Slovakia selects F-16 over Gripen for new fighter

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  24 septembre 2018 | International, Naval, Terrestre

  US Marine Corps kills amphibious assault vehicle upgrade program

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Marine Corps has killed its Amphibious Assault Vehicle survivability upgrade program as it turns focus to the future and aligns with the new National Defense Strategy. The service executed a stop work order Aug. 27 to SAIC, which was under contract to perform survivability upgrades to the 40-plus-year-old AAV fleet to include new tracks to enhance mobility as well as increased underbelly armor, blast-mitigating seats, a new engine and transmission along with an assortment of suspension upgrades. The order “allows [SAIC] to finish the four production control modules that they were building,” Marine Corps spokesman Manny Pacheco said in a statement sent to Defense News. “They have delivered three and we expect the fourth soon. “All other work will be terminated.” SAIC has already delivered 10 AAV Engineering and Manufacturing Development versions of the vehicle to the Marines. The Marine Corps has spent approximately $125 million to date on the AAV Survivability Upgrade, or SU, program and has now identified approximately $96 million in fiscal 2019 funding that the Defense Department and Congress will have to reprioritize, according to Pacheco. The idea was to keep the vehicles alive into 2035 as the Marine Corps begins to bring online its new Amphibious Combat Vehicle, or ACV, that would slowly replace the AAVs over time. But in an effort to “better align programs with the National Defense Strategy and congressional guidance to reduce investment in legacy programs and focus buying power on modernization, the Marine Corps made the decision to divest the AAV SU program,” Pacheco said. The AAV does not “meet the needs of modern Marine amphibious forcible entry operations,” he said. “Rather than continue to invest in that vehicle that, even in upgraded form, will not provide adequate maneuverability, survivability, or ship-to-shore performance, the Marine Corps believes these funds would be better used elsewhere to support modernization initiatives across the force.” The decision was also motivated by the expected mobility and survivability demonstrated by the ACV, along with planned lethality, “which will ensure that our Marines have the firepower and survivability to succeed in the future fight,” Pacheco added. “Reinvestment decisions will be made separately and focus on increasing lethality of the force,” Pacheco explained. “AAV SU divestiture assets may allow us to procure underfunded initiatives in the AAV modification line such as Tactical Communication Modernization and a Remote Weapons Station.” The stop work order serves as another blow to SAIC, which lost in June a head-to-head competition to build the Marines' new ACV. BAE Systems was selected to build 30 low-rate initial production vehicles expected to be delivered by the fall of 2019, valued at $198 million. The total value of the contract with all options exercised is expected to amount to about $1.2 billion. But the AAV isn't likely the only program on the chopping block. Defense leadership has been saying since last year that it can't continue to invest in older systems while also focusing on new programs; they have admitted there will come a time when those legacy systems will have to be scaled back to make way for more a modernized capability. The FY20 budget documents and five-year plans from each service have been submitted to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and it's likely more examples of efforts to reprioritize funds from old to new platforms will emerge. The Army has already terminated the Bradley A5 upgrade program in favor of the new Next-Generation Combat Vehicle. That upgrade would have included improvements like a third-generation FLIR, a cross-platform laser pointer, color day camera and an improved laser range finder. And in the FY19 spending bill conference report, the Bradley A4 program took a $160 million hit due to a “revised acquisition strategy.” While SAIC appears to have lost out both on the ACV program and now the AAV SU effort with the Marine Corps, the company is now setting its sights — building off its experience as an effective platform integrator — on the U.S. Army's Mobile Protected Firepower program. The company, partnered with ST Kinetics and CMI Defence, will integrate CMI's Cockerill 3105 turret onto an ST Kinetics next-generation armored fighting vehicle chassis as its offering in the Mobile Protected Firepower competition that kicked off with the release of a request for proposals in November 2017. And the company is working on some efforts related to the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle as well, SAIC's CEO, Tony Moraco, told Defense News in a recent interview. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2018/09/24/us-marine-corps-kills-amphibious-assault-vehicle-upgrade-program

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  16 avril 2024 | International, Terrestre

  Leidos secures $267m US Army contract for C5ISR services

  Leidos has secured a follow-on prime contract to provide comprehensive technology-enabled services and support to the US Army.

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  24 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  KC-46, P-8 production to stop as Boeing temporarily shuts down facilities

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Production of the Air Force's KC-46 refueling tanker and the Navy's P-8 maritime surveillance plane will stop as Boeing shuts down all facilities in the Seattle area amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Boeing plans to begin reducing production activity today and projects the suspension of such operations to begin on Wednesday, March 25, at sites across the Puget Sound area,” the company said in a statement on Monday. A Boeing spokesman confirmed that the impacted area includes the facilities in Everett and Renton, where the KC-46 and P-8 are made, respectively. “We plan to temporarily suspend all production operations, including those relating to P-8 and KC-46A, in the Puget Sound region,” the spokesman said. “We're actively engaged with our defense customers to minimize any impacts on their missions. Certain non-production work for all commercial derivative aircraft programs, including for the KC-46 remote vision system enhancements, will continue being done by employees working remotely.” The company is urging employees to telework if they can, but work on classified projects cannot be done on laptops, which could impact more sensitive elements of defense programs. The production stoppage itself is perhaps an even more urgent challenge. Boeing's Puget Sound facilities are best known for commercial airliner production, but the commercial-derivative aircraft it makes for the military —like the KC-46 and P-8 — are built on the same lines. Any pause in commercial production could put Boeing behind in delivering aircraft to the Air Force and Navy. However, Boeing's defense business will likely be able to make a quick recovery as long as the pause in production is not protracted, said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group. “P-8, KC-46 and other Boeing defense production in the Puget Sound area is mostly low-volume, like around 1-2 per month,” he said. “So they should be able to recover over the course of the year, assuming the factory deep clean is successful and the pandemic threat turns a corner.” Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun characterized the temporary plant closures as a “necessary step” to protect employees in the wake of a state of emergency in Washington state. "We continue to work closely with public health officials, and we're in contact with our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders who are affected by this temporary suspension,” he said. “We regret the difficulty this will cause them, as well as our employees, but it's vital to maintain health and safety for all those who support our products and services, and to assist in the national effort to combat the spread of COVID-19.” The company will also continue to monitor U.S. government guidance on COVID-19 and conduct a deep cleaning of impacted sites during the two-week pause, Boeing said. https://www.defensenews.com/coronavirus/2020/03/23/kc-46-p-8-production-to-stop-as-boeing-temporarily-shuts-down-production-in-puget-sound-area/