27 mai 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre
Pentagon Gets $7.5 Billion for Unmanned Systems
Pentagon Gets $7.5 Billion for Unmanned Systems
14 décembre 2017 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
American exodus? 17,000 US defense suppliers may have left the defense sector
WASHINGTON — A large number of American companies supplying the U.S. military may have left the defense market, according to a study announced Thursday, raising alarm over the health and future of the defense industrial base.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies study said the number of first-tier prime vendors declined by roughly 17,000 companies, or roughly 20 percent, between 2011 and 2015.
The full study, due to be released in January, was authored by CSIS Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group Director Andrew Hunter, Deputy Director Gregory Sanders and Research Associate Rhys McCormick. It was sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School and co-produced by the Aerospace Industries Association, which released an executive summary on Dec. 14, the day of its annual aerospace and defense luncheon in Washington.
The authors, who used publicly available contract data, write that it's unclear — due to the limitations in the subcontract database —whether the companies have exited the industrial base entirely or still perform work at the lower tiers.
“There is no doubt that a huge portion of the recent turbulence in the defense industrial base has taken place among subcontractors, who are less equipped to tolerate the defense marketplace's funding uncertainly and often onerous regulatory regime — yet it remains extremely difficult to determine the real impact of these conditions on subcontractors,” the authors conclude.
Further details may yet be revealed by the Trump administration's ongoing review of the resiliency of the defense-industrial base. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' assessment is due to President Donald Trump by mid-April 2018.
The CSIS summary links 2011 Budget Control Act caps, subsequent short-term budget agreements, and Congress' “unpredictable and inconsistent” appropriations process to the “lost suppliers, changes in competition and market structure, and other turmoil” it found. The years 2011-2015 are considered a period of defense drawdown and decline.
The authors, rather than focus strictly on the total decline of defense contract obligations over the entire period, chose to chart the “whipsaw” effect that struck certain sectors of the industrial base amid the imposition of sequestration in 2013 and subsequent budget caps.
Though the defense budget had been declining in the years leading up to the Budget Control Act, the implementation of an across-the-board sequestration budget cut in 2013 “marked a severe market shock that had a considerable impact on the defense industry,” the authors say.
Compared to the pre-drawdown fiscal 2009-2010 period, the start of the drawdown in fiscal 2011-2012, average annual defense contract obligations dropped 5 percent. When sequestration was triggered in fiscal 2013, defense contract obligations dropped 15 percent from the previous year. Average annual defense contract obligations fell 23 percent during the so-called BCA decline period, fiscal 2013-2015.
The Army, which has a checkered modernization history, bore the brunt of the decline. Average annual defense contracts dropped 18 percent at the start of the drawdown, then 35 percent during the BCA decline period.
Missile defense contract obligations actually gained 7 percent at the start of the drawdown and then dropped only 3 percent under budget caps. During his presidency, Barack Obama reversed course from early cuts to missile defense to spur the development and deployment of missile defense systems in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson reacted to the internally circulated findings earlier this month, saying budget cuts are responsible for the industry being “more fragile and less flexible than I've seen it, and I've been in the industry many, many years.”
“What we've seen in the industry, I'll give you an example at Lockheed Martin: At the outset of budget cuts we were about 126,000 employees; today we are at 97,000 employees,” Hewson said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California. “Our footprint has shrunk dramatically. We see some of our small and medium-sized business, some of the components that we need, there's one, maybe two suppliers in that field where there were many, many more before.”
Budget cuts have squeezed the Defense Department to unduly prioritize low-cost contracts over innovation and investment. Cost “shootouts,” she said, are endangering the military's plans to grow in size and lethality.
AIA Vice President for National Security Policy John Luddy said companies have coped through a variety of “healthy efficiencies,” such as mergers and acquisitions, consolidating facilities, exploring shared services, and offloading certain contracting activities.
“Our companies have done an amazing job of managing the downturn, they've pulled all kinds of levels to make it work, they've shown the ingenuity of the American free market system,” Luddy said. “Nonetheless, the uncertainty of the budgeting process has become a huge challenge for us.”
