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  21 janvier 2020 | International, Naval

  Australian defense leaders defend submarine buy with France’s Naval Group

  By: Nigel Pittaway MELBOURNE, Australia – Australian defense leaders this week denied claims that their department was urged to consider alternatives to the navy's plans of buying 12 large conventionally-powered submarines from France's Naval Group. The claims, reported by local news media in the wake of an Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report about the program earlier this week, suggested negotiations with Naval Group were at such a poor state the Commonwealth-appointed Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board had earlier recommended drawing up contingency plans. However, in a statement released Wednesday by Secretary of Defence Greg Moriarty, Chief of Defence Force Gen. Angus Campbell, Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mike Noonan and Deputy Secretary Naval Shipbuilding, Tony Dalton, denied the claims. “Contrary to media interpretations of ANAO's latest report on the Future Submarine Program, Defence was not advised to ‘walk away' from Naval Group by the Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board,” the statement read. “In line with best practice and following the advice of the Advisory Board, Defence has continued to assess all of the risks that attend this highly complex program. At each stage, we are adopting relevant risk mitigation strategies. The ANAO acknowledges that Defence has taken steps to manage risks.” The 12 Attack-class submarines are being acquired under Australia's Sea 1000 (Future Submarine) program to replace six existing Collins-class boats which, without a major service life extension program, will need to be retired by 2036. The design is based on the French Barracuda-class nuclear attack boat, and the program is valued at either $34.5 billion (50 billion Australian dollars), or $55.2 billion (AUD 80 billion), depending on accounting practices. Either way, it is Australia's largest-ever defense acquisition program. The ANAO report, titled “Transition to Design,” found that the design phase of the program is already nine months behind schedule and two important milestones had been missed. It said Defence “could not demonstrate” its expenditure of $396 million (US $273 million) on the design to date has been fully effective in achieving the two milestones to date. The Defence Department has spent 47 percent of all program expenditure thus far on design work and, despite the risk mitigation strategies, it continues to describe program risk as “high”. “While the first scheduled major milestone under the Submarine Design Contract was reached five weeks later than planned, Defence and Naval Group are working towards the recovery of this delay by the next contracted major milestone in January 2021. Importantly, the delivery of the Attack-class submarine has not been delayed,” the statement continued. “Acknowledging the scale of this program, we remain confident that our work on the Attack-class program with Naval Group and Lockheed Martin Australia (as the Combat Systems Integrator) is progressing thoroughly and will result in the delivery of a regionally-superior submarine from the early 2030s, establishing a truly sovereign capability as we maximize the involvement of Australian industry.” The Sea 1000 program timeline calls for delivery of the first Attack-class boat in 2032 with service entry around 2034. https://www.defensenews.com/2020/01/17/australian-defense-leaders-defend-submarine-buy-with-frances-naval-group

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  12 décembre 2024 | International, Terrestre

  PAC-3 Equipped with Advanced Software Excels in Integrated Test

  During the two missions at White Sands Missile Range, PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) confirmed the ability to detect, acquire, track and engage flight test targets

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  9 janvier 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  US Air Force demonstrates increasing F-35 capabilities

  A little more than four years after receiving their first combat-coded F-35A Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, Hill Air Force Base's fighter wings have achieved full warfighting capability – shedding light on the future of the RAAF's future air combat capability. The term describes a set of focus areas within the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings: fully trained pilots and maintainers, a full complement of 78 aircraft and the mission and support equipment needed to fly. While the designation of full warfighting capability is an important milestone, the wing has been combat capable since the Air Force declared initial operational capability in August 2016. Since then, the wings have participated in several large combat exercises, deployed twice to Europe and once to the Pacific and supported two Middle East combat deployments, including one short-notice tasking. Colonel Steven Behmer, 388th Fighter Wing commander, explained, "Every training opportunity, exercise and deployment we've completed over the past four years has been a key stepping stone in reaching full warfighting capability. "This is just the beginning of sustained F-35A combat operations and we will remain focused on staying ready to deploy whenever, wherever we're needed." The first F-35As arrived at Hill AFB in September 2015 and the final aircraft arrived in December 2019. In the intervening years, airmen at Hill AFB have been training and developing tactics as the aircraft systems and capabilities have matured. Reaching the right balance of qualified manning can be a challenge when activating a brand-new weapon system. The first squadron to stand up, the 34th Fighter Squadron, started with a core of pilots who had some level of F-35A training and experience in other platforms. As the wing began to grow, that experience level was diluted, and each squadron has been through a period where a majority of pilots could be considered "inexperienced wingmen". When the first jets arrived at Hill AFB, about 50 per cent of the maintainers were fully-trained, seasoned F-35 maintainers from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. That number decreased due to PCS, retirements and separations. Since then, there has been an influx of new manning with less experience, and every other maintainer has been “homegrown”. "We really relied on our more experienced personnel, and as we received more aircraft, spread them throughout the group to train and equip the next F-35A aircraft maintenance units the right way. When you have the right mix of leadership, with the right focus, they can empower their people and everyone develops maintenance capability quickly," explained Colonel Michael Miles, 388th Maintenance Group Commander. When the first aircraft arrived in 2015, the goal was to fully equip each squadron with 24 primary assigned aircraft and six backups by the end of 2019. That was realised in December with the delivery of the 78th jet. Over that four-year period, the wings received roughly two jets every month and immediately began putting them to use. In the spring of 2016, the 34th FS deployed six jets to RAF Lakenheath, UK. In some cases, the delivery process became so streamlined that the aircraft were able to fly combat training missions within 24 hours of arriving at Hill AFB. This was more than just convenient. It meant that it was possible to deliver a jet from the factory straight into combat if necessary. Fifth-generation technology on the F-35A requires more specialised equipment than legacy aircraft. Every system on the F-35A has an associated piece of equipment to keep aircraft loaded, fueled and flying. There are more than a dozen critical pieces of heavy equipment, from the standard – power generators and weapons loaders, to the unique – 5.8 ton air conditioners to cool the jet's advanced avionics. There's also other equipment – like the high-tech, personalised helmets that integrate with the jet's mission systems – and computer and network systems to support flying and maintenance. COL Miles explained the importance of the milestone: "At IOC (initial operational capability), we had the equipment to support one squadron that could do some semblance of combat operations. Now, as each squadron has progressed, and we're on track to have all the required assets, we demonstrated that we can rely on the program for the technical support and weapons system parts we need while we deployed all our squadrons last summer." In 2019, the wings proved that they could balance the equipment requirements to support all three squadrons away from home station – the 4th FS was deployed to the Middle East, the 421st FS was in Europe and the 34th FS spent two months at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. In a seven-day span, the wings had aircraft, equipment and personnel operating out of nine different countries. "Through hard work, providing programmatic feedback, and developing new processes and procedures, we shaped and pushed the program. Each airmen can look back with pride and see their contributions over the last four years standing up this wing, and enabling F-35A combat capability for our country," COL Miles added. https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/strike-air-combat/5388-us-air-force-demonstrates-increasing-f-35-capabilities