17 juin 2021 | International, Aérospatial
F-35 horizontal tail production launches in Belgium
A joint venture to manufacture horizontal tails and related components for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 programme has kicked off.
3 août 2020 | International, C4ISR
WASHINGTON — BAE Systems has completed its $1.9 billion purchase of Collins Aerospace's military GPS business from Raytheon Technologies Corporation, BAE announced July 31.
“Today marks the culmination of a tremendous team effort, and we are extremely proud to welcome the Military GPS employees to our company,” said John Watkins, vice president and general manager of precision strike and sensing solutions at BAE. “Together, we will build on our rich histories of providing superior, innovative capabilities to help protect our U.S. and allied warfighters.”
The acquisition follows the merger of defense contracting giants United Technologies Corp. and Raytheon into Raytheon Technologies Corporation in June. The U.S. Department of Justice had approved that merger in March, but only on the condition the companies divest UTC's military GPS and large space-based optical systems businesses, as well as Raytheon's military airborne radios business.
The two companies had already struck a deal with BAE in January, which saw BAE purchasing Collins Aerospace's military GPS business from UTC for $1.9 billion and Raytheon's airborne tactical radio business for $275 million.
The military GPS business includes a workforce of 700 employees that design and build advanced, hardened, secure GPS products, including devices that can utilize M-Code, a more secure U.S. military GPS signal. The business boasts more than 1.5 million GPS devices installed on more than 280 weapons systems.
“This partnership will enable us to build on our market leadership and bring new discriminating capabilities to our customers, including the U.S. Department of Defense and its allies,” said Greg Wild, director of military GPS. “We're excited to be joining the BAE Systems family. They appreciate our legacy of innovation and will provide opportunities for continued business growth and success.”
17 juin 2021 | International, Aérospatial
A joint venture to manufacture horizontal tails and related components for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 programme has kicked off.
21 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Le gouvernement sud-coréen décide de réduire de 2 % le budget de défense initialement prévu pour 2020 et qui s'inscrivait sur une hausse de 7,4 %. L'avion de combat F-35 en est la première victime. Moins que prévu pour la défense Conséquence de la mobilisation budgétaire pour amortir les conséquences économiques de la pandémie de coronavirus ou covid-19, le gouvernement sud-coréen, par la voix de son ministre de l'Economie et des finances, annonce une réduction du budget de défense initialement programmé pour l'année 2020. Ce budget avait été b'ti sur une hausse de 7,4 % pour s'élever à 41 Md$. Il baissera finalement de 2 %, soit près de 740 M$ de moins que prévu. Sur ce total, les réductions portent essentiellement sur les achats d'équipements de matériels programmés, soit 582 M$. F-35 et Aegis Dans la même temps, le ministère sud-coréen de la Défense a commencé de négocier avec Lockheed Martin le report des paiements prévus sur les avions de combat F-35 acquis par la Corée du Sud ainsi que sur le système combat Aegis qui associe radars haute puissance et missiles anti-navires et missiles anti-aérien. https://air-cosmos.com/article/coronavirus-la-core-du-sud-rduit-son-budget-de-dfense-22948
15 février 2020 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité
Sebastian Sprenger MUNICH — A new German strategy document declares defense-related cyber technologies as key national assets, affording the domestic sector some protection from international competition. Government officials made the move with the publication of a paper this week outlining the types of technology Berlin wants to buy at home, in Europe or from global vendors. The designation of a key technology means the government can sidestep European Union rules requiring public acquisitions be open to companies throughout the bloc. The areas of artificial intelligence, electronic warfare, networked operations and cryptology, and defense-related information and communications technology are in the category deemed so crucial to national security that the government wants to keep the sector healthy. “A technological challenge for our security and defense lies in the area of digitalization and artificial intelligence,” read the strategy document, issued by the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. “Maintaining cybersecurity is the prerequisite for the digital advancement of the state, the economy and society, and it is equally important for the sovereignty of Germany and Europe,” it added. The new designation of cyber technologies as worthy of special protection sets up a delicate dance between maintaining a national industrial ecosystem while remaining true to the idea of a European Union with a single market. German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said her agency remains focused on cyber capabilities from a European perspective. For example, officials are working to ensure the relevant U.K. authorities remain plugged into EU networks after Brexit. The bloc, she said, must increase its cooperation on cyber issues, or risk falling behind China and the United States, Kramp-Karrenbauer said at the Munich Security Conference on Thursday. Germany's contributions to the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force drives the country's plans for fielding a new information backbone for the land forces of the Bundeswehr, she said. In that context, officials have begun studying new approaches to managing the electricity required to power new communications kit on the battlefield, the minister added. It remains to be seen how the government will use the new strategy document on key national technologies to make investment decisions, said Matthias Wachter, a defense analyst with the Federation of German Industries, or BDI. For example, the stated domestic preference in electronic-warfare technology will be put to the test with the Air Force's upcoming buy of new aircraft for electronic warfare, Wachter said. In the running are the Airbus-made Eurofighter as a local option and the Boeing F-18 Growler from the United States. “There is nothing legally binding” in the new document, the analyst said, which means the decision could go either way. “But if you take the paper seriously, the Growler would be out.” https://www.fifthdomain.com/smr/munich-security-conference/2020/02/14/germany-moves-to-protect-its-military-cyber-industry/