8 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval

House Appropriators Add 12 F-35s, Boost Weapons Spending, But…

"To us, it means that there is going to be much more tension and debate over future modernization programs as flat investment will not enable DoD to recapitalize in a timely and militarily relevant pace," says defense analyst Byron Callan.

By COLIN CLARKon July 07, 2020 at 7:38 PM

WASHINGTON: House appropriators made their first cut at the annual defense spending bill today, approving spending $3.5 billion below the Trump Administration's request — although lawmakers added a substantial $4.1 billion for several weapons systems, including 12 additional F-35s.

Overall, the House Appropriations Committee trimmed $3.5 billion from the Trump Administration's 2021 budget request while still fully paying for a 3% pay raise and force structure increases to all but the Marines, who will lose 2,100 people.

The appropriators approval of an increase in F-35 buys makes it unlikely the House Armed Services Committee's skepticism of the Joint Strike Fighter program will prevail. The HASC added no more planes above the administration request for 79 aircraft of all three models and docked at least a score of supporting line items by a total of $561 million. By contrast the SASC added $1.36 billion to buy more Air Force F-35As, Marine F-35Bs, and Navy F-35Cs, plus spare parts.

In other bump ups, the HAC funds 11 V-22 aircraft, adding $1.1 billion to buy two more than the request. It also adds three P-8A Poseidon aircraft for the Navy Reserve, three more than the request for an additional $510 million. And echoing the House authorizing committee's support, the HAC added 16 MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles to the Pentagon request, for a cost of $344 million.

But making sense of the HAC-D bill is difficult because it's not yet clear what and where they've cut, as veteran defense stock analyst Byron Callan notes. It all gets complicated by the CARES Act and adjustments to contracts that have been made.

Overall, Callan says, it looks as if fiscal 2020 — last year — may have been the peak of whatever Trump defense boost there has been. But it's all uncertain.

“Absent the pandemic budget impacts, however, the markups so far suggest that FY20 was a peak for DoD investment. This does not mean investment is at the peak and headed fast downhill in FY21 and beyond,” Callan writes. “To us, it means that there is going to be much more tension and debate over future modernization programs as flat investment will not enable DoD to recapitalize in a timely and militarily relevant pace.”

https://breakingdefense.com/2020/07/house-appropriators-add-12-f-35s-boost-weapons-spending-but/

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19 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial

Army FLRAA Moves Forward with Valor and Defiant
by David Donald - March 17, 2020, 11:44 AM The U.S. Army's Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program has made significant progress with the March 16 award of contracts to bidders Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing. The contracts cover competitive demonstration and risk reduction (CD&RR) work associated with the Bell V-280 Valor and Sikorsky/Boeing SB>1 Defiant. With the awards, these two types become the official contenders for the FLRAA selection, which is intended to find a replacement for the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. The contracts have been awarded via the Other Transaction Authority (OTA) channel, which is more flexible than the traditional Department of Defense contractual process, and which does not require the Army to release contract values. Over two years, the companies will produce conceptual designs and perform risk and trade studies, leading to the launch of a full program of record competition and down-select in 2022. The winning FLRAA design is scheduled to enter service around 2030. Both Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing will draw on the large amounts of flight data amassed with the V-280 and SB>1 prototypes, which were produced for the Army's Joint Multirole Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) trials. Whereas a majority of JMR-TD work was company-funded, the DoD is providing around two-thirds of the funding for the CD&RR phase. The V-280 Valor first flew in December 2017 and has now amassed more than 170 hours. It has reached its intended optimal cruise speed of 280 knots, with a top speed of over 300. The SB>1 first flew in March 2019 but was temporarily grounded soon after as a technical issue encountered with a ground testbed was resolved. It returned to the air in September and has been flying regularly since. The aim is to push its speed envelope out to at least 250 knots. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2020-03-17/army-flraa-moves-forward-valor-and-defiant
3 juin 2021 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité

L’Etat souhaite se doter d’une agence de lutte contre les manipulations de l'information
La France s'apprête à créer une agence nationale de lutte contre les manipulations de l'information en provenance de l'étranger visant à « déstabiliser l'État », a annoncé mercredi le Secrétaire général de la défense et de la sécurité nationale (SGDSN), Stéphane Bouillon. Ce service, rattaché au SGDSN devrait être lancé dès le mois de septembre et mobiliser à terme jusqu'à 60 personnes qui travailleront en sources ouvertes, c'est-à-dire à partir d'éléments publics, a-t-il précisé au cours d'une audition devant la Commission défense à l'Assemblée nationale. Le Figaro du 3 juin
25 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval

U.S. Navy orders 48 retrofit redesign kits in support of Super Hornet aircraft
The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Thursday that Boeing Co. has been awarded a new contract for support F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft. U.S. aerospace giant has won a contract valued at as much as $43 million to build, test and delivery of 48 Trailing Edge Flap retrofit redesign kits in support of the F/A-18E/F aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (72%); Lucerne, Switzerland (20%); Paramount, California (5%); and Hot Springs, Arkansas (3%), and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Production of the flaps involves the use of new manufacturing methods including advanced composites and high-speed machining, which were not used in the manufacture of flaps for the earlier Hornets. The Super Hornet is the most advanced addition to the combat-proven family of F/A-18 Hornets. Both the single-seat E and two-seat F models offer longer range, greater endurance, more payload-carrying ability, more powerful engines, increased carrier bringback capability, enhanced survivability and the growth potential to incorporate future systems and technologies to meet emerging threats. Although it is 25 percent larger than the Hornet, the Super Hornet has 42 percent fewer parts. The company's website said the Super Hornet is the backbone of the U.S. Navy carrier air wing now and for decades to come. The combat-proven Super Hornet delivers cutting-edge, next-generation multi-role strike fighter capability, outdistancing current and emerging threats well into the future. The Super Hornet has the capability, flexibility and performance necessary to modernize the air or naval aviation forces of any country. Two versions of the Super Hornet – E model and F model – are able to perform virtually every mission in the tactical spectrum, including air superiority, day/night strike with precision-guided weapons, fighter escort, close air support, suppression of enemy air defenses, maritime strike, reconnaissance, forward air control and tanker missions. https://defence-blog.com/news/u-s-navy-orders-48-retrofit-redesign-kits-in-support-of-super-hornet-aircraft.html

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