13 juillet 2023 | International, Terrestre

Britain weighs how to rebuild stockpiles drained by war in Ukraine

Britain's minister of the armed forces said it’s “inescapably necessary to look at the size of your stockpiles."

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2023/07/13/britain-weighs-how-to-rebuild-stockpiles-drained-by-war-in-ukraine/

Sur le même sujet

  • Finland launches HX evaluations for F-35A

    12 février 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    Finland launches HX evaluations for F-35A

    Lockheed Martin has officially launched the flight evaluation phase of its F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) for Finland's HX programme, with a pair of aircraft arriving at Tampere-Pirkkala Airbase north of Helsinki on 9 February. The two aircraft were part of a flight of four that departed Luke Air Force Base (AFB) in Arizona on 5 February but problems with the aerial refuelling tankers assigned to support the aircraft on their trans-Atlantic crossing meant that only two F-35As were able to make the journey. Lockheed Martin's arrival in Finland for its HX Challenge evaluation followed earlier stints from the Eurofighter Typhoon from 9 to 17 January, the Dassault Rafale from 20 to 28 January, and the Saab Gripen E and GlobalEye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft from 30 January to 6 February. With the F-35A evaluation set to run through to 17 February, Boeing will conclude proceedings with its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft from 18 to 26 February. For the HX evaluations, Finland is assessing a potential replacement for the air force's 55 Boeing F/A-18C and seven F/A-18D Hornet fighters. The government's request for quotations (RFQs) calls for a "capability" to be delivered for EUR10 billion (USD13 billion), which includes the cost of acquiring the aircraft, infrastructure, training, and support from the arrival of the first aircraft in 2025, through the declaration of initial operating capability (IOC) in 2027 and full-operating capability (FOC) in 2030. After this time, support and sustainment funding will move from the acquisition to the operations budget. The evaluations are being held in three phases against the Finnish Air Force's concept of operations (CONOPS). https://www.janes.com/article/94239/finland-launches-hx-evaluations-for-f-35a?from_rss=1

  • JUST IN: Defense Department to Stand Up New Counter-Drone Office

    16 janvier 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    JUST IN: Defense Department to Stand Up New Counter-Drone Office

    By Yasmin Tadjdeh The Pentagon will soon stand up a counter-unmanned aerial system office that will be headed by the Army, said the Defense Department's top weapons buyer Jan. 14. Following the Dubai Air Show in November, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord visited numerous locations across the Middle East including U.S. military installations in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The thing that was really top of everybody's mind were counter-UAS,” she said during a meeting with reporters hosted by George Washington University's Project for Media and National Security in Washington, D.C. “We see that small UAS are becoming a more popular weapon of choice ... [and] we need to be agile and pivot to that challenge.” Pentagon leaders recently decided to designate the Army as the executive agent for counter-drone technologies, Lord said. The new office will be stood up in Arlington, Virginia, in the Crystal City neighborhood. It will be staffed by around 60 people. “We are just finishing off on the policy that directs the activities,” she said. The office will examine the many counter-UAS efforts across the Defense Department and come up with three to five systems that are best for the military writ large and make sure they are effectively leveraged, Lord said. The Defense Department is bringing together a number of organizations, including the office of the director of operational test and evaluation and Defense Digital Service, to work on the effort. Robert Behler, the head of DOT&E, has a group conducting independent tests and evaluation of currently fielded systems, Lord noted. “Come April we will have that evaluation completed and written up. And that coincides [with] when we want to make some decisions about downselecting ... to the three to five systems that would be utilized,” she said. The department is examining a variety of sensor modalities and defeat mechanisms. “One size does not fit all,” Lord said. “You need a system with multiple sensors ... or defeat systems. And the key is really the command-and-control and then the communication across theater.” The office aims to thwart both small and large adversary UAS, she added. Countering rogue and enemy drones has long been an objective for the Defense Department, but recent high-profile events have thrown the technology into the spotlight. That includes an alleged Iranian attack on Saudi Aramaco facilities in September using unmanned aircraft. “One of the challenges is that we know that the adversary is very agile and updates their [tactics, techniques and procedures] ... very quickly,” Lord said. “We are looking at a very nimble system where we can push patches in the same day, if you will, so that we again can stay ahead of" the threat. The Pentagon is gung-go about tackling the issue, and senior leadership involvement and funding are increasing, she noted. In terms of the industrial base, counter-UAS is one of the acquisition and sustainment office's four key focus areas, Lord said. Others include microelectronics, 5G networks and hypersonics. The department plans to establish a hypersonics "war room." “We just decided last week that we would stand up a hypersonics war room to begin to look at the defense industrial base and begin to have different companies [come] in,” Lord said. The technology is the Pentagon's top research-and-development priority and it plans to buy large numbers of systems when they are mature enough to be fielded. Last week, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy said missile manufacturers and other suppliers need to do more to boost their hypersonics manufacturing capability. “What we need to see is industry step up,” he said Jan. 10 during remarks at the Brookings Institution. “They've got to come forward and ... first and foremost, invest the time to work with our national lab network to understand how we've come forward with these technologies. But they're going to have to make investments to be able to produce these at scale.” https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/1/14/just-in-defense-department-to-stand-up-counter-drone-office

  • What’s happening with the RCAF’s helicopter contribution to the United Nations?

    22 novembre 2017 | International, Aérospatial

    What’s happening with the RCAF’s helicopter contribution to the United Nations?

    DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN More from David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen The Canadian government highlighted at the recent Vancouver UN meeting its plan to have RCAF helicopters sent on United Nations missions. Canadian government statements talked about an Aviation Task Force of armed helicopters while government staff provided details that the rotary contribution could include four armed helicopters and two “utility helicopters.” Armed helicopters? That specific phrase was selected because the UN had asked for attack helicopters. Since Canada doesn't have attack helicopters, government officials figured they would use the phrase “armed” to make it appear like they were meeting UN needs. So Defence Watch asked what exactly the RCAF is committing to the UN. The armed helicopters will be Griffons, equipped with door guns, according to the Canadian Forces. The “utility” helicopters will be RCAF Chinooks. (the phrase utility helicopter in the Canadian context tends to refer to Griffons but in this case the government is using “utility” to refer to Chinooks). And when or where will these helicopters be deployed? No one knows. It could be a couple of years. http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/whats-up-with-the-rcafs-helicopter-contribution-to-the-united-nations

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