Elbit America awarded surveillance tower contract through U.S. Customs and Border Protection

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  19 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Sweden to Propose Development of a New Fighter Aircraft

  The Swedish government on Tuesday revealed its plans to improve its military capabilities including development of a new fighter jet to replace the JAS 39 Grippen. “The development of the next generation fighter aircraft will commence,” Swedish Carl Anders Peter Hultqvist said in a statement June 16, without divulging any more details. Swedish Air Force JAS 39/D combat aircraft will be maintained, as the new fighter JAS 39 E is integrated into the squadrons and becomes operational. This will allow the service to keep six fighter squadrons. The Army will be reorganized and consist of three mechanized brigades, one smaller motorized brigade and, on the island of Gotland, one mechanized battalion with support elements. Additional ranger, intelligence, security, artillery, engineer, logistics and air defence units will be added. When it comes to the Navy the existing corvettes will be upgraded with new air-defence missiles. Two new corvettes will be acquired in order to replace two older ones after 2025. One existing submarine will get a mid-life upgrade and therefore the number of submarines will increase from four to five. A new amphibious battalion will be established on the west coast of Sweden. In 2020, the government will also establish a national cyber security centre. This centre will strengthen Sweden's ability to prevent, detect and handle antagonistic cyber threats and reduce cyber related vulnerabilities. It will also provide support to private and public actors on how to improve their cyber security and protection against cyber attacks. In July 2019, Governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop future combat aircraft capabilities and combat aircraft systems. The collaboration offers the opportunity to further insert advanced technologies into JAS 39 Gripen. https://www.defenseworld.net/news/27229#.Xuz9ymhKiUk

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  30 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Nato accepts delivery of fourth remotely piloted aircraft in Italy

  Nato's Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) Force has received the fourth RQ-4D Phoenix remotely piloted aircraft at the Italian Air Force Base (AFB) in Sigonella. After taking off from Edwards AFB in California, US, the aircraft landed at Sigonella following a 22-hour journey. The arrival marks another step towards the completion of Nato AGS Force's fleet of five total aircraft. The third RQ-4D Phoenix remotely piloted aircraft was delivered less than two weeks ago. Nato AGS Force Commander Brigadier General Houston Cantwell said: “The arrival of the fourth aircraft enhances our capabilities with greater redundancy and flexibility. “The Nato AGS Force continues our advance in becoming Nato's key provider of regional ‘indications and warning' information to members of the Nato Alliance.” The AGS System was procured by the Nato AGS Management Agency (NAGSMA). Movement of the aircraft from California to Italy was controlled by industry pilots at the AGS Force's Main Operating Base in Sigonella. The first three aircraft were transported similarly. Following arrival, the remotely piloted system will be handed over to the force after the NAGSMA and the Italian Airworthiness Authorities finalise the required documentation. The Agency general manager Brigadier General Volker Samanns said: “Having now four out of five Nato AGS aircraft in SIGONELLA demonstrates the commitment and ability of the AGS procuring nations and of NAGSMA to deliver the Nato AGS system while increasing our flexibility in testing the system. “It also provides the Nato AGS Force additional equipment for familiarisation and training.” https://www.airforce-technology.com/news/nato-accepts-delivery-of-fourth-remotely-piloted-aircraft-in-italy/

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  14 août 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Big A&D Firms Seem To Be Merging Or Acquiring—Where’s Honeywell?

  Michael Bruno United Technologies (UTC) and Raytheon are working hard to convince shareholders to approve their mega-merger. L3 Harris Technologies is riding high after its heritage companies consolidated recently. Industry insiders are making bets on who is next. But Honeywell International has been conspicuously absent in all the major merger and acquisition (M&A) moves in recent years. Why? Honeywell Aerospace chief executive Tim Mahoney recently explained how his company still plans to take advantage of the wave of consolidation hitting aerospace and defense. “We've looked,” Mahoney told an Aug. 7 investor conference. “We've never thought—and we continue to not think—that scale is a major discriminator and a differentiator within our marketplace. Having said that, you need to be large enough to be relevant, and we have been at that point. But scale is not something that is attractive or makes you more attractive from an OEM perspective or from an aftermarket perspective. We've continued to differentiate ourselves relative to value-added offerings.” Mahoney spoke during a live interview with analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu at the Jefferies Global Industrials Conference. While Honeywell has remained active with bolt-on acquisitions—including the July 24 announcement it will buy autopilot specialist TruTrak Flight Systems for an undisclosed amount—the company has not consummated a prime- or OEM-level deal and even walked away from talks with UTC in 2016. That same year, Honeywell did buy warehouse automation specialist Intelligrated for $1.5 billion. And Honeywell leaders have long assured Wall Street that they keep their eyes open in A&D, as Mahoney reaffirmed. But they have complained that valuations were too rich to be conducive to dealmaking. Mahoney also indicated that Honeywell could take advantage of the consolidation trend in another way. “We've actually gone back and looked at when there has been very significant consolidations, or two companies coming together,” he explained. “That has actually helped us from a market share perspective, because typically when there's a large-scale integration of two companies, those two companies become inwardly focused, which is understandable. “As a result, we've been opportunistic relative to that,” he continued. “If you look at our cockpit systems business or some of those areas where we've competed with some of the companies that have consolidated, our auxiliary power unit business, you would see that we've actually grown disproportionately larger during those time periods.” One area Honeywell is now focusing on growing is its new big-data analytics software Forge, which the company recently rolled out for airlines and other industrial companies (Aviation DAILY, June 6). While the software expectedly looks to provide aircraft operators with predictive maintenance, fuel optimization and other flight operation benefits, Honeywell is looking to add ground operations through an expanding experiment with Swissport, one of the world's largest airport ground service providers. Last December, Honeywell and Swissport signed a five-year agreement initially to apply Honeywell's GoDirect Ground Handling product used across Swissport's global operation base. Ben Driggs, president of Honeywell Connected Aircraft, told the investor conference that the goal is to achieve faster airplane turnarounds in the 20-40% of the time the aircraft is on the ground. He said the partnership is first being implemented in Kansai International Airport (KIX) for Osaka, Japan, with Miami, Basel, Switzerland and “numerous” other Swissport airports planned. https://aviationweek.com/defense/big-ad-firms-seem-be-merging-or-acquiring-where-s-honeywell