21 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial
By: Sebastian Sprenger
COLOGNE, Germany — You can count on Germany to stir the pot of nuclear weapons sharing amid a global pandemic.
Such was the case in the past few days in a country that, armed with a superb health care system and a relatively low COVID-19 mortality rate, is seen as a model for managing the coronavirus crisis. But as of Sunday afternoon, the national security community was abuzz about a news report saying Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer effectively promised her U.S. counterpart that the ministry will buy 45 F-18 jets from Boeing.
The Der Spiegel report comes after news broke a few weeks ago that Berlin planned to acquire a mix of Airbus Eurofighter jets and Boeing F-18s for a smattering of air warfare jobs too demanding for the country's aging Tornado fleet. Those jobs include flying conventional fighter-bomber missions, jamming enemy air defenses and carrying U.S. nuclear-tipped gravity bombs to hypothetical World War III targets somewhere eastward, per NATO's so-called nuclear sharing deal.
According to Der Spiegel, Kramp-Karrenbauer sent U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper an email last week detailing her ministry's wish to buy F-18s not only for the atomic mission — which comes as little surprise — but also for the electronic warfare role.
That reported promise stung Eurofighter advocates — even those who might begrudgingly accept an American product for the nuclear mission — because Airbus has plans for a souped-up jamming plane that it wants to see in Germany's inventory.
In short, the Eurofighter crowd wants nothing more than Berlin to pick a pure Eurofighter fleet, arguing that the F-18′s shelf life is expiring in U.S. budget planning anyway, and that the Boeing jet is no closer to nuclear weapons certification than any other aircraft.
The German Defence Ministry has always signaled it will take into account industrial policy considerations in the Tornado-replacement question. So strongly did senior leaders believe in the idea of a keeping the European industrial base humming toward an eventual Franco-German aerial über-weapon that they nixed Lockheed Martin's F-35 from the competition.
But keeping American aircraft entirely out of the loop has always seemed a nonstarter.
A ministry spokesman on Monday said Kramp-Karrenbauer's missive to Esper was only meant to test the waters regarding America's ability to start delivering those planes when the actual acquisition program gets underway in a few years.
A formal decision on replacing the Tornados had initially been expected by the end of March. But as the coronavirus crisis unfolded, that decision was pushed to after Easter.
Kramp-Karrenbauer is expected to announce her plans before the parliamentary Defence Committee on Wednesday, where she is likely to face opposition from lawmakers of the SPD coalition partner.
Until then, Germans have yet another puzzle to discuss, as an increasingly divisive debate unfolds here over reopening the country.
22 septembre 2024 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité
LinkedIn suspends AI training with UK user data after ICO intervention. Tech giants face scrutiny over data privacy in AI development.
16 juillet 2018 | International, Terrestre
By: Todd South The replacement for the Army's 5.56mm Squad Automatic Weapon could be an entirely new type of light machine gun that fires not only a different caliber round, but caseless ammunition. That's because one of the five companies recently awarded contracts to produce a weapon prototype by this time next year has been building weapons to fire that type of ammo for the past 14 years. A notice posted Thursday included the identities of the five companies: AAI Corporation Textron Systems in Hunt Valley, Maryland. FN America LLC.in Columbia, South Carolina. General Dynamics-OTS Inc. PCP Tactical, LLC. in Vero Beach, Florida. Sig Sauer Inc. in Newington, New Hampshire. The companies were awarded a contract to provide a prototype for the Army's Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle, or NGSAR. The light machine gun is the first planned major overhaul of small arms in decades. Based on the notice, it appears that FN America has been granted an award to provide two prototypes, while the other four companies will provide a single prototype. Those prototypes will help the Army decide what's possible given their extensive requirements for the new weapon. There will then be an open competition following those submissions, where more companies can try to get in on the weapon that will utlimately replace the M249 SAW and influence the M4 replacement, as well. It is also the first weapon of its type that could mean a dramatic shift in all small arms, with follow-on changes planned for an individual carbine that will likely incorporate the machine gun changes, officials have said. Current efforts include work on a lighter machine gun that fires a government-designed 6.8mm round, which falls between the lighter 5.56mm and heavier 7.62mm used in heavy machine guns. But submissions can include other calibers, so long as they meet accuracy and lethality requirements for the new weapon, officials have said. In the Textron release, the company says the prototype will be based on their cased-telescoped weapons and ammunition portfolio. The company has designed both a carbine and light machine gun variant, which have been displayed publicly in recent years. The NGSAR will be an “intermediate caliber, high-velocity, magazine-fed system,” according to the release. It will weigh less than 12 pounds with ammunition that weighs 20 percent less than the traditional brass case ammo. The weapon will be at most 35 inches long and be able to fire 60 rounds per minute for 15 minutes without a barrel change. Accuracy matters too. A shooter must be able to hit standard targets at 50 meters while standing, with three- to five-round bursts at least 70 percent of the time. The companies also received awards for advanced weapons and fire control technologies, for the Next Generation Squad Weapons Technologies, the umbrella program for advancing small arms, and for the fire control capability. Wayne Prender, vice president of Applied Technologies & Advanced Programs at Textron Systems, told Army Times Thursday that he couldn't discuss details of their fire control submissions configuration. But he did talk about some of the capabilites they plan to provide. “We're offering up a solution set, day/night system optics with a laser range finder, integrated ballistic computer for computation of the target,” Prender said. Last year Textron unveiled a 6.5mm carbine using their ammunition. The NSGW program aims to use an intermediate caliber, likely in the 6mm range, such as their 6.8mm ammunition development. But Prender said he couldn't discuss details of the caliber submission for the weapon prototype. Army leaders have said that advancements will come in stages and initial fire controls will be a part of the first fielded system, but that improved fire controls with additional upgrades will be incorporated into the system. https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/07/12/the-armys-next-machine-gun-could-fire-caseless-ammo-and-one-of-these-companies-might-build-it/
13 janvier 2024 | International, Aérospatial
Leaders from the three countries recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to host and operate DARC as a collaboration to expand beyond what individual nations could achieve alone in one...