16 juillet 2024 | International, Terrestre
Spain reveals delivery route for Ukraine-bound Leopard 2A4 tanks
Depending on which port is used, the Leopard tanks will arrive in Poland between the afternoon of 17 July and the early hours of 19 July.
30 novembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Aircraft makers sweeten their offers in high-stakes Swiss warplane race
By: Sebastian Sprenger and Valerie Insinna
COLOGNE, Germany, and WASHINGTON — Four aircraft makers have submitted final offers for Switzerland's $6.5 billion aircraft program, with Airbus and Lockheed Martin touting different approaches to assembling their planes locally.
Nov. 18 was the deadline for the quartet of hopeful vendors, which also includes Boeing and Dassault, to deliver their vision — and price — for one of the largest procurement programs in Europe.
Switzerland is looking for somewhere between 36 and 40 new aircraft to police the country's airspace. The degree of local industry participation is shaping up to be a major factor for the famously independence-minded Swiss.
Airbus got an assist from four Eurofighter operators — Germany, Spain, Italy and the U.K. — who sent their ambassadors in Switzerland to a Nov. 19 news conference to talk up the prospect of a grander industrial and political partnership that would follow a Eurofighter pick.
The Swiss are expected to make a decision in early summer 2021, following a referendum vote this September that narrowly greenlighted the budget.
The Airbus offer includes final assembly of all aircraft by way of a partner company in Switzerland, the details of which the company plans to announce in December.
Michael Flügger, Germany's ambassador in Switzerland, touted the possibility of Eurofighter-based airspace-patrol cooperation along the Italy-Switzerland-Germany axis. In addition, he said, Switzerland joining the airplane's user club would mean the country can “export” training flight noise to remote areas in the other partner countries.
Franz Posch, who heads the Airbus campaign in Switzerland, told reporters that the company's plan to locally assemble all 40 of the notional aircraft would “more than fulfill” the offset requirements established by the Swiss government.
Lockheed Martin, with its F-35, also has high hopes for the Swiss competition, hoping to broaden the plane's user base in Europe. The company's offer includes a basic program of 36 jets, with options for an additional four aircraft, Mike Kelley, who leads the company's F-35 efforts in Switzerland, said during a Nov. 19 roundtable with reporters.
While Switzerland would be able to purchase parts through the spares pool shared by all F-35 operators, the offer also contains a six-month deployed spares package — a separate pot of parts that would be managed by the Swiss government, which was necessary to meet Swiss autonomy requirements.
To meet requirements for industrial participation, Switzerland would have the opportunity to domestically produce about 400 canopies and transparencies for F-35 aircraft, and Lockheed would establish a European hub for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of F 35 canopies and transparencies in Switzerland. In addition, the country would take on certain F-35 engine and airframe sustainment projects focused on maintaining the Swiss Air Force's operational autonomy, Kelley said.
Lockheed also plans to partner with Swiss industry to create a cyber center of excellence, which would prototype a unique data network for Switzerland and build a test bed that would allow Swiss companies to test cyber capabilities in a secure environment.
On top of those efforts, Lockheed is offering one last industrial participation opportunity to Switzerland. For an additional cost, Switzerland will be able to conduct the final assembly of four F-35 aircraft at existing RUAG facilities in Emmen, allowing the Swiss technicians that currently work on the country's aging Hornet fleet to build a deeper knowledge of the aircraft's design.
That option would add a “significant cost” to the total program, Kelley said, but could allow for overall savings throughout the life cycle of the program.
Boeing, meanwhile, has positioned its offer of an F-18 Super Hornet fleet as a logical extension of Switzerland's existing F-18 infrastructure. “As an F/A-18 operator, Switzerland will have the option to reuse up to 60 percent of existing physical and intellectual infrastructure, making the transition to a Super Hornet easier and more cost effective over the life of the aircraft,” the company said in a statement.
The aircraft offer, the statement added, would “easily fit” within Switzerland's current F-18 operating budget.
The reference to cost comes after Swiss officials stressed that the fighter portion of the Air 2030 air defense modernization program includes a cost ceiling of 6 billion Swiss francs (U.S. $6.6 billion), with with an eye on potential price reductions along the way.
“Currently, Boeing is working with more than 100 current and new partners across Switzerland to identify the right opportunities for its New Fighter Aircraft industry plan,” the company said.
France's Dassault, with its offer of the Rafale, is the only vendor keeping its cards close to its chest. Citing a commitment to confidentiality, a spokeswoman told Defense News the company had no plans to characterize its offer nor the “nature of the relationship” between the Swiss and French governments to that end.
