6 avril 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

Contracts for April 1, 2021

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  • The US Navy is short almost 100 fighter pilots

    18 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval

    The US Navy is short almost 100 fighter pilots

    David B. Larter WASHINGTON — A rash of technical and safety problems has left the U.S. Navy's fleet short by about 90 fighter pilots. Fixing the issue is an uphill battle, a top aviator said last week. The Navy has seen a slew of issues, including problems with the oxygen flow to the pilots causing negative and unsafe physiological responses in pilots and trainees, as well as readiness and engine trouble with aircraft. All of this has extended the time it takes to create a fighter pilot from three to four years, and the issues have created a gap in the number of pilots in the fleet, naval air training chief Rear Adm. Robert Westendorff said at a virtual Tailhook symposium on Saturday. “We can't just snap our fingers and produce those immediately. The time to train of a strike fighter pilot is about three years; due to the bottlenecks we've had, its getting closer to four years,” Westendorff said. “We're doing everything we can to get that back down to the three-year mark. But the recovery plan is a three-year plan. And if we stay on track, it should take us about three years.” An issue with the T-45′s engines “dramatically reduced” the availability of the aircraft this year, but the program is getting back on track, Westendorff said. Additionally, the general shortfall of F/A-18 Super Hornets throughout the fleet has impacted training, but Naval Aviation has been focused on bringing those numbers back up in recent years by fixing jets unable to fly for mechanical reasons. Naval air training has been beset in recent years with controversy over the so-called physiological episodes, the cause of which has been very hard to pin down. The Navy now believes it's a complex issue involving air flow and air pressure related to the breathing apparatus, and measures have been put in place to mitigate it, USNI News reported in June. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/09/17/the-us-navy-is-short-almost-100-fighter-pilots/

  • A naval arms race is gaining speed in the Mediterranean Sea

    23 juin 2020 | International, Naval

    A naval arms race is gaining speed in the Mediterranean Sea

    By: Tom Kington ROME — In mid-May, Libyans standing on a beach in the west of the country reportedly watched a Turkish frigate off the coast fire a missile, which downed a drone operated by the United Arab Emirates. The incident has not been confirmed but is consistent with Turkey's bold use of naval power in recent weeks as it takes a central role in a proxy war in Libya that has sucked in regional players from Russia and Egypt to Qatar and France. So far, Turkey's foes in Libya appear to be impressed by its show of strength. “In recent days there have been no reports of UAE drone flights against Turkish backed targets,” said Jalel Harchaoui, an analyst at the Clingendael Institute in the Netherlands. Turkey's stance in Libya shows how the Mediterranean has turned in a few years from a backwater on the fringes of Middle East turmoil to a major flash point. As Libya burns, tensions are also rising over new gas fields in the Mediterranean and Russia is re-entering the fray. The result is a new round of naval rearmament. “Tension is escalating and I see procurement following suit,” said Sidharth Kaushal, a sea power research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. Turkish navy ships have been a constant presence off the Libyan coast since Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan sided with the U.N.-recognized Libyan government in Tripoli in its defense of the capital against an attack by Libyan strongman Gen. Khalifar Haftar. This spring, Tripoli forces backed by Syrian fighters sent in by Turkey rebuffed Haftar, despite the general receiving backing from Russian mercenaries, the UAE, Egypt and France. To help ensure the victory, Turkish vessels are thought to have given sensor support to Turkish drones as they attacked Haftar and destroyed Russian Pantsir air defense systems backing him. Turkey sails ex-Oliver Hazard Perry-class vessels it acquired second-hand from the U.S. Navy which fire surface to air missiles, and is also eyeing new frigates, said Kaushal. “They might build their own hull but would shop abroad for electronics and sensors, rather like China did in the early 2000′s,” he said. Vessels that Turkey has already deployed in the Mediterranean have been also been busy escorting cargo ships to Libya allegedly loaded with arms and supplies for fighters in Tripoli. One such cargo ship was reportedly confronted on June 10 by a European Union task force set up to stop violations of an international arms embargo on Libya, only for the Turkish frigates escorting the vessel to turn back the EU force. What makes the new tension in the Mediterranean so confusing is how old rules and alliances have been blurred. Turkey's alleged violation of the arms embargo came weeks after its vessels had joined partner navies for a NATO exercise off the Algerian coast. Turkey has meanwhile been accused of threatening Cyprus' rights to undersea gas deposits with its own plans to drill in the Mediterranean, sparking a show-of-force naval exercise by Turkey's NATO allies France and Italy to tamp down Turkey's aggression. Turkey's behavior has also rattled Egypt, said analyst Harchaoui, despite Cairo's own recent spending spree on naval assets from France, including two Mistral amphibious vessels purchased after Paris opted not to sell them to Russia, four Gowind corvettes and a FREMM frigate. Italy, which has also built FREMMs in a joint program with France, is now in talks to sell two of the vessels to Egypt. The ships are ready, since they were originally built for the Italian navy, which will now have to wait for the construction of two more ships by Italy's Fincantieri to fill its own quota. At the eastern end of the Mediterranean, Russia is meanwhile renewing its Black Sea fleet and looking to leverage its access to Syria's Tartus port to increase its naval clout in the Mediterranean as it seeks to become a player in the region, said Kaushal. “Russia wants to be able to arm all its vessels with its Kalibr cruise missile, which has previously fired 2,000 kilometers from the Caspian into Syria,” he said. “It is a very cheap way to build up power projection. Putting this type of missile on low-cost vessels is the future, Russia is setting the trend by making minimal resources go a long way, and France and Italy, as well as Greece and Turkey may follow suit,” he said. “Russia also has the P-800 Oniks supersonic anti-ship missile, which reaches 400 kilometers to 600 kilometers — and there is no Western equivalent,” he added. The build up of lethal naval hardware in the Mediterranean is also going on under the sea, with submarines returning to the area in numbers. “It is not impossible that Turkey would send submarines to Libya,” said Harchaoui. Last year Algeria test fired a Kalibr missile from one of its Kilo-class Russian submarines, while in April, Egypt took delivery of the third of four German HDW Class 209 subs it has ordered. Germany has also supplied Turkey and Greece, which operate 12 and 11 subs respectively. “There are 20-30 submarines deployable in the Mediterranean now, a higher number than 10 years ago,” said Paolo Crippa, a defense analyst at the Cesi think tank in Rome. The total number of subs operated by countries giving on to the Mediterranean is currently 63, he said. It is therefore hardly surprising the Italian Navy is increasing its focus on anti-submarine capabilities. If it does hand over two of its FREMM vessels for the Egypt deal, it will likely order the two replacements with added anti-submarine capabilities. Italy is meanwhile due to receive a new LHD vessel, the Trieste, which will host the navy's F-35Bs, while local yard Fincantieri is also building new PPA vessels for the navy. In a defense white paper drawn up in 2015, Italy said it aspired to be the top naval power in the Mediterranean. Five years on, in a much changed world, that ambition is increasingly under threat. “In terms of number of vessels, Italy's aim might be reasonable, but the political will to use a navy will always be key,” Kaushal said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/06/22/a-naval-arms-race-is-gaining-speed-in-the-mediterranean-sea/

