6 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval
By: Michael D. Brasseur , Rob Murray , and Sean Trevethan
Last December, at their meeting in London, NATO leaders declared: “To stay secure, we must look to the future together. We are addressing the breadth and scale of new technologies to maintain our technological edge, while preserving our values and norms.” These two sentences were, in part, a nod to a significant piece of work the alliance is undertaking within the broader mandate of alliance innovation — NATO's Maritime Unmanned Systems Initiative.
Granted, on its own this sounds both technical and narrow within the context of emerging technology, a context that includes: artificial intelligence, data, space, hypersonic weapons, bio technologies, quantum research, autonomy and more. So why are maritime unmanned systems relevant now? Simply put, developing the numbers of manned submarines, aircraft and ships required to keep pace with potential adversaries is simply not economically viable (almost $3 billion per Virginia-class U.S. submarine).
Not since the Cold War has NATO needed the volume of maritime forces to protect our seas and oceans from would-be foes.
NATO's areas of interest are expanding. As climate change affects the Arctic, new maritime routes are being created, which Russia in particular is exploiting with its submarines and ships. This matters because it exposes a new flank on NATO's high-north periphery, and if left unchecked is a potential vulnerability whilst also being a potential opportunity; this, coupled with an increasing need to protect our undersea data infrastructure means NATO's geostrategic responsibilities continue to grow.
Therefore, if allies are to reinforce NATO's maritime posture, deter Russian aggression, guard against Chinese activity, and protect both critical national infrastructure and our sea lines of communication, NATO must do things differently and at the speed of relevance.
NATO's Maritime Unmanned Systems Initiative was agreed by 13 defense ministers in October 2018. Since then, the initiative's success has attracted the participation of three more allies and garnered significant interest from all of NATO's maritime nations. The political agreement struck in 2018 provided the mandate for NATO to bring together disparate strands of common work ongoing within nations. NATO, acting as a network, enabled allies to become greater than the sum of their parts.
The focus is threefold: utilize world-leading research to increase allied interoperability between conventional forces and unmanned drones; establish new tactics for our sailors to truly leverage these technologies; and develop secure digital communications for military drones across all domains (air, sea and land). Addressing these priorities together will enable this effort to be scaled across the alliance, at pace.
To date, the speed of this effort has been breathtaking. So much so that even the United States and the United Kingdom — two allies who have invested the most in this area — are using the NATO initiative as a catalyst for their own national efforts. The last 12-plus months has seen the creation of a NATO project office, a governance body, as well as the planning and successful execution of the world's largest and most complex maritime unmanned systems exercise off the Portuguese coast in September 2019. This event brought together the very best from our navies, industry, scientific institutes and academia. The results were hugely impressive, with many “world firsts” including maritime unmanned systems augmenting conventional forces through multiple scenarios.
We now have vast swaths of insight and information to start achieving those three goals of improving interoperability, enhancing our tactics and developing secure communications. The goal of improving allied interoperability is actually about enhancing standards. A topic often overlooked at the policy level but critical to the DNA of the NATO alliance. Standards drive interoperability, which in turn drives readiness, which ultimately aids deterrence.
As NATO leads the development of new technologies, so too must come new standards that our industries and military can implement. Open architectures will be key, but allies and industry need to realize that we need to solve problems — not address requirements. No perfect solution will ever be delivered on the first attempt. The alliance will need to both innovate and iterate on operations in order to maintain advantage. This may be a cultural shift to some acquisition purists who are used to developing complex warships over 20-plus-year time frames.
However, the challenge remains our ability to scale. With this project we have an agile global team functioning across multiple national and allied bureaucracies, each with their own culture and ways of working. Through engagement and investment, this team is yielding disproportionate results. Indeed, 2019 demonstrated what can be done with some imagination, effort and focus. But continual growth at speed will require faith by allies to maintain the course. Such is the nature of true change and innovation.
There is a lot to do, and the stakes are high. Near-peer competitors are once again very real. Despite the global lockdown caused by the new coronavirus, COVID-19, the initiative continues to progress through synthetic networks and simulation, driven by passion and intent. Our economy, our data and its infrastructure still need protecting, now more than ever. This effort strives to accelerate maritime unmanned systems into NATO's arsenal to patrol the vast swaths of ocean and offset evolving threats. Success will be seen because it is being built on allied nations' shared values and norms, the same values and norms that NATO leaders recognized in London last year.
Michael D. Brasseur is the director of naval armaments cooperation for the U.S. mission to NATO. He is also the first director of NATO's “startup,” the Maritime Unmanned Systems Innovation and Coordination Cell. Rob Murray is the head of innovation at NATO Headquarters. Sean Trevethan is the fleet robotics officer of the British Royal Navy, working in the future capability division at Navy Command Headquarters in Portsmouth, England.
