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  2 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  French defense firms fête formidable profits in 2019

  By: Christina Mackenzie PARIS – France's major defense companies are looking back at a strong 2019, thanks to a combination of exceptional contracts and the country's overall healthy economy, executives said this week. In the naval sector, Naval Group's orders shot up 44 percent to €5.3 billion ($5.8 billion) in 2019, taking the company's order book to a total of €15.1 billion ($16.6 billion). Of this, 38 percent is for the export market and 62 percent is for France. Roughly three quarters of the business were in the shipbuilding sector, with almost one quarter in services. These figures do not include the whole of the contract to build 12 submarines for Australia, “as this income will be shown as it is paid, tranche by tranche,” explained outgoing CEO Hervé Guillou. In addition, the group saw a 6 percent rise in EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) to €282 million ($310 million) and a 3 percent rise in revenues to €3.7 billion ($4 billion). Guillou, who will be replaced as CEO in March by Pierre-Eric Pommellet, said his successor had four main challenges for the future: delivering the Suffren submarine; accelerating production in the face of Chinese competition; consolidating the group's international presence; and developing the workforce. In the land sector, revenues for Arquus, the French company which is the defense arm of Sweden's Volvo Group, rocketed 72.5 percent between 2017 and 2019. CEO Emmanuel Levacher said he was not allowed to give revenue and sales figures for Arquus, whose revenues are included in the Volvo “Group functions and other” column. However, those data show net sales for 2019 were SEK8.8 billion ($911.4 million), which means they are likely around the $660 million mark. Levacher was all smiles announcing “a very great year” that was “exceptionally rich,” remarking that “this is remarkable growth for an industrial company.” He said he expected the company to grow a further 10 percent in 2020. Exports accounted for 42 percent of the revenue. Levacher was able to put a figure on contracts signed in 2019: €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) “mostly in Africa,” but also a tranche of €214 million ($235 million) in the framework of the CaMo contract with Belgium for 382 Griffon multirole armored vehicles and 60 Jaguar armored reconnaissance and combat vehicles to be delivered between 2025 and 2030. Levacher said contracts were also signed for “a few dozen” Sherpa and Dagger vehicles for the Middle East. He was optimistic for the future, remarking that “all of the French army's military trucks, whether they be 4×4s, 6×6s, 8×8s all need to be changed in the next five years.” He said the company had developed a specific truck to meet these needs as the call for tender will be published before the end of this year. In the defense-electronics sector, Thales's CEO Patrice Cain also described 2019 as “a good year in which we progressed.” Its EBIT rose 19 percent to slightly over €2 billion ($2.2 billion), “the first time we've gone over the symbolic bar of €2 billion,” he said. Defense accounts for 40 percent of the group's revenues. Order intakes in the defense and security sector rose a record 17 percent to €9.9 billion ($11 billion) while sales rose 6.4 percent, “a little higher than anticipated,” according to CFO Pascal Bouchiat, to €8.3 billion ($9 billion). These include Thales and Babcock winning the bid for the T31 frigate in the UK against BAE Systems. Bouchiat noted that “several multi-year contracts” had been signed “underpinning long-term growth” for the group. Finally, in the military-aircraft sector, Dassault Aviation recorded an order intake of €3.3 billion (against €2.7 billion in 2018), the bulk of which (€2.6 billion) was for France and includes the integrated support contract for the French Rafale over the next 10 years and an additional order for supplemental development and integration work concerning communications for the F4 standard of the aircraft. Net sales shot up 44 percent to €7.3 billion due to the record number of 26 Rafales delivered in 2019. CEO Eric Trappier said that in 2020 Dassault expected to deliver 13 Rafales and he saw a tendency of governmental authorities to buying the company's Falcon business jet for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Trappier said that in 2020 the company would continue to try and export the Rafale and was notably working on the Finnish and Swiss fighter competitions. Both countries are expected to make their decisions in 2021. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/02/28/french-defense-firms-fete-formidable-profits-in-2019

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  25 juin 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  US drone maker senses a leg up in Europe

