Pentagon orders small Israeli drones for indoor special operations

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  17 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial

  Czech aircraft maker boosts Asian presence with Vietnam jet trainer deal

  By: Jaroslaw Adamowski and Mike Yeo WARSAW, Poland, and MELBOURNE, Australia — Securing the first Asian customer for its latest product, Czech aircraft maker Aero Vodochody has signed a contract to sell 12 L-39NG jet trainers to Vietnam's Ministry of National Defence. Deliveries are scheduled for the years 2023 to 2024, and Czech arms exporter Omnipol is acting as an intermediary for the deal. “We are proud to announce this crucial and strategic cooperation which is an important milestone for the L-39NG project,” Jiří Podpěra, the president of Omnipol, was quoted as saying in a statement. The value of the deal, which includes training, spare components and related logistics support, was not disclosed. The sale includes a range of related services such as pilot and instructor training, spares, as well as ground and logistical support equipment, the company said. The Czech Ministry of Defence certified the jet trainer last September, paving the way for the L-39NG's exports. The move followed about 300 test flights on two flying prototypes and ground tests on two static prototypes, according to the producer. Since then, Aero Vodochody has managed to secure a contract to deliver four such aircraft in a light-attack variant to Senegal's Air Force. Omnipol is a minority shareholder in Aero Vodochody, with a 49 percent stake. Hungarian businessman Andras Tombor holds the remaining 51 percent of the shares. The L-39NG is a modernized version of the L-39 trainer that was originally introduced into service in 1970. The new aircraft features a host of improvements over the original design, with a modern glass cockpit, improved avionics and the FJ44 turbofan engine by U.S. manufacturer Williams International. The Vietnam People's Air Force or VPAF currently operates older versions of the L-39, with an estimated two dozen aircraft still in service. The announcement that Vietnam will acquire the L-39NG comes after the country ordered a similar number of Yak-130 jet trainers from Russia in early 2020. A news segment on Russian state TV from January showed a Yak-130 for Vietnam on the production floor of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, which produces the jets. It is likely that the VPAF will operate the L-39NG as a basic jet trainer, with the higher-performance Yak-130 acting as an advanced jet or lead-in fighter trainer. Vietnam is one of six countries claiming ownership of the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands in the South China Sea, and has been one of the most vocal in pushing back against fellow claimant China's increasingly assertive military activities in the area. The Vietnamese military still operates primarily Russian equipment, but has in recent years acquired transport aircraft from European manufacturer Airbus and taken delivery of surplus ships from the South Korean navy and U.S. Coast Guard. An arms embargo on the country imposed by the United States following the end of the Vietnam War was lifted in 2016, and U.S. Navy ships, including aircraft carriers, have made port visits to Vietnamese ports in recent years. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/02/16/czech-aircraft-maker-boosts-asian-presence-with-vietnam-jet-trainer-deal/

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  25 juillet 2019 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