Army Secretary Mark Esper, formerly of Raytheon, warned lawmakers at a Senate hearing Dec. 7 that uneven funding is driving small suppliers — “an engine of innovation” — out of the defense sector.
“If you're a small mom and pop shop out there, and I'm referring to my industry experience, it's hard for them to survive in the uncertain budgetary environment,” Esper said. “And we risk losing those folks who may over time decide that they're going to get out of the defense business and go elsewhere. So that's a big threat to our supply chains.”
But the CSIS study found that small vendors either increased their share of platform portfolio contract obligations or held steady, while large and medium vendors were most harmed by the market shock from sequestration and the defense drawdown.
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7 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial
An aerospace startup just won a contract to develop an Air Force One jet that can travel at Mach 5. Here's an early look at the engine that could rocket from New York to Paris in 90 minutes.
David Slotnick 19 hours ago The Air Force One of the future might be getting a major speed boost. An aerospace company called Hermeus on Thursday announced a contract with the US Air Force and the Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate to develop a hypersonic aircraft for the presidential fleet. While the next Air Force One, a modified 747-8, is due to be delivered by Boeing next year, the Hermeus contract looks toward its eventual replacement. Hermeus said it won the contract after designing, building, and successfully testing a prototype of an engine capable of propelling an airplane to Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound — about 3,300 mph. Mach 5 represents the delineation between supersonic and hypersonic speeds. The company completed those tests in March, Aviation Week reported. Hermeus plans to build a demonstrator vehicle over the next five years, with commercial aircraft envisioned in about a decade, Skyler Shuford, its cofounder and chief operating officer, said in 2019. A press release announcing the Air Force contract said part of the project would focus on integrating Air Force requirements into the airplane's designs. Hermeus emerged last year, announcing plans to develop a Mach 5 aircraft that could fly from New York to Paris in about 90 minutes. Ars Technica reported in May 2019 that the company raised an initial round of funding, led by Khosla Ventures, which it used to develop the prototype. Hermeus said it would use a turbine-based combined-cycle engine for the propulsion system, according to the report. The company's cofounders are alumni of SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the aerospace company Generation Orbit. At the time, Hermeus said it planned to use mostly existing technology and materials to achieve hypersonic travel. "We can make a vehicle fly that fast with today's technology," Glenn Case, a cofounder and the chief technology officer, said in a video published this spring. "We aren't getting into anything too miraculous," Shuford told Ars Technica last year. "We want to do engineering, not science." As of Thursday, the company listed about 10 open positions, including for airframe and propulsion engineers. https://www.businessinsider.com/hypersonic-air-force-one-hermeus-mach-5-2020-8
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12 mai 2023 | International, Naval
Attribution des contrats de prolongation de la durée de vie des navires Martha L. Black et Leonard J. Cowley de la Garde côtière canadienne
Ottawa (Ontario) - Veiller à ce que le personnel de la Garde côtière canadienne dispose d'un équipement fiable pour garder les voies navigables du Canada ouvertes et sécuritaires est une priorité clé pour le gouvernement du Canada. Aujourd'hui, la Garde côtière canadienne a annoncé l'attribution de deux contrats pour la prolongation de la durée de vie du NGCC Martha L. Black et du NGCC Leonard J. Cowley, d'une valeur de 31,5 millions de dollars et de 29,7 millions de dollars respectivement. Les deux navires seront en cale sèche pour commencer une période de maintenance prolongée, visant à augmenter leur durée de vie opérationnelle. À la suite d'un processus concurrentiel ouvert, Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada, au nom de la Garde côtière canadienne, a attribué à Verrault Navigation Inc. de Les Méchins, au Québec, et à Newdock de St. John's, à Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, les contrats pour terminer les travaux de prolongation de la durée de vie du NGCC Martha L. Black