Esper: Flat budget could speed cutting of legacy programs

Sur le même sujet

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  23 juillet 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Mission d’information parlementaire sur les systèmes d’armes létaux autonomes (SALA)

  Un rapport parlementaire, présenté mercredi par les députés Fabien Gouttefarde (député de l'Eure) et Claude de Ganay (député du Loiret) met en évidence une nouvelle course aux armements basés sur l'intelligence artificielle. L'Usine Nouvelle rappelle que la ministre des Armées Florence Parly a déclaré en avril 2019 que la France ne déploierait pas de tels systèmes. Les députés estiment toutefois : «Il est important que la France et plus globalement l'Europe ne restent pas en marge de la révolution de l'intelligence artificielle. Ce n'est pas un choix envisageable. Au risque d'un déclassement stratégique, il faut faire de la recherche, faire des développements en matière d'intelligence artificielle de défense», préconisent-ils. L'Usine Nouvelle et La Croix du 23 juillet

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  25 juillet 2018 | International, Naval

  Navy, Marine Corps Racing to Increase Amphibious Fleet as Demand Rises

  By: Ben Werner CAPITOL HILL — The Navy and Marine Corps are running up against a deadline to add more amphibious warships to the fleet before older hulls start retiring, Marine Maj. Gen. David Coffman told lawmakers and shipbuilding industry representatives at a congressional forum Tuesday. Recognizing this is a moment when the Hill is pushing to build more ships faster, Coffman said he's focused on ensuring these new ships are designed to accommodate changing technologies and remain useful for 50 years. “We're trying to make sure we have the full ability to take advantage of a multi-year buy,” Coffman, the director of expeditionary warfare on the chief of naval operations' staff (OPNAV N95), said. Coffman was referring to the possibility of the Navy buying 13 San Antonio-class LPD Flight II ships in a block buy contract. These ships are intended to replace Whidbey Island-class LSD ships. As an example, Coffman cited the need to prepare future ships to handle the networking needs of unmanned and autonomous surface and undersea vehicles, which will be incorporated into the amphibious forces of the future. Unmanned surface and undersea vehicles have the potential to dramatically change the way amphibious forces operate, he said. “We have a moonshot idea for amphibious assault, which says it'll be a long time before you see a Marine step off of something because we're going to go autonomous,” Coffman said. “Get autonomous and unmanned to do a lot of the work.” Also, incorporating the networking needs of the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter into ship design is critical to the Marine Corps ability to use the aircraft, Coffman said. Future amphibious assaults will most likely occur in contested, even urban areas. Since the Marine Corps is counting on the F-35 playing an important role securing such contested locations, Coffman wants to continually ask what can be done better and how to improve the ship class' capabilities instead of just settling on a single design. “No one else on the planet can do what we do in the littoral space,” Coffman said. But the needs of the Navy and Marine Corps to perform in the littoral space currently outpaces the nation's amphibious warship capacity, said Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.). The Navy's shipbuilding plan, which calls for building a 355-ship fleet, is a good start, but the critical number Wittman said is the 38 amphibious ships included in that plan. Previously, Wittman has criticized the slow pace of the Navy's shipbuilding plan. USS Wasp (LHD-1) is expected to reach the end of its anticipated working life by 2030. The concern is older ships such as Wasp will retire before the Navy reaches the goal of 38 amphibious ships, making it nearly impossible for the shipbuilding pace to ever increase the total number of amphibious hulls in use. “Marines can do almost anything, Wittman said.”But until they can walk on water we better be building them more ships.” https://news.usni.org/2018/07/24/navy-and-marine-corps-racing-to-increase-amphibious-fleet

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  9 décembre 2020 | International, Terrestre

  Rafael offers its next-gen combat vehicle suite to South Korea

  by Yaakov Lappin Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has offered South Korea its Next-Generation Combat Vehicle Suite (NGCV-S) as the Republic of Korea Army (RoKA) prepares to upgrade its K1A2 main battle tanks (MBTs) and procure some 600 Hyundai-made armoured personnel carriers (APCs) as part of its Tiger 4.0 modernisation programme. Rafael has submitted requests for information from South Korea on both the MBT and APC programmes Udi N, head of marketing at Rafael's land manoeuvre systems directorate, told Janes that the NGCV-S offers several capabilities for armoured vehicles to boost their lethality, survivability, and ability to engage multiple targets simultaneously. He said the suite includes the company's Armor Shield P passive add-on armour and the Trophy active protection system (APS), the latter of which is used on US Army MBTs as well as on the Israeli military's Namer heavy APCs. Other offers as part of the suite include reactive armour kits and the Samson medium-calibre remote weapon station (RWS). The station is designed to mount a 30 mm or 40 mm gun and co-axial 7.62 mm machine gun that be integrated with Rafael's Spike missile launcher as well as the fifth-generation Spike anti-tank guided electro-optical missile for mid- and long-range attacks. “Combining the Spike missile system with the Samson Integrated 30 mm RWS and its combat management systems transforms the remote-controlled weapon station and the vehicle into a versatile fighting machine – able to simultaneously neutralise targets at multiple ranges, with the pinpoint accuracy required in the urban arena as well as in GPS-denied zones,” said Rafael in a statement. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/rafael-offers-its-next-gen-combat-vehicle-suite-to-south-korea