18 janvier 2019 | International, Naval
By: Ben Werner
ARLINGTON, Va. – Balancing the desire to build the Navy the nation needs with the ability to fight with the fleet the nation has is at the core of the mission of U.S. Fleet Forces Command mission, its commander said on Thursday.
The Navy's high-end warfare plan – dubbed Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) – relies on fleet commanders considering future technologies, integrating new capabilities into existing systems and provided the right level of manning.
In the meantime, commanders need to fight with the equipment and manning they currently have, a task complicated by uneven funding levels Fleet Forces commander Adm. Christopher Grady said at the Surface Navy Association Symposium.
“Seventy five percent of the fighting force today will be what we fight with in 2030,” Grady said.
“We must sustain what we have now to defend our interests in the future.”
Grady said the demand for maintenance capability is outpacing the industrial base's growth rate. At risk, he said, is the industrial base's ability to build new ships while keeping current ships in operations.
“Right now, the industrial base is optimized for cost efficiency,” Grady said.
In an era of renewed great power competition the Navy and industrial base needs to rethink how to work some flexibility into how quickly shipbuilders and maintainers can adjust their operations, Grady said.
“At issue is how do we grow our capacity for both maintenance and modernization,” Grady said. “This is challenging.”
As an example, many of the critical parts the Navy relies on are from sole-source suppliers, Grady said. Then there are the firms that could bid on Navy projects but don't because of various barriers making it difficult or impossible to submit competitive bids.
Since 2000 the entire defense industrial base lost more than 20,500 contractors, according to a Pentagon report released in September. The shipbuilding industry took a particularly hard hit and growing that sector is key to building the 355-ship fleet, the report said.
“Expanding the number of companies involved in Navy shipbuilding is important to maintaining a healthy industrial base that can fulfill the 355-ship fleet and support the Navy's long-range shipbuilding plan,” the report said.
Changing how the industrial base and Navy interact is a critical part of solving the building and maintenance capacity issues, Grady said. He wants the Navy's interaction with industry to seen as a partnership.
One example he proposed was buying portable dry docks that could be moved and leased to shipyards. More shipyards could bid on work by removing what Grady said is a significant barrier to entry into the marketplace – the significant capital investment required to handle Navy maintenance work.
“The ideal would be to come to the table and share notes,” Grady said. “What can we do for each other that's good for the nation.”
14 mai 2021 | International, Aérospatial
The deal was made through the U.S. Defense Department’s Foreign Military Sales process and will see Britain pay $2 billion for the helicopters and associated equipment.
15 juillet 2024 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité
Singapore banks phase out OTPs for online logins to combat phishing. Digital tokens to become mandatory within 3 months.
4 octobre 2019 | International, Terrestre
BY REBECCA KHEEL The State Department formally approved a potential $39.2 million sale of Javelin anti-tank missiles and related equipment to Ukraine, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Thursday. News of the approval broke earlier this week, but Thursday's announcement represented the formal notification to Congress of the approval. The sale, which is now subject to a 30-day congressional review period, would include 150 Raytheon-made Javelin missiles and 10 launchers, as well as related equipment and support. “This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of Ukraine,” Thursday's announcement said. “The Javelin system will help Ukraine build its long-term defense capacity to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity in order to meet its national defense requirements.” The United States first sold Ukraine 210 Javelin missiles and 37 launchers in 2018. Thursday's announcement comes as House Democrats pursue an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, in part over his handling of U.S. military aid to Ukraine. The Javelins are separate from almost $400 million in Pentagon and State Department aid that was held up earlier this year, but they have still come under scrutiny after they were mentioned in the July call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that's at the center of an impeachment inquiry. Democrats are probing whether Trump pressured Ukrainian leaders to investigate 2020 election rival and former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, as alleged in a whistleblower complaint. Among the questions is whether Trump held up military aid to Ukraine, which is battling Russia-backed separatists, as leverage. About $400 million in aid for Ukraine approved by Congress was held up over the summer before being released Sept. 11. Trump acknowledged holding up the money, but has alternately said he did so because of concerns about corruption or because he believes Europe is not contributing enough to Ukraine. In the July call, Zelensky told Trump his country was almost ready to buy more Javelins, according to a rough transcript of the call released by the White House last week. Immediately after Zelensky mentioned the Javelins, according to the rough transcript, Trump said, “I would like you to do us a favor though” and asked Zelensky to look into CrowdStrike, a U.S.-based internet security company that initially examined the breach of the Democratic National Committee's servers in 2016. On the call, Trump also asked Zelensky to work with his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Bar to investigate Biden's role in the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor, according to the reconstituted transcript. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/464257-state-formally-approves-39m-ukraine-arms-sale