Boeing's MQ-25 refueling drone moved to air base for flight testing

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  12 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Le Leonardo M-345 décroche sa certification de type

  L'avion d'entraînement M-345 de Leonardo a reçu sa certification initiale émise par la DAAA (Direction de l'armement aérien et de la navigabilité), soit l'autorité du ministère italien de la Défense. Le nouveau M-345 de Leonardo, sur le point d'entrer en service avec l'armée de l'air italienne et futur avion de l'équipe acrobatique de l'armée de l'air italienne Frecce Tricolori, est un appareil capable d'offrir des performances et une efficacité de type avion à réaction au prix d'un turbopropulseur, selon l'avionneur. 200 vols d'essais La DAAA (Direction L'armement aérien et la navigabilité), l'autorité italienne de certification du ministère italien de la Défense, a émis la « certification initiale » pour le nouvel avion d'entraînement M-345 de Leonardo. Cette étape du programme M-345 est le résultat d'intenses activités avec deux cents vols dédiés enregistrés parallèlement aux essais en vol de l'armée de l'air italienne. La certification initiale du M-345 marque le premier cas d'application de la nouvelle règlementation AER (EP) P-21 pour un aéronef à voilure fixe. Règlementation qui applique en fait l'EMAR-21 européen - (European Military Airworthiness Requirements, Exigences militaires européennes en matière de navigabilité) - une exigence de certification internationale stricte qui sera également bénéfique pour l'exportation de l'appareil. Coûts réduits Le M-345, gr'ce à ses performances et son système de formation intégré avancé, fournit à l'Armée de l'air italienne une amélioration significative de l'efficacité de l'entraînement avec une forte réduction des coûts d'exploitation, avance Leonardo. Le nouvel avion, conçu pour répondre aux besoins de formation de base et de base/avancé, complétera les M-346 utilisés pour la phase avancée de la formation des pilotes et, dans le cadre du projet « International Flight Training School », soutiendra le renforcement et l'internationalisation de l'offre de formation lancée par Leonardo en partenariat avec l'armée de l'air italienne. https://air-cosmos.com/article/le-leonardo-m-345-dcroche-sa-certification-de-type-23070

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  29 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Global Defense Spending Decline Expected As Nations Deal with Coronavirus

  Experts see domestic projects taking priority over national security in the coming years. After five straight years of growth, global defense spending is expected to decline in the coming years as nations deal with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, analysts say. In 2019, global defense spending topped $1.9 trillion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's latest tally. The U.S. represents 38 percent of the world's defense expenditures and with China, the two superpowers account for 52 percent of the world's defense spending. But because of COVID-19, experts anticipate a shift government spending worldwide toward domestic projects and away from weapons and the military. “What we can expect is that spending [is] really going to decrease,” Nan Tian, a defense spending expert with the institute, said Tuesday during a Stimson Center webcast. “We've seen this historically following the [2008 and 2009 financial] crisis where many countries in Europe really started to cut back on military spending.” Even before the coronavirus sent the global economy into a tailspin, U.S. defense spending had been predicted to flatten in the coming years. Now with trillions of dollars being spent on massive coronavirus stimulus packages, flat defense spending levels could wind up being a best-case scenario. “In today's world with [coronavirus], flat defense budget, I think, is what everybody is hoping for because it could go the other direction; it could go negative,” Hawk Carlisle, president and CEO of the National Defense Industrial Association and a retired four-star commander of Air Combat Command and Pacific Air Forces, said in an interview Tuesday. “This is going to be years to climb out of.” One reason for the expected spending dip: the deficit. Regardless of the results of the November presidential and congressional elections, deficit reduction is likely to become a priority. A recent estimate pegs the 2020 deficit at $3.8 trillion. But it is expected that a Trump re-election would keep Republicans in more of a spending mood. “If the presidency goes to a Democrat, then Republicans are going to get more about being fiscal conservatives again sooner,” Todd Harrison, a defense budget expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, said during a Monday webcast. “If Trump wins a second term, we probably have another year or two reprieve from that.” Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute is wary that lawmakers eager to reduce federal spending in the wake of coronavirus bailouts could enact a deficit-cutting measure akin to the Budget Control Act of 2011, which capped defense spending annually between 2013 and 2021. “The Budget Control Act by another name ... could come as fast as next [fiscal] year,” she said on the same webcast. While defense and security spending is typically a top priority of Republicans and defense-minded Democrats, stabilizing the U.S. economy and healthcare could become a higher priority regardless of who wins the election and control in Congress. Among voters in both parties, there is wide public support for reducing expensive overseas military interventions. DON'T MISS The Pentagon Will Use AI to Predict Panic Buying, COVID-19 Hotspots How China Sees the World Did the Coronavirus Escape from a Chinese Lab? Here's What the Pentagon Says The 1918 flu and the U.S. military Haircuts in a Time of Coronavirus? “[I]solationism may exert a countervailing force, as there is demand to steer resources away from defense and towards domestic needs (healthcare, education, jobs),” Byron Callan, an analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, wrote in an April 23 note to investors. “[W]e are seeing that awarding disproportionate resources to military spending may be weakening the resilience of other sectors in our economy,” Mandy Smithberger — director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information, part of the Project on Government Oversight — said on the Stimson Center webcast. “I think we are going to be seeing real political debate about how much money should go to military spending, how much we should be prioritizing arms sales and interests of the defense industry,” she said. Unlike the past decade when foreign arms sales, to some extent, were a backstop to weapon makers amid U.S. defense spending declines, this time around will likely be different since the world economy is dealing with coronavirus. Smithberger said low oil prices could weaken the buying power in the region that spends heavily on U.S. weapons. While the U.S. and China remain the top two defense spenders, last year India and Russia jumped ahead of Saudi Arabia, which fell to fifth on the list. Germany climbed from ninth to seventh — jumping ahead of the U.K. and Japan. NATO allies collectively spent just over $1 trillion. All of that spending is likely to drop. https://www.defenseone.com/politics/2020/04/global-defense-spending-decline-expected-nations-deal-coronavirus/164997

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  18 février 2021 | International, Naval

  PBO report on Canadian Surface Combatant to be released Feb. 24

  The PBO study comes at the request of the Commons government operations committee, which wanted the latest cost figures on the CSC project.