27 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR
Marcus Weisgerber
Commercial partnerships will be key as Lockheed Martin seeks to help U.S. and allied militaries move to 5G networking — and diversify its offerings beyond fighter jets and missiles, its CEO said in an interview this week.
“I think, an imperative that we Lockheed Martin, and frankly the defense industrial base, partner with [the] commercial industry to accelerate the benefits of what I call 21st-century technologies into the defense [industrial] base, and into our national defense,” Jim Taiclet said in an Oct. 20 interview after his company's 3rd-quarter earnings call.
A former telecom executive, Taiclet took the reins at the world's largest defense contractor in June amid an increased push by the Pentagon leaders to better connect the military's weapons, regardless of manufacturer, so they can more quickly share information on the battlefield. The Air Force alone plans to spend at least $9 billion over the next five years connecting its weapons through an initiative known as Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control.
The Pentagon is conducting increasingly ambitious experiments with 5G wireless technology, which promises to link weapons with such high data-transfer rates that military commanders will be able to make decisions faster and with more information.
“We're interested in operationalizing the technical capabilities of 5G waveforms and technology software and hardware to improve our defense products and our defense products' performance in an interrelated way,” Taiclet said Tuesday on the company's third-quarter earning call with Wall Street analysts.
The Pentagon has been increasingly embracing commercial firms like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft as the military shifts to the cloud. It's also been on a half-decade push to get more commercial tech firms to embrace defense work, which has been a bumpy relationship at times.
Taiclet said the company would pursue partnerships not just in 5G, but also artificial intelligence, edge computing, autonomy, and additive manufacturing.
“I think there's some incredible runway or open space there for us to be a leader in bringing some of those companies and some of those technology leaders in partnership with us,” Taiclet said in the interview.
He raised the prospect of forming alliances or licensing commercial technology from telecom firms like Qualcomm, NextCom or Nokia. He also said the company could form joint ventures with commercial tech firms. It could include buying companies too.
“We're just gonna open our aperture wider,” Taiclet said. “And we also want to get more active and mission systems too. So, we'll see what's available in that space as well ... closer to the home base here. I think there's a lot of optionality for us going forward.”
On the earnings call, Taiclet also suggested Lockheed could offer “networking as a service, more of a subscription model” to the military.
“Then we do the upgrades and the comm layer and make sure we tie it all together, just like you experience on your cellphone subscription,” he said. You don't know all the pieces that go into it. So every morning when you turn it on, it works and it works with the latest applications, and it works with the latest technology.
“Those are the kinds of things we're going to explore,” he said. “It will take a little bit longer to get there, but we're positioning ourselves to do that as well.”
https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/10/lockheed-seeks-commercial-tie-ups-chase-5g-work/169566/
13 mars 2023 | International, Aérospatial
The bulk of the Space Force’s budget, just over $19 billion, would fund development of satellites, ground systems and other enabling technology.
19 juillet 2018 | International, Terrestre
By Anthony Capaccio The U.S. Army is delaying approval of full-scale production of BAE Systems Plc's new self-propelled howitzer, citing the need to improve quality before proceeding with additional contracts options valued at about $1.3 billion. The Army postponed triggering the most lucrative phase of the program for London-based BAE to “adequately address quality control issues,” service spokeswoman Ashley John said in an email Wednesday. “The Army will continue to work closely with BAE leadership to resolve the concerns.” The delay came after Bloomberg News reported last week that the howitzer's manufacture was hobbled by poor welding, supply-chain problems and delivery delays. Among the setbacks have been a six-month halt in deliveries last year because of welding flaws and the return of 50 of 86 vehicles that had already been delivered to repair production deficiencies. The U.S. Army is delaying approval of full-scale production of BAE Systems Plc's new self-propelled howitzer, citing the need to improve quality before proceeding with additional contracts options valued at about $1.3 billion. The Army postponed triggering the most lucrative phase of the program for London-based BAE to “adequately address quality control issues,” service spokeswoman Ashley John said in an email Wednesday. “The Army will continue to work closely with BAE leadership to resolve the concerns.” The delay came after Bloomberg News reported last week that the howitzer's manufacture was hobbled by poor welding, supply-chain problems and delivery delays. Among the setbacks have been a six-month halt in deliveries last year because of welding flaws and the return of 50 of 86 vehicles that had already been delivered to repair production deficiencies. Self-propelled 155mm howitzers are the centerpiece of the Army's artillery. The weapon is mounted on a tracked vehicle and travels with another that hauls ammunition. The Army's “long-range precision strike” program tops the service's list of modernization priorities. “We are working very closely” with the Army and the Defense Contract Management Agency, which oversees contractor performance, “and are confident the actions we have taken will support the effective transition to full production,” BAE spokeswoman Alicia Gray said in a statement. The Army eventually wants to buy 576 howitzers and ammunition carriers in an $8.1 billion program. An initial $413.7 million contract laying the groundwork for full production was awarded in December. A full-production decision would have increased vehicle production to about 60 from 48 a year. The program has been in low-rate production for several years. Gray said last week that the company is investing about $125 million to upgrade equipment to prepare “for an expanded production portfolio and accommodate the expected surge in customer requirements.” ‘Tough-Love' Approach The delay “is consistent with the increasing Army ‘tough-love' approach to contractor program-execution challenges,” such as its continuing refusal to accept delivery of Boeing Co.'s AH-64 Apache attack helicopters because of corrosion of a critical rotor assembly part that needs to be fixed, according to James McAleese of McAleese & Associates, a McLean, Virginia-based defense consulting firm. Contractors should expect “quality assurance scrutiny to increase” as the Army “drives aggressive increases in multiple production programs” for missiles, ammunition and ground combat vehicles, he said. Sections of the howitzers are initially produced at BAE's York, Pennsylvania, facility with final assembly in Elgin, Oklahoma. The program has a strong advocate in Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the No. 2 Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. In its version of the fiscal 2019 defense policy bill, the panel authorized spending $110 million more than the $351.8 million requested. In a new report, the Pentagon's testing office said that testing of the howitzer at Fort Riley in Kansas found it was “operationally effective,” providing accurate fire as it traveled with other units of a brigade combat team while evading enemy counter-fire. That, however, is when the howitzers weren't dogged by reliability problems, according to the report by testing office Director Robert Behler. It cited “the number of breech, cannon, and firing train sub-component failures” and “interruptions from stuck and ruptured primers” that “contributed to delays in mission completion.” The Army's leadership is on a campaign to assure the public it's improving the oversight of its major acquisition programs, including getting its new Futures Command ready for initial operations. The Army last week chose Austin, Texas, as the location for the command that will consolidate brainpower to evaluate future threats facing the Army, decide on the technology needed to counter them and oversee development of that technology through existing commands. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-18/bae-s-1-3-billion-contract-for-howitzer-delayed-by-u-s-army
5 janvier 2023 | International, C4ISR
CIO Raj Iyer announced his departure Jan. 4 on LinkedIn, noting his job was "complete."