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By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The German government is facilitating talks between major naval shipbuilders in an effort to set up a national conglomerate rivaling industry champions like Naval Group in France and Fincantieri in Italy, according to a local media report. Negotiations to that effect have been ongoing behind closed doors since the beginning of 2020 between ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, German Naval Yards Kiel, and Lürssen, broadcaster NDR reported Thursday. Top executives from the companies confirmed the developments on Twitter, though without elaborating on the status of the negotiations. News of the consolidation plan comes in the wake of German Naval Yards Kiel and TKMS losing a multibillion-dollar contract for new Germany Navy frigate-type ship, dubbed MKS 180. Dutch bidder Damen won the competition in January. The Dutch company has teamed with Lürssen for the program, vowing to do most of the construction work in Germany. Still, the MKS 180 award angered industry lobbying groups in Germany, who argue that the country's good-faith effort to carry out a European Union mandate for bloc-wide competition in major public programs backfired. Other European countries tend to keep such defense-related work within their own industrial ecosystems, the argument goes. “The need for a German consolidation in naval shipbuilding has been repeatedly emphasized by us and our owner, Privinvest, during the past few years,” German Naval Yards Kiel CEO Jörg Herwig was quoted as saying in a statement. “Only a strong German player will be able to remain globally competitive and strengthen the German technology sector.” Privinvest is owned by French-Lebanese businessman Iskandar Safa. A request for a statement from the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy was not immediately returned on Thursday. The idea of a unified German naval industry cluster runs counter to the narrative that the European defense market should focus less on national retrenchment and instead bank more on efficiencies through cross-continental mergers. “I think we have to be honest with ourselves and admit that European defense acquisition will be mostly national, and maybe binational or trinational,” said Sebastian Bruns, a naval analyst with the University of Kiel in northern Germany. Bruns said Lürssen's role in the consolidation talks will be interesting to watch because the company has its foot in the door of the MKS 180 program — through Damen — and at the same time would benefit from a German industry conglomerate with the Navy as a guaranteed customer. All the while, German Naval Yards Kiel has begun the legal process of challenging the Defence Ministry's pick of Damen for the business. Letting the litigation play out in the courts is all but certain to cause a delay in the eventual delivery of the vessels to the sea service. But in the course of future consolidation talks, the government could use its leverage as the broker — and ultimate approval authority — to put the protest by German Naval Yards Kiel to rest and let the MKS 180 program proceed swiftly, Bruns said. “In the end, the most important question is what actual results will come out of this,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/04/16/berlin-is-reportedly-brokering-a-deal-to-consolidate-german-naval-shipbuilders

By: Stephen J. Flanagan and James Black As countries around the world grapple with the unfolding coronavirus pandemic, the wider business of government continues. Norway's Ministry of Defence will shortly publish its next Long Term Plan, which will then be debated by parliament. The plan outlines how the Armed Forces, in tandem with other elements of government and society, can best address the threats to Norway from hostile states, terrorists, and fragile and failing states. The plan also examines how to bolster national resilience to deal with other risks including hybrid warfare, climate change and pandemics. A new Rand report, commissioned by the MoD to inform its strategy and policy development, offers perspectives from its closest allies on the emerging security challenges and strategic options facing Norway. We found broad alignment of Norwegian and allied assessments across Denmark, France, Germany, the U.K., the U.S. and NATO institutions, but some enduring differences in emphasis and priorities. Other allies recognize Norway as punching above its weight and playing a critical role in the defense of the North Atlantic and High North. At the same time, our research concludes there is no time for complacency. Norway's key allies agree that the most significant threat in the High North is not a crisis directed against Norway itself. The more plausible danger is “horizontal escalation” — a crisis elsewhere in Europe rapidly growing into a wider conflict that threatens Norwegian waters, airspace and territory. Russia continues to demonstrate hostile intent, and its military capabilities threaten the ability of Norway and its allies to operate military forces, secure critical infrastructure and protect civilian populations. The collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019 brings an increased threat from medium-range ballistic missiles, requiring Norwegian and allied defense planners to adjust to new threats to the homeland and region. Improvements in the Russian Northern Fleet, including surface vessels and submarines armed with modern cruise missiles, also pose an increased threat to NATO operations in the Norwegian Sea, to undersea internet cables and to sea lines of communication essential