pentagon began paying its contractors more money up front so these large firms could send more money to the smaller companies that make up their vast and diverse supply chains. Collectively, companies have sent or pledged to send billions of dollars to their suppliers in a quicker fashion. Still, Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, said last month that she was expecting a three-month slowdown in weapons deliveries as companies faced shutdowns and modified their processes and procedures to comply with social distancing and other guidelines. About 30 percent of contractors and private sector workers said their business has experienced supply-chain disruptions. While more than one-third of respondents said social distancing has hurt their company's ability to compete for government contracts, more than half said social distancing has made no difference in their company's ability to win contracts and 12 percent said restrictions have helped their company's competitive advantage. More than 17 percent said their business has had to lay off employees; 18 percent said their companies have furloughed workers. One-quarter of respondents said lack of access to senior officials and decision makers and the inability to attend networking events has affected their business. With conferences, trade shows and other in-person events on hold indefinitely, trade associations and event organizers have looked for virtual ways to replicate not only speaker presentations, but the sideline discussions and other types of networking that many consider essential to doing business in the defense sector. “Your ability to pull somebody off the stage coming off a panel, the ability to ask a question in the question-and-answer period in this environment, is a little bit challenging,” Hawk Carlisle, a retired Air Force general who is CEO of National Defense Industrial Association, said in an interview late last month. “It is having an effect and I do believe the longer this goes on it will continue to have an effect.” This week, NDIA, which represents 1,700 large and small companies and has 70,000 individual members, became the first to transform a large conference and trade show into a fully virtual conference. Typically, its SOFIC event is held in Tampa, near the U.S. Special Operations Command headquarters. This year, the speeches and panel discussions were broadcast online. What's more, the organization facilitated meetings between companies and government officials. NDIA, which usually hosts dozens of events around the country each year, is considering new ways to hold its gatherings, including hosting hybrid events, with some people in attendance and others attending virtually, Carlisle said. https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/05/coronavirus-hampering-defense-contractor-operations-reader-survey-finds

By David McLaughlin and Anthony Capaccio There's a $17 billion pot of money in the pandemic aid package for companies vital to national security -- and no one seems to want it. The $2 trillion rescue package Congress adopted in late March includes loans and loan guarantees specifically for companies “critical to maintaining national security.” The funds at first were seen as largely directed at Boeing Co., which at the time had been pleading for a government bailout. But after selling $25 billion in bonds to investors, the aircraft maker turned down the aid, which would have come with strings attached that it didn't like. With the $17 billion up for grabs, the U.S. defense industry is asking the Trump administration to change the criteria for getting some of it, arguing that the terms are too strict. The Treasury Department, which has sole authority over the $17 billion, has limited the companies that qualify to those whose work is designated DX, which means it ranks highest on the military's list of national priorities, or to companies that have facilities with top-secret security clearances. Only about 20 companies applied by the May 1 deadline, according to the Defense Department. There are about 300,000 companies in the Pentagon's contractor supply chain. Earlier: Defense Firms to Vie for Virus Aid With Boeing Weighing Options “What we're hearing across the board is that the restrictions and requirements on the money are pretty onerous, and a majority of companies just can't apply for the money,” said Hawk Carlisle, president of the National Defense Industrial Association, which represents defense contractors. It's another example of the Trump administration's struggle to help businesses that have been decimated by the pandemic. The initial round of $349 billion aimed at small businesses sparked outrage after large restaurant chains, a professional basketball franchise and numerous publicly traded companies were able to get money while mom-and-pop businesses were shut out. Treasury has approved about $25 billion out of the $35 billion that Congress allocated for payroll assistance to airlines and cargo carriers. Earlier: American Gets Most as Biggest Airlines Win Bulk of U.S. Aid On Tuesday, Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to broaden the criteria for qualifying for loans and reopen the application process. “Treasury's implementation of the loan program has not adequately addressed the needs of the aerospace supply chain and its workforce, which is fundamental to America's industrial base,” she wrote. It's not just the defense industry raising concerns. Ellen Lord, the Defense Department's top acquisition official, told reporters last month that Treasury's criteria may have prevented companies with the greatest need from qualifying. “We have talked with them several times; they have reached out to us,” Lord said. “I am not sure companies with DX-rated contracts are perhaps the ones that have the most critical needs.” She said suppliers already have been giving DX programs priority, which they are required to do under Pentagon rules. The Treasury Department didn't respond to requests for comment. Congress stipulated that companies receiving the national-security loans must provide the government with warrants, equity or senior debt securities and agree to limits on dividends, stock buybacks and executive pay. But it's Treasury's additional criteria that defense firms say are too narrow. It restricted loans to two groups: those with a contract with the DX rating or those with facilities that have top-secret security clearances. Eric Fanning, president of the Aerospace Industries Association, whose members include Lockheed Martin Corp. and BAE Systems Plc, said the criteria should be broadened to cover more companies. A Pentagon spokesman, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mike Andrews, said in an email that the Defense Department has determined that only a few programs required a DX rating, but opted to stop releasing their names as of December 2018. Before that, the Pentagon had said there are about a dozen DX programs, including those for the Minuteman III ICBM program, the B-2 bomber, presidential aircraft, missile warning satellites and nuclear-missile submarines. Some of the major companies involved are Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Dynamics Corp. The Pentagon doesn't track the number of companies that possess top-secret clearances, but only the number of facilities cleared at that level, spokeswoman Cynthia McGovern said in an email. Like Boeing, the large companies that might qualify for the Treasury loans are able to tap the capital markets to meet their financing needs, especially now that the Federal Reserve is pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into debt markets by buying corporate bonds and bond funds. Earlier: Here's Where $881 Billion in U.S. Aid Went in Month of Spending The Pentagon is helping by increasing progress payments by $3 billion and speeding up those payments to contractors, which range from the biggest makers of weapons systems to the more numerous, lower-tier suppliers of everything from software to uniforms. But many contractors also rely on commercial deals to supplement their government work. With the airline industry facing a sharp and lengthy contraction, aviation suppliers could see a greater need for rescue financing in the near future, said Fanning of the aerospace industry group. Boeing, for example, in late April said it's shrinking its workforce by about 10%, or about 16,000 jobs, to conserve cash. General Electric Co. is cutting about 13,000 jobs in its jet-engine operation. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., a supplier to Airbus and Boeing, is also cutting jobs. “We don't have a sense yet of where the stress points are in the industrial base,” Fanning said. “The health of supply chains can take a while to sort out and show where there are problems.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-14/a-17-billion-pot-of-national-security-stimulus-aid-goes-begging

