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Avions de combat : Le PS, les Verts et le GSsA lancent ce mercredi le référendum contre l'achat de nouveaux jets. Ils étaient parvenus à couler le Gripen en 2014. La situation de départ est cette fois-ci différente. Ce 18 mai 2014, les bouchons de champagne avaient sauté au stamm de la gauche, à quelques pas de la gare de Berne. Au terme d'une campagne acharnée qui a même fait ensuite l'objet d'un documentaire, «La bataille du Gripen», de Frédéric Gonseth, 53,8% des votants avaient refusé d'acheter 22 avions de combat Gripen pour une somme de 3,126 milliards de francs. Tous les cantons romands avaient dit non. Cette année, potentiellement en septembre, les citoyens suisses devraient à nouveau se prononcer sur l'achat d'avions de combat. Le Parti socialiste, le Parti écologiste et le Groupe pour une Suisse sans armée (GSsA) lancent le référendum ce mercredi contre l'arrêté de planification qui prévoit d'investir 6 milliards de francs pour acheter de nouveaux jets. Les fronts sont les mêmes qu'en 2014, mais le contexte a changé. Un vote sur le principe et pas sur un type d'avion En 2014, le choix d'acheter le Gripen E, modèle en cours de développement, avait suscité la critique et la méfiance. Les détracteurs de ce jet parlaient d'avions de papier. Des membres des forces aériennes s'étaient aussi étonnés, en coulisses, du choix du jet suédois, alors que d'autres avions avaient obtenu de meilleures notes lors de l'évaluation. L'analyse Vox qui avait décortiqué le scrutin avait ainsi montré que 13% des votants avaient mis un non dans l'urne par rejet du Gripen. Cette fois-ci, les Suisses n'auront plus à se prononcer sur un type d'avion. Une seule question leur sera posée: acceptez-vous de payer 6 milliards de francs pour acheter de nouveaux avions de combat? Le Conseil fédéral ne sélectionnera le modèle qu'après le scrutin, sur la base des évaluations conduites par ArmaSuisse. A noter que dans tous les cas, la Suisse n'achètera pas le Gripen: le constructeur Saab a renoncé dès lors qu'il a été écarté des essais en vol et au sol qui ont eu lieu l'an dernier sur la base militaire de Payerne. Il reste ainsi quatre jets en course: le Rafale de Dassault, l'Eurofighter d'Airbus, le Super Hornet de Boeing et le F-35 de Lockheed Martin (voir vidéos de présentation dans l'encadré). Viola Amherd à la place d'Ueli Maurer Gaffes en série, couacs de communication, allusions malheureuses: la campagne de 2014 avait été cauchemardesque pour le ministre de la Défense de l'époque, Ueli Maurer (UDC). Six pour cent des votants avaient déclaré, lors de l'analyse Vox, avoir dit non en raison de cette campagne cacophonique. Les électeurs du centre, qui se reconnaissent dans des partis traditionnellement acquis à l'armée, avaient joué un rôle déterminant. Aujourd'hui, c'est une centriste, Viola Amherd, qui est à la manoeuvre. La conseillère fédérale PDC met un accent particulier sur la transparence dans les achats de l'armée. Elle a aussi souhaité amener une caution à la fois scientifique et militaire à ce dossier. Elle a ainsi invité l'astronaute Claude Nicollier à rendre un second avis sur le rapport Air2030. La popularité et l'image de la Haut-Valaisanne joueront un rôle lors de la campagne. De nouveaux avions sinon rien? En 2014, le Gripen ne devait remplacer que la flotte des F-5. Les 32 F/A 18 devaient être remplacés dans un second temps. Aujourd'hui, les 30 avions de combat F/A-18 restants sont vieillissants. Il est prévu de prolonger leur durée de vie jusqu'en 2030. Ainsi, la gauche ne pourra pas déployer avec autant d'impact l'un de ses arguments clés de 2014: on peut dire non au Gripen, il reste des avions pour l'armée. A l'époque, selon l'analyse Vox, 24% des détracteurs du Gripen se disaient en effet partisans d'une armée forte, mais ils estimaient aussi que l'achat de ce jet n'était pas une nécessité vitale. Le message sera différent lors de la future campagne. Viola Ahmerd et ses alliés pourront marquer des points en affirmant que le scrutin déterminera la survie des forces aériennes. Fondamentalement, les référendaires ne contestent cela dit pas la nécessité d'avoir des avions mais uniquement pour faire la police du ciel. Ils estiment qu'on peut acheter moins et à un meilleur prix. Leur capacité de convaincre avec cet argument s'annonce déterminante. Des mesures compensatoires plus basses C'est une autre différence par rapport au vote de 2014. Les affaires compensatoires - ces contre-prestations exigées de la part du constructeur - se monteront à 60% du prix d'achat des avions. Pour le Gripen, c'était 100%. Sur ce point, la ministre Viola Amherd, critique face aux surcoûts engendrés par ces compensations, s'est imposée au parlement. Les entreprises romandes qui craignaient de ne pas voir la couleur des affaires compensatoires si elles étaient réduites à 60% se disent néanmoins satisfaites: les collaborations seront possibles au-delà du secteur de la sécurité. Elles s'étendront à onze autres domaines, dont celui des machines, de l'électronique ou encore de l'horlogerie. https://www.24heures.ch/suisse/change-echec-gripen-aujourdhui/story/22057626