to reinforcing Norway from North America or Europe in the event of any conflict. There is also strong consensus on the enduring threats posed by terrorism, nonstate actors and challenges such as climate change in the Arctic. While all allies recognize the need to consider the strategic implications of a rising China, the United States sees China as a more direct and imminent security threat. Allies also welcome Norway's contributions to missions on NATO's eastern and southern flanks. Allies perceive Norway as having an impressive mix of high-end capabilities for a country of its size and a mature total defense concept — its strategy for engaging all elements of society in national defense. These capabilities and commitments, coupled with a well-respected approach to strategy development, have allowed Norway to have significant influence on strategic thinking within NATO. Nevertheless, significant security challenges remain, and to address them our report suggests a number of options for Norwegian leaders to consider: Strengthen deterrence in Norway: Expand surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities; increase the military posture in northern Norway; enhance the protection of bases and forces against air and missile threats; maximize the F-35 fighter jet's potential to aid joint operations; and prepare for operations in contested cyber, space and electromagnetic environments. Expand capacity to receive allied reinforcements: Build on lessons from the joint Trident Juncture 2018 exercise, which allies viewed as an important milestone but not a full stress test; pursue increasingly challenging training scenarios; ensure sufficient pre-positioned stocks of consumables and equipment; upgrade and expand infrastructure along with concepts for dispersing forces to prevent attack; and deepen cooperation to enhance military mobility and interoperability. Explore concepts to hold potential adversaries at risk: Invite allies with more advanced reconnaissance and deep-attack systems to deploy them to Norway periodically; develop longer-range weapons for Norwegian forces; explore the utility of low-cost, unmanned assets; collaborate with key allies on concepts to deny adversaries access to the sea and to better project forces onto the littoral; and refine parallel strategic communications to control escalation. Enhance national and societal resilience: Test and refine Norway's whole-of-government approach and the mechanisms for civil support to the military; contribute to NATO's strategy for addressing hybrid threats, such as disinformation, economic pressure and cyberattacks; and explore further measures to enhance collective preparedness and will to fight. Solidify Norwegian contributions to NATO and partners: Continue contributions to NATO operations beyond the north; help to address variations in defense expenditure across all NATO nations and rebalance trans-Atlantic burden-sharing; promote deeper NATO cooperation with Sweden and Finland; and use innovation and industry to enable influence within NATO. Other countries can learn from how Norway chooses to tackle these emerging challenges, and they can benefit from its lessons learned, particularly with respect to the total defense concept. Pursuit of some of these options, along with the Norwegian government's ongoing efforts to seek allied views, could help enhance deterrence in the north and overall NATO defense. Stephen J. Flanagan is a senior political scientist at the think tank Rand. James Black is a senior analyst in the defense, security and infrastructure program at Rand Europe. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/04/16/allies-share-views-on-enhancing-defense-of-norway-and-the-high-north/

While Army and Navy spending nearly double, Air Force and independent agency spending drops almost 40 percent. By THERESA HITCHENS and SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.on April 14, 2020 at 4:07 PM Breaking Defense graphic from DoD data WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is asking Congress for $2.865 billion for hypersonic weapons in 2021, up not quite 14 percent from a 2020 total of $2.508 billion, according to DoD budget documents obtained by Breaking Defense. Army and Navy hypersonics spending would nearly double in 2021. Each increases by 95 percent. But that's offset by a 40 percent reduction in spending by independent defense agencies like DARPA, which are handing off much of the work to the services as programs move from basic research to prototyping, and a 35 percent cut in the Air Force, which cancelled one of its two major hypersonics programs. Hypersonic weapons fall into two main categories. The more conservative approach — relatively speaking, since these are all bleeding-edge weapons — is known as boost-glide, because it uses a conventional rocket booster to accelerate the weapon to hypersonic speed, after which the glide body containing the warhead detaches from the booster and coasts, skipping along the upper limits of the atmosphere like a stone across a pond. The Navy and Army programs are both boost-glide weapons, and the two services are using a common booster rocket, built by the Navy, and a Common Glide Body, built by the Army and lead contractor Dynetics. The Navy also plans to customize the weapon to launch from submarines, while the Army version will fire from trucks, a much simpler engineering challenge. Notional flight paths of hypersonic boost-glide missiles, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles. (CSBA graphic) The Air Force had two boost-glide programs. HCSW (pronounced hacksaw), the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon, which