15 juillet 2022 | International, Aérospatial
Podcast: Stories To Watch At Farnborough
On the eve of the first Farnborough in four years, two leaders from Accenture zero in on key themes at this year's air show.
8 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial
The Air Force’s new trainer jet is attracting the Navy’s and Marine Corps’ interests
By: Valerie Insinna
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are monitoring the development of the Air Force's T-X training jet, but it may be years before they can launch their own competitions to replace the T-45, officials said Monday.
“We're watching the T-X. Obviously the Air Force is going through that process,” Lt. Gen. Steven Rudder, the Marine Corps' deputy commandant for aviation, said during a panel at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space conference.
“At some point, we're going to have to replace the T-45. We're going to have to replace the F-5,” he said, referring to the T-45 Goshawk (used by the Navy and Marine Corps to train fighter pilots) and the F-5 (used to simulate adversaries during exercises).
“Our adversary requirement is not going away. It only increases. That's another one that with our Air Force counterparts we're watching closely on many different fronts,” he added.
Last year, the Air Force chose a Boeing-Saab team to build a new, clean-sheet trainer, awarding the firms a contract worth up to $9.2 billion. Although the service's program of record is 351 T-X jets and 46 simulators, the agreement gives it the flexibility to buy up to 475 aircraft and 120 simulators. A Navy and Marine Corps buy would add several hundred aircraft to the Air Force's eventual order — a massive financial win for Boeing, which bid extremely low on the T-X solicitation with the expectation of raking in big profits during the production stage.
Boeing is set to deliver the first simulators to Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, in 2023. In fiscal 2024, the Air Force will have enough simulators and trainers to declare its first squadron as operational.
Angie Knappenberger, the Navy's deputy director of air warfare, said the timing of a T-X buy could be “problematic” because of the current schedule of the TH-57 replacement, which is taking priority over a new jet trainer.
“Once we're able to accomplish that — the helicopter trainer replacement — then we're going to look more forward to something like the T-45 replacement. T-X would certainly be in the running as a candidate for something like that,” she said.https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/navy-league/2019/05/07/the-air-forces-new-trainer-jet-is-attracting-the-navys-and-marine-corps-interests
The Navy in January released a request for proposals for the TH-57 replacement, kick-starting a competition with Airbus, Bell and Leonardo that could potentially lead to a contract awarded this year. The service wants to buy 130 helicopter trainers from FY20 to FY23.
Knappenberger did not elaborate on why the timing of the T-X program could be challenging for the Navy, but the service plans to finish purchasing new helicopter trainers just as Boeing starts producing and delivering T-Xs to the Air Force. Another key factor may be whether the T-X can be outfitted with the gear necessary for taking off from and landing on aircraft carriers, and how quickly Boeing could complete the engineering work involved.
Like Rudder, Knappenberger noted the appeal of buying enough T-X trainers to fill the service's adversary air requirements, saying she's “curious to see” the jet's red air capabilities.
The Air Force is also assessing the T-X's ability to conduct other mission sets.
“You could imagine a version of the airframe that could be equipped as a light fighter. You can imagine a version that is equipped as an adversary air-training platform,” Air Combat Command head Gen. Mike Holmes told reporters in March.