By: Chiara Vercellone WASHINGTON — U.S. Special Operations Command has awarded L3Harris Technologies a $100 million contract to upgrade about 550 satellite ground stations that support military command, control and communications, according to a Jan. 6 news release. Under the five-year contract, L3Harris will provide software and hardware to maintain and upgrade the Hawkeye III Lite very small aperture terminals, or VSAT. “This agreement extends the service life of our customer's existing terminals and highlights the priority USSOCOM places on ensuring their deployed users are equipped with the latest in VSAT technology,” said Chris Aebli, president of global communication systems at L3Harris Technologies. For its part, the U.S. Army has received 4,000 Hawkeye systems to date. In 2017, L3Harris delivered 46 Hawkeye III Lite VSATs to the U.S. Air National Guard's Joint Incident Site Communications Capability teams and trained personnel to facilitate direct communications with the satellite terminals. In 2019, USSOCOM awarded L3Harris an $86 million contract as part of a $390 million program that started in 2015 for handheld tactical radios that can be used with multiple channels for special forces. https://www.c4isrnet.com/industry/2020/01/07/l3harris-receives-100m-contract-to-upgrade-special-ops-communication-capabilities/

Mark Pomerleau The U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a bipartisan organization created in 2019 to develop a multipronged U.S. cyber strategy, will recommend the Department of Defense add more cyberwarriors to its forces, the group's co-chair said Jan. 7. The cyber mission force was established in 2013 and includes 133 teams and roughly 6,200 individuals from across the services that feed up to U.S. Cyber Command. These forces reached a staffing milestone known as full operational capability in May 2018, however, some on the commission believe the cyber landscape has changed so that the force needs to adapt as well. In a final report that's expected in the coming months, the solarium will recommend adding more cyberwarriors. “It's fair to say that force posture today in cyber is probably not adequate," said Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., co-chair of the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Gallagher spoke at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington Jan. 7. Within the last two years, Cyber Command has described a philosophy called persistent engagement, which is a means of constantly contesting adversary behavior in cyberspace before it can be disruptive. Persistent engagement is viewed as a means of meeting the 2018 DoD cyberspace strategy's direction to “defend forward.” That action seeks to position U.S. cyber forces outside of U.S. networks to either take action against observed adversary behavior or warn partners domestically or internationally of impending cyber activity observed in foreign networks. It is under this new approach that Gallagher and other commission members said the Pentagon must ensure its forces are capable of meeting the burgeoning challenges from bad actors. “We need to figure out what's the right size” of the force, Mark Montgomery, executive director of the commission, said at an event in November. “In my mind, the CMF probably needs to be reassessed. It might be that the assessment [says] that the size is the right size. I find that hard to believe with the growth in adversary.” The cyber mission force is made up of about 5,000 service members out of a full staff of about 6,200, Dave Luber, Cyber Command's executive director said in November. According to a defense official, it's normal that staffing will fall below 100 percent but leaders are confident in DoD's cyber forces' readiness and ability to defend the nation. During a February 2019 hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Cyber Command's leader, Gen. Paul Nakasone, said the force is the right size for the threats they currently face, but as it continues to operate and adversaries improve, it will need to grow beyond the 133 teams. However, Nakasone told a defense conference in California in December that the force has been built to execute the persistent engagement strategy. “Within U.S. Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, it's about persistent engagement; this idea that we will enable our partners with information and intelligence and we will act when authorized,” he said. “This is the way forward for us ... This is the way that we've structured our force. This is the way that we developed our doctrine. This is the way that we engage our adversaries ... this is our method upon which we look at the future and say this is how we have an impact on our adversaries.” Aside from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, Congress now requires the Department of Defense to provide quarterly readiness briefings on the cyber mission force. In the annual defense policy bill, signed into law in December, Pentagon officials must brief members of Congress on the abilities of the force to conduct cyber operations based on capability, capacity of personnel, equipment, training and equipment condition. The secretary of defense must also establish metrics for assessing the readiness of the cyber mission force, under the provision. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2020/01/07/congressional-commission-wants-more-cyberwarriors-for-the-military/

