22 mai 2020 | International, Terrestre
May 20, 2020 - Standing for Main Ground Combat System, MGCS is a joint Franco-German defence project. The programme, to be implemented under German political leadership, is tasked with developing a main combat system to succeed the Bundeswehr's Leopard 2 and the French Army's Leclerc starting in 2035.
Making the start of the MGCS procurement programme Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), Nexter Systems and Rheinmetall AG established an ARGE in December 2019. Now, the partners and the German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw), acting in the name of Germany and France, have signed a contract for the “System Architecture Definition Study - Part 1” (SADS Part 1). This contract sounds the industrial starting gun for a MGCS Demonstration Phase
At the Franco-German Ministerial Council meeting in Toulouse on 16 October 2019, the defence ministers of both nations, Florence Parly and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, emphasized their commitment to developing the MGCS.
The ARGE is a German acronym standing for Arbeitsgemeinschaft, or “working group”. Under German law, the ARGE serves as the contractual partner of the procurement authority (BAAINBw) during the first phase of the programme. Officials of the three companies represent the ARGE vis-à-vis third parties.
The aim of the study is to harmonize the final MGCS concepts of the previous phase, to analyse further details, and to propose a common multi-platform architecture. The three contractual partners will assess various aspects of different concepts: technical feasibility in the projected timeframe allotted for the programme; ability to fulfil the operational needs of both armies; efficiency and compatibility with national “systems of systems” (SCORPION for France and Digitization of Land-Based Operations (D-LBO) for Germany). Workshares in the SADS Part 1 are to be distributed equally between France and Germany on a fifty-fifty basis. The first phase of architecture work is expected to last 18 months.
View source version on Rheinmetall : https://www.rheinmetall-defence.com/en/rheinmetall_defence/public_relations/news/latest_news/index_23936.php
29 juillet 2022 | International, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR
The Pentagon looks to upgrade the Stryker's electronic warfare suite with investment in new tech, and the Coast Guard's aging icebreaker fleet is set to expa...
21 janvier 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Alors que Dassault Aviation profite à plein de ses contrats à l'export dans le militaire, il fait grise mine dans le civil. Comme prévu, le groupe a livré 26 Rafale en 2019, contre 12 en 2018. Mais il n'a pas atteint son objectif dans le civil, avec seulement 40 avions d'affaires Falcon livrés, contre 41 en 2018, soit cinq appareils de moins qu'attendu. Seule consolation : avec également 40 Falcon commandés l'an dernier, Dassault parvient à stabiliser son carnet de commandes dans le civil (53 appareils). Entre un marché de l'aviation d'affaires chahuté et disputé et l'annulation du Falcon 5X en raison des difficultés rencontrées par Safran sur le moteur Silvercrest, le risque de pertes de parts de marché est bien réel. Mais l'avionneur peut se féliciter de son modèle dual : malgré sa décélération persistante dans le civil, son chiffre d'affaires en 2019 devrait être très supérieur à celui de 2018, à 5,1 milliards d'euros. En outre, Dassault pourrait dévoiler cette année un nouveau Falcon... https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/le-falcon-ne-fait-plus-les-affaires-de-dassault.N918869
2 juillet 2019 | International, Aérospatial
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Karem Aircraft has forged a team with Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to compete in the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competition, according to a July 1 company statement. Karem was one of five companies awarded a prototyping development contract in April. While details are scant as to how each company will contribute to the overall design, due in January or February of 2020, the teaming announcement says the three companies together “will apply decades of combined knowledge, skills and abilities to bring the best of vehicle and systems technologies and processes to the first aircraft within the Future Vertical Lift family of systems.” Karem is bringing its “unique active variable speed rotor technologies,” which have been developed over the last 10 years through collaboration with the Army, to the teaming effort. The company's experience “will be augmented with Northrop Grumman's manned and autonomous military aircraft development, system integration, production and support expertise and Raytheon's systems architecture, mission equipment and weapons capabilities,” the company statement adds. While Karem competed to be one of two teams selected to build a flying aircraft for the Army's Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD), it was not selected. Instead, the Army awarded it a smaller technology development contract to continue to refine its unique technology. The JMR TD program will inform a Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program of record to replace UH-60 Black Hawks and AH-64 Apache helicopters. The JMR TD program is not a head-to-head competition between the Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant coaxial helicopter and the Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft, but will inform the FLRAA program. Bell and a Sikorsky-Boeing team have each built a JMR TD aircraft which is flying in that program. AVX Aircraft Co. also received a smaller technology development contract similar to Karem's award. The Karem-Northrop-Raytheon team will compete with an AVX-L-3 Communications Integrated Systems team, Bell, Boeing and Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky to provide design plans to the Army for FARA. The Army will choose just two teams to advance to build a flyable prototype, much like it did for the JMR TD program — except this time, one of those aircraft will be chosen for production. The Army has set an ambitious schedule for FARA, with plans to fly prototypes in 2023. A production decision could happen in 2028, but the service is looking at any way possible to speed up that timeline. Truncating the timelines for both FLRAA and FARA has been on the table for many years and the service continues to assess any way possible to bring the aircraft online faster. With the advent of the new Army Futures Command — focused on six major modernization priorities, of which FVL is third — the service is moving faster on prototyping capability to ultimately procure major weapon systems at a somewhat unprecedented speed. Through the AFC and the use of contracting mechanisms like OTAs, the Army has found a way to compress parts of the acquisition process that previously took three-to-five years into periods of time often amounting to less than a year. FARA is intended to fill a critical capability gap currently being addressed by the AH-64E Apache attack helicopter teamed with Shadow unmanned aircraft, following the retirement of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters. The service has tried and failed three times to fill the gap with an aircraft. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/07/01/karem-northrop-raytheon-forge-team-for-armys-future-attack-recon-helo-competition/