27 novembre 2019 | International, Terrestre

MELLS guided missile for the German Infantry

26 Nov 2019

Rheinmetall and its joint venture partners Diehl Defence and Rafael have won an order to supply the Bundeswehr with the advanced MELLS antitank guided missile. Rheinmetall is tasked with supplying key components to Eurospike, the company that manufactures the MELLS multirole lightweight guided missile system.

For Rheinmetall, this represents an order intake of over €30 million without valued added tax. Delivery begins in 2020 and continues through to 2023.

A framework agreement contains an option for the fabrication and delivery of around 100 additional weapon systems and a five-figure number of component sets for the MELLS guided missile during the 2024-2031 timeframe. This would mean incoming orders for Rheinmetall in the three-digit million-euro range.

The MELLS missiles now ordered by the Bundeswehr are intended for infantry operations. Rheinmetall will be supplying over a hundred integrated command and launch units, including transport and storage containers, as well as 1,500 sets with components for the long-range Spike LR missile produced by Rafael.

Produced by Eurospike – a joint venture of Rheinmetall, Diehl Defence and Rafael – the MELLS is a state-of-the-art effector capable of engaging armoured targets at ranges of up to 4,000 metres.

Rheinmetall can point to abundant expertise and experience with the MELLS. The Düsseldorf, Germany-based company has already integrated this advanced missile system into the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, and is doing so again in the Puma IFV. In addition, another contractor is currently integrating the system into Rheinmetall's air-portable Wiesel/Wiesel weapons carrier.

Looking ahead, more extensive networking of the command and launch units and guided missiles with Rheinmetall-made soldier systems like the Future Soldier – Expanded System (IdZ-ES) and the TacNet battle management system offers significant future potential, which will further optimize the sensor-to-shooter sequence.

RHEINMETALL AG

Corporate Sector Defence

Press and Information

Oliver Hoffmann

Rheinmetall Platz 1

40476 Düsseldorf

Germany

Phone: +49 211 473-4748

Fax: +49 211 473-4157

View source version on Rheinmetall AG: https://www.rheinmetall-defence.com/en/rheinmetall_defence/public_relations/news/latest_news/index_22144.php

Sur le même sujet

  • US Air Force gets ready for decision on commercial aerial-refueling services

    6 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    US Air Force gets ready for decision on commercial aerial-refueling services

    By: Valerie Insinna ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force will know by the end of this month whether it will kick-start a competition for aerial-refueling services, the head of Air Mobility Command told Defense News. The service is in the final stages of a feasibility study that is evaluating whether the Air Force should buy commercial tanking services to support day-to-day needs for training and testing, said Gen. Maryanne Miller in an exclusive Feb. 28 interview. “The interest is high on the commercial side. The commercial companies who are considering this are really waiting to see the feasibility study, which will be completed in March,” she said. “The interest is high on the outside. I talked to a few vendors yesterday that was asking me when the study is going to be done. We're all waiting for that.” The study will help the Air Force determine whether it is cost-effective to use commercial aerial-refueling services as well as help set parameters on how a contract could be structured. However, Miller said, industry-operated tankers would not conduct combat or other overseas operations, and instead would be used exclusively for tasks in the continental United States such as augmenting training or for test and evaluation missions that AMC does not always have the capacity to fill. AMC believes its requirement will amount to about 6,000 hours per year, although the study could influence that number. Currently 14 companies have indicated interest in competing for the opportunity, she said. If the service decides to move forward with a competition, it believes it will be able to move from a contract award to an initial operating capability using a few aircraft in about a year, Miller said. “I love the idea. I hope the feasibility proves positive for us. That way we can get our requirements out there, we can start receiving proposals and then work that process as defined. We're optimistic,” she said. “That would be exciting to relieve some of the tension and stress on our force.” Getting Congress to agree to fund aerial-refueling services could be a hard sell, especially as the service considers paring back some of its own capacity. To free up funds for other priorities, the Air Force proposed retiring 16 KC-10s and 13 KC-135s in fiscal 2021. However, the idea has come under fire from U.S. Transportation Command — which has sought funds to buy back 23 of those tankers — as well as lawmakers who question whether the Air Force would be taking on too much near-term risk. But Miller contended that having the flexibility of commercial aerial-refueling services could relieve pressures on the military's own tankers, filling the gap for U.S. missions when there is high demand abroad. “It really just relieves and fills that market of the service missions we just don't get to today. Some of that is readiness-related,” she said. It also could have a positive impact for acquisition programs, as there will be more aerial-refueling resources available for test and evaluation, allowing test points to be completed more quickly and efficiently, and let the Air Force ensure it doesn't wear out its legacy KC-135s too quickly. “Having one more option is just really, really important.” https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/03/05/the-us-air-force-is-getting-ready-to-make-a-decision-about-commercial-aerial-refueling-services/

