24 septembre 2023 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR
Germany, France eye new partners for next-gen tank in 2024
The two countries' army chiefs have finished an initial draft catalogue of requirements for the Main Ground Combat System.
13 janvier 2020 | International, Naval
Indian Navy hits a major milestone with a home-grown experimental jet
By: David B. Larter
WASHINGTON – The Indian Navy hit a major milestone in its quest for a home-grown carrier-based fighter aircraft, the military's research and development wing announced Saturday.
A prototype of a naval version of India's Tejas light combat aircraft performed an arrested landing on board the carrier Vikramaditya in the Arabian Sea, the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation announced on Twitter.
“After completing extensive trials on the Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF), Naval version of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) did a successful arrested landing onboard INS Vikramaditya at 1002 hrs today,” DRDO said in a press release.
India's defense minister took to Twitter to hail the step forward in India's goal of developing more of its fighter technology in country.
“Extremely happy to learn of the maiden landing of DRDO developed LCA Navy on INS Vikramaditya,” Rajnath Singh tweeted. “This successful landing is a great event in the history of Indian Fighter aircraft development programme.”
While the Tejas is a single-engine fighter, the Navy is looking to develop a twin-egine carrier-based fighter to field in the 2030s.
The Indian Navy has an ongoing competition for 57 carrier-based fighters, with Boeing's F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet being among the competitors.
The Indian Navy operates the MiG-29K Fulcrum, but has been generally unhappy with its ability to stand up to the rigors of carrier-based aviation, Defense News reported in 2017.
“We (Indian Navy) want the MiG-29K aircraft to be ruggedized to carry out operations because landing on the deck of the aircraft carrier is almost like a hard landing and the fighter aircraft needs frequent maintenance,” a Navy official told Defense News.
“There are frequent structural defects due to deck landing,” the official added.
However, Anastasia Kravchenkov, a representative of Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG, said in official correspondence: “Neither we, nor our partners have received any official claims about operational problems with the Russian MiG aircrafts.”
The Indian Navy has made subsequent statements that it has worked out its maintenance and spare parts issues.
The MiG-29K is among the competitors for the ongoing competition, along with Saab, which is pitching joint development of a Sea Gripen. Dassault is reportedly offering its Rafale M fighter.
Defense News contributor Vivek Raghuvanshi contributed to this report.
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4 août 2023 | International, Aérospatial, Sécurité
Allies continue to safeguard NATO skies on the Baltic Sea together
NATOs Allied Air Command delivers Air and Space Power for the Alliance. It is in charge of all Air and Space matters from northern Norway to southern Italy and from the Azores to eastern Turkey. All missions support NATO’s strategic concepts of Collective Defence, Crisis Management and Cooperative Security.
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6 novembre 2019 | International, Terrestre
Here’s the robotic vehicle that will carry equipment for US troops
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has selected General Dynamics Land Systems' Multi-Utility Tactical Transport, or MUTT, for its Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport unmanned ground system program of record. The initial contract for the eight-wheel drive robotic vehicle totals $162.4 million and includes support hardware, user training and technical support. The contract will wrap up at the end of October 2024, according to an Oct. 30 Defense Department announcement. GDLS will produce 624 systems for the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport, or SMET, program under the contract and will begin delivery in the second quarter of fiscal 2021, an Army spokesperson confirmed to Defense News. Four companies were chosen at the end of 2017 to compete to build the robotic vehicle that will help troops carry equipment on the battlefield. A team of Applied Research Associates and Polaris Defense; General Dynamics Land Systems; HDT Expeditionary Systems and Howe & Howe were selected to build 20 platforms each that were issued to two infantry brigade combat teams for testing and analysis of utility in the field. Polaris' MRZR X was evaluated as well as HDT's six-wheel drive Global Hunter WOLF, or Wheeled Offload Logistics Follower. Textron-owned Howe & Howe offered its Grizzly unmanned vehicle, which is powered by an electric engine. HDT's Global Hunter WOLF was recently picked, along with three other teams to include Textron and QinetiQ North America, to compete to build vehicles for the Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light effort. The Army selected those teams from an array of companies chosen to participate in a demonstration event in the fall of 2017 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Other companies that participated in that demonstration included American Robot Company; Lockheed Martin; AM General; Robo-Team NA; and QinetiQ North America. For the SMET program, the Army was looking for a vehicle that can carry about 1,000 pounds worth of soldier equipment. This equates to lightening the load of nine soldiers across an infantry squad. The Army wanted the robots to be able to travel 60 miles over three days and to be able to provide a spare kilowatt hour of power while moving and at least 3 kilowatt hours while stationary. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/10/31/heres-the-robotic-vehicle-that-will-carry-equipment-for-us-troops