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  7 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre, C4ISR

  Think Tank Creates Informal Forum For Japan NGF Talks

  Japan's Next Generation Fighter (NGF) acquisition program is the focus of a new informal channel set up by a Washington think tank for Japanese, U.S., British and Australian officials to discuss requirements and expectations. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) held the first meeting in January with 25-30 people. It included government officials, business executives, and think tanks from all four countries, said Patrick Buchan, director of the center's U.S. Alliances Project. Organized as a “Track 1.5” level working group in the language of diplomacy, it represents a middle ground between formal, government-to-government talks and back-channel diplomacy, Buchan said. It is a format that allows government officials to discuss issues privately, with Chatham House rules imposed to avoid public attribution, Buchan says. The chair of the working group is CSIS Vice President for Asia Michael Green. He organized it to help avoid the miscommunications and disappointments of the FS-X program, which led in the late-1980s and early 1990s to Japan's underperforming F-2 fleet, Buchan says. The FS-X collaboration was designed amidst escalating trade tensions in the late 1980s between Japan and the U.S., two otherwise strong Pacific allies. Likewise, the Trump administration's demand for a 400% increase in Japanese payments to the U.S. to subsidize the costs of the U.S. military presence has also created friction within the alliance. The difference between the two eras is that China's military modernization efforts over the past three decades has raised the stakes for the outcome of the NGF development process, Buchan says. Neither side can afford a result that leads to a combat system that falls short of Japan's expectations for capability. Understanding the difficulty of directly engaging Japanese government officials, CSIS conceived of the working group to offer Tokyo an informal channel for discussing the desired capabilities and industrial collaboration for the NGF, Buchan says. In the first meeting, Green posed 12 multiple-choice questions to the group. Each member secretly answered by clicking a button on an individual controller. CSIS plans to release the full list of questions and answers from the first working group later this spring, along with an analysis. One example provided by Buchan was a question about technical compatibility for the NGF. Other than the U.S., the group was asked which country in the Indo-Pacific region should the NGF be compatible with. The possible answers included Australia, India and South Korea. Eighty-three percent of the respondents said the NGF should be compatible with Australia's air force, Buchan says. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/think-tank-creates-informal-forum-japan-ngf-talks

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  19 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial

  L'achat de 24 Eurofighter par le Qatar devient effectif

  Le contrat signé par le Qatar pour l'achat de 24 avions de chasse Typhoon Eurofighter est devenu effectif mardi, a annoncé l'industriel BAE qui a reçu la première tranche de paiement d'un contrat de 5 milliards de livres. "Ce contrat d'environ 5 milliards de livres (5,6 milliards d'euros, ndlr) est devenu effectif lorsque nous avons reçu le premier paiement ce jour", a expliqué dans un communiqué le groupe de défense britannique, membre du consortium européen Eurofighter aux côtés d'Airbus et de l'italien Finmeccanica. L'accord prévoit non seulement la livraison de 24 Eurofighter mais aussi de 9 avions d'entraînement avancés Hawk, ainsi que les services associés. Les appareils doivent commencer à être livrés à partir de 2022, a précisé l'avionneur. Un accord de principe en ce sens avait été conclu en septembre 2017 puis confirmé lors de la signature du contrat au mois de décembre suivant. Depuis le début de la crise avec ses adversaires arabes qui tentent de l'isoler depuis plus d'un an, le Qatar a pris de nombreuses mesures sur le plan international ou en interne, qui comprennent la signature de nombreux contrats d'équipement militaire. En juin 2017, Doha a signé un accord avec les Etats-Unis portant sur 12 milliards de dollars (10 milliards d'euros) pour l'achat d'avions de combat F-15. Deux mois plus tard, il a confirmé une commande de navires de guerre à l'Italie pour un montant de cinq milliards d'euros. En décembre, outre le contrat avec les Britanniques, le Qatar a signé des contrats de plus de dix milliards d'euros pour l'achat notamment d'au moins 12 avions de combat Rafale et 50 Airbus A321. Le consortium Eurofighter a conclu en mars dernier un protocole d'accord distinct avec l'Arabie Saoudite pour la livraison de 48 avions de chasse. Ryad a déjà reçu 72 appareils de ce type commandés il y a dix ans. Cet accord et celui avec le Qatar ont constitué une bouffée d'air frais pour le programme Eurofighter, qui avait dû ralentir dernièrement son rythme de production faute de commandes - poussant BAE Systems à annoncer en octobre 2017 la suppression de 1.400 emplois dans sa branche aéronautique. Le programme Eurofighter emploie plus de 100.000 personnes sur l'ensemble de la chaîne de fabrication, essentiellement en Europe, dont 40.000 au Royaume-Uni, où BAE Systems fait travaillere pour le moment 5.000 personnes directement pour fabriquer cet avion. https://www.journal-aviation.com/actualites/41110-l-achat-de-24-eurofighter-par-le-qatar-devient-effectif

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  26 juillet 2018 | International, Aérospatial

  U.S. General Says Future UK Fighter Jet Must Be Compatible With F-35

  BERLIN (REUTERS) - THE top U.S. Air Force general in Europe on Wednesday said it was critical to ensure any future British fighter jet was compatible with the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter built by Lockheed Martin for a number of U.S. allies, including Britain. General Tod Wolters, commander of U.S. and NATO air forces in Europe, told reporters on a teleconference that he had watched Britain's unveiling of a new fighter jet development effort electronically from afar, but had not spoken with UK officials specifically about the new combat aircraft program. UK officials launched the new Tempest fighter jet program last week at the Farnborough Airshow outside London. Wolters said officials from both countries had discussed future combat air capabilities in the past, and agreed on the need to ensure any new systems could work with existing weapons. "One of the key ingredients that has to go into any future systems is to make sure that it's interoperable with existing systems and certainly the systems that that UK is embracing," he said, referring to Britain's growing fleet of F-35 fighter jets. "As the UK decides to go forward with a system that could be called Tempest, we would hope that it would be as interoperable as possible with the great system that they've just acquired ... the F-35B," he said. CERTAIN He said he was certain that Britain was looking very closely at the issue, which he called "critical". Britain has said it is looking for international partners for the new development program, and is already in discussions with Sweden, Japan and other countries. Wolters sidestepped a question on whether the United States could also play a role. He did announce plans to bring U.S. radar-evading, or fifth-generation, aircraft to Europe in the coming months to continue efforts to integrate those capabilities with fifth-generation aircraft operated by allies, and with older fourth-generation weapons in Europe. He declined to provide details on whether the F-35 or F-22, both radar-evading aircraft, would be brought to Europe, or when. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-07-25/us-general-says-future-uk-fighter-jet-must-be-compatible-with-f-35