  • ‘We need to be impatient’: Estonia’s No. 2 defense official dives into NATO priorities

    27 juin 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR

    ‘We need to be impatient’: Estonia’s No. 2 defense official dives into NATO priorities

    By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON ― As a border state with Russia, Estonia is well aware it is ground zero for any potential conflict between Moscow and NATO. The country is hitting the target of spending 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, as requested by the alliance, and it is trying to modernize and build up its military capabilities. But like many nations in Europe, Estonia faces tough budgetary realities. Jonatan Vseviov, the permanent secretary of the Estonian Ministry of Defence, serves as the point man in directing those investments ― and per local news reports, he is on the short list to be the next ambassador to the United States. He talked to Defense News about those issues, as well as cyber challenges, during a June visit to Washington. I want to start with the big picture. Estonia is going to the summit in a couple of weeks. What are some of the priorities you are looking at? NATO is the cornerstone of our security. We expect a lot, not only from this summit but from NATO in general. NATO has been doing a lot of good work on defense and deterrence, bolstering up its presence in the Baltic states as well as in other regions in the eastern part of the alliance. I think that work needs to continue, and we expect a good number of decisions from the summit regarding the readiness of alliance forces, regarding reinforcement, the ability of the alliance to reinforce different regions. Obviously burden-sharing is going to be a key topic for NATO. We, as you might know, are one of the nations that contribute more than 2 percent of our GDP towards national defense. That is going to be a topic that will be discussed, I'm sure at length, at the summit. We are obviously aware of the fact that output is as important as input. And what I mean by that is that what you actually get for your defense dollars or euros is what, at the end of the day, matters. But there is no output without sufficient input. So both input and output are important. We need to be impatient. We need to ask for more and faster results. And we've been doing that for the past few years, and I think we are on the right track. One of the things that is expected to come out of the summit is standing up a new Atlantic Command. There's been a lot of talk about something along those lines for the Baltic. Where is Estonia on the idea of a Baltic command? And can it happen, given how NATO resources are always constrained? When it comes to, for instance, reinforcement, there are several key elements to that. One is the readiness of all forces. Military mobility, which has become a very famous topic, which is obviously crucially important not only for the Baltic states but for the alliance in general. Discussion on pre-positioning, for instance, as part of the overall military mobility issue. Planning and exercise: It's something that we often talk about in the context of defense and deterrence and then obviously also command structure. The NATO command structure has been and will be adapted to make it more fit for the time we're in right now. There is also NATO force structure, which is crucially important. We do expect to see a divisional level or two-star HQ that would concentrate on the Baltic states. Discussions are underway between us and the Latvians and Danes to set up what is known as a Multinational Division North to complement what Multinational Division North East in Poland is already doing, to complement what the NATO force structure in general, as well as the command structure, is doing. So I think our command structure needs to evolve as the challenges evolve, and as the forces that we have available for our defense evolve. I think we're on the right path; and the Multinational Division North ― not only is it necessary, it is also a decision that will come at a very, very right time. There are no silver bullets when it comes to security in general ― no silver bullets in policy and no silver bullets and capability. It's a complex picture, so we need to concentrate on alliance relationships. Part of your job is to figure out investments for the money you're spending ― the best way to build Estonian forces. What are some of the key investments that Estonia is making in the next couple years? And what are the areas that you're hoping to start investing in the next couple of years? Most of our procurement, a good portion of procurement, is relatively small stuff, but more than 20 percent [of defense spending] is major equipment. Some of the examples: We're mechanizing one of our battalions, which is a lengthy process. It started back in 2013 [and] will continue for the next few years. We are investing heavily in infrastructure not only for our own purposes but for the purposes of hosting allies. We are investing in ammunition. All of our acquisitions are targeted at making sure that we are not creating a hollow force. And the most important element of making sure that you don't have a hollow force is ammunition, whether you have it or you don't. So we're spending a lot out of our procurement budget on making sure that we actually have the ammunition for the weapon systems that we have in the armed forces. Self-propelled howitzers, one of the latest developments that we are about to procure together with Finland, which is a good example of a joint procurement. We spent a lot of money on intelligence early warning both within the military as well as within the civilian sector, and we're setting up a cyber command within the armed forces. We've been talking about cyber for a long time, we've been working on cyber. We are a very internet-dependent society, but only now are we creating a separate cyber command within the armed forces, so that will require additional investments. These are probably some of the key areas where we intend to spend our money on in the next few years. Since you mentioned it, let's talk cyber. If Estonia is known for anything worldwide, it might well be cyber capabilities. You're also home to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. Where is NATO on cyber? Is it getting where it needs to be or lagging behind? How concerned should the allies be about where they stand on cyber? I think we should always be concerned when it comes to cyber, and this is a very fast, developing domain. During the summit in Warsaw, for instance, the heads of state and government declared cyber to be one of the domains in security. I think that was a very important decision. In theory, it could trigger Article 5 now. Well, there is a good level of what I would call “constructive ambiguity“ built into the wording of the Washington Treaty and also Article 5. So Article 5 is what we decide to be Article 5, and that is very useful. We don't want to give anybody a list of attacks that would trigger Article 5 because that would obviously mean that we automatically also create a list of potential attacks that would not trigger Article 5. Cyber is certainly a new domain. We are, I think, still scratching the surface of what it all means. It took us several years, perhaps even several decades, to think through, for instance, the air domain after airplanes arrived on the horizon and were used in major conflicts. We still didn't have an air force until, in most cases, in the late 1940s or 1950s. So it will take us time to figure out how best to operate, how best to organize ourselves in the cyber domain. What is certain, though, is that the government alone cannot defend the cyber society, if you will. And will require not only a whole-of-government but really a whole-of-society approach. And secondly, obviously, the physical borders do not matter in cyber. So national initiatives are important, but they are nothing if there is no international component to our efforts. So figuring out all of this, thinking through the legal aspects, the policy aspects, is one of the things that the center of excellence in Tallinn does. We're certain that we are again on the right path, in both NATO and the European Union, but I think it will take time for us to fully comprehend the best way to operate in this new domain. But how well, in your estimation, are the NATO allies integrating with cyber? I think there's still a long way to go. Cyber tends to be a very sensitive area for obvious reasons, oftentimes also harnessed within intelligence organizations. But we're making progress. There is more sharing, information sharing in NATO as well as between allies bilaterally, than there was a few years ago. So I think people are realizing that we need international cooperation; and without international cooperation, we simply cannot succeed in this new domain. https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nato-priorities/2018/06/26/we-need-to-be-impatient-estonias-no-2-defense-official-dives-into-nato-priorities/

