24 novembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial
L'OTAN annonce que la France, l'Allemagne, la Grèce, l'Italie et le Royaume-Uni ont signé le 19 novembre dernier un accord visant à lancer les travaux de développement d'un hélicoptère moyen de nouvelle génération, dans un cadre multinational. Le programme, nommé NGRC, pour Next Generation Rotorcraft Capabilities, sera mené dans le cadre des projets à haute visibilité (HVP) de l'Alliance Atlantique. «Un nombre important d'hélicoptères polyvalents moyens actuellement exploités par les Alliés arriveront à la fin de leur cycle de vie à l'horizon 2035-2040 et au-delà, et devront donc être remplacés», précise l'OTAN. Le programme NGRC doit permettre de remplacer ces flottes tout en intégrant les menaces futures, «en tirant parti d'un large éventail de progrès récents en matière de technologie, de méthodes de production et de concepts opérationnels».
Air & Cosmos du 24 novembre
23 mars 2022 | International, Aérospatial
Le Pentagone s'apprêterait à diminuer la commande de F-35 pour l'année fiscale 2023. Il n'y a aucune indication sur un changement du nombre total de F-35 commandés, il s'agirait plus d'un ralentissement des livraisons annuelles suite aux très nombreux retards et défaut sur cet appareil.
15 octobre 2019 | International, C4ISR
By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has selected L3Harris Technologies to provide ROVER 6 transceiver equipment upgrades in support of the U.S. Army's One System Remote Video Terminal program of record, meant to improve situational awareness for soldiers in the field, the company announced Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference. The company did not disclose the value of the award but said it was more than $90 million. The portable ROVER systems deliver full-motion video and geospatial data from manned or unmanned aircraft to enhance reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition and general situational awareness on the battlefield. The move comes as the Army envisions advanced manned-unmanned teaming, or MUM-T. Within the last month, the Army acquisitions office for unmanned aerial systems awarded a contract for the Rover 6S and the Tactical Network ROVER2E, a newer version of the man-portable radio. The Army is scheduled to receive its first deliveries beginning in November 2020, the company said at the AUSA meeting in Washington. According to L3Harris, the updated systems expand frequency capability. They also reduce the equipment's size, weight and power needs, as well as add processing resources. They also include Cryptographic Core Modernization. The systems are meant to transform sensor-to-shooter networking and allow increased levels of collaboration and interoperability with virtually all large airframes, unmanned aerial vehicles and targeting pods in theater today. The upgrade included modernizing the waveform the equipment uses such that more users are able to transmit video, according to Kevin Kane, L3Harris' vice president for international business development. “Being able to share that real-time situational awareness more broadly on the battlefield is really what it's all about,” Kane said. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2019/10/15/l3harris-to-provide-rover-transceiver-upgrade-in-deal-worth-over-90-million
2 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval
By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — Former acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly hadn't been out of the job more than a month before the Navy canceled an ongoing study he'd launched into the future of aircraft carriers — a review he optimistically termed “Future Carrier 2030.” Modly and his predecessor, Richard Spencer, had been excited by the prospect of fielding smaller, more risk-worthy carriers that could reduce the chance of China or Russia landing a major punch in a conflict simply by sinking or disabling a single ship, such as a Nimitz- or Ford-class aircraft carrier with thousands of sailors and tens of billions of dollars of hardware aboard. But very soon after Modly's spectacular departure, former acting Secretary James McPherson canceled the study until further notice. Still, as the effort to move to a smaller carrier seems frozen — as it has been for decades every time someone suggested it — the Navy is forging ahead with preparing its big-deck boats — the amphibious assault ships — for operating with the Marine Corp's F-35B. The Corps' F-35 fighter jet is a short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant. The Navy recently inked a $200 million contract with BAE Systems to upgrade the amphibious assault ship Boxer to be able to operate with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the fifth landing helicopter assault ship to be so amended. “The USS Boxer [dry-dock availability] will complete a combination of maintenance, modernization, and repair of the following systems: Hull structure, propulsion, electrical plant, auxiliary systems, and communications and combat systems, as well as alterations to prepare the ship for operations with the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF),” according to a statement from Naval Sea Systems command. But the idea of smaller carriers is one the Navy has been flirting with more recently. Last fall, the Navy packed 13 F-35Bs on the amphibious assault ship America. Then-Navy Secretary Spencer later said the ship could hold up to 20. “I will tell you, we are augmenting the aircraft carrier with our ideas, such as this lightning carrier,” Spencer said at the Brookings Institution think tank. “Twenty F-35 Bravos on a large-deck amphib. My cost performance there is tremendous. Does it have the same punch? No, it doesn't, but it does have a very interesting sting to it.” The Boxer, which is an older class of big-deck amphib, could likely pack about 15 F-35Bs if it were dedicated for the purpose, according to Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.