Israel's Elbit Systems sells $153M worth of mini-drones to unnamed country

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  10 juin 2020 | International, Terrestre

  Polaris Awarded 7-Year Contract To Build U.S. Special Operations Newest Vehicle

  Minneapolis, June 4, 2020 – Following a competitive bid process, Government Services Administration (GSA), in support of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), awarded Polaris Government and Defense a follow-on contract for the Polaris MRZR Alpha, a new light tactical vehicle. Polaris Government and Defense is a division of global powersports leader Polaris Inc. (NYSE: PII). The seven-year contract has a value of up to $109 million and was awarded on May 29, 2020. “Winning this LTATV award is well-deserved recognition for the dedication of our Polaris Defense team and the performance of our vehicles, but our real victory is the opportunity to continue serving our military customers. They demand – and deserve – the best engineering and technology, and we consider it an honor to leverage our experience as the world's largest Powersports company to design and build the vehicles our warfighters need,” said Scott Wine, chairman and CEO, Polaris. Polaris is the largest ultralight tactical vehicle provider for the U.S. military, with the MRZR Alpha being Polaris' 11th military vehicle produced in 12 years. Their light weight and off-road capabilities make them ideal for transport via helicopter and operation in terrain that would otherwise be traversed on foot. “Polaris has had the privilege of providing vehicles to USSOCOM since 2005 and we take a great deal of pride in delivering and supporting the current LTATV,” said Jed Leonard, vice president, Polaris Government and Defense. “The Polaris MRZR Alpha supports USSOCOM's requirements for durability, performance, payload profile and internal air transportability.” Designed, engineered and produced in Minnesota, the MRZR platform incorporates technology and innovations from across Polaris' broad product portfolio. The MRZR Alpha represents millions in internal technology research and development investments that keep Polaris in front of the highly competitive off-road vehicle market. Defense engineers leveraged learnings from snowmobile chassis design, redesigned sport RZR changes and off-road race team modifications. Vehicle systems were also designed with near-future innovation in mind, with an architecture ready to accept new technologies and capabilities available within Polaris. Combining new and recently proven technologies, delivers a vehicle that has more power, increased payload, ground clearance and durability. The MRZR Alpha will be assembled in Roseau, Minn., one of Polaris' manufacturing plants and R&D centers. A key part of its strong North American manufacturing footprint, Roseau is the birthplace of Polaris, where the company has maintained operations for more than 65 years and currently employs nearly 1500 employees. The MRZR Alpha's versatility is further enhanced by improved exportable power and increased payload. Polaris first introduced the MRZR platform in 2012 and has continued to enhance the vehicle to meet the mission demands of the U.S. military, and over 40 allied forces worldwide. Since their introduction, MRZRs have been outfitted with counter unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), weapons and high-energy laser systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems, expeditionary command and control systems, autonomy packages, litters for medical and casualty evacuation and communication equipment. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, the United States military's rising demand for Polaris off-road vehicles led to Polaris being the first ATV OEM to produce militarized vehicles for U.S. Special Operations Forces and the United States Army. To better serve its military customers, Polaris established Polaris Defense in 2005. Today, Polaris designs, engineers and produces its MV850 ATV, MRZR and DAGOR military vehicles in the U.S. View source version on Polaris Government and Defense: https://www.polaris.com/en-us/news/product/polaris-awarded-7-year-contract-to-build-us-special-operations-newest-vehicle/

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  7 novembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  David J. Bercuson: Why Japan is building its military, fast

  David J. Bercuson With 18 diesel electric submarines, four so-called “helicopter destroyers” that look suspiciously like small aircraft carriers, 43 destroyers and destroyer escorts, 25 minesweepers and training ships, fleet oilers, submarine rescue ships and other vessels, Japan's navy — the Maritime Self-Defense Force — is the second largest in Asia and one of the largest in the world. It is also highly advanced technologically and is growing all the time. The two 27,000 ton Izumo-class helicopter destroyers, the largest in the fleet, with flat flight decks and islands on the starboard side of the vessels, are small compared to the United States Navy's Nimitz-class aircraft carriers (approximately 100,000 tons) or Britain's new Queen Elizabeth-class carriers (65,000 tons). But if equipped with the new short-take-off-and-vertical-landing F-35B stealth fighter they will still pack a powerful punch. And Japan is considering adding more of these aircraft carriers to its fleet and advanced U.S.-style Aegis class destroyers, capable of shooting down medium-range ballistic missiles. The irony in all of this is that Japan's post Second World War constitution still contains a provision — Article 9 — that prohibits it from possessing any offensive military capability. In the early 1950s, Japan began to build its self-defence forces and now has a powerful navy, a modern medium-sized air force that will soon fly the F-35 along with specially built F-15s, alongside more than 300 fighter aircraft and 50,000 personnel, and a growing land army and marine sea landing capability. Are these military assets “defensive” in nature? Partly, but aircraft carriers, high-speed destroyers, modern fighter aircraft and assault ships are surely as offensive as they are defensive. And Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made it plain that in less than two years, he intends to seek to change the Japanese constitution to drastically curtail any obligation Japan has to maintain a purely defensive capability. In other words, he will ask the Japanese people and legislature to bless what Japan has already done. That could be more problematic than people realize. Like Germany, Japan suffered greatly in the Second World War. Virtually all its great cities were levelled either with atomic bombs (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) or fire raids that were carried out by giant B-29 bombers at low altitude at night. The attacks burned the heart out of Japan's cities. In March 1945, 100,000 people were killed in one night in a fire raid on Tokyo and many acres of the city were burned to the ground. Submarine blockades of Japan drastically curtailed food and fuel supplies. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers were killed either in the United States' march across the Pacific or in the Russian invasion of Manchuria near the end of the war. Japan was a prostrate nation by the end of 1945 and its ancient system of government was a shambles. Full article: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/david-j-bercuson-why-japan-is-building-its-military-fast

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  14 mai 2021 | International, Aérospatial

  Britain buys 14 new Chinook helos, but it’ll take a decade for full delivery

  The deal was made through the U.S. Defense Department’s Foreign Military Sales process and will see Britain pay $2 billion for the helicopters and associated equipment.