25 janvier 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

Défense : Olivier Marleix propose la création d’un fonds de soutien aux entreprises stratégiques

Le Club défense du Centre d'étude et de prospective stratégique (CEPS) a accueilli le député Olivier Marleix, membre du groupe d'études industrie de la défense, pour qu'il intervienne sur les sujets touchant à la souveraineté industrielle et au renforcement de la BITD. L'élu a notamment proposé la création d'un fonds souverain destiné à soutenir les entreprises françaises des secteurs stratégiques. « Le fonds souverain France Investissement bénéficierait de trois types de ressources : d'une part, les participations de l'Etat dans les entreprises actuellement gérées par l'Agence des participations de l'Etat, ainsi que certains actifs gérés par la Banque populaire d'investissement, des émissions obligataires et des actifs collectés à travers des filiales, a-t-il expliqué. A terme, l'objectif est qu'un tel fonds puisse gérer de l'ordre de 300 milliards d'euros. Pour des raisons de souveraineté, il est proposé que le fonds souverain prenne la forme d'un établissement public ».

Air & Cosmos du 22 janvier 2021

Sur le même sujet

  • Chinese armed drones now flying over Mideast battlefields. Here’s why they’re gaining on US drones

    4 octobre 2018 | International, Aérospatial

    Chinese armed drones now flying over Mideast battlefields. Here’s why they’re gaining on US drones

    By: Jon Gambrell and Gerry Shih, The Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — High above Yemen's rebel-held city of Hodeida, a drone controlled by Emirati forces hovered as an SUV carrying a top Shiite Houthi rebel official turned onto a small street and stopped, waiting for another vehicle in its convoy to catch up. Seconds later, the SUV exploded in flames, killing Saleh al-Samad, a top political figure. The drone that fired that missile in April was not one of the many American aircraft that have been buzzing across the skies of Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001. It was Chinese. Across the Middle East, countries locked out of purchasing U.S.-made drones due to rules over excessive civilian casualties are being wooed by Chinese arms dealers, who are world's main distributor of armed drones. "The Chinese product now doesn't lack technology, it only lacks market share," said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military analyst and former lecturer at the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force University of Engineering. "And the United States restricting its arms exports is precisely what gives China a great opportunity." The sales are helping expand Chinese influence across a region vital to American security interests. "It's a hedging strategy and the Chinese will look to benefit from that," said Douglas Barrie, an airpower specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "I think the Chinese are far less liable to be swayed by concerns over civilian casualties," he said. At the start of the year, a satellite passing over southern Saudi Arabia photographed U.S.-made surveillance drones at an airfield, alongside Chinese-manufactured armed ones. According to the Center for the Study of the Drone at New York's Bard College, that was the first documented example of the two drone systems being used in the war in Yemen. The country has emerged as a "sort of a testing ground for these strike-capable drones," said Dan Gettinger, the co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone. "There's a rapid turnaround from delivery to deployment." U.S. drones were first used in Yemen to kill suspected al-Qaida militants in 2002. One of the biggest Chinese exports is the Cai-Hong, or Rainbow, series made by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., or CASC, the largest contractor for the Chinese space program. CASC's CH-4 and CH-5 models are on a par with San Diego-based General Atomics' Predator and Reaper drones, and much cheaper. Independent analysts say the Chinese models lag behind their American counterparts but the technology is good enough to justify the price tag, which might be half or less. A CASC executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists, said cutting-edge U.S. models like Boeing Co.'s Stingray, introduced this year for the U.S. Navy, still hold a technological advantage. And while price is an advantage, so too is a more relaxed attitude toward how drones are used, said Ulrike Franke, an expert on drones and policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations Since 2014, China has sold more than 30 CH-4's to countries including Saudi Arabia and Iraq in deals worth over $700 million, according to CASC. Ten countries are currently in negotiations to purchase the CH-4, according to the firm. Last year, China sold to the UAE the Wing Loong II, an armed unmanned aerial vehicle roughly equivalent to the American MQ-9 Reaper. "In recent years, all types of drones have proven their value and importance through a high degree of use in warfare, and the military has noticed," said the top CASC executive. "Many countries are now speeding up the development for these weapons systems, including China." During President Xi Jinping's five years in power, China has stepped up spending on stealth fighters and aircraft carriers for its own military, while boosting sales of advanced equipment such as attack submarines to close allies like Pakistan. China still lags behind the U.S., Russia, France, and Germany in total arms sales but it's catching up. Chinese arms exports rose by 38 percent between 2008-12 and 2013-17, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks the global arms trade. Mounting criticism over the rising civilian death toll in Yemen prompted the U.S. to impose restrictions on drone sales, forcing foreign countries to go through the U.S. government to buy armed drones, including those with laser-guidance systems. The Washington-based New America Foundation estimates more than 240 drone strikes in Yemen have killed more than 1,300 people, including at least 111 civilians. But with China's drone sales booming, there's growing pressure from U.S. arms makers to remove restrictions to let them catch up. After some U.S. lawmakers urged President Donald Trump to loosen controls and let General Atomics sell its armed Reapers to Jordan and the UAE, the administration on April 19 permitted U.S. manufacturers to directly market and sell drones, including armed versions. The government must still approve and license the sales, which are also contingent on human rights and proliferation reviews and congressional authorization. General Atomics did not respond to a request for comment. China doesn't routinely announce arms sales like the U.S. and others, but a review of drone spottings gives some indication of who its customers are. In Iraq in October 2015, the country's then-defense minister inspected a CH-4 drone at an air base in the city of Kut. Chinese armed drones have been operating at Jordan's Zarqa Airport, at an air base in Pakistan and from bases in Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula and near its border with Libya, according to satellite photos analyzed by the Center for the Study of the Drone. Satellite photographs taken of a mysterious air base in the United Arab Emirates' deep south — a desert area known as the Empty Quarter — appear to show three Wing Loong IIs, IHS Jane's Defense Weekly reported in January. Two CH-4s were spotted by satellite alongside surveillance-only Predators purchased by the UAE at Jizan Regional Airport in southern Saudi Arabia, near the kingdom's border with Yemen, according to the Center for the Study of the Drone. Outside of the Mideast, Nigeria has used Chinese armed drones against the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. Shih reported from Beijing. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/10/03/chinese-armed-drones-now-flying-over-mideast-battlefields-heres-why-theyre-gaining-on-us-drones/