26 juin 2024 | International, Aérospatial
Opinion: It's time to explore alternative design and acquisition strategies to significantly reduce the cost of NGAD and expedite its delivery.
28 novembre 2018 | International, Terrestre
By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — German armored vehicles-maker Rheinmetall has confirmed initial talks about an acquisition of its rival Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, a move that would reorder the industry landscape involved in producing a new European main battle tank. According to a brief Rheinmetall statement, on the table is the takeover of KMW in the context of its partnership with French tank maker Nexter, known under the name KNDS. KMW and Nexter each own 50 percent of their Franco-German joint venture. KNDS and Rheinmetall were expected to pitch separate design proposals next year for the Main Ground Combat System, a novel tank meant as one of three signature military projects propelling the Berlin-Paris defense partnership. It remains to be seen how the dynamic of a KMW acquisition by Rheinmetall would play into those plans. Citing industry experts, the newspaper Die Welt on Tuesday wrote that the French government, through state-owned Nexter's deal with KMW, is expected to have a say in the transaction. Paris may even have a right of first refusal for KMW's portion in KNDS, the newspaper reported. Rheinmetall's statement on Monday noted that a final decision regarding the way ahead depends on a “multitude of political, economic and regulatory” aspects still to be sorted out. A takeover deal could put to rest the question of what vehicles German defense companies will pitch for multibillion-dollar modernization programs of the U.S. ground services. Rheinmetall is already offering the Lynx armored fighting vehicle as a Bradley replacement. KMW could make another attempt at selling the Puma vehicle, though Rheinmetall is also part of the joint venture producing that vehicle for the German forces. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/11/27/tank-maker-takeover-germanys-rheinmetall-eyes-acquisition-of-rival-kmw
18 décembre 2019 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR
Arlington, Va., December 16, 2019 ― FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR) announced that it has been awarded a five-year, firm-fixed-price Indefinite Delivery, Indefinitely Quantity (IDIQ) contract by the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. The IDIQ vehicle has a ceiling value of $92.9 million, with an initial order of $5.2 million. The award is for repair, refurbishment, and logistics support of electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors used by the Army's Product Manager Force Protection Systems programs, including Base Expeditionary Targeting Surveillance System-Combined (BETSS-C), Combat Outpost Surveillance Force Protection System, and Foreign Military Sales. BETSS-C entails a combination of cameras and surveillance equipment mounted on deployable towers and used to monitor wide areas around important military locations and bases. FLIR has been part of the BETSS-C effort since 2004 when it was called RAID, providing long-range EO/IR sensors at the heart of the system. Today, the company supplies high-definition sensors for BETSS-C as well as radars capable of detecting vehicles, people, or other moving objects at range. FLIR has delivered more than a thousand EO/IR sensors to the U.S. Army as part of the BETSS-C program. This latest IDIQ maintains the service partnership and related revenues FLIR has accrued with the Army, while augmenting the company's ability to meet their needs. “BETSS-C is a critical piece of technology that supports the safety of U.S. forces and its allies at locations around the world,” said David Ray, president of FLIR Systems' Government and Defense business unit. “We value this opportunity to support the Army and optimize the capabilities of this vital surveillance system.” The contract covers a five-year period of performance starting in the fourth quarter of 2019. Work will be performed at FLIR's Wilsonville, Oregon site and international repair facilities. About FLIR Systems, Inc. Founded in 1978, FLIR Systems is a world-leading industrial technology company focused on intelligent sensing solutions for defense, industrial, and commercial applications. FLIR Systems' vision is to be “The World's Sixth Sense,” creating technologies to help professionals make more informed decisions that save lives and livelihoods. For more information, please visit www.flir.com and follow @flir. Forward Looking Statements The statements in this release by David Ray and the other statements in this release about the contract and order described above are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, and projections about FLIR's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including the following: the ability to manufacture and deliver the systems referenced in this release, changes in pricing of FLIR's products, changing demand for FLIR's products, product mix, the impact of competitive products and pricing, constraints on supplies of critical components, excess or shortage of production capacity, the ability of FLIR to manufacture and ship products in a timely manner, FLIR's continuing compliance with U.S. export control laws and regulations, and other risks discussed from time to time in FLIR's Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports. In addition, such statements could be affected by general industry and market conditions and growth rates, and general domestic and international economic conditions. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and FLIR does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release, or for changes made to this document by wire services or Internet service providers. View source version on FLIR Systems: https://www.flir.com/news-center/military/flir-awarded-$92.9-million-contract-for-logistics-support-to-u.s.-army-product-manager-force-protection-systems/