29 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Combat jets have formed the core of the force structure of Air Forces globally since their advent in the piston engine powered form on to the battlefields during the World War I with technological evolution having heralded the age of jet powered combat aircrafts by the end of World War II with the usage of turbojet powered combat aircrafts by both sides towards the later part of the war.
The radical shift in the prevailing, traditional rule based world order with the rapid build-up of military capabilities by China and resurgence of Russia on the world horizon having already propped up defense spending across most regions & parts of the world. Additionally, ongoing conflicts & unrest across some parts of the world, especially, the Middle East has also led to a spurt in defense spending over the recent years driving demand for western origin military hardware by most nations.
The global defense spending reached the $1.9 trillion level for 2019, growing by over 3% year on year to reach its highest level since the Cold war era, accounting for around 2.2% of the world GDP for 2019. Fighter jets have remained a core focus area for nations around the world with their significant role & capabilities in aerial combat, interdiction, penetration of enemy air defenses, ground attack and air dominance/superiority roles.
The 21st century has marked the mainstream shift towards the 5th generation aircrafts with the U.S. maintaining the lead as always, with its F-22 Raptor program in late 1990s and with the F-35 Lightning II in the 21st century, while similar 5th generation programs are being developed and produced by Russia, China & South Korea. The quest towards the development of 6th generation aircrafts, poised to enter service in the 2030s, has also begun, led by the European FCAS & the British Tempest programs.
This report, however, focuses on the key fighter jet program from the perspective of competition for pursuit of international exports opportunities, which has mostly been led by 4 or 4.5 generation aircrafts so far with the same mostly aimed at capabilities expansion or fleet replacement. The study, thus, takes a close look at the Top 6 4/4.5 generation fighter jet programs currently in production from the international markets perspective with focus on comparative assessment of respective programs along with a comparative SWOT analysis on these programs which have on multiple occasions have come to face off each other in multiple international competitions over the recent years.
The report provides a comprehensive, comparative analysis of the Strengths & Weaknesses of these combat jet programs relative to each other while scanning out environmental opportunities & threats for these in a rapidly evolving post COVID-19 world scenario (which is likely to see pressures on defense spending across most parts of the world over near term) which further enhances the relevance & usefulness of this report.
11 décembre 2024 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité
Secret Blizzard hijacks Amadey bots and Russian backdoors to deploy Kazuar malware in Ukraine, obscuring its presence and complicating attribution eff
22 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial
By: Valerie Insinna Updated 7/21/20 at 1:25 p.m. EST to add more information about the status of the eight Turkish F-35s. WASHINGTON — After a year of speculation about what would happen to Turkey's F-35s after the country was ousted from the joint strike fighter program last year, the Defense Department gave its definitive answer Monday evening in a characteristically anticlimactic manner — through its daily contract announcements. The U.S. Air Force will officially buy eight F-35A conventional takeoff and landing jets originally built by Lockheed Martin for Turkey as part of a $862 million contract modification. The deal also contains an additional six F-35As built for the Air Force and modifications that will bring the Turkish jets in line with the U.S. configuration. A defense official told Defense News on Tuesday that the contract modification fulfills stipulations in Congress' fiscal year 2020 defense policy and spending bills. It “addresses the eight production Lot 14 F-35A aircraft originally planned to be delivered to Turkey in 2022-23,” and redirects those jets to the U.S. Air Force when they roll off the production line. The six other F-35As reflect aircraft added to the FY20 defense budget. The contract modification uses funding from the FY20 budget to pay for the Lot 14 jets. The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin finalized a deal for lots 12, 13 and 14 in October 2019, which set the price of an Lot 14 A model at $77.9 million per copy. Turkey had planned to buy 100 F-35As over the course of the program, but was ejected from the program last July after accepting the S-400 air defense system from Russia after repeated warnings from U.S. officials. At that point, Turkey's first F-35s had already rolled off the production line and its pilots and maintainers were training to fly and fix them stateside alongside U.S. personnel at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. However, the aircraft were never officially delivered to Turkey. Since then, the fate of Turkey's jets had been an open question. In January, Defense One reported that 24 Turkish F-35s were in some stage of production, but top Pentagon weapons buyer Ellen Lord told reporters then that Washington and Ankara had not come to an agreement on what would happen to them. In the FY20 version of the National Defense Authorization Act, Congress gave the Pentagon permission to spend up to $30 million to fly the first six Turkish F-35s to a location where they could be stored and preserved until the department came up with a plan for their use. Those jets, which were produced in Lots 10 and 11, are currently being held “in long-term storage in the United States pending final decision on their disposition,” the defense official said. The Senate's version of the FY21 NDAA, which is still working its way through Congress, contains additional language that would allow the Air Force to accept, operate or even modify the first six Turkish F-35s. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/07/20/its-official-us-air-force-to-buy-turkish-f-35s/
6 février 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
By: Vivek Raghuvanshi NEW DELHI – India's defense budget for 2019 included a marginal 6.87 percent bump to $49.68 billion, which is unlikely to meet modernization demands or ‘Make in India' manufacturing increases. Out of the total allocation, $16.91 billion has been set aside to buy new weapons and other military hardware, compared to $14.68 billion in the previous financial year. But not accounted for are the liabilities, say some defense analysts, which could chip away at available funds. “As of now, one doesn't know about the extent of committed liabilities to be able to say how much money will be available for new purchases,” said Amit Cowshish, former financial advisor for the Ministry of Defence acquisition. "But it can be said with reasonable certainty that the allocation must be much less than the requirement projected by the ministry. That being the case, the ministry will have to make do with whatever money they have got, just the way they have been managing in the past.” India's defence budget is more than five times that of Pakistan, pegged at $9.6 billion — barely enough to maintain its basic operational capability. Presenting the interim budget for 2019-20 in parliament, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Piyush Goyal said additional funds, if necessary, would be provided to secure India's borders and maintain its defense preparedness. Under capital outlay, the Army was granted $4.60 billion and the Navy granted $3.61 billion — both nearly flat compared to the year before. The Indian Air Force was allocated $6.14 billion, combared to $5.58 billion in the previous year. One MoD official said the majority of funds will go towards past committed liabilities for Rafale fighters, S-400 missile systems, warships and helicopters. Still, the fact that the budget saw an increase is noteworthy to some. “The allocation for defense, which for the first time has crossed the $49 billion threshold is encouraging," said Baba Kalyani, chairman of leading private sector defense enterprise Bharat Forge Ltd. In terms of manufacturing, "we hope that ‘Make in India' will result in a greater role for the private industry in this critical sector of the country's economy.” Cowshish is less encouraged, seeing very few noteworthy programs on the horizon. “It doesn't seem likely that many big contracts for fighters, helicopters, submarines, etc. will get concluded in the coming year," he said. "This is not because of paucity of funds but on account of the fact that none of these procurement proposals are likely to reach anywhere near the contract conclusion stage any time soon. “ https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2019/02/05/indias-new-defense-budget-falls-way-short-for-modernization-plans/