et du NGCC Leonard J. Cowley. Brise-glace léger polyvalent et navire baliseur, le NGCC Martha L. Black est principalement responsable des aides à la navigation et des travaux d’entretien des bouées dans la région du Saint-Laurent pendant les mois les plus chauds de l'année. Pendant les mois d'hiver, le navire effectue des escortes dans les glaces et sur le Saint-Laurent et le Saguenay, jouant un rôle essentiel dans le maintien de la navigation des principales voies navigables du Canada toute l'année. Le NGCC Leonard J. Cowley est un patrouilleur hauturier basé à St. John’s, à Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador. Bien que la tâche principale du navire soit la surveillance des pêches et l'application de la loi, le navire effectue également des opérations de recherche et de sauvetage en cas de besoin. Alors que les navires feront l’objet d’une prolongation de la durée de leur vie du printemps 2023 à l'été 2024, la Garde côtière canadienne redéploiera ses autres ressources maritimes pour s'assurer que les voies navigables du Canada continuent d'être sécuritaires pour tous les gens de mer. Ces contrats s’inscrivent dans le cadre du pilier réparation, radoub et entretien de la Stratégie nationale de construction navale, qui contribue à faire en sorte que le Canada dispose d'une flotte de navires sécuritaires et efficaces, pour servir et protéger les Canadiens pour les années à venir, tout en offrant des possibilités continues aux chantiers navals et aux fournisseurs partout au Canada. Citations « Grâce à la Stratégie nationale de construction navale, nous nous assurons d'investir dans le bon équipement afin que les membres de la Garde côtière canadienne disposent de l'équipement dont ils ont besoin, pour assurer notre sécurité sur l'eau, et garder ouvertes toute l'année les routes commerciales essentielles. Ce travail est gagnant-gagnant, car il stimule l'économie, et nous aide à protéger les côtes et les eaux spectaculaires du Canada. » L’honorable Joyce Murray, ministre des Pêches, des Océans et de la Garde côtière canadienne « Avec la Stratégie nationale de construction navale, notre gouvernement veille à ce que la Garde côtière canadienne dispose de l'équipement et des outils dont elle a besoin, pour s'acquitter de son travail crucial d'un océan à l'autre. Ces contrats vont permettre à la fois de prolonger la durée de vie du NGCC Martha L. Black et du NGCC Leonard J. Cowley et d'offrir des opportunités économiques aux chantiers navals canadiens. » L’honorable Helena Jaczek, ministre des Services publics et de l’Approvisionnement « Maintenir nos navires en bon état de fonctionnement est indispensable pour garantir que notre personnel puisse fournir aux Canadiens les services dont ils ont besoin tout au long de l'année. Nous sommes heureux de travailler avec Verrault Navigation et Newdock pour nous assurer que le NGCC Martha L. Black et le NGCC Leonard J. Cowley serviront les Canadiens pendant de nombreuses années à venir. » Mario Pelletier, commissaire, Garde côtière canadienne Faits en bref Le NGCC Martha L. Black est basé à Québec, au Québec, et a été mis en service en 1986. Le navire dessert les Canadiens dans la région du Saint-Laurent depuis sa mise en service, en veillant à ce que les voies navigables restent ouvertes et navigables. Le NGCC Leonard J. Cowley est entré en service en 1984 et effectue des opérations d'application de la loi en matière des pêches à partir de son port d'attache à St. John's, Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador. Le navire est équipé d'un pont d’envol nécessaire aux opérations d’un hélicoptère léger. Les travaux de prolongation de la durée de vie du NGCC Martha L. Black comprennent : Remplacement du moteur principal Renouvellement des parties en acier du hangar d'hélicoptère Remplacement de l'acier du pont principal et du pont du bateau Remplacement du système de communication interne Récupération des matières dangereuses Sablage et peinture de la coque Entretien des fenêtres de la timonerie Les travaux de prolongation de la durée de vie du NGCC Leonard J. Cowley comprennent : Remplacement et remise à neuf de l’équipement de pont Améliorations de la propulsion Travail sur les structures en acier Rénovation du logement Remise à neuf du hangar et des opérations aériennes Modernisation du système de ventilation Liens connexes Stratégie nationale de construction navale Carrières à la Garde côtière canadienne https://www.canada.ca/fr/garde-cotiere-canadienne/nouvelles/2023/05/attribution-des-contrats-de-prolongation-de-la-duree-de-vie-des-navires-martha-l-black-et-leonard-j-cowley-de-la-garde-cotiere-canadienne.html