would have used a modified version of Army-built Common Glide Body. But the Air Force decided to cancel HCSW and focus its efforts on the more compact ARRW (arrow), the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon. (Both HCSW and ARRW are Lockheed Martin programs). Finally, DARPA is working on an alternative to boost-glide: air-breathing hypersonic cruise missiles that spend their entire flight in the atmosphere, with their engines providing continuous thrust. That allows the engine to take in oxygen from the air as it flies, rather carrying bulky oxygen tanks — as a boost-glide weapon's rocket boosters do. But flying through the atmosphere also creates friction, heating up an air-breathing hypersonic weapon in ways a boost-glide design, which spends most of its time in a near-vacuum, doesn't have to worry about. Since the air-breathing technology is more ambitious, it remains a DARPA effort for now, with two contracts: Northrup Grumman and Raytheon are working on the Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapons Concept (HAWC) and Lockheed Martin on the Hypersonic Strike Weapon air-breathing (HSW-ab). While these programs will probably transition to the Air Force in the near future, they don't yet have their own budget lines in the documents we obtained; they're almost certainly folded into the figure for independent defense agencies. Breaking Defense graphic from DoD data The documents summed up a portfolio of programs the Pentagon now refers to as “missile defense and defeat,” a euphemism which combines offensive and defensive programs. As Breaking D readers know, DoD has taken to lumping long-range strike efforts known as left-of-launch into its budget reporting on missile defense, with a total of $3.26 billion included for such activities in the 2021 request. Spending on hypersonic weapons is listed as a subcategory of “nontraditional” missile defense funding, defined as: funding for missile defeat efforts outside of the above missile defense efforts. This captures ‘left-of launch' efforts that defeat missiles before they take flight via high-speed strike (e.g. Conventional Prompt Strike) or cyber-attack operations. We combed through the document to extract the offensive hypersonics programs from traditional missile defense, directed energy (lasers), cyber warfare, and other means of neutralizing enemy missile salvos. The document broke down 2020 funding and 2021 requests for Army, Navy, Air Force and defense-wide, both for foundational science, technology, test and evaluation (STTE) as well as for each individual service's programs to develop hypersonic missiles. Meanwhile, the Missile Defense Agency and the Space Development Agency are working on a space-based sensor to detect adversary hypersonic and cruise missiles, under the Hypersonic & Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) Prototyping program. The Navy is the big spender in 2021, with the bulk of the funds slated for the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS), a submarine-launched boost-glide weapon set to enter service in 2025. Its total hypersonic budget in 2020 is set at $526 million, but jumping to just over $1 billion in the 2021 request. (DoD agencies spent $31 million in 2020 wrapping up their portion of CPS, but the whole program will be in the Navy budget as of 2021). The Air Force's 2020 budget includes $848 million, the budget documents show, but that drops in the 2021 request to $554 million due to the cancellation of HCSW. The Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) is funded at $286 million in 2020 and the service is asking for $382 million in 2021. As for the Army, the documents put 2020 spending at $441 million, and the 2021 request is for $859 million. That increase is driven by a big jump in the budget for the land-based version of the common Army-Navy boost-glide weapon, the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), from $409 million in 2020 to $801 million in 2021. (This LRHW line item also includes some work on the cancelled Mobile Intermediate Range Missile. DoD never said publicly what MIRM would be, or even whether it would be a hypersonic missile or a conventional ballistic missile, and it appears to have been stillborn). The documents also show the Army spending $19 million on the Operational Fires ground-launched hypersonic missile program in 2020, and asking for another $28 million in 2021. OpFires is a joint program with DARPA. Lockheed Martin scored a $31.9 million contract from DARPA in January to begin Phase 3 Weapon System Integration under the program. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/exclusive-dod-asks-2-9b-for-hypersonics-in-2021

By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — A struggling Philadelphia shipyard got a new lease on life April 8 with the announcement that it had been selected to build up to five training ships for the Maritime Administration destined for use by civilian mariners attending state maritime academies. The contract, issued by Alaska-based company TOTE Services, tapped Philly Shipyard to build the first two national security multimission vessels, or NSMV, for a total of $630 million, according to the trade publication Marine Log. The ships, which will feature the latest navigation and bridge technologies, will be able to accommodate up to 600 cadets but will also be available for use by the federal government for disaster relief operations. The ships come with a roll-on/roll-off ramp and a crane that can be used for moving equipment and containers. The NSMVs will be 525 feet long and about 90 feet wide, or just a little smaller than a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, according to a Maritime Administration fact sheet. MARAD Administrator Mark Buzby said the contract is a win for American shipbuilding jobs. “Investing in maritime education creates more American jobs,” Buzby, a former Navy flag officer, said in a statement. "By the selection of Philly Shipyard, Inc., as the construction shipyard for the NSMV, this effort is not only bolstering the U.S. Merchant Marine, but the U.S. economy and vital transportation infrastructure as well.” Philly Shipyard primarily makes Jones Act ships, or vessels that exist only because the Jones Act mandates that goods shipped between U.S. ports must be sent on U.S.