20 décembre 2023 | International, Terrestre

Czech Republic wants to piggyback on German Leopard 2A8 tank buy

A joint order with Berlin should yield better conditions, like prices and delivery schedule, according to the Czech defense minister.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2023/12/20/czech-republic-wants-to-piggyback-on-german-leopard-2a8-tank-buy/

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  • The US Army is building zombies. (No, not the brain-eating kind.)

    18 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    The US Army is building zombies. (No, not the brain-eating kind.)

    By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is recycling demilitarized rocket motors and repurposing the materials to make test missiles and it's saving the service money, according to Thomas Webber, director of the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command Technical Center. These test missiles are called “zombies” and save the Army from having to destroy old boosters, giving them a new life, Webber said during the Defense News Space and Missile Defense Symposium Debrief event Aug. 5. The effort started several years ago when the Army's Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space and the Patriot air and missile defense lower-tier product office began running out of targets for tests and spending “a lot” of money to buy more targets, Webber said. The tech center proposed a “significantly cheaper” solution of using recycled motors reaching the end of operational life that would be appropriate for both developmental and operational missile tests, which are accurately representative of ballistic missile threats, he said. Following a demonstration at the end of 2016, the zombies have taken off. “We've been very successful,” Webber said. Since then, the program has expanded, providing targets not only for Patriot testing, but also the Missile Defense Agency and foreign military sales test events. The Army has built seven targets to date. There are three variants: Pathfinder Zombie; the Black Dagger Zombie that adds an additional booster — the Terrier MK70 — for longer ranges; and Sabre, a shorter-range version. A zombie was the target used in a recent critical test showing the Patriot system could be interoperable with the Army's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, Webber said. Another target was successfully deployed in a June 25 test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, for a foreign military sales customer. The targets will be used in some of the upcoming tests that will help officials make decisions on the Lower-Tier Air-Defense Sensor, the future radar for the Army's Integrated Air-and-Missile Defense System to replace Patriot, Webber noted. Specifically, a Black Dagger will be used during the IAMD Battle Command System limited-user test coming up next month. “It has been a tremendous boon for us to be able to provide a more affordable, effective target,” Webber said. He added that the Army is saving roughly 50 percent of what it would cost to replace targets simply by buying more. “We can turn these around pretty quickly and support those operational test events,” he said. And it has provided “the capability needed to be able to make sure that we're validating and testing those operational weapon systems with regular and recurring test events,” Webber said. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/08/16/the-us-army-is-building-zombies-no-not-the-brain-eating-kind/

  • Exclusive: Qatar makes formal request for F-35 jets - sources

    8 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    Exclusive: Qatar makes formal request for F-35 jets - sources

    Mike Stone WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Qatar has submitted a formal request to the United States to buy stealthy F-35 fighter jets, three people familiar with the deal said, in a deal that if pursued could strain U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia and Israel. The request for the Lockheed Martin Co jets was submitted by the Persian Gulf state in recent weeks, the people said. A U.S. State Department spokesman said, “As a matter of policy, the United States does not confirm or comment on proposed defense sales or transfers until they are formally notified to Congress.” The Qatari embassy in Washington, D.C. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Keen to counter Iran in the region, the U.S. helps to arm allies including Qatar, host to the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East, and home to 8,000 U.S. service members and Department of Defense civilian employees. The request follows an August deal between the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates in which Washington agreed to consider giving the Gulf state approval to buy F-35s in a side deal to a U.S.-brokered agreement called the Abraham Accord to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel. Israel has signaled stiff opposition to a UAE sale and would likely be just as resistant to one with Qatar, fearing it could undercut its military advantage in the Middle East. In Washington, a fourth person familiar with the matter said concern about Qatar's links to Hamas have frequently surfaced over arms sales to the Gulf state. But in the case of an advanced warplane like the F-35, it could be a deal breaker. One of the people said Qatar's letter of request for the jets, the first formal step in the legal process of foreign military sale, was not directly linked to its adoption of the Abraham Accord. Nor has Qatar shown any sign it will normalize ties with Israel. U.S. and Qatar have close ties. In September Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met in Washington as the U.S. hopes to move forward with naming Qatar as a major non-NATO ally. Despite being U.S. allies, both the potential Qatari and UAE F-35 deals must satisfy a decades-old agreement with Israel that states any U.S. weapons sold to the region must not impair Israel's “qualitative military edge,” guaranteeing U.S. weapons furnished to Israel are “superior in capability” to those sold to its neighbors. Saudi Arabia, Washington's most powerful and closest partner among the Gulf Arab states, is also likely to oppose the United States supplying F-35s to Qatar. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt remain locked in a three-year standoff with Qatar that the Trump administration has tried to end, so far without success. A formal letter of request typically contains specifications that would be used to furnish pricing data to a customer, but currently the F-35A, a fifth generation stealthy fighter jet, costs around $80 million. Any F-35 sale could take years to negotiate and deliver, giving a new U.S. presidential administration ample time to halt the deals. Any sale would also need congressional approval. Poland, the most recent F-35 customer, purchased 32 of the jets, but will not receive its first delivery until 2024. Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington D.C., additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Chris Sanders and Edward Tobin https://www.reuters.com/article/us-qatar-israel-jets-exclusive/exclusive-qatar-makes-formal-request-for-f-35-jets-sources-idUSKBN26S37Q

  • Peerless joint venture wins $9 million contract to support nuclear weapons arsenal

    23 septembre 2021 | International, Aérospatial

    Peerless joint venture wins $9 million contract to support nuclear weapons arsenal

    Local joint venture pulls in $9 million contract to support nation's nuclear weapons arsenal

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