24 juillet 2024 | International, Terrestre
Dassault says Rafale jet production ramp-up hit by supply chain snags
“We have signed contracts for the Rafale, so we have to deliver on time,” CEO Eric Trappier said.
5 octobre 2018 | International, C4ISR
Army chooses Raytheon, Lockheed to mature new missile defense radars
By: Jen Judson
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has picked Raytheon and Lockheed Martin to continue on the path to develop a next-generation air and missile defense radar following a concept design phase that looked at four different companies' technology, according to company representatives.
The Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium awarded contracts to four companies to come up with designs to help inform the Army's requirements for the Patriot AMD radar replacement a year ago.
Because of their previous involvement, it came as no shock both Raytheon and Lockheed received contracts for the Lower Tier Air-and-Missile Defense Sensor. Northrop Grumman and dark horse Technovative Applications, based in Brea, California, were also awarded contracts.
Raytheon is the manufacturer of the legacy Patriot system, and Lockheed Martin spent years developing a system to replace Patriot, from which the Army ultimately walked away. That system — the Medium Extended Air Defense Systems — is still in development with Germany.
After spending years debating when and how it would replace its current Patriot system's radar with one that can detect threats coming from any direction, the Army decided to hold a competition for a brand-new 360-degree, lower-tier AMD sensor in early 2017.
Replacing the radar becomes evermore critical as the Army looks at dealing with different threats: ones that fly slower, faster or maneuver differently.
According to the Army's Air and Missile Defense Cross-Functional Team lead, Brig. Gen. Randall McIntire, the service is trying to move quickly to procure a radar more capable than the current one; any future radar must fit into the future Integrated Air and Missile Defense framework.
The AMD CFT is part of the Army's new four-star organization — Army Futures Command — tasked to get after the service's top six modernization priorities. AMD is fifth on that list ahead of soldier lethality and behind the network. Each priority has an assigned CFT to manage modernization efforts.
The concept design contracts were given a period of performance of 15 months, so the downselect to Raytheon and Lockheed came slightly early.
Congress has mandated that the Army by 2025 find a way to produce a 360-degree radar, accelerating the service's effort to bring something online.
The Army will get a capable radar over time, McIntire told Defense News in an Oct. 1 interview, but it might be worth quickly fielding a radar and then building capability into the system over time.
McIntire noted that while a 360-degree capability is a top priority, there might be some key performance parameters that rank higher such as more efficiency and better range.
“We are proud to be selected as one of the companies to move forward to the Technical Maturation and Risk Reduction phase for the Lower Tier and Air Missile Defense Sensor that will provide the United States Army the ability to detect, identify, track and report aircraft and missiles,” a Lockheed spokesperson said in an Oct. 3 statement to Defense News.
Raytheon spokesman Mike Nachshen told Defense News that the company is entering the technology-maturation and risk-reduction phase of the program with a brand-new radar, rather than an upgraded Patriot radar.
The capability was designed from the ground up using gallium nitride technology and a staring array, rather than a rotating one, to provide constant 360-degree coverage, according to Nachshen. The company has its own GaN foundry.
Raytheon expects to begin discussions with the Army over the next few weeks to determine how the radar's performance will be evaluated, the timeline of the phase and how much the Army plans to invest.
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6 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Proposed rule banning Chinese tech needs to consider small contractors, senators warn
Andrew Eversden Two U.S. senators called on the Office of Management and Budget to ensure that federal regulation banning the government's use of Chinese telecommunications technology include “explicit processes” to help small businesses with compliance. In a May 4 letter sent to acting OMB Director Russ Vought, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ben Cardin, D-Md., asked Vought to carefully consider to the needs of small businesses while the agency reviews a proposed rule. The senators' concern is in response to a proposed rule under review by OMB implementing Section 889(a)(1)(B) of the fiscal 2019 defense policy law — a provision that bans federal agencies from procuring or doing business with companies using “covered telecommunications equipment or services" in an effort to block Chinese tech companies like Huawei and ZTE from entering the U.S. government's supply chain. Rubio and Cardin are the top two senators on the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. According to the letter, OMB is currently reviewing the draft proposed rule, statutorily required to be implemented Aug. 13. Because smaller companies don't have access to the same resources as larger suppliers, they may need “more assistance and time,” the senators wrote. The pair called the guidance for small businesses “vita,l” given that small businesses make up about one-quarter of federal procurement, worth $120 billion. “By providing these small firms with a clear path toward compliance and a reasonable time frame, we believe that the goal of securing the United States supply chain will be better achieved,” Rubio and Cardin wrote. Outside interest groups representing federal contractors have also pushed Congress to delay the implementation of Part B of Section 889. In a joint letter in late March, the National Defense Industrial Association and the Professional Services Council asked Congress to delay the Aug. 13 date to February 2021. They also cited the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as reason for a delay. “Part B will impose significant financial and operational costs on medium and small-sized firms at a moment of substantial uncertainty and hardship. While we agree that Part B addresses a significant problem in defense supply chains, and that additional measures are needed to protect [Department of Defense] information assets from covered equipment, COVID-19 has made the current implementation timeline infeasible,” the groups wrote. The United States government alleges that Huawei's 5G technology allows for Chinese government espionage and poses a threat to national security. Senior U.S. officials have traveled the globe, urging allies not to include Huawei's technology in their 5G networks. But the effort has been largely unsuccessful, particularly after the United Kingdom announced in January it would allow Huawei to build noncritical pieces of its 5G network. That decision was met with scorn by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Still, Rubio and Cardin warned that OMB needs to produce the regulation cautiously and carefully. “We are concerned that if the regulatory implementation language fails to adequately consider small businesses, this process could not only result in an ineffective implementation of the prohibition, but also be both harmful and costly to thousands of small federal contractors,” they wrote. https://www.fifthdomain.com/congress/capitol-hill/2020/05/05/proposed-rule-banning-chinese-tech-needs-to-consider-small-contractors-senators-warn/
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7 août 2018 | International, Terrestre
Bulgaria details armoured vehicle procurement
Igor Bozinovski The Bulgarian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 25 July placed details online of the project to procure 150 armoured vehicles for the Bulgarian Land Forces (BuLF). The 17-page document was approved by Bulgaria's Council of Ministers on 16 May. The BGN1.224 billion (USD722 million) BuLF modernisation project calls for BGN810 million to be spent on the acquisition of at least 90 armoured combat vehicles, and BGN414 million on at least 60 special and support vehicles. In addition, BGN240 million is planned for the acquisition of related equipment, documentation, personnel training, training and simulation equipment, an automated fire control system for a self-propelled mortar battery, and related communication and information systems. Full Article: https://www.janes.com/article/82190/bulgaria-details-armoured-vehicle-procurement