  • THALES LANCE LA PREMIÈRE OFFRE DE CLOUD DE DÉFENSE DÉDIÉ AUX FORCES ARMÉES

    11 juin 2018 | International, C4ISR

    THALES LANCE LA PREMIÈRE OFFRE DE CLOUD DE DÉFENSE DÉDIÉ AUX FORCES ARMÉES

    A Eurosatory 2018, Thales lance la première solution globale d'infrastructure de cloud privé dédié aux forces armées pour une efficacité accrue dans la conduite des opérations. Avec Nexium Defence Cloud, Thales est au cœur de la transformation numérique de ses clients et s'adapte aux besoins spécifiques des armées qui évoluent dans un environnement contraint et sécurisé. Points clés Thales lance une solution globale et résiliente pour permettre aux forces de rester connectées en permanence depuis n'importe quel terminal leur offrant une totale autonomie Thales offre un accès privatif aux données, adapté aux contraintes spécifiques des infrastructures militaires du centre de commandement au thé'tre d'opérations Cette nouvelle solution bénéficie de l'expertise de Thales en matière de cybersécurité Depuis quelques années, les services de cloud ont changé le quotidien de la société civile et généré un développement considérable d'applications amenant de nouveaux usages chez des clients connectés en permanence, depuis n'importe quel type de terminal et ayant un fort besoin de partage des contenus. Ces nouveaux besoins sont également ceux des forces armées. Les solutions de cloud déjà utilisées pour des applications civiles ne sont pas adaptées aux besoins des forces armées. Elles exigent une bande passante illimitée dont les forces armées ne disposent pas sur le terrain. Le Cloud de défense Thales est une solution souveraine qui peut fonctionner dans un contexte contraint leur offrant une totale autonomie sur les thé'tres d'opérations. L'hyper-connectivité du champ de bataille est porteuse d'une révolution technologique pour les armées engendrant de nouveaux besoins de collecte, d'échange et de traitement de grands volumes de données en temps réel. Face aux nouvelles menaces que les conflits futurs sont susceptibles d'engendrer, les forces armées doivent pouvoir réagir immédiatement à n'importe quel scénario, parfois de façon simultanée. Avec son offre de Cloud de défense et ses solutions de connectivité associées, Thales propose une solution globale fondée sur une maîtrise de bout-en-bout de l'hébergement des données et des applications pour permettre un accès entièrement privé aux données dans un environnement dédié et cyber-sécurisé de la métropole aux thé'tres d'opérations. Nexium Defence Cloud est une solution à la fois globale et modulaire. Elle propose une vaste palette de configurations : depuis des infrastructures de très haute capacité pour les quartiers généraux, facilement extensibles, jusqu'à des box tout-en-un, pour transformer en quelques heures un camp projeté en nouveau nœud du cloud. Cette interconnexion effectuée facilement au sein d'organismes et d'états-majors ad hoc renforce l'efficacité des missions en toute sécurité. Le déploiement, la configuration et la mise à jour des équipements et des applicatifs peuvent être préparés et mis en œuvre à distance pour permettre aux forces armées de se concentrer sur la conduite des opérations. https://www.thalesgroup.com/fr/monde/defense/press-release/thales-lance-la-premiere-offre-de-cloud-de-defense-dedie-aux-forces

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