NAVY Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense, Simsbury, Connecticut, is awarded a $28,323,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a five-year ordering period and five one-year options for the MK 150 MOD 0 4.0 second Delay Detonator, and the MK 164 MOD 0 Non Electric Dual Detonator. The MN50 is a 4.0 second delay detonator with 7' of pyrotechnic lead with one non-electric delay detonator on one end and an inline initiator on the other end. The MP29 is a non-electric dual detonator with 40' of dual, no flash pyrotechnic lead with two non-electric detonators on one end and two inline initiators on the other end. They are used for demolition breaching, critical target destruction and obstacle clearing for U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command. Work will be performed in Graham, Kentucky, and is expected to be complete by January 2030. Fiscal 2019 procurement of ammunition, Navy and Marine Corps, funding in the amount of $305,486; and defense procurement funding in the amount of $149,971 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website with one offer received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N0016420DJR74). ARMY Dyncorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $19,810,314 modification (P00022) to contract W58RGZ-19-C-0025 for aviation maintenance services. Work will be performed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Afghanistan and Iraq, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $19,810,314 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2052047/source/GovDelivery/

By Christen McCurdy Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Ace Electronics received a five-year, $64.4 million contract for an upgrade of the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System for the Navy, the Pentagon has announced. The deal, announced Monday by the Department of Defense, funds production and delivery of manufacturing kits, spare parts and testing for the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System, or TTWCS, for the Maritime Strike Tomahawk. The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile is a subsonic cruise missile. The TTWCS allows commanders to redirect the missile to an alternative target if required, and to send data about its status back to the commander. According to the Pentagon's announcement, this upgrade will offer new offensive capabilities to upgraded ships in support of the Maritime Strike Tomahawk, which allows the Tomahawk to engage a moving target at sea and upgrades the system hardware. Work on the contract will be performed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., with the ordering period ending in January 2025. Navy funds in the amount of $259,118 were obligated at the time of the award. Ace Electronics Defense Systems specializes in electronic manufacturing and engineering support services for military branches throughout the world, according to its website. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2020/01/07/Ace-Electronics-nabs-644M-for-Tomahawk-control-system-upgrades/2311578432639

Fort Worth, Texas, January 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The F-35 Joint Program Office awarded the Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) industry team a $1.9 billion contract to support operations and sustainment of the global F-35 fleet, while improving mission readiness and further reducing costs. The annual contract funds critical sustainment activities for aircraft currently in the fleet and builds enterprise capacity to support the future fleet of more than 3,000 F-35 aircraft. This includes industry sustainment experts supporting base and depot maintenance, pilot and maintainer training, and sustaining engineering across the globe. It also covers fleet-wide data analytics and supply chain management for part repair and replenishment to enhance overall supply availability for the fleet. "The F-35 continues to deliver exceptional capabilities to the field, and this contract ensures F-35s are mission ready to meet warfighter needs," said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 program. "The joint government and industry team continues to make significant progress improving readiness rates and reducing sustainment costs. In 2020, we will continue to optimize and advance the sustainment system. We are confident F-35 sustainment costs will be equal to or less than legacy jets." The F-35 Joint Program Office, together with each U.S. service, international operator and the F-35 industry team, leads F-35 sustainment and the Global Support Solution. The 2020 annualized sustainment contract will cover industry sustainment activities through December 31, 2020. Enhancing Readiness and Reducing Cost Lockheed Martin's sustainment cost per aircraft per year has decreased four consecutive years, and more than 35% since 2015. The F-35's reliability continues to improve, and the global fleet is averaging greater than 65% mission capable rates, with operational squadrons consistently performing near 75%. The F-35 enterprise continues to pursue 80% mission capable rates in the near term and reduce the F-35 Cost Per Flight Hour to $25,000 by 2025, which is equal to or less than the cost to sustain legacy, less capable aircraft. To meet these goals, the enterprise is conducting supply chain competitions and building supply capacity, synchronizing spare buys, improving parts reliability and maintainability, implementing advanced analytics tools, accelerating modifications of earlier aircraft, and supporting the stand-up of government-led regional warehouses and repair depots. More than 490 aircraft, including 134 in 2019, have been delivered and are operating from 21 bases around the globe. More than 975 pilots and 8,585 maintainers have been trained and the F-35 fleet has surpassed more than 240,000 cumulative flight hours. For additional information, visit www.f35.com. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pentagon-and-lockheed-martin-sign-2020-f-35-sustainment-contract-300981717.html SOURCE Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

