13 juin 2023 | International, Autre défense
Estonia’s global arms buying spree seeks drastic combat gains
Tallinn officials have set their defense spending on a path toward 3% of GDP, spurred by a threat assessment of the Baltic region.
5 juillet 2019 | International, Naval
£85M contract to boost Type-23 capabilities
The Ministry of Defence has signed an £85 million contract with Rolls-Royce to maintain the engines of the Royal Navy's Type-23 frigate fleet.
The contract includes a comprehensive support package to Spey gas turbines, including the overhaul of engines, provision of spares, as well as engineering and safety support. Updates to the turbines are vital as they boost propulsion in the Type-23 Frigates. They are also key pieces of equipment for Anti-Submarine Warfare.
The world-beating Type-23 frigate is able to carry out a wide variety of operations, from securing the UK's vital maritime trade routes East of the Suez Canal to safeguarding British interests in the South Atlantic.
Defence Minister Stuart Andrew announced the contract at HMNB Devonport where he saw Thursday War training which prepares the Royal Navy for war-fighting, humanitarian relief and emergency situations through a variety of drills and exercises.
Defence Minister Stuart Andrew said:
This £85m contract demonstrates the UK's commitment to modernisation through the maintenance of our formidable Type-23s. This work continues the British tradition of supporting our closest allies and solidifying our global position as world-leaders in advanced maritime technology and development.
The contract will see Rolls-Royce overhaul thirty Type-23 engines from the UK and NATO partners Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands.
The contract is expected to deliver a £35 million increase in savings to the MOD over the next eight years, by incentivising Rolls-Royce to improve repair schemes, minimise unnecessary work and procure spares at a lower cost. This will result in shorter, less expensive overhauls.
Rolls-Royce will project manage the support contract, while the main overhaul and repair work will be carried out by RWG based in Aberdeen, supporting up to 25 UK jobs across both companies.
Scotland benefits from MOD expenditure of £300 per person each year and a huge investment in local industry and commerce of £1.6 billion. UK Defence also supports over 10,000 industry jobs in Scotland and the nation is renowned for building the world's finest warships including the UK's new aircraft carriers and the Royal Navy's state-of-the-art Type-26 frigates.
Defence Equipment and Support Chief of Materiel Ships Vice Admiral Chris Gardner said:
The Type 23 frigate is central to Royal Navy operations around the world and keeping it at the forefront of operations is critical.
This contract will ensure Rolls-Royce continues to innovate through improving repair schemes, minimising unnecessary work and procuring spares cheaper. This will result in shorter, less expensive overhauls, which is good news for the Royal Navy and good news for the tax payer.
Matt Nadin, Director Naval Fleet Services at Rolls-Royce said:
This vital support contract builds upon our Rolls-Royce target to achieve and sustain increased Spey engine availability to the Royal Navy and their NATO partners, The Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.
This contract highlights our successful collaboration with the UK Ministry of Defence to provide the technical support and repair activities required to not only keep these engines in-service with the Royal Navy and their NATO partners, but also to deliver increased value for money.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/85m-contract-to-boost-type-23-capabilities
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14 août 2019 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR
Can robots make an Army platoon 10 times as effective?
By: Kelsey D. Atherton Are humans with robots an order of magnitude better than humans without robots? It's the question the Army's Maneuver Center for Excellence is hoping to solve through trial and experimentation. The National Advanced Mobility Consortium posted a request for white papers Aug. 5 about technologies that might have a place in a robotic, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy technology demonstration at Fort Benning in September 2020. This project is long in the works, with an announcement of intent dating back to March 2019. The premise, as stated in the March announcement, is to “show a path towards an Army capability that will provide a robotically equipped dismounted infantry platoon that is 10 times more effective than the current dismounted infantry platoon.” In order to do this, the Maneuver Center for Excellence, together with Fort Benning's Maneuver Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate's Robotics Requirements Division, is exploring robotic systems for “ground, air, water,” as well as the virtual space — otherwise known as the four platonic elements of terrestrial war. These robots and systems should be able to improve “mobility, protection, situational awareness, endurance, persistence, and depth” as well as, and this is key, lethality. Taken together, the robots should lend an advantage to the platoon's OODA loop — its ability to observe, orient, decide and act — with the goal that a robot-enabled platoon completes OODA-loop cycles 10 times faster than it would without robots. That's a tremendous amount of promise to put in remote systems, especially since the present paradigm of controlled robotic battlefield tools involves a lot of human observers and controllers checking on, managing, and directing the robots. (The process by which humans are actively involved in robot control is “in the loop” or, with more passive robot monitoring termed “on the loop.”) If robots are going to improve soldier situational awareness by an order of magnitude, they will have to be autonomous. And not just autonomous in movement, but autonomous in sensing, data processing, and in providing that information back to the platoon. Part of this vision involves robots themselves producing intelligence products that are both immediate and ephemeral, useful in the tactical moment and then gone before they can become out of date. Another piece is machines autonomously moving through and responding to the environment on their own, as exercises undertaken by DARPA and the Marine Corps have already explored. If that same autonomy will extend to robot lethality, or if weapons will stay in the hands of humans, remains to be determined. In preparation for the September 2020 exercise, Georgia Tech Research Institute is designated to serve as the technology integrator for the assessment and demonstration parts of the task. As the industry proposals are vetted to meet Army needs, some will receive a Request for Prototype Proposal, and will also be evaluated in a simulation exercise to see if they will be part of the 2020 exercise. Interested parties should look to the National Advanced Mobility Consortium's posted request, and to the earlier proposal announcement, for more specific guidance. Interested observers, meanwhile, should keep an eye on September 2020 in Georgia, where the Army will see if the future of war is really 10 times as promising as expected. https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/robotics/2019/08/08/can-robots-make-an-army-platoon-10-times-as-effective/
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28 novembre 2023 | International, Sécurité
Israeli defence firm Elbit ramps up output to meet demand for war | Reuters
Israeli defence electronics firm Elbit Systems said on Tuesday it had boosted supplies to Israel's military due to the country's war with Hamas militants, as it reported higher quarterly profit.