  • Industry bids are in for Finland’s $13 billion fighter race

    4 février 2019 | International, Aérospatial

    Industry bids are in for Finland’s $13 billion fighter race

    By: Gerard O'Dwyer HELSINKI – Finland's HX-FP multirole fighter replacement program has advanced to the next stage as five aircraft manufacturers have tendered their proposals to the Finnish Defence Forces' (FDF) Logistics Command office. The proposals include preliminary quotations on cost. The air force plans to retire its fleet of F/A-18 C/D Hornet jets between 2025 and 2029. The HX-FP carries an estimated price tag of €11.4 billion, a cost that includes life cycle service and maintenance overheads on a fleet of 64 multirole aircraft. The government received proposals from four countries, including the United States, Sweden, France and Britain. The aircraft types covered in the proposals are Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin's F-35, France's Dassault Rafale, the British-made Eurofighter and the Swedish Saab Gripen. The Saab proposal includes both the single-seat Gripen E and the dual-seat Gripen F versions. Request for Quotation (RFQ) documents were dispatched by the Logistics Command to the governments of France, the United States, Britain and Sweden in April 2018. The petitions were then forwarded to the five participating manufacturers. The deadline for acceptance of responses was Jan. 31, 2019. The proposals received by the Logistics Command include information pertaining to technical systems requirements for operating a fleet of 64 aircraft, as well as support documentation dealing with training systems, essential maintenance tools, testing equipment, spare parts, weapons systems and sensors. The next stage in the HX-FP program will be an analysis of the various proposals. This is expected to be completed during the first half of 2019. At that point, the procurement program will enter the first phase of a negotiations process during which a more forensic examination of the quotations tendered will be conducted in consultation with the five bidding manufacturers. The Logistics Command will forward a more detailed RFQ to manufacturers during the second half of 2019. This will precede the second phase of negotiations. Participating manufacturers will be required to submit final tender documents to the government during the second stage process which is slated to end in 2020. The Finnish government plans to bring its final decision to the national parliament for approval in 2021. The proposal presented by Saab sets out the basis for a broad, long-term industrial cooperation between Finland and Sweden framed around any deal. The proposal covers the production of military aircraft in Finland. It also includes the transfer of maintenance, repair and overhaul capabilities to local industry in Finland. Moreover, Saab is proposing to establish a Gripen sustainment and development center in Finland. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/02/01/industry-bids-are-in-for-finlands-13-billion-fighter-race

  • Joint ODNI, FBI, and CISA Statement | CISA

    27 octobre 2024 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Joint ODNI, FBI, and CISA Statement | CISA

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