  • 10,000 made-in-Québec masks for manufacturing SMEs in the aerospace sector

    29 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    10,000 made-in-Québec masks for manufacturing SMEs in the aerospace sector

    MONTRÉAL, April 29, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Aéro Montréal proudly announced today the launch of a new, innovative initiative that will provide 10,000 reusable masks to manufacturing SMEs in the aerospace sector. This project aims to support the continuation or resumption of their activities in a safe work environment. This Montréal-made face mask will help protect thousands of qualified employees in the aerospace industry without jeopardizing supplies necessary for the proper functioning of health services. Companies in the aerospace industry have already deployed a wide range of health measures to ensure business continuity, and this new initiative by Aéro Montréal will complement what is already in place. The COVID-19 crisis is unprecedented and will require the maintenance of these safety protocols for many months to come. Numerous companies are preparing for the resumption of operations and will undoubtedly face procurement challenges to ensure that they provide personal protective equipment to their employees, including masks. Promoting a gradual and safe resumption by supporting local entrepreneurship Aéro Montréal will draw on the strength of its network to offer reusable masks free of charge. Our team will be contacting our many SMEs over the next few days so that they can take advantage of this offer. Inspired by the Panier Bleu program, this initiative also aims to support the local textile economy. This is why it is being implemented with the support of the Metropolitan Fashion Cluster mmode, and Quartz Co., a Montréal based coat supplier. The company Quartz Co. modified its production line to manufacture protective textile products. This inter-cluster collaboration will enable the supply of washable masks to be available in record time at very competitive costs. Once the 10,000 free masks have been distributed, aerospace SMEs wishing to purchase additional masks, will be able to do so by contacting Aéro Montréal. "Through this initiative, Aéro Montréal is reaffirming its support for small and medium-sized enterprises, which play a crucial role in the supply chain. By working with local players, Aéro Montréal will help ensure a safe and efficient resumption of activities for a key sector that represents more than 42,100 direct jobs in Québec," stated Suzanne M. Benoît, President, Aéro Montréal "Over the past months we have invested significantly in acquisitions of viable Quebec production plants. At Quartz Co., we believe in the importance of retaining and developing a local production force. Thanks to these efforts, we can contribute today to the fight against COVID-19, manufacturing masks among other items for our corporate clients," added Jean-Philippe Robert, President of Quartz Co. About Aéro Montréal Created in 2006, Aéro Montréal is a strategic think tank that groups all major decision makers in Québec's aerospace sector, including companies, educational and research institutions, as well as associations and unions. The activities of Aéro Montréal are made possible thanks to the participation of the governments of Québec and Canada, the Montréal Metropolitan Community, as well as company members of the cluster. SOURCE Aéro Montréal For further information: Léa Guicheteau, Project Manager, Communications and Media Relations, Aéro Montréal, 514 550-7494, lea.guicheteau@aeromontreal.ca; Kaven Delarosbil, Director of Communications, Aéro Montréal, 514-743-2728, kaven.delarosbil@aeromontreal.ca Related Links http://www.aeromontreal.ca/

Toutes les nouvelles