-flagged ships built and crewed by Americans. The rule is designed to preserve the domestic shipbuilding industry as a national security asset. Without it there would essentially be no domestic commercial shipbuilding industry. “Philly Shipyard only received one order per year during the last two years and was in danger of closing during 2020 unless it received additional work,” said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who recently led a study of the domestic shipbuilding industry. “Philly is important not just because it is a significant employer in the Philadelphia area, but also because it is one of the shipyards the government depends on to build smaller auxiliary and non-combatant ships such as Coast Guard cutters, NOAA research ships, and Navy unmanned surface vessels, survey ships, and towing and salvage vessels.” The vessels could also prove useful in the Navy's quest to identify a flexible hull that can meet a number of missions as it seeks to replace its aging logistics fleet, said Sal Mercogliano, a maritime historian at Campbell University. “I think those vessels serve as a potential hull form for maybe a hospital ship, maybe a command ship, an aviation logistics ship, a sub tender: There's potential there,” Mercogliano said. The Navy planned to develop and field two variants of a Common Hull Auxiliary Multi-Mission Platform, one for sealift purposes and one for other auxiliary ship missions such as submarine tending, hospital ships, and command-and-control platforms. But late last year, the White House blanched at a cost estimate of upward of $1.3 billion for the submarine tender variant of the CHAMP platform, planned for acquisition in 2024. For moving lots of tanks and howitzers across long distances, the NSMV isn't well-suited. But for many of the other missions the Navy needs to recapitalize, including its hospital ships, it could prove useful. “I don't think they'd be good for a roll-on/roll-off — it's not designed for a large mission bay,” Mercogliano said. “But I think for the hospital ship, a command ship, there's a lot of utility there.” https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/04/14/philadelphia-shipyard-tapped-to-build-new-merchant-marine-training-ships

April 14, 2020 - CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) announced today that it has been awarded a single-award task order for one base-year and four option-years, with a ceiling value of more than $83 million, by the U.S. Navy to provide engineering, technical, and planning expertise to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Under the task order, which the Navy awarded under its SeaPort-NxG contract vehicle, CACI engineers and technicians will provide expanded mission expertise, including planning maintenance and repair for submarines by assisting the Ships Availability Planning and Engineering Center (SHAPEC) and Deep Submergence Systems Program (DSSP). The task order is CACI's first award under the SeaPort-NxG vehicle. CACI technical expertise across submarine engineering disciplines, such as structural, mechanical, electrical, and combat systems, will help the Navy to safely return submarines to the fleet as quickly as possible. For example, CACI has developed the Shipyard Planning Engineering Automated Reports (SPEAR), the software tool SHAPEC uses to more effectively conduct its planning. John Mengucci, CACI President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “CACI engineers and technicians help Navy shipyards overcome hurdles in their maintenance and repair efforts with expertise earned through long-standing support of the mission. CACI stands ready to support the Navy shipyards in any way they may need, including by providing acquisition and engineering support.” CACI Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board Dr. J.P. (Jack) London, said, “CACI is proud to play a critical role in helping the Navy maintain its submarine fleet and continue to project power around the world.” CACI's 23,000 talented employees are vigilant in providing the unique expertise and distinctive technology that address our customers' greatest enterprise and mission challenges. Our culture of good character, innovation, and excellence drives our success and earns us recognition as a Fortune World's Most Admired Company. As a member of the Fortune 1000 Largest Companies, the Russell 1000 Index, and the S&P MidCap 400 Index, we consistently deliver strong shareholder value. Visit us at www.caci.com. There are statements made herein which do not address historical facts, and therefore could be interpreted to be forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in CACI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, and other such filings that CACI makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Any forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon and only speak as of the date hereof. CACI-Contract Award View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200414005058/en/