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12 août 2020 | International, Naval
U.S. Navy Awards BAE Systems Modernization Contract for USS Carney and USS Winston S. Churchill
August 11, 2020 - BAE Systems has received an $83.5 million contract from the U.S. Navy to modernize the guided-missile destroyers USS Carney (DDG 64) and USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81). The modernization work will be performed sequentially by the company's shipyard in Jacksonville. The contracts include options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $211.6 million. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200811005766/en/ The USS Carney will be first in the shipyard, arriving in September 2020. The 23-year-old ship just returned from a six-year operational period in Rota, Spain, and will undergo extensive repair and upgrade work that will take more than 400 days to complete. The shipyard will drydock the ship and perform maintenance of the underwater hull, renovation of crew habitability spaces and upgrades to shipboard systems. The modernization is scheduled to be completed in November 2021. The Winston S. Churchill will undergo a 390-day maintenance period when the ship arrives in June 2021. The shipyard's work aboard the 18-year-old ship will include drydocking, replacement of steel structures onboard and support of the electronic systems upgrades. The modernization of the Winston S. Churchill is scheduled to be completed in July 2022. “The modernization work aboard the Carney and Winston S. Churchill are significant for our Jacksonville maritime team and important for the service lives and mission capability of these combatants,” said Tim Spratto, general manager of BAE Systems Jacksonville Ship Repair. “The back-to-back sequencing of work is efficient and beneficial for our employees, our subcontractors and our Navy customer.” BAE Systems' Jacksonville shipyard has posted jobs and is expecting to hire workers in a number of trades, including welders, pipefitters, electricians, and painters, over the next two years to work on the two destroyers and for its ongoing repair and modernization work on other ships. The award of these two ships will also provide work for our team of subcontractor partners and third-party vendors in the port. Commissioned in 1996, the USS Carney is named after Admiral Robert Carney, who served as chief of naval operations during the Eisenhower administration. The USS Winston S. Churchill is named after the renowned British prime minister and was commissioned in 2001. BAE Systems is a leading provider of ship repair, maintenance, modernization, conversion, and overhaul services for the Navy, other government agencies, and select commercial customers. The company operates four full-service shipyards in California, Florida, Hawaii and Virginia, and offers a highly skilled, experienced workforce, eight dry docks/marine railways, and significant pier space and ship support services. For information about company jobs, visit www.jobs.baesystems.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200811005766/en/ (Photo credit: BAE Systems)
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11 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial
UAE cleared for CH-47F Chinook buy
By: Aaron Mehta and Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has cleared the United Arab Emirates to purchase 10 CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters, with an estimated price tag of $830.3 million. The potential deal was announced Thursday on the website of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, or DSCA. Such notifications are not guarantees of final sale; should the request be approved by Congress, quantities and dollar figures can change during negotiations. This request represents the 10th Foreign Military Sales request from the UAE since the start of fiscal 2017, for a total approximate worth of $10.5 billion. It is also the first Foreign Military Financing request cleared by the DSCA since the Trump administration declared a regional emergency in order to get several weapons packages pushed through Congress despite opposition on Capitol Hill, leading to bipartisan criticism of the move. The UAE bought its first lot of CH-47Fs — 16 aircraft for estimated total of $2 billion — in 2009. Boeing said earlier this year that it was relying on foreign military sales, including “30 helicopters or less” to the UAE, to shore up a delta between the production of its Block I version of the F-model and its Block II version. The company needs FMS deals like the one with the UAE even more now that the U.S. Army is planning not to buy the Block II version for the active force. The service still plans to produce Block II aircraft for Army special operators. Top Army officials have said they are working hard to mint FMS deals to help make up for the huge production gap left open following the service's decision to not buy Block II F-models for the active force. But Boeing told Defense News that it expected FMS deals would not lessen the blow and, so far, none of the anticipated sales are for Block II versions. The UAE's order, according to Boeing, was not for Block II, and the only other possible F-model sale to the United Kingdom is for extended range versions of the Block I version. It is unclear which countries might actually be interested in Block II aircraft, but the service won't be ready to offer those to foreign customers until after the variant's qualification testing is completed in 2021. The proposed sale “will expand the UAE's helicopter fleet,” per the DSCA announcement. “Further, it will enhance the UAE's operational and defensive capabilities to better defend U.S. and UAE national security interests in the region, and increase the UAE's contributions to any future joint or coalition efforts requiring helicopter support.” In addition to the helicopters themselves, the proposed package would include 26 T55-GA-714A engines; 24 embedded global positioning systems with inertial navigation system; 20 M134D-H mini-guns; and 20 M240H machine guns, as well as various transmitters and other equipment. Up to 10 U.S. government or contractor representatives will be needed in the UAE to help prepare the Chinooks for operations. Primary work will be done at Boeing's Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, facility, Honeywell Engine's Phoenix, Arizona, location, and Science and Engineering Services in Huntsville, Alabama. https://www.defensenews.com/global/mideast-africa/2019/11/08/uae-cleared-for-ch-47f-chinook-buy/