5 juillet 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

Lancement du premier appel à projets dans le cadre du fonds européen de défense

La Commission européenne a officiellement lancé hier le fonds européen de défense, créé pour cofinancer des projets de coopérations entre entreprises de défense et consolider l'autonomie européenne. Ce fonds est doté de 7,95 milliards d'euros sur huit ans pour un budget européen de 1 074 milliards d'euros (constants 2018) pour la période. Un premier appel à projets d'un montant de 1,2 milliard d'euros a été lancé. 700 millions d'euros sont consacrés à des projets d'ampleur comme le développement du futur avion de combat, la digitalisation des navires ou la défense antimissile. Cent millions sont affectés à des technologies critiques comme le cloud militaire ou l'intelligence artificielle, cent millions pour le cyber et cinquante pour l'espace. Par ailleurs, dans le cadre du programme européen de développement industriel dans le domaine de la défense (EDIDP), 100 millions d'euros sont destinés au projet de drone MALE européen et 37 millions au programme Essor de communications sécurisées. Pour Thierry Breton, « le fonds européen de défense est une contribution absolument essentielle à une plus grande souveraineté européenne », l'Union européenne devant « devenir progressivement un acteur de la sécurité au niveau mondial ».

Le Figaro, 1er juillet

Sur le même sujet

  • Esper: F-35 Won’t Hit 80% Readiness, Cites Stealth Parts

    19 juillet 2019 | International, Aérospatial

    Esper: F-35 Won’t Hit 80% Readiness, Cites Stealth Parts

    By COLIN CLARK WASHINGTON: Presumptive Defense Secretary Mark Esper says flatly the F-35 “is not expected” to meet the 80 percent readiness goal set for it this year because of problems with a cockpit part that improves stealth performance. “Transparency (canopy) supply shortages continue to be the main obstacle to achieving this. We are seeking additional sources to fix unserviceable canopies,” Esper said in response to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committe (SASC). The Government Accountability Office (GAO) mentioned the canopy issue in a recent report, calling it a “special coating on the F-35 canopy that enables the aircraft to maintain its stealth.” That, the congressional watchdog said. “failed more frequently than expected” so F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin went looking for more manufactures to produce enough canopies to meet demands. GAO also said the F-35 program was considering a new design. This is all apiece with the general problem the F-35 program has had with obtaining new and spare parts. “A key contributor to spare parts shortages is the F-35 program's limited capacity to repair broken parts,” the GAO says in its April report. “The average time to repair an F-35 part was more than 6 months, or about 188 days for repairs completed between September and November 2018—more than twice that of the program's objective of 60-90 days.” Lockheed late last night sent comments on the transparency and its general efforts to improve F-35 readiness. UPDATE BEGINS “We are working closely with our F-35 transparency provider to build production and repair capacity and we are standing up a second source of supply. As these actions deliver results, we expect to improve supply availability and overall fleet readiness,” F-35 program spokesman Mike Friedman said, “We continue to see improvements in F-35 readiness rates and are receiving positive feedback from our customers, most recently from the Air Force who have several squadrons simultaneously deployed in the Middle East and across Europe for joint exercises and operations,” Friedman added. “Newer F-35 aircraft are averaging greater than 60 percent mission capable rates, with some operational squadrons consistently at or above 70 percent. We're taking aggressive action across the full F-35 enterprise to achieve the 80 percent mission capable rate target as soon as possible.”UPDATE ENDS As the SASC noted, former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis ordered the Air Force and Navy to increase mission capable rates for the F-35, F-22, F-16, and F-18 inventories to above 80 percent by the end of September 2019. “What progress,” the committee asked in the written questions, “has the Department made in increasing mission capable rates and decreasing costs for all four platforms?” The good news for the Air Force is that F-16 rates are better because the service has been able to increase parts supplies and add maintenance shifts. The F-16 fleet is expected to meet the 80 percent goal this year, Esper wrote. Not so, the F-22. It too faces stealth maintenance issue, made worse, Esper noted, “by the extreme damage at Tyndall Air Force Base from the effects of Hurricane Michael.” The F-22 fleet rates are improving but it probably won't make 80 percent this year. Oh, and Congress: “Improving mission capable rates for both fleets required additional funding investment for this fiscal year.” The Navy's fleet of F-18 is on track to meet the goal by September 2019. The Navy created a Maintenance Operations Center (MOC) to coordinate maintenance activities and optimize resources and reformed its depot and front-line maintenance process, thus improving regular inspections. Among a host of other changes, the Navy implemented supply chain reform that made it easier to track data across multiple sources. In the meantime, to address the gap in part repair capabilities at the military depots, the prime contractor Boeing has begun incentivizing manufacturers to increase their capacity to repair spare parts by establishing performance-based repair agreements. As of October 2018, according to program documentation, Boeing had established seven such agreements, with six more planned by May 2019. I contacted Lockheed and the F-35 Joint Program Office for comment and will add it when it arrives. https://breakingdefense.com/2019/07/esper-f-35-wont-hit-80-readiness-cites-stealth-parts/