Alexandria, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)—April 13, 2020 - VSE Corporation (NASDAQ: VSEC), a leading provider of aftermarket distribution and repair services for land, sea and air transportation assets in the public and private sectors, today announced approximately $90 million in contract and delivery order awards with the United States Department of Defense (“DOD”). These awards include the following: A five- and one-half-year contract, commencing in the 2nd Quarter of 2020, to provide procurement and technical support services for the Marine Corps Advanced Amphibious Assault (AAA) family of vehicles. This award represents an increase in contract value, scope and capabilities for work currently performed by VSE. Delivery orders to provide services under VSE's Foreign Military Sales contract with the Naval Sea Systems Command (“NAVSEA”) International Fleet Support Program Office. Under these delivery orders, VSE will provide maritime program support including logistics, planning, repair and maintenance, training and engineering support to allied countries of the United States. “Our Federal Services Group recently launched a multi-year business development initiative that seeks to grow bookings and funded backlog through increased penetration of both new and existing markets,” stated John Cuomo, VSE President and CEO. “While this initiative remains in its early stages, these new contract awards reflect progress under our recently appointed Federal Services Group president, Robert Moore.” “VSE has decades of field-tested expertise in maintaining mission-critical vehicles, ships and aircraft that help to ensure optimal performance throughout their service life,” continued Cuomo. “We are proud to partner with both the Marine Corps and NAVSEA in support of their continued operational readiness.” About VSE Corporation VSE is a global provider of aftermarket distribution and repair services for land, sea and air transportation assets in the public and private sectors. VSE is a recognized leader in delivering innovative solutions for vehicle, ship, and aircraft sustainment, supply chain management, platform modernization, mission enhancement and program management. VSE also provides energy, IT and consulting services. For additional information regarding VSE's services and products, visit www.vsecorp.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200413005426/en/ Investor Relations Noel Ryan 720.778.2415 investors@vsecorp.com View source version on VSE Corporation: https://ir.vsecorp.com/news/press-releases/detail/254/vse-corporation-announces-approximately-90-million-in

By: Andrew Chuter LONDON — The British government has hit the pause button on its integrated defense review as it pours its efforts into battling the coronavirus crisis, Cabinet Office officials have told the parliamentary Defence Committee. “The Cabinet Office has informed the defence select committee that work on the integrated review has been formally paused across Whitehall,” the committee announced April 15. Committee chair Tobias Ellwood said in a statement that the move by the Cabinet Office, the department leading the review, was the right move to take given the crisis. “There would be no point in conducting an in-depth review of the nation's defence and security challenges to an artificial deadline, especially at a time when Whitehall is rightly focusing on tackling conronavirus,” Ellwood said. The recently appointed Defence Committee chair said that when the review restarts it will have to do so “with the added consequences of the pandemic to be considered.” A spokesperson for the Defence Committee said the Cabinet Office had not given any indication as to when it might start to ramp up the review effort again. However, two sources tell Defense News that the review could go on ice for up to a year. In a letter announcing the pause, deputy national security adviser Alex Ellis said that while the review was on hold, the government would be retaining a “small core capacity to think about the long-term effects of COVID-19 and issues expected to be covered in the Integrated Review." This team will be very limited in size and function, he added. The Ministry of Defence already faced mounting budget problems before the pandemic struck. Now, the massive economic crisis facing the British government makes it highly unlikely any additional cash will be found for defense, despite the prominent role the military is playing here combating the virus. The review was initiated immediately following Boris Johnson's election as prime minister in early December. Johnson promised it would be the most fundamental review of its kind since the end of the Cold War. Defense, security, foreign policy and international development strategy were to all be part of the effort. The review was scheduled by the government to be completed by July, a timescale the Defence Committee, analysts, lawmakers and others all said was too quick. Johnson first signaled his intention to slow down work on the review in a letter to Ellwood and two other committee chair dated March 24. “We have diverted resources from across Government and the Civil Service to work on COVID-19, scaling back efforts on the Integrated Review,” Johnson said at the time. Quizzed last month by parliamentarians about a possible delay to the review, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the government was open-minded about putting the work on hold. “There is no ideological block or determination to carry on come what may," Wallace said then. “With this coronavirus growing, if it is the right thing to do, we will absolutely