  David Norquist has one word for you: Analytics

  By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON — The Trump administration's nominee for deputy defense secretary wants the Pentagon to apply data analytics and artificial intelligence to tackle jobs as diverse as technology development, the Pentagon audit and maintenance of the F-35 fighter jet. More broadly, David Norquist, the Pentagon comptroller who for most of this year has served as acting deputy defense secretary, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that the U.S. needs to more heavily invest in developing technology to execute the 2018 National Defense Strategy. The strategy focuses on competition with Russia and China. The strategy will be “hampered without appropriate funding, development and timely fielding of emerging technologies, notably cyber, space, artificial intelligence, and missiles,” Norquist said in written responses to questions posed in advance by the committee. He called modernizing the military to compete, deter and, if needed, prevail in a high-end fight one of the job's most significant challenges. Per the 2017 defense policy law, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics was split between new undersecretaries of defense for research and engineering (R&E) and acquisition and sustainment (A&S). The R&E office was stood up specifically to push new technologies forward more quickly. Yet, the Pentagon “has made very little progress” to manifest those “key” changes, meant in part to help the Pentagon better harness advanced technologies, SASC ranking member Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., cautioned Norquist. He obtained Norquist's commitment to ensure the department implements the law. SASC Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and Reed cited the need to better manage the Pentagon's acquisitions bureaucracy, acknowledging that a pending bipartisan budget agreement has created new headroom and stability. “Today, we find ourselves in a new and different moment in American security,” Inhofe said. “The American people take our military superiority for granted. China and Russia have passed us in a lot of key areas that we have discussed.” “Our overmatch in areas a decade ago was very clear. That overmatch has diminished,” Reed said, adding that the Department of Defense must extend its tech development efforts into academia and the private sector. Norquist also touted the administration's request for a $32 billion increase in research and development, to include cyber, missile range, hypersonics and lasers — but he called out artificial intelligence as unique. “Artificial Intelligence is different because the potential benefits are less clear; you know what you're going to get with a hypersonic missile,” he said. “But artificial intelligence has the potential to change a lot about how we use [unmanned aerial vehicles] and other items. That puts an emphasis on analytical skills, researching and prototyping." In a related exchange, Norquist touted a DoD project to harness AI in disasters to find people in need of rescue through video analysis — and said he wants more work with the private sector on similar projects. Norquist's hearing comes on the heels of the Senate's overwhelming confirmation of Mark Esper, the former Army secretary, as the 27th secretary of defense. Confirmation for Norquist and Esper, who replaces Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, is expected to hasten an end to the vacancies in other top Pentagon jobs. The hearing lasted 100 minutes and went smoothly, with the tone set at the very start, when Inhofe said he would vote for him. Inhofe said he had recommended Norquist to the president as an ideal No. 2 for a Pentagon with more than a dozen open civilian positions at the top. “I remember telling the president it doesn't matter who's secretary of defense,” Inhofe said, “as long as you have Norquist.” https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2019/07/24/norquist-has-one-word-for-you-analytics/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2007.25.19&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief

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  9 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Bulgaria ready to start talks with U.S. on F-16 jet deal

  Angel Krasimirov, Tsvetelia Tsolova SOFIA (Reuters) - The Bulgarian government has approved a plan to start talks with the United States on buying eight new F-16 fighter jets to replace its ageing Soviet-made MiG-29s and improve compliance with NATO standards, the defense minister said on Wednesday. A deal for Lockheed Martin's F-16V Block 70 would be worth around 1.8 billion levs ($1.1 billion), Bulgaria's biggest military procurement since the fall of Communist rule some 30 years ago. The decision still requires parliament's approval. Other bidders had included Sweden, with Saab's Gripen jets, and Italy, with second-hand Eurofighters. Senior defense ministry and army officials say the F-16 is a multi-role fighter plane that had been tested in battle and had a long lifespan. The defense ministry has previously said that the United States does not need additional licenses and agreements to supply the war plans with the necessary weaponry and licenses, unlike the offers from Sweden and Italy. “The government is proposing to the parliament to allow it to start talks with the United States to acquire new war planes,” Defense Minister Krasimir Karakachanov told reporters. The center-right coalition government has a thin majority in parliament, which is expected to vote on the move next week. The plan has spurred heated political debates in the Black Sea country with supporters hailing it as a strategic choice for Bulgaria, whose NATO neighbors are also flying F-16s, while critics accused the government of breaching the tender rules. On Tuesday, the White House said the United States was ready to work with the government to tailor a deal that will fit Bulgaria's budgetary and operational requirements. Its bid at present exceeds the tender's estimated limit, officials said. “We believe that the F-16 Block 70 offers Bulgaria the best possible combination of price, capability and interoperability with other NATO air forces,” U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said in a statement. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, a former air force commander and frequent critic of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, is believed to favor the Swedish bid and has criticized the process as flawed and “a triumph of lobbying”. Critics have questioned whether the United States can deliver the first two F-16 jets within two years as required and pointed to a U.S. proposal for a one-off payment upon contracting rather than offering a long-term payment scheme as preferred in the tender. Sweden has expressed its disappointment over the decision and said its offer was well below the estimated budget, provided for deferred payment and was ready to deliver on time. The question of which warplanes to buy has been vexing successive governments in Bulgaria for more than a decade. Borissov's government re-launched the tender in July, after a parliament commission ruled that a previous process which favored the Gripen jets, should be reviewed. ($1 = 1.7057 leva) Editing by Kevin Liffey and Susan Fenton https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bulgaria-defence-jets/bulgaria-decides-to-start-talks-with-u-s-on-f-16-jet-deal-idUSKCN1P30W9