Michael Bruno Companies across the board are slashing costs, preserving cash, and trying to adjust to a new normal after the novel coronavirus throttled down business prospects. But there is one area they are sure to spend even more money on in the coming years as industry regroups after COVID-19. Listen in as Aviation Week and Accenture discuss what to watch for in technology investments. https://aviationweek.com/podcasts/check-6-accenture/podcast-what-ad-companies-should-invest-after-covid-19

Airbus et l'institut Fraunhofer FKIE créent un groupe d'experts sur l'utilisation responsable des nouvelles technologies. L'humain doit pouvoir conserver en toutes circonstances le contrôle du système de combat aérien futur (SCAF) quand il sera opérationnel. Dans le cadre du projet de système de combat aérien futur (SCAF), Airbus et l'institut allemand de communication, traitement de l'information et ergonomie Fraunhofer FKIE, basé à Bonn, ont créé un groupe d'experts sur l'utilisation responsable des nouvelles technologies en vue de définir et de proposer des « garde-fous » éthiques et juridiques internationaux pour le plus grand projet de défense européen. Mis en place initialement en Allemagne en 2019, ce groupe d'experts est actuellement composé de représentants des ministères allemands de la Défense et des Affaires étrangères, ainsi que de diverses fondations, universités et think tanks. « Le SCAF représente une énorme avancée à bien des égards. Il s'agit du plus grand projet de défense européen des décennies à venir et, à ce titre, il favorisera la collaboration des nations partenaires. Avec le SCAF, nous allons intensifier nos efforts pour développer les nouvelles technologies qui composeront ce système de systèmes aérien de sixième génération », a déclaré Dirk Hoke, CEO d'Airbus Defence and Space. « Ce programme offre de nouvelles perspectives dans le domaine des politiques de sécurité et contribue à renforcer le rôle de l'Europe dans le monde. Mais il soulève aussi certaines questions éthiques et juridiques sur lesquelles nous devons nous pencher. » Le programme SCAF est un système de systèmes en réseau d'une grande complexité, avec pour élément central un avion de combat de nouvelle génération. Cette plateforme avec pilote coopérera avec des drones d'appui appelés « remote carriers », qui fourniront des capacités essentielles pour l'accomplissement des missions. Des architectures système évolutives et interopérables permettront d'intégrer au SCAF les plateformes existantes modernisées. Pour tirer le meilleur parti des capacités collaboratives des plateformes avec et sans pilote, un « Air Combat Cloud » fusionnera en temps réel de gros volumes de données, associés à l'analyse militaire et à l'intelligence artificielle. Les technologies développées dans le cadre de ce projet devraient, en outre, avoir d'importantes retombées bénéfiques pour de futures applications civiles. Le professeur Reimund Neugebauer, Président de l'institut Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft e. V., a déclaré : « Le SCAF est sur le plan technologique le programme de défense le plus vaste et le plus ambitieux jamais réalisé en Europe. L'un des enjeux essentiels qui occupera notre groupe consiste à veiller à ce que le système réponde aux besoins des missions du XXIe siècle à l'échelle mondiale, tout en garantissant un contrôle total de l'humain sur le système, à tout moment et en toutes circonstances. C'est la première fois dans l'histoire de la République fédérale d'Allemagne, qu'un projet de défense majeur s'accompagne dès le départ d'un débat intellectuel sur la mise en œuvre des principes éthiques et juridiques de base – ‘conformité éthique et juridique dès la conception'. » Un site web a été créé afin de garantir un maximum de transparence dans les travaux du groupe d'experts : www.fcas-forum.eu. Tous les membres participent aux travaux à titre bénévole et s'engagent uniquement en leur 'me et conscience. https://www.aerobuzz.fr/breves-defense/scaf-et-ethique/