Nearly 40 percent lighter body armor coming to Marines in 2020

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  21 février 2023 | International, Aérospatial

  Saab Responds to NATO RFI with GlobalEye

  NATO will define its new generation capability within the Alliance Future Surveillance and Control (AFSC) project

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  21 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Airbus gets $630 million deal under UK military’s Skynet 6 push

  By: Andrew Chuter LONDON — The first element of a likely $7.5 billion upgrade of the British armed forces' satellite-telecommunications capabilities has finally been signed by the Ministry of Defence and Airbus Defence and Space. The deal, worth more than $630 million, will see Airbus build a new telecommunications satellite as a stop gap to bolster military capabilities ahead of the introduction of a new generation of space craft scheduled to start entering service towards the end of the decade. Airbus and the MoD have been locked in negotiation over the deal to construct the satellite, known as Skynet 6A, since the company was nominated in 2017, without a competition, as the preferred supplier. Under the terms of the deal the satellite, based on Airbus' Eurostar Neo spacecraft, will be developed, assembled and tested in the UK. Planned launch date is 2025. In a statement Airbus said the contract also covers technology development programs, new secure telemetry, tracking and command systems, launch, in-orbit testing and ground segment updates to the current Skynet 5 system. At one point defense officials here were sufficiently concerned about the drawn-out negotiations for Skynet 6A delaying the space crafts in-service date that they a contract with Airbus to start work on long-lead items ahead of the main deal being sealed. The deal will supplement a fleet of existing spacecraft built by Airbus as part of the Skynet 5 space telecommunications network operated by the company under a private finance initiative (PFI) deal which has been in operation since 2003. Operation of the Skynet ground stations was also included in the deal. The PFI, including ground station element, ends in 2022. A competition to run the ground stations as part of the wider Skynet 6 program is already in play, with Airbus, Babcock, BT and Serco all bidding to secure the contract for what is called the Service Delivery Wrap. The third main element of Skynet 6, known as Enduring Capability,will see industry compete to replace existing Skynet 5 satellites with a fleet of new generation beyond line of sight communication assets. The early stages of that competition is already underway. In-service date for the first of the new communications assets is around 2028. Announcing the satellite deal 24 hours ahead of the launch of the virtual Farnborough air show getting underway July 20, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the “newest contested frontier is space and so we need to provide resilience and better communications for our forces. Skynet 6A is one of many solutions we shall be investing in over the next decade. This government recognizes the urgent need to defend and promote space capabilities.” “British defense must continue to innovate and transform, particularly in cyber and space,” Wallace said. Confirmation of the satellite deal by Wallace comes just two weeks after the British government took a $503 million stake alongside Indian company Bharti Global in the rescue of failed broadband constellation supplier OneWeb. OneWeb is based in the UK but its satellites are built in Florida in a partnership between Airbus and OneWeb. So far, 74 satellites out of an initial requirement for 648 have been launched. Having been denied access by the European Union to the precise military navigational signals provided by their Galileo satellites as a result of Brexit, the British are hoping they can develop the small spacecraft operated by OneWeb to provide military-grade positioning, navigation and timing data for the armed forces. OneWeb satellites could also find themselves developed for use by the British military as part of Skynet 6′s Enduring Capability requirement, said an industry executive here, who asked not to be named. Space is expected to have top billing alongside cyber, artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies in the upcoming integrated defense, security and foreign policy review being conducted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his advisors. Creation of a Space Command is likely to figure in a space defense policy being pulled together by the MoD. The bones of that policy could be presented to four-star-level officials in the next few weeks. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/07/20/airbus-gets-630-million-deal-under-uk-militarys-skynet-6-push

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  6 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Australia plans US$190 billion defence boost over decade

  Rod McGuirk The Associated PressStaff CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA -- Australia's prime minister on Wednesday announced 270 billion Australian dollars (US$190 billion) in additional defence spending over the next decade, which will include long-range missiles and other capabilities to hold enemies further from its shores. Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned that the post-pandemic world will become more dangerous and announced a renewed focus on Australia's immediate region, although its military would be open to joining U.S.-led coalitions as it did in Afghanistan and Iraq in campaigns that were in the Australian national interest. Australia had not seen such economic and strategic uncertainty in the region since the Second World War for reasons including tensions between the United States and China, he said. "This simple truth is this: Even as we stare down the COVID pandemic at home, we need to also prepare for a post-COVID world that is poorer, that is more dangerous and that is more disorderly," Morrison said. Tensions over territorial claims were rising between India and China and in the South China Sea, Morrison said. "The risk of miscalculation and even conflict is heightened," Morrison said. "Regional military modernization is at an unprecedented rate." "Relations between China and the United States are fractious at best as they compete for political, economic and technological supremacy," he added. Rory Medcalf, head of the Australian National University's National Security College, said the announcement showed Australia was "getting serious about deterrence and the prospect of armed conflict in the Indo-Pacific region." "It was only a matter of time before the Australian government made a choice about the kind of defence force that we're going to have in the 21st century with the rapid deterioration in the strategic environment in recent years," Medcalf said. "The government has accepted that the Australian military needs to be able to attempt to deter armed conflict through its capabilities and to be able to fight in our region if we have to," he added. Australia will invest in more lethal and long-range capabilities that will hold enemies further from its shores, including longer-range strike weapons and offensive cyber capabilities. To increase maritime strike capability, Australia will buy the AGM-158C anti-ship missile from the U.S. Navy at an estimated cost of AU$800 million, the government said. The new missile is a significant upgrade from Australia's current AGM-84 air-launched Harpoon anti-ship missile, which was introduced in the early 1980s. It has a range of 124 kilometres (77 miles), while the missile being purchased can exceed 370 kilometres (230 miles). The new missile will initially be used on the F/A-18F Super Hornet jet fighters but can be used by other defence aircraft. Training on the weapon system would begin next year, the government said. Australia will also invest in advanced naval strike capabilities, including long-range anti-ship and land strike weapons, and will buy long-range rocket artillery and missile systems to give the army an operational strike capability. It also plans to develop and test high-speed, long-range strike weapons, including hypersonic weapons. The announcement comes as Australia's relationship with China, its most important trading partner, is under extraordinary strain over Australian calls for an independent investigation of the pandemic. The United States, Australia's most important security partner since the Second World War, remains "the foundation of our defence policy," Morrison said. "Of course we can't match all the capabilities in our region," Morrison said. "That is why we need to ensure that our deterrence capabilities play to our strengths." https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/australia-plans-us-190-billion-defence-boost-over-decade-1.5006902