14 septembre 2023 | International, Naval
Babcock, Palantir bank on data crunching to boost UK force readiness
The British defense contractor is smitten with the possibilities of Palantir's Foundry data analytics system.
7 novembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
South Korea and Spain seek deal to swap trainer jets for airlifters
By: Jeff Jeong
SEOUL — South Korean and Spanish defense officials are to discuss a possible trade of trainer and transport aircraft, according to arms procurement officials and industry sources in the Asian nation.
The deal may involve about 50 basic and advanced trainer jets built by Korea Aerospace Industries, or KAI, and four to six Airbus A400M airlifters, they said.
“South Korea and Spain plan to hold a joint defense industry committee in Madrid this month to discuss bilateral issues,” said an official with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The swap deal is not an official agenda item on the table, but the sides are open to discussing it.”
The proposal was made by Spain during the Farnborough International Airshow in the U.K. last July, as the Spanish Air Force seeks to replace its older trainer fleet of Chilean ENAER T-35C Pillan jets, according to an industry source privy to the potential swap deal.
“Spain ordered 27 A400M transport aircraft from Airbus but has decided not to use 13 of them, so the Spanish defense authorities have got approval from Airbus to sell the surplus products to other countries,” the source said. “Spain wants to sell four to six A400Ms to South Korea, and it buys 34 KT-1 basic trainer aircraft and 20 more T-50 supersonic trainer jets for advanced pilot training if possible.”
If the deal is reached, Spain is willing to sell the A400M plane at 15 percent of the per-unit price of some $27 million, he said, adding the total value of the swap deal could be approximately $890 million.
The envisaged deal could be a breakthrough for KAI to sell more of its trainer aircraft after its recent defeat in a U.S. Air Force trainer competition.
“Any swap deal is delegated to the DAPA and its Spanish counterpart, and we're waiting on the results,” a KAI spokesman said.
Airbus would not discuss the prospect of such a deal.
Industry sources believe the proposed deal could meet the South Korean Air Force's need of acquiring larger airlifters for longer-range missions.
During an Oct. 19 parliamentary inspection of the Air Force, the service revealed a plan to procure four more large transport aircraft in addition to its existing fleet of CN-235 and C-130 planes.
“We have a plan to deploy larger transport aircraft to increase our capacity of rapid force deployment, emergency relief, peacekeeping and other operations over long distances,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Wang-keun said in a report to lawmakers.
Preliminary research on the requirements of the larger airlifter acquisition will be conducted between 2019 and 2020 before a request for proposal is issued for full operational capability by 2022, according to Air Force officials.
The A400M Atlas is regarded as a strong candidate for the airlift procurement program, as the C-17 Globemaster III production line run by Boeing is shut down. The A400M can carry 116 fully equipped troops and up to 66 stretchers accompanied by 25 medical personnel.
Email: jeff@defensenews.com
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16 avril 2020 | International, C4ISR
NATO’s new tool shows the impact of GPS jammers
Nathan Strout A new tool developed by NATO will help the alliance prepare for GPS jammers, allowing operational commands to see what impact the devices will have on their GPS receivers, the NATO Communications and Information Agency announced April 6. “NATO's adversaries have the ability to degrade or deny GPS-enabled capabilities," Jean-Philippe Saulay, a NATO navigation and identification officer, said in a statement. “NATO must take appropriate measures to ensure Allied forces can operate in a degraded or denied environment." The Radar Electromagnetic and Communication Coverage Tool, or REACT, is able to estimate how large an area will be affected by specific GPS jammers. By inputting technical information and location data about known jammers, users can see on a map what areas will be affected by the devices and prepare accordingly. The software also works for other global navigation satellite systems used by NATO, such as the European Union's Galileo constellation. According to the agency, REACT is only being used for testing and experimentation at the moment. It was shown to operators during the Trident Jupiter 2019 exercise for feedback. Developers are now working to ensure the software is interoperable with NATO's classified networks and available to operational commands. Sponsored by the NATO Navigation and Identification Programme of Work, REACT is available to NATO members free of charge. Tools like REACT highlight the alliance's dependence on global navigation satellite systems for accurate position, navigation and timing data, as well as the investments that China, Russia and Iran, among others, are making to develop and field jamming devices. And it's more than just a hypothetical issue for NATO: In 2018, Norway officials publicly claimed that Russia had jammed GPS signals during NATO's Trident Jupiter exercise. “NATO must maintain superiority in the electromagnetic environment, including but not limited to, positioning, navigation and timing services," said Enrico Casini, a communications and navigation engineer at the NCI Agency. “The electromagnetic environment has become even more contested in recent years." Meanwhile, the U.S. military has been pursuing efforts to overcome the threat posed by GPS jammers. For instance, the U.S. Space Force is working to enable a more secure military signal with GPS III, and just last year the U.S. Army fielded anti-jamming antennas to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Germany. https://www.c4isrnet.com/newsletters/military-space-report/2020/04/15/natos-new-tool-shows-the-impact-of-gps-jammers
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16 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial
Sikorsky to upgrade HH-60W helo to improve on 2012 baseline capabilities
by Gareth Jennings The US Air Force (USAF) is to contract Sikorsky to upgrade its HH-60W Jolly Green II combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopter to improve on the 2012 requirements baseline. The service disclosed on 11 February that the manufacturer is to bring the capabilities of the Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) up to today's specifications, ahead of the commencement of full rate production in fiscal year 2022. “The current system specification reflects a 2012 requirements baseline which was defined and frozen prior to the 2014 CRH contract awarded for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase,” the USAF said in its sole-source justification document posted on the beta.sam.gov US government procurement website. “During the last five years of EMD execution, the original CRH requirements baseline has evolved as a result of changes in threat conditions and evolving mission requirements. The response to this operational need is the driver for the continuance of new capability development and integration into the CRH baseline.” In response to this requirement, the USAF is to award Sikorsky a USD980.7 million contract over a five-year ordering period, with the work itself to run for seven years. News of the planned award came some 16 months after the USAF issued a request for information (RFI) on 1 October 2019 to assess the ability of companies and industry at large to perform development, integration, verification, production, and installation of a broad spectrum of capability upgrades for the CSAR helicopter, which at that time had only recently been cleared to enter into low-rate initial production (LRIP). https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/sikorsky-to-upgrade-hh-60w-helo-to-improve-on-2012-baseline-capabilities