28 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
By COLIN CLARK
WASHINGTON: The head of Strategic Command must be very happy this evening, having learned that the Air Force is finally buying a new helicopter to guard America's ICBM fields. The Boeing-Leonardo team won the contract to supply 84 helicopters.
UPDATE BEGINS “The award of this contract is great news; today is a good day,” Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command said in a statement. “I've been vocal about the need to quickly replace the UH-1N, which is an important part of our multi-layered ICBM defense system. Awarding this contract is a huge step in the right direction in ensuring our Nation's nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure, effective, and ready. I'm grateful to the Air Force and Congress for prioritizing the UH-1N replacement.” UPDATE ENDS
Here's how strongly Hyten felt: “Of all the things in my portfolio, I can't even describe how upset I get about the helicopter replacement program,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2017. “It's a helicopter, for gosh sakes. We ought to be able to go out and buy a helicopter and put it in the hands of the people that need it. And we should be able to do that quickly.”
The helicopters will execute a range of missions, including moving security crews in the event of threats to our nation's ICBM fields, escorting convoys moving nuclear weapons, flying senior government officials out of the capital in the event of an emergency and providing support to the US Embassy in Japan.
The Air Force, clearly happy to be putting this tortured acquisition behind them, quoted Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson claiming the deal saved taxpayers $1.7 billion over the service's original estimate of $4.1 billion, thanks to “strong competition.”
When Boeing, the prime on the program, showed the helicopter off to reporters last year executives stressed it would save the US taxpayer $1 billion. Lockheed Martin also bid for the program, offering its HH-60U.
This evening's contract award of $375 million is for the first four helicopters and includes the integration of non-developmental items. The fixed price contract pays for up to “84 MH-139 helicopters, training devices, and associated support equipment.”
The MH-139 has five rotor blades, which, with their tapered ends, significantly reduce the amount of vibration. The helicopter was also noticeably quieter than most of its conventional military competitors. We flew up to 150 knots and it felt as smooth as a large Mercedes sedan on the highway.
The helicopters, based on Leonardo's commercial AW139 helicopter, will be assembled by the Italian company at its northeast Philadelphia plant. Boeing will integrate military components at its facility south of Philly.
https://breakingdefense.com/2018/09/boeing-leonardo-team-scoops-up-2-38b-uh-1n-replacement-deal/
15 juin 2023 | International, Terrestre
Rheinmetall expects to strike an ammunition deal worth billions of euros with the German government in the coming weeks and will deliver the first 35mm rounds for Gepard anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine in July, its CEO, Armin Papperger, said on Thursday.
19 novembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR
By: Joe Gould HALIFAX, Canada — A top uniformed NATO official warned Friday the European Union army concept endorsed by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would be “duplicative” and “unwise.” In an interview at the Halifax International Security Forum, UK Air Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, chairman of the NATO Military Committee, pointed to NATO's strength as a single set of forces, with a unique command and control network and planning process. “It's not rhetoric based. It's real planning based on real data,” Peach said. “And therefore, why would you wish to duplicate or replicate the strengths of an existing strong alliance.” The comments came after Merkel on Tuesday floated the idea of a “real, true European army,” to compliment NATO during a speech before a session of the European Parliament. Those remarks virtually echoed Macron's call a week earlier, in an interview with Europe 1. U.S. President Donald Trump called Macron's comments “very insulting” in a spate of Twitter posts as the two held a meeting last week in Paris. Trump himself has tested the strained bonds with some of America's closest allies by pressuring NATO allies to rely less on the U.S. and dedicate a greater percentage of their gross domestic products to defense. On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg alluded the proposal of a European force at a NATO conference in Berlin, saying he welcomed, “increased EU efforts on defense, because I think that can actually help to strengthen NATO.” European allied militaries can act without the U.S. so long as they use NATO command structures, Stoltenberg said. “It will be not a wise decision by all those nations who are members of both NATO and the European Union to start to have two sets of command structures, or duplicate what NATO is doing,” Stoltenberg said. On Friday, Peach referred to Stoltenberg's remarks, saying, “Of course, as chairman of the military committee, I agree with [Stoltenberg]. It's unwise to duplicate.” Peach emphasized that NATO has a, “single set of forces, and in our processes, those forces are trained, and assured and certified by NATO.” At the conference, Peach had a broader message that the alliance's 29 members member remain committed to it — and that it is adapting with the times. “Throughout the history of the alliance there have been inevitable tussles about how to go forward,” Peach said. “But throughout as a military alliance, we have adapted our command and control structure, responded to new challenges, embraced new members and continued to adapt to new types of warfare and new threats.” Separately, Finland and Norway intend to launch diplomatic discussions with Moscow over suspected GPS signal-jamming by Russia's military, which overlapped with NATO's Trident Juncture exercises, the largest maneuvers in the High North since the end of the Cold War. Peach on Friday would not confirm the interference took place, but called the principle of freedom of navigation, “very, very important, both to NATO and the International community.” “Freedom of navigation is not just freedom of navigation at sea, so we need to analyze claims with data. And anything that interrupts freedom of navigation is important to be reported," he said. How to manage and operate within the electromagnetic spectrum are important topics that deserve more attention, he said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/11/17/nato-official-warns-eu-force-would-be-unwise/
16 juillet 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
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