Accord belgo-britannique pour une participation à l'Eurofighter

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  9 juin 2024 | International, Aérospatial

  US Army debates path to buy long-range precision munitions

  Could air-launched effects also be a long-range precision munition? The Army is looking into it.

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  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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  24 septembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Defense Firms Angle for Eastern Europe

  By Dominik Kimla and Hamilton Cook Posted September 19, 2019 In White Papers One of the more dissonant aspects of NATO field exercises is, three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the continued presence of Warsaw Pact weapons and equipment: Soviet-made T-series tanks, MiG fighters, Mi-17 helicopters, BM-21 rocket artillery, and more. Like their western counterparts on the continent, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) states have repeatedly delayed needed recapitalization as defense needs gave way to domestic imperatives. But times – and threat assessments – are changing. By our analysis, cumulative CEE defense spending will be nearly $200 billion over the next five years, growing by nearly five percent per year. More than a quarter of that total, some $53 billion, will be spent on defense hardware procurement. This represents a rare opportunity for Western defense firms – European and American – to seize a first-mover advantage. However, US companies must find new ways to credibly differentiate themselves from European competitors that may offer more financial and industrial incentives (and fewer regulatory hassles) in the long run. Currently, US companies are well positioned for success as more aggressive US government advocacy has led to recent CEE customer wins for Black Hawk helicopters (Latvia, Poland, Slovakia), F-16 fighters (Bulgaria, Slovakia), HIMARS (Poland, Romania), JLTV (Lithuania), and Patriot AMD systems (Poland, Romania). The US effort to steer CEE weapons-buying decisions picked up further momentum last year with the State Department-led European Recapitalization Incentive Program (ERIP), which provided $190 million in financing assistance to five Balkan countries (along with Slovakia) to replace ex-Soviet and Yugoslav-made equipment. Even as ERIP expands, American companies will still have plenty of obstacles ahead. Historically, the limited new weapons procurement in most CEE countries included minimal offset or local industrialization requirements. Going forward, reporting suggests that CEE countries, even as small as Croatia or Slovenia, will demand some form of local industrial participation and technology cooperation to develop their indigenous capabilities. This puts American firms at a disadvantage given the US government's still-stringent technology transfer regime. Western European companies will differentiate themselves by proposing generous technology and work-sharing transfers, integrating local defense companies into their supply chains, and setting up a pan-European Defense Industrial Base. The European Defense Fund (EDF) will fuel this by providing up to €13 billion over the next eight years to cultivate and secure these local ties. By financing collaborative R&D projects, prototype development, and disruptive, higher-risk defense innovation, the EDF will entrench Western European companies in CEE defense establishments over the medium to long term. Yet, from the perspective of vulnerable members on NATO's eastern flank, only the US has the political power and defense capabilities to counter Russian meddling and aggression. Given the ambivalence of Western European powers about confronting Russia, and the appearance of oft-fluctuating US commitment to NATO, CEE nations may see buying American not only as a means to get best-in-class (but more costly) weapons, but also as a binding mechanism to enhance US political and military commitment. This dynamic was most vividly illustrated with Poland as it announced its intention to pursue the F-35, a platform historically out of Poland's “price range.” The purchase was also one of three major cornerstones for ensuring US investment in Polish security. The others were Poland's procurement of Patriot AMD systems and its agreement to – and its offer to fund – enduring US basing in-country. However, Poland will still expect significant local industrial benefit as part of any arms transaction, as defense acquisitions continue to be as much a political and (parochial) economic exercise as a military one. European firms have not stood idly by while the US competitors have targeted the region though, and they have gained their own CEE foothold. They have found success by targeting countries like Hungary, who recently purchased helicopters from Airbus along with tanks and howitzers from KMW. While this is smaller than recent US sales, Western European contractors have an advantage: time. Every programmatic delay buys more time for the EDF to mature, extend its tendrils into every Western European foothold in the region, and bring the promise of increased industrial participation. Thus, absent a dramatic softening of the US tech transfer regime, American contractors will need to push for more creative ways to provide credible differentiation from Western European competitors. First, they can take advantage of the upcoming eastern shift of US operations in the region and establish logistics and maintenance centers that are able to serve both a country's new equipment and US forces in region, in a model similar to the F-35's maintenance depots in Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom. This expands NATO's operational support footprint into the region and grants CEE countries access to a much larger sustainment enterprise. Second, American firms should push for more aggressive releases of Excess Defense Articles. While older, this equipment still represents a substantial increase in military capability that many CEE countries otherwise could not afford. This has been seen in Croatia, where 16 retired OH-58 Kiowa Warriors are providing the country with new capabilities it could not afford (and now cannot afford to replace) and a pair of UH-60Ms donated to the Croatia Special Forces have introduced the platform to the Croatian military ahead of an eventual Mi-8/17 replacement program. These introductions induct CEE customers to US-style CONOPS and equipping standards that increase switching-costs to European competitors. Finally, American contractors should extol the wider advantages of buying into the US defense enterprise. The opportunity to tap into the extensive US training enterprise during and after the acquisition process would be a boon to CEE nations overhauling their militaries. While this has most recently been highlighted by international F-35 customers conducting their initial training at Luke Air Force Base amid the expansive Western US training range infrastructure, it is an opportunity that can be granted to non-Air Force customers, particularly given the establishment of a new Combat Training Center in Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland. Meanwhile, the Foreign Military Sales process grants international contractors access to DoD buying power, not only for the acquisition itself, but also for the all-critical procurement of spare parts and weapons reloads decades down the line. As they pursue long-overdue military modernization CEE countries will have to balance competing economic, political, and security imperatives. While going with US defense prime contractors provides top-tier capability and stronger ties with the only NATO member that can credibly deter Russian military adventurism, Western European firms will offer the lure of technology sharing and a more lucrative package for local industry. How CEE nations strike that balance will shape the military-political alignment of Europe's eastern flank for the next generation. https://www.avascent.com/news-insights/white-papers/defense-firms-angle-for-eastern-europe/