15 mars 2023 | International, Naval
The Defense Department and Congress will need to pour billions of dollars into the submarine industrial base to prepare to sell Australia AUKUS submarines.
22 septembre 2024 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité
September 19, 2024 - Babcock, in partnership with Supacat, has been awarded a contract to build an additional 53 High Mobility Transporter (HMT) Jackal 3s for the British Army. The Jackal...
16 juillet 2020 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité
By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — After decades of trying to break into the U.S. military aircraft market, Airbus is shifting course with a new strategy that prioritizes selling off-the-shelf sensors, data, space and intelligence capabilities that have been customized for U.S. government buyers. During a Wednesday discussion with reporters about the new direction for the business, Chris Emerson, the new chief executive of the Airbus U.S. Space and Defense division and formerly the president of Airbus Helicopters, said he wanted to move the company's focus in the United States away from the major fixed-wing platforms that are the company's bread and butter in Europe. Instead, he hopes to expand the company's presence in the growing space and intelligence markets, particularly with low-cost satellites like those made by its joint venture One Web, geospatial intelligence and imaging, and space-based sensors. “We know the Air Force needs an A400M, but I can spend 10 years trying to convince the Air Force and all the politicians that they should buy an A400M. And ultimately they will buy C-130s,” Emerson said. “So let me focus this energy, this great leadership team, on achieving something that is tangible today that the customer really needs. Yes, it's not traditional for Airbus, but it will bring the value and we'll have a better foundation if one day my successor says, ‘You know, I want to be a big platform competitor.' At least we'd have built up trust and proven that we could really meet the requirements that are demanded of it.” Although Airbus is a juggernaut in the international military and commercial aerospace market, it has always struggled to find its place among the U.S. defense prime contractors as major aircraft manufacturers. It famously lost the KC-X contract to Boeing in 2011 after a bloody and prolonged battle. Since then, the company's biggest procurement victory has been continued sales of its UH-72A Lakota helicopter to the Army. “I remember I spent eight years thinking we could bring real value on air-to-air refueling for the Air Force. But I spent eight years, and I'm frustrated because I look at it and we didn't succeed,” Emerson said. “I've asked the team, ‘Let's find a roadmap where we can actually make a mark with the customers.' And that means, I'm not going to go look at competing with Boeing and the Lockheeds and Northrop, but I'm going to look at other areas.” The U.S. customer is increasingly making investments into technologies that can augment or accelerate decision-making, he said. “That's where we start to look everything beyond an air breathing platform. We started to look at the data, the intelligence, that they need,” he said. “It could be intelligence that is geospatial-related, either Earth observation, or electro-optical, or synthetic aperture radar, or a blend that we're pulling in multi-source information.” Airbus already develops those types of capabilities in its commercial air and space businesses, and could quickly adapt them to U.S. demands, he said. When there are opportunities to offer Airbus aircraft to the U.S. military, the strategy will be to partner with American primes, Emerson said. For instance, last year Airbus and Lockheed signed a memorandum of understanding to market aerial refueling services to the U.S. Air Force using the Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport. Asked on Wednesday whether the two companies planned to compete for tanker leasing opportunities currently being considered by the Air Force, Emerson said Lockheed takes the lead on interactions with the U.S. military on aerial refueling. He added that UH-72s will continue to be manufactured alongside Airbus's commercial H125 helicopter in Columbus, Miss., but modifications, support and contracting will be performed by the Airbus U.S. Space and Defense. In addition to naming Emerson as head of the company's U.S. defense and space business, Airbus also appointed a five-person board of directors — which includes former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency director Letitia Long and William Shelton, a retired Air Force four-star and former head of Air Force Space Command — aimed at deepening ties with the U.S. military, space and intelligence agencies. It also named a seven-person team of advisers made up of former national security officials. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/07/15/airbus-us-pivots-business-strategy-away-from-selling-big-platforms-to-the-pentagon/
27 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Avec la crise économique du coronavirus et l'effondrement du trafic aérien, les commandes d'avions ont chuté pour le constructeur français. Dassault Aviation a annoncé jeudi avoir enregistré un bénéfice net en chute de 87%, à 32 millions d'euros, sous l'effet de la crise provoquée par l'épidémie de Covid-19. "Nos clients, pour certains, ont décalé la date des avions à livrer" et "les commandes ne sont pas au rendez-vous", a expliqué le PDG Eric Trappier lors d'une conférence de presse. Moins de livraisons Les conséquences économiques de la crise sont "sévères" et "impactent de plein fouet" le marché de l'aviation d'affaires, estime Dassault Aviation. Au premier semestre, l'avionneur a livré 7 avions de combat Rafale à l'Inde et au Qatar et 16 avions d'affaires Falcon. Le chiffre d'affaires ajusté, en baisse de 13,6%, s'est établi à 2,6 milliards d'euros, réalisés aux neuf-dixièmes à l'export. Il sera "en retrait" en 2020, prévoit l'avionneur. En raison des conséquences économiques de l'épidémie et de l'effondrement du trafic aérien, Dassault Aviation prévoit dorénavant de livrer 30 Falcon en 2020, soit un quart de moins que précédemment. Les livraisons prévues de Rafale sont inchangées (13). "Nous verrons comment adapter nos effectifs" Les prises de commandes se sont elles effondrées de 66%, à 984 millions d'euros, avec 5 Falcon et aucune pour le Rafale. Eric Trappier a évoqué une note d'espoir avec une "remontée forte de l'activité aérienne" observée dans l'aviation d'affaires ces dernières semaines, notamment aux États-Unis et "beaucoup de transactions" sur le marché de l'occasion. "En fonction du retour de la commande Falcon, nous verrons comment adapter nos effectifs", a-t-il indiqué, précisant que le groupe aurait recours au dispositif d'activité partielle de longue durée https://www.sudouest.fr/2020/07/23/dassault-aviation-le-benefice-net-s-ecroule-de-87-sous-l-effet-de-la-crise-sanitaire-7686090-705.php