19 octobre 2020 | International, Naval
Military contractors in Connecticut had their most lucrative year in more than a decade in 2019, receiving $37.1 billion in defense contracts last year.
That's according to the State of Connecticut Office of Military Affairs, which has tracked contracts received by the state's defense industry since 2007 and releases an annual report on the outlook for the industry.
In reality, the value of defense contracts awarded in 2019 to Connecticut companies or companies doing business in the state was likely higher than $37.1 billion, as the report only relies on prime contracts worth $7 million or more. The previous high was in 2014, when the report recorded $27.1 billion in contracts.
The growth in 2019 was spurred by the $22.2 billion contract the U.S. Navy awarded to Electric Boat last December for the construction of nine Virginia-class attack submarines — the largest shipbuilding contract ever awarded by the Navy. The contract includes the option to purchase a 10th submarine, which would increase its value to $24.1 billion.
In addition to the record-breaking contract, Congress passed a defense budget that resulted in $30 billion for Connecticut-based defense programs this fiscal year, including the purchase of helicopters, jet engines and submarines all manufactured in the state.
Defense contractors, deemed essential businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, have continued to fare well, similar to what happend during the 2008-09 recession, said Bob Ross, executive director of the Office of Military Affairs.
At the time, Connecticut firms with both defense and commercial arms saw their commercial business lag but were kept busy by their military contracts.
"We're seeing some of that again," Ross said. "For example, commercial aviation has been struck by the (coronavirus) pandemic, but the military aviation side has kept going."
In the past three years, the growth in defense contracts has mainly been related to submarine construction at EB and jet engine manufacturing at Pratt & Whitney.
"Suppliers have been busier than ever, particularly for submarines," the report says. "Such high level of defense production will likely be the case for many years to come, as Connecticut continues to produce and maintain the world's most sophisticated nuclear submarines, state of-the-art military jet engines, and a variety of military rotary wingaircraft used worldwide."
18 août 2024 | International, Terrestre
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6 mars 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Leading provider of adversary air and JTAC training invests in developer of next generation artificial intelligence (AI) technologies Mesa, AZ, March 3, 2023 – Top Aces Corp. (Top Aces), the world’s only commercial owner and operator of F-16 fighter aircraft, today announced an investment in San Diego-based EpiSci, developer of the most trusted, resilient and modular Tactical AI solutions for defense, aerospace and commercial applications. This investment expands on Top Aces’ commitment of providing world-class training to the next generation of combat leaders, positioning the company at the forefront of development and training in the future ‘human-machine’ collaborative battlefield.
7 décembre 2020 | International, Terrestre
By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The German arm of MBDA said it will “restructure” its operations following signals from Berlin that the government is having second thoughts about the company's pet project, the TLVS air defense system. The move comes after European consortium MBDA and its American partner Lockheed Martin held out hope for years that their follow-on work on the former Medium Extended Air Defense System — which included the United States, Germany and Italy — would eventually yield a contract with the German military, or Bundeswehr. Up to now, the vendors invested some money of their own in the effort, believing the system's features would revolutionize a global air defense market dominated by the Patriot system. But MBDA now thinks a contract still won't materialize next year, the company said in a statement. In addition, the statement noted that Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced a reevaluation of the Bundeswehr's entire air defense portfolio. Such reviews typically are telling indicators that governments want fresh thinking on a given subject and are willing to scrap long-standing plans. In the case of TLVS, Kramp-Karrenbauer's recent emphasis on “layers” in missile defense, a common way to conceptualize the technology, could mean the system is no longer thought to serve the sweet spot in intercepting aircraft, missiles or drones at various heights and distances. Late last month, lawmakers only included a token sum of €2 million (U.S. $2.4 million) for TLVS in the defense budget for next year. While there is an opportunity to add funds midyear, including some kind of bridge funding until the Defence Ministry's goals are more clear, the companies are seeing their prospects diminish. It remains to be seen how the ministry would shape the narrative about canceling a program once held up as a poster child of German defense procurement reform. Officials set the program up with the idea of delegating as much development risk to the contractors as possible, at a fixed price. Combined with the gradual addition of new feature requests, like hypersonic intercept and lasers, that approach began to look untenable for both sides over the summer. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/12/04/german-industry-lead-prepares-for-possible-collapse-of-tlvs-anti-missile-program/