  • Lockheed Martin to build mid-range missile prototype for US Army

    9 novembre 2020 | International, Terrestre

    Lockheed Martin to build mid-range missile prototype for US Army

    By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has been chosen to build the U.S. Army's new mid-range missile prototype, landing a nearly $340 million contract to take elements from naval missiles to forge the new weapon, the service's Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office announced Nov. 6. Through an other transaction authority agreement, Lockheed will take the Navy's Raytheon-built SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles to put together a Mid-Range Capability, or MRC, prototype that consists of launchers, missiles and a battery operations center, according to an RCCTO statement. A variant of the Tomahawk missile was used in a land-based cruise missile capability test last year. The SM-6 is a long-range, anti-air missile that has a surface mode. This mid-range missile — expected to hit targets at distances beyond 500 kilometers — is to be fielded to an operational battery in fiscal 2023. Defense News first broke the news that the Army was planning to field a mid-range missile capability designed to go after moving targets at land and at sea. The effort is meant to fill a gap in the service's long-range precision fires portfolio in between the future Precision Strike Missile and hypersonic weapons capabilities. The decision came out of a strategic fires study conducted earlier this year that identified the capability gap and the need to rapidly fill it. The RCCTO shortly after adopted the effort to rapidly field the new missile. “Adapting existing systems as much as possible will allow us to move faster than traditional acquisition methods to get this capability into the hands of Soldiers in support of the National Defense Strategy,” Lt. Gen. L. Neil Thurgood, director of hypersonics, directed energy, space and rapid acquisition as well as the RCCTO chief, said in the statement. “Soldier feedback and touchpoints will be embedded throughout the prototyping effort in order to make this system operationally effective the day it is delivered,” he added. To meet the demanding timeline, the MRC prototype “will utilize and modify existing hardware and software from the Army and joint service partners and integrate additional technologies to achieve new operational effects,” the statement read. The Army arrived at the decision to incorporate the SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles after a “broad review of joint service technologies potentially applicable to MRC,” according to the RCCTO. To use the joint service technologies, the Army “will leverage Navy contract vehicles for missile procurement in support of the Army integration [other transaction authority] agreement,” the statement said. “The capability also allows the Army and joint services to synchronize and leverage modernization efforts and investments across mid-range missile programs in support of multi-domain operations,” it added. “The MRC supports one of the Army's chief roles in multi-domain operations: to use strategic fires to penetrate and disintegrate enemy layered defense systems, creating windows of opportunity for exploitation by the joint force.” By 2023, the Army will have begun delivering a portfolio of strategic, mid-range and short-range fires capabilities that will change the paradigm against advanced adversaries Russia and China. The initial fielding of the Precision Strike Missile, capable of hitting targets out to 499 kilometers (with a likelihood of a greater range), will happen in 2023 as well as a ground-launched hypersonic missile. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/11/06/lockheed-martin-to-build-mid-range-missile-prototype-for-us-army

  • Space Force to share internal digital models with industry

    29 septembre 2021 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

    Space Force to share internal digital models with industry

    Since announcing their desire to build the world's first fully digital service, Space Force officials are fleshing out how that will impact everything from force design to requirements to engineering.

Toutes les nouvelles