Plans for bigger defense budget get boost after House authorization bill vote

Sur le même sujet

• 

  24 décembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Boeing’s Pentagon Takeover

  BY LARA SELIGMAN Patrick Shanahan, a former executive for the aerospace giant, is poised to take over for Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Boeing's growing clout with U.S. President Donald Trump's Pentagon can no longer be ignored. Trump announced Sunday morning on Twitter that he is forcing outgoing Defense Secretary James Mattis to leave earlier than expected, and he named Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, as acting secretary. Mattis, a retired Marine general, was slated to leave at the end of February. Shanahan will now take over on Jan. 1. “Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great!” Trump tweeted. Although Shanahan has not been formally tapped for secretary of defense, which requires Senate confirmation, sources say he is one of the White House's top picks for the job. Shanahan's ascent is just the latest manifestation of the growing influence the world's largest aerospace company has in Trump's Pentagon. In the last six months, Boeing has wonthree multibillion-dollar competitions for major Department of Defense aircraft programs, despite massive delays in delivering a new tanker fleet to the U.S. Air Force. Now, senior Pentagon leaders are forcing the Air Force to purchase a new version of Boeing's legacy F-15 fighter, a non-stealth jet that first flew in 1972, which will compete for the Air Force's limited resources with Lockheed Martin's new F-35 fighter jet. The reportedly $1.2 billion proposal to buy the a dozen new variants of the “F-15X,” the same version of the aircraft Boeing is building for Qatar, reflects Boeing's outsize influence with senior leaders in the Trump administration, a phenomenon that dates back to the beginning of the president's term. As early as February 2017, Trump floated buying additional Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, instead of the F-35. The U.S. Navy placed an order for over 100 new Super Hornets this spring. Trump also has a personal relationship with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg. The two men negotiated directly to reach a $3.9 billion deal for a new Air Force One presidential aircraft, which Trump claimed saves taxpayers $1.4 billion. Certainly, Boeing has fought hard to offer the Pentagon its products at extremely competitive prices and allowed the department to boast considerable cost savings. Boeing has adopted “an across-the-board aggressive posture in lobbying, pricing, and product development, largely due to fears that they were being eclipsed,” said Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group. In addition, “very strong profits from Boeing's commercial jetliner side ... permits more aggressive bids by the military side.” Full article: https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/23/boeing-pentagon-takeover-defense-department-mattis-shanahan

• 

  14 janvier 2019 | International, Terrestre

  Here are the four prizes Textron Systems is watching in 2019

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Textron Systems is focusing on the U.S. Army this year, with its chief executive naming four unmanned and small arms programs with the service as the company's “need to win” items in 2019. Speaking to reporters Jan. 10, Textron President and CEO Lisa Atherton laid out the company's top priorities: 1. Squad Mobility Equipment Transport With its recent acquisition of Howe & Howe Technologies, Textron finds itself a player in the Army's Squad Mobility Equipment Transport competition. The Army wants to buy a robotic equipment carrier that troops can load with their gear, and Howe & Howe's tracked RS2-H1 robot is competing alongside three other companies for the contract. “We believe that program will progress this year, and we look forward to moving that to low-rate production,” Atherton said. The other competitors undergoing tests with the Army and Marine Corps are the Polaris MRZR X, a four-wheeled vehicle based on the Polaris MRZR currently in service with the Marines; the General Dynamics four-wheel drive Multi-Utility Tactical Transport; and the six-wheeled HDT Global Hunter WOLF, or Wheeled Offload Logistics Follower, Army Times reported last year. Each company delivered prototypes to two Army infantry brigade combat teams and a Marine Corps unit for tests last year. “They asked us to deliver eight vehicles and then just give them to the soldiers and let the soldiers do what they will with them and basically try to break them,” Atherton said. The vehicles have now come back to Textron in good working condition, which Atherton said is a “testament to the robustness of that capability.” After a year of tests, the Army will make a decision on the way forward with the program, which could involve a downselect to a single SMET provider, Army Times has reported. 2. Robotic combat vehicle As the Army looks to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle with what the service is calling the Next Generation Combat Vehicle, it is also hoping to develop an unmanned tank that can accompany it into battle as a robotic “wingman.” Again, Textron's acquisition of Howe & Howe gives the company an entry point into the competition, Atherton said. “We believe that the Ripsaw is tailor-made for that,” she said, referring to the light unmanned tank developed by Howe & Howe. “So this year we will be focused on responding to the [requests for proposals] that come out for the prototypes.” Ripsaw's appearance on the show “Jay Leno's Garage” attracted Atherton's attention to Howe & Howe and laid the foundation for the company's eventual acquisition. The robotic tank has been featured in numerous TV and movie spots, including the film “Mad Max: Fury Road.” The Army previously tested it at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. Atherton said Textron will make investments to improve the survivability of Ripsaw, as well as add “other innovations.” Brig. Gen. David Lesperance, who is leading the NGCV Cross-Functional Team, said in March that both NGCV and robot combat vehicle prototypes will be ready for soldier evaluations by 2020, with follow-on prototypes ready by 2022 and 2024. 3. Future tactical unmanned aerial system As the Army looks to replace its RQ-7 Shadow drones, it's testing a number of small, nondevelopmental unmanned aerial systems with the hopes of buying something off the shelf. As part of that effort, Textron was chosen to demonstrate Aerosonde HQ at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, last month, Atherton said. Aerosonde HQ is a version of Textron's small Aerosonde UAS and includes a kit that allows it to take off and land vertically. “Our team widely exceeded the threshold requirements,” she said. “So we're very proud of what we were able to do: very rapidly integrate those techniques and procedures and technologies into the Aerosonde to be able to provide that to the Army for the future tactical UAS.” 4. Next Generation Squad Weapons Textron also believes it has strong offerings for the Army's Next Generation Squad Weapons effort, an umbrella program to replace soldiers' small arms, Atherton said. Reducing the weight of small arms is a major goal of the program, and Textron previously developed case-telescoped weapons it claims are lighter in weight and more lethal than current weaponry. “We believe we are the leaders in the case-telescoped prototypes for the Army's next-generation squad weapon with our lightweight small arms technologies,” Atherton said. The company showcased a 5.56mm light machine gun variant and a 6.5mm caseless service rifle variant at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual meeting in 2017, Army Times reported. The service has awarded contracts to Textron; FN America, LLC; General Dynamics; PCP Tactical; and Sig Sauer to build prototypes of a Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle, or NGSAR. The prototypes are due to be delivered this year. That weapon would replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, which fires 5.56mm rounds. The program also seeks to find a replacement for the M4, which it calls the Next Generation Squad Weapon Rifle, or NGSW-Rifle. Both NGSW-Rifle and NGSAR will fire 6.8mm rounds. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/01/11/here-are-the-four-prizes-textron-systems-is-watching-in-2019

• 

  21 novembre 2024 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Thales faces Anglo-French investigation over suspected bribery