  By: Sebastian Sprenger PARIS — U.S. drone-maker General Atomics looks to get a foothold in the European market by touting the promise of smooth civilian-airspace integration of its aircraft by militaries there. The company considers the United Kingdom, with its Protector program of 20 or so planned aircraft, as the launch customer for the MQ-9B SkyGuardian, a successor to the Reaper. The medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drones come with safety features that executives at this year's Paris Air Show said will enable a so-called military-type certification by the British authorities in the summer of 2023 — the final step toward allowing the drone to fly routinely alongside civilian air traffic. Belgium also has gained U.S. approval to buy four of the aircraft, complete with a detect-and-avoid suite that can alert the system whenever its flight path risks hitting another aircraft, according to a March 26 announcement by the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency. That technology, along with a host of technologies for safe operations that have long been standard in manned aviation, is still considered something of a holy grail in the drone business. With unmanned aircraft expected to reach deeper into military and civilian life in the coming years, manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic have been working feverishly to construct their products with requisite safety certifications in mind. General Atomics' sales pitch is perhaps indicative of an industry where the potential for airspace integration is now taking an equal seat to reconnaissance capabilities and combat punch. The American company can be expected to tread on manufacturers' toes in Europe, where vendors are shaping the evolving regulatory landscape of the European Union and member states to ensure compliance with all expected safety requirements. “We believe we should be there first,” General Atomics President David Alexander told reporters at a briefing during the air show. Being first with a certified drone, he noted, would also open vast potential of the commercial market. But questions remain. Most importantly, issue experts said, it is unclear if the European authorities will honor whatever progress in safety certifications the MQ-9B has made in the eyes of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Company officials told Defense News they try to keep their fingers at the pulse of the relevant policymaking processes on the continent, putting them at the same tables as suppliers in the European industry, like Airbus, Hensoldt or Leonardo. The American firm recently worked with the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Center, or NLR, to simulate a SkyGuardian flying in European airspace. “During the first simulations performed in May, we subjected air traffic controllers to many contingency procedures ranging from engine failure to loss-of-link between the pilot and the remotely piloted aircraft,” Emmanuel Sunil, an NLR project manager, said in a June 18 statement by the research center. “The results indicate that the new procedures that we are developing will make it possible for MALE RPA to fly safely and efficiently in civil European airspace along with other manned air traffic.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/paris-air-show/2019/06/21/us-drone-maker-senses-a-leg-up-in-europe/

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  17 novembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Leonardo dévoile le Spartan de nouvelle génération

  Leonardo a commencé les essais finaux du C-27J Next Generation qui dispose de nouveaux équipements, un nouveau système avionique et des dispositifs aérodynamiques avancés, ceux-ci amélioreront les performances existantes de l'avion. Le premier C-27J de la nouvelle configuration sera livré à un client non divulgué en 2021. Une toute nouvelle avionique L'évolution du C-27J Spartan se base principalement tout autour du tout nouveau système avionique conçu pour se conformer aux exigences de contrôle de la circulation aérienne de prochaine génération, y compris les liaisons de données FANS 1/A+, TCAS 7.1, ILS Cat.II et vidéo améliorée TAWS. Le cockpit de son côté bénéficie de nouveaux écrans d'affichage accompagnés d'un nouveau radar météorologique. L'effort s'est également porté sur l'amélioration des capacités de communication par satellite et radiocommunication. L'équipage bénéficiera par ailleurs d'un nouveau système d'intercommunication. Des ailerettes en bout d'aile Le bimoteur est équipé du mode 5 IFF/ADS-B Out et des modes tactiques de navigation verticale et de pilote automatique de recherche et sauvetage sont disponibles. En outre, d'anciennes boîtes d'interface avionique et des systèmes généraux ont été remplacées par de nouveaux équipements par Leonardo Electronics. Enfin, des ailerettes améliorent l'aérodynamique de l'appareil et sa consommation de carburant, tout en permettant d'augmenter la masse maximale au décollage d'une tonne. La nouvelle configuration de base est également offerte en qualité de rénovation pour les opérateurs actuels qui veulent mettre à niveau leurs capacités de flotte C-27J, qui sont actuellement au nombre de 14 pays. Cet avion de transport militaire peut ainsi emporter jusqu'à près de 5 tonnes de chargement par m2 en soute ou 34 passagers. Il peut également accueillir une vingtaine de civières en configuration Evasan (évacuation sanitaire). https://www.air-cosmos.com/article/leonardo-dvoile-le-spartan-de-nouvelle-gnration-23852