pause the review if necessary; if not, we shall move forward.” Jon Louth, an independent defense analyst, believes the government may have to start the review process over again, given the changing circumstances. “I think we are close to going back to square one, if the budget settlement for defense is to be unpicked and secured as part of a late Autumn or Spring [2021] government-wide spending review,” he said. “Who could have any confidence in what the defense equipment program funding settlement would actually be? It could involve unpacking current contracts, but also unpick some of the ambition we have in terms of new things. “What we have and what we would like are going to be colored by a budget settlement smaller than people were anticipating; in fact, quite substantially smaller. Whether that means the MoD starts to think about reprofiling things to the right or really starts taking strategic choices, we will have to wait and see,” added Louth, who until recently was a senior analyst at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/04/15/uk-hits-pause-on-defense-review-due-to-coronavirus/

ByChristen McCurdy April 15 (UPI) -- The Navy has awarded Hensel Phelps Construction a $54.3 million contract for design and construction of an undersea operational facility, the Pentagon said Wednesday. According to the contract announcement, the training center will be constructed in Oahu, Hawaii, and will support a variety of functions, including operator and undersea vehicle training, applied instruction and laboratories and computer laboratories. The contract also includes a line item for furniture, repairs and equipment. The center will also include diver support spaces, administrative spaces, maintenance and repair spaces and operator's gear storage lockers and maintenance and support spaces. Construction is expected to be complete by April 2022. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2020/04/15/Hensel-Phelps-Construction-nabs-543M-for-undersea-training-center/4831586995292

Par Michel Cabirol La ministre des Armées estime que son ministère aura un "rôle particulier à jouer lorsqu'il s'agira de relancer l'économie française". Pour l'heure, le budget des armées est épargné. C'est une première indication. Et elle est positive pour les armées et l'industrie de défense française. "Lorsque nous examinerons le prochain budget, je ne doute pas que certains de nos crédits de paiements auront augmenté, afin d'amplifier la relance", a assuré le 10 avril la ministre des Armées Florence Parly lors de son audition au Sénat. Premier investisseur de l'État, le ministère des armées aura "un rôle particulier à jouer lorsqu'il s'agira de relancer l'économie française", a-t-elle expliqué. close volume_off Le ministère dispose, dans le cadre du programme 146 (Equipements militaires), "de moyens importants pour faire travailler aussi bien nos grandes industries de défense que le tissu de PME qui les entourent", a fait valoir Florence Parly. Car compte tenu de la récession qui s'annonce, le ministère des armées sera "un acteur clef, avec une responsabilité particulière", a-t-elle insisté. Interrogés par La Tribune, certains industriels de l'armement ne demandent ni plus, ni moins que le respect de la LPM (Loi de programmation militaire). Et ils rappellent que cette industrie produit 100% "Made in France" ou presque. L'industrie au service des armées Le ministère des Armées a demandé dès le début de la crise du Covid-19 aux industriels de la défense de maintenir leurs activités industrielles indispensables aux forces armées pour qu'elles poursuivent leurs missions. Florence Parly l'a redit vendredi dernier : "La continuité de l'industrie de la défense est essentielle à nos opérations". En outre, elle a demandé au délégué général pour l'armement de porter "une attention spéciale à la trésorerie des PME, et de réduire les délais de paiement". Pour suivre au plus près la santé financière et économique de la base industrielle et technologique de défense, le ministère a dressé une cartographie précise de la situation des entreprises. Le ministère porte également une attention à ses nombreux fournisseurs. Dans ce cadre, elle a demandé à ce que toutes les factures de moins de 5.000 euros soient traitées selon une procédure accélérée. "Depuis le 20 mars, nous en avons payé 22.000, pour un montant de 23 millions d'euros, a souligné Florence Parly. Hier, à Metz, la personne en charge de cette procédure m'a dit que 1.500 des 2.000 factures qui étaient en stock au début de la crise ont été réglées en quelques jours. Les équipes de la direction générale des finances publiques se montrent très réactives et assurent rapidement le paiement final". Le budget des armées pour l'heure épargné Pour l'heure, le ministère est épargné au niveau budgétaire. Le premier projet de loi finances rectificative (PLFR), adopté il y a quelques jours, "n'a aucun impact sur le budget de mon ministère, a affirmé la ministre. Le second, qui sera présenté au prochain conseil des ministres, ne l'affectera pas davantage". En outre, a-t-elle souligné, "nous veillerons à ce que les réflexions sur le système de santé publique prennent en compte le service de santé des armées". D'une façon générale, il est "un peu tôt pour parler du coût de l'opération Résilience (notamment sur le programme 146, ndlr), d'autant qu'il faudra apprécier l'impact de cette crise sur le budget global des armées : certaines activités ont été moins importantes que prévu, aussi". https://www.latribune.fr/entreprises-finance/industrie/aeronautique-defense/armees-florence-parly-compte-sur-une-hausse-de-ses-credits-pour-relancer-l-industrie-francaise-845282.html