Over the past months, over 30 projects from the Competitive Projects' first Call for Proposals have advanced to Component 1b and signed $1M dollar contracts with IDEaS. In the upcoming weeks, many more are going to be posted on our web page. Competitive Projects Funding Recipients (as of December 2019) Additionally, Innovation Networks have signed 12 contribution agreements valued at nearly $18M to fund small research networks, or Micro-nets. These research communities will increase Canadian scientific capacity in a number of areas like advanced materials (detection avoidance and physical protection), and autonomous systems (trust and barriers to adoption). See the all newly signed recipients: Innovation Networks – Recently Funded Micro-Nets Corrosion Sandbox: Rust Never Sleeps Test your best technologies to find corrosion trouble spots for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). The next IDEaS sandbox will take place at the Centre for Ocean Ventures & Entrepreneurship (COVE) facility in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and will focus on corrosion detection on naval vessels. COVE is a collaborative facility for applied innovation in the ocean sector. Participants will get the opportunity to showcase their products on realistic simulations, with successful demonstrations resulting in access to an actual RCN vessel to demonstrate their solution in a real world environment. Watch for the Call for Applicants in January 2020. Thank you, The IDEaS Team

Steve Trimble The F-35 Joint Program Office awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.9 billion contract on Jan. 6 to maintain the global Lightning II fleet, support training and expand capacity for producing spares and repairing components. The annual award to the F-35's prime contractor follows a $1.4 billion contract in 2018 and $1.15 billion contract in 2019 for global sustainment services. The amount fluctuates along with investments in repair depots and fleet growth. “In 2020, we will continue to optimize and advance the sustainment system. We are confident F-35 sustainment costs will be equal to or less than legacy jets,” says Greg Ulmer, Lockheed's vice president and general manager for the F-35 program. Lockheed has committed to lowering the cost per flight hour of the F-35A to $25,000 by 2025. The U.S. Air Force paid about $44,000 per flight hour to operate the aircraft in 2018. Some defense officials, including the Pentagon's former head of cost evaluation, have said Lockheed's cost target is unrealistic. But others, including the commander of the Air Force's Life Cycle Management Center, do not rule out the possibility. Lockheed's announcement calls the award an “annualized” contract. The company had proposed converting the sustainment program into a five-year, fixed-price contract, but it appears the government rejected the proposal. Lockheed has delivered 490 F-35s since 2009, including 134 in 2019, with the fleet surpassing more than 240,000 cumulative flight hours. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/lockheed-awarded-19b-one-year-f-35-sustainment

The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has hosted an industry day to brief industry about the need for sensors to reduce physiological episodes in pilots. More than 150 members from the US Air Force (USAF), US Navy and industry took part in the inaugural Physiological Episodes Mitigation Technology Summit and Industry Day conducted in Dayton, Ohio, US. At the event, participants discussed the research and development of sensors to collect physiological data from pilots. The USAF and US Navy intend to develop sensors that are capable of gathering data from pilots before, during and after a flight. USAF Physiological Episodes Action Team (PEAT) lead Brigadier General Gregor Leist said: “Efforts surrounding this issue are really driven by the nature of the challenge. It's a safety-critical issue, and we need to throw everything we can at this and find the root, if there is a root, for the safety of our pilots.” Both the airforce and navy established PEATs to address the spike in the rate of physiological episodes. The services have been working with each other to share data and research. Leist added: “What really drove a lot of the airforce activities for this was the T-6 trainer and the steep rise in air breathing-associated physiological episodes. “We've been partnering continuously with the navy, sharing data in both directions so we're not duplicating efforts, and have the defence department's best working this.” The PEATs used different sensors to collect aircraft data. The effort was aimed at accurately characterising the breathing and pressurisation systems to understand the cause for physiologic episodes. AFRL sensors development team lead Dr James Christensen said: “The Integrated Cockpit Sensing programme aims to identify best-of-breed sensors for near-term operational implementation while defining an architecture, which will allow the airforce to continually add or upgrade the best sensing capability to prevent and/or mitigate the effects of physiological events.” https://www.airforce-technology.com/news/usaf-physiological-sensors-development/