2 mai 2022 | International, Aérospatial
Brazil Acquires Two A330s For MRTT Conversions
The Brazilian Air Force has acquired a pair of Airbus A330-200 airliners with the aim of converting them into multi-role tanker transport aircraft.
5 avril 2018 | International, Naval
Netherlands ‘very welcome’ to join European sub program — with a caveat
COLOGNE, Germany — The Netherlands would be welcome to join a German-Norwegian submarine acquisition program, even as the door is closing for final design work on the boats, the Norwegian defense ministry said.
The statement comes as German defense industry officials have talked for weeks about what they believe is an impending move to reshuffle big-ticket shipbuilding programs by way of a new naval cooperation umbrella with the Dutch. In that telling, The Hague would join the purchase of 212CD-class submarines, built by Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems' undersea division, and gain a say in the fate of Germany's Mehrzweck-Kampfschiff 180 frigate program, from which the surface division of TKMS was excluded last month.
While Berlin and The Hague have officially kept mum about details, several German industry officials and analysts surveyed for this article believe the prospect of a Dutch move is keeping the MKS-180 program's fate unpredictable.
When asked about the Netherlands' interest in the German combat ship effort, Dutch defense ministry spokesman Peter Valstar only wrote in an email to Defense News that senior acquisition officials from both countries had met recently to discuss “various topics like possible cooperations on all kinds of defense projects.”
As for submarines, “We're currently in the B-phase (research) of our so-called ‘Defence Material Process,‘” Valstar wrote. “The ‘need' (A-phase) of a submarine purchase is clear. The C-phase (further research) and D-phase (product and supplier) are still to come.”
Norway has always considered the door open for additional submarine buyers since Oslo teamed with Berlin last year. The joint acquisition would see Norway buy four boats and Germany two. Buying and maintaining identical submarines would keep cost down for both countries, the argument goes.
“Norway and Germany would like to see additional partners joining the cooperation, and it would be very welcome if the Netherlands should decide to join,” Norwegian defense ministry spokeswoman Ann Kristin Salbuvik wrote in an email to Defense News.
“We are working together towards several potential nations, and we have a good dialogue with potential partners,” Salbuvik added when asked if the Dutch had formally expressed an interest.
But the door is closing for would-be partners to have a say in the boats' configurations. “The design of the German-Norwegian submarines will soon be frozen in order for the supplier, TKMS, to be able to provide a binding offer in July 2018,” the spokeswoman wrote.
“After this point in time, design changes will be costly, and will also have a negative impact on time and delivery schedules for the German-Norwegian submarine building program,” she added. “If additional partners join the cooperation, it will be beneficial for them to strive for as identical a design as possible.”
It is unclear how far discussions for a Dutch-German naval armaments pact have bubbled up toward the defense ministries' leaders. But the issue is “very much a topic of conversation in political Berlin,” one source noted.
If given the chance to tweak the MKS-180 configuration, the Dutch would push for a smaller ship design than is currently envisioned, one industry source predicted.
With Damen Shipyards, the Dutch already have local industry in the running for the program, teaming with Germany's Blohm &Voss, which is now part of the German Lürssen group.
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29 octobre 2020 | International, Terrestre
Boeing has another overrun on the KC-46, but its CEO says there’s reason for hope
Valerie Insinna   WASHINGTON — Boeing reported another $67 million charge on the KC-46 tanker program in third-quarter earnings disclosed Oct. 28, capping off a difficult quarter defined by continued hardships on its commercial side. The increase in KC-46 costs was “due to continued COVID-19 disruptions and productivity inefficiencies,” Boeing's chief financial officer, Greg Smith, told investors during an earnings call. However, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun expressed confidence that the program would turn the corner in 2021 and become profitable for the company. “The tanker has been a drag on us for three or four years in every way you can think of with respect to investors,” he said. “But we are continuing to clear the hurdle with our customers with respect to its performance in their fleet and their need for that tanker. "That whole relationship, I believe, will begin to transition next year, and opposed to being a drag on our franchise — which it's been — I believe it will become a strength in our franchise.” Previous charges on the KC-46 program amount to about $4.7 billion — almost equal to the $4.9 billion sum of the company's firm fixed-price contract with the U.S. Air Force, which it signed in 2011. In July, a $151 million charge was attributed to the decline in commercial plane production driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. That slowdown has made it more expensive to produce commercial derivative planes like the KC-46, which is based on the Boeing 767 and made on the same production line in Everett, Washington. Overall, defense revenues slightly decreased to $6.8 billion “primarily due to derivative aircraft award timing,” the company said in a news release. But that impact paled in comparison to Boeing's commercial business, where revenues dropped from $8.2 billion in 2019 to $3.6 billion in 2020. As a result of those continued difficulties, the company plans to lay off an additional 7,000 workers by the end of 2021, Calhoun announced. At that point, Boeing's workforce will have been cut by almost 20 percent, down from 161,000 earlier this year to about 130,000 employees. Smith characterized 2020 has a “year of transition” for defense programs like the MQ-25, T-7 trainer and the Air Force One replacement, which are in development. Once those programs move into production, Boeing expects to see “modest growth,” he said. But Calhoun added that global defense spending is unlikely to greatly increase in the coming years, meaning that growth in Boeing's defense portfolio will be limited. “In fact, we believe there will be pressure on defense spending as a result of all the COVID-related spending that of course governments around the world have been experiencing,” he said. “I don't think we're looking at that world through rose-colored glasses. I expect real pressure on that market.” https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/10/28/boeing-has-another-overrun-on-the-kc-46-but-its-ceo-says-theres-some-reason-for-hope/
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4 mars 2020 | International, C4ISR
Peraton to acquire SATCOM for US Africa Command
By: Nathan Strout Peraton will receive $219 million to provide satellite communications fpr US Africa Command, the company announced. Mar. 3. Under the five-year contract, Peraton will be expected to rapidly acquire commercial satellite services to meet the needs of AFRICOM and its mission partners in the region. The company will utilize communications services from multiple satellite communications companies. “As an independent service integrator, Peraton takes a neutral, vendor-agnostic approach to leverage the best technologies available from across the entire commercial satellite industry,” said David Myers, president of Peraton Communications sector, in a statement. “As a result, customers like AFRICOM are assured a solution tailored to prioritize consistent mission performance, without being dependent on any particular satellite fleet or vendor assets.” Peraton has a longstanding relationship with AFRICOM, acting as a consultative mission partner to the command for more than 10 years and currently supporting it through other task orders. The contract was awarded via a blanket purchase agreement issued by Air Force Space Command in coordination with the Defense Information Systems Agency. The task order is the first of its kind to be awarded under the Future Commercial SATCOM Acquisition program. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/03/03/peraton-to-acquire-satcom-for-us-africa-command