House Dems Developing New Homeland Security Bill to Include Coast Guard’s Icebreaker

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  16 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

  Raytheon awarded $37M for Blackjack sensors

  Nathan Strout The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded Raytheon $37 million to develop sensors for Project Blackjack, according to a June 12 contract announcement. Project Blackjack is a demonstration constellation being developed and fielded by DARPA to show the military utility of an on-orbit mesh network made up of satellites operating in low Earth orbit. The agency expects to launch flight demonstration satellites this fall before beginning to launch the full constellation of about 20 Blackjack satellites in 2021. As part of the June 12 contract, Raytheon will research, develop and demonstrate Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) sensors that will be integrated into the Blackjack constellation and the Pit Boss system, an autonomous, space-based command and data processor which is the brains behind Blackjack. Work is expected to be completed in April 2023. DARPA has awarded a number of Blackjack contracts as it prepares for its first Blackjack launches in 2021. In April, the agency selected SEAKR Engineering as the prime contractor to develop Pit Boss. That same month, Lockheed Martin announced that it has been awarded a contract for the first phase of satellite integration for Blackjack, which entails defining and managing interfaces between the bus, payload and Pit Boss. Blue Canyon Technologies was awarded a $14 million contract for phase 2 and 3 work on the Blackjack buses on June 9, and on June 10 was issued a $16 million contract for phases 2 and 3 work on the payload side of Blackjack. Blue Canyon had received a phase 1 award for spacecraft design work in 2018. The payload effort is expected to be wrapped up in March 2021, with the bus work completed in June 2021. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/06/15/raytheon-awarded-37m-for-blackjack-sensors/

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  17 juin 2020 | International, Terrestre

  Senate bill adds funding for Army helicopter program and to buy more drones

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the National Defense Authorization Act recommends increasing funding for the future long-range assault aircraft and to buy additional drones, according to a summary report released Thursday. On the whole, the senators seem to have focused more on programs from the Air Force and Navy, largely leaving the Army untouched, per the summary. However, full language has yet to be released. The Army requested $178 billion for fiscal 2021, down slightly from its fiscal 2020 request of $182 billion. The FLRAA program, which seeks a new long-range assault aircraft by 2030, is receiving $5 million more than was requested. It is the second year in a row Congress has increased funding for the program above what the Pentagon asked for, following a $76 million increase in FY20 to drive down technical risk and speed up delivery. FLRAA is one of two key programs for modernizing Army aviation. The Bell V-280 Valor tilt rotor and the Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant coaxial are both contending for the FLRAA contract. The competition for the program of record will begin in 2022, with a plan to field the first unit equipped in 2030. The Senate is also adding $165 million for the purchase of additional MQ-1 unmanned aircraft for the Army to “meet state requirements for unmanned fixed wing ISR.” Additional language requires the secretary of the Army “submit a plan to operationally deploy or forward station in an operational theater or theaters” two batteries of interim cruise missile defense capability. On the cyber front, another $5 million is slated for Army operation and maintenance to “provide Cyber Mission Forces with more resources to access, operate, and train as required by increased operational demand.” Although not Army-specific, the NDAA language emphasizes the importance of the overall cyber posture, including an analysis of the Cyber Mission Force and an “evaluation of cyber reserve force options, which could provide capable surge capability and enable [the Department of Defense] to draw on cyber talent in the department sector.” Overall recruitment targets for the service is set at 485,000, adjusted own slightly from what the Army predicted in its FY21 budget request. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/06/11/senate-bill-adds-funding-to-army-helicopter-program-drones

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  5 avril 2018 | International, Naval

  Netherlands ‘very welcome’ to join European sub program — with a caveat

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The Netherlands would be welcome to join a German-Norwegian submarine acquisition program, even as the door is closing for final design work on the boats, the Norwegian defense ministry said. The statement comes as German defense industry officials have talked for weeks about what they believe is an impending move to reshuffle big-ticket shipbuilding programs by way of a new naval cooperation umbrella with the Dutch. In that telling, The Hague would join the purchase of 212CD-class submarines, built by Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems' undersea division, and gain a say in the fate of Germany's Mehrzweck-Kampfschiff 180 frigate program, from which the surface division of TKMS was excluded last month. While Berlin and The Hague have officially kept mum about details, several German industry officials and analysts surveyed for this article believe the prospect of a Dutch move is keeping the MKS-180 program's fate unpredictable. When asked about the Netherlands' interest in the German combat ship effort, Dutch defense ministry spokesman Peter Valstar only wrote in an email to Defense News that senior acquisition officials from both countries had met recently to discuss “various topics like possible cooperations on all kinds of defense projects.” As for submarines, “We're currently in the B-phase (research) of our so-called ‘Defence Material Process,‘” Valstar wrote. “The ‘need' (A-phase) of a submarine purchase is clear. The C-phase (further research) and D-phase (product and supplier) are still to come.” Norway has always considered the door open for additional submarine buyers since Oslo teamed with Berlin last year. The joint acquisition would see Norway buy four boats and Germany two. Buying and maintaining identical submarines would keep cost down for both countries, the argument goes. “Norway and Germany would like to see additional partners joining the cooperation, and it would be very welcome if the Netherlands should decide to join,” Norwegian defense ministry spokeswoman Ann Kristin Salbuvik wrote in an email to Defense News. “We are working together towards several potential nations, and we have a good dialogue with potential partners,” Salbuvik added when asked if the Dutch had formally expressed an interest. But the door is closing for would-be partners to have a say in the boats' configurations. “The design of the German-Norwegian submarines will soon be frozen in order for the supplier, TKMS, to be able to provide a binding offer in July 2018,” the spokeswoman wrote. “After this point in time, design changes will be costly, and will also have a negative impact on time and delivery schedules for the German-Norwegian submarine building program,” she added. “If additional partners join the cooperation, it will be beneficial for them to strive for as identical a design as possible.” It is unclear how far discussions for a Dutch-German naval armaments pact have bubbled up toward the defense ministries' leaders. But the issue is “very much a topic of conversation in political Berlin,” one source noted. If given the chance to tweak the MKS-180 configuration, the Dutch would push for a smaller ship design than is currently envisioned, one industry source predicted. With Damen Shipyards, the Dutch already have local industry in the running for the program, teaming with Germany's Blohm &Voss, which is now part of the German Lürssen group. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/04/04/netherlands-very-welcome-to-join-european-sub-program-with-a-caveat/