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30 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Airbus reports $515M in first-quarter losses
By: Angela Charlton, The Associated Press PARIS — Airbus says the aviation industry's unprecedented troubles are just beginning. The European manufacturing giant reported €481 million (U.S. $515 million) in losses in the first quarter, put thousands of workers on furlough and sought billions in loans to survive the coronavirus crisis. And its CEO said Wednesday it's still at an “early stage.” Even after virus-related travel restrictions eventually ease, Chief Executive Guillaume Faury acknowledged it will take a long time to persuade customers to get back on planes. Just how long, he can't predict. “We are in the gravest crisis the aerospace industry has ever known,” Faury said. “Now we need to work as an industry to restore passenger confidence in air travel as we learn to coexist with this pandemic.” Images shared online of packed planes and maskless, elbow-to-elbow passengers on U.S. flights — despite virus protection guidelines - have worried travelers and airline unions alike. International travel restrictions, meanwhile, have grounded thousands of planes worldwide. Faury insisted that airplanes are “probably the best place to be” during a virus outbreak because of air filtration systems put in place after previous virus outbreaks and other threats, but said Airbus will work with aviation authorities to try to calm the public. Shares in Airbus and Boeing have dropped some 60 percent this year as customer airlines collapse or seek billions of dollars in government bailouts. Airbus was unable to deliver 60 planned planes in the quarter because of virus-related problems, and said the second quarter looks similarly rough. Customers are asking for delays, which Faury called “the biggest issue we are managing at the moment.” Airbus executives expressed hope Wednesday that deliveries could start picking up in the second half of the year. But they refused to issue long-term guidance given that the virus is still spreading, and that governments are reluctant to relax international travel restrictions. U.S. rival Boeing is facing similar woes. Boeing's CEO said Monday that it will take years for the aircraft-building business to return to levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic. Airbus has slashed production by a third since the virus hit, and Faury said Airbus will study “resizing” the company after the crisis ebbs — a worrying prospect on a continent where Airbus has factories in four countries and is one of the region's industrial leaders. Already 3,000 Airbus workers in France are on temporary unemployment and the number is expected to grow. In addition, 3,200 workers in the U.K. are on furlough and negotiations are under way to put thousands of German workers on short work plans. A recent letter by Faury warning workers that the company is “bleeding cash” was a shock to many. But Frederic Romain of French union CFTC said “the situation requires transparency. It allows workers to open their eyes” to what's ahead. “Fears? We have a lot of them. For the moment we don't have a clear vision of what awaits us," Romain said. Airbus reported a 15 percent drop in revenues to €10.6 billion in the first quarter. Looking longer term, Faury insisted that Airbus remains committed to reducing airplane emissions but said it's “less urgent” than before the coronavirus crisis because the company has more pressing problems to solve. “For practical cash reasons," Airbus has stopped or suspended some projects aimed at “decarbonizing” its production, he said. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/04/29/airbus-reports-515m-in-first-quarter-losses/
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5 février 2019 | International, C4ISR
A tweaked DoD cloud strategy looks beyond Amazon
By: Jessie Bur A recent Department of Defense memorandum indicates that the agency wants to pursue multiple commercial cloud vendors as it attempts to modernize its IT and data infrastructure, though a single provider will still have singular influence over the agency's “general purpose cloud.” “DoD is driving toward an enterprise cloud environment that is composed of a general purpose cloud and multiple fit-for-purpose clouds,” the memorandum to Congress, released Feb. 4, said. “In addition, it should be recognized that the Department will still need non-cloud data center capability for applications that are not suited for the cloud. Over time, with the adoption of an enduring enterprise cloud strategy, the non-cloud environment should become smaller.” That general purpose slot will be filled by the awardee of the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract, which has been criticized for its single-award intent as giving the winner an outsized control of the defense cloud market. Many companies vying to support the Pentagon's cloud requirements claimed that the odds were stacked in Amazon's favor. The approach spurred protests and a lawsuit in fact. According to the memorandum, the fit-for-purpose environment will be made up of the Defense Information Systems Agency's milCloud suite, as well as other unnamed vendors. Throughout the cloud migration process, DoD will stick to four guiding principles: War-fighter First — any cloud solution must at all times address the needs of improving lethality while not jeopardizing the safety and mission of American war fighters. Cloud-Smart, Data-Smart — cloud solutions must streamline transformation and embrace modern capabilities while enhancing data transparency and visibility. Leverage Commercial Industry Best Practices — the cloud strategy should promote competition and innovation while preventing lock-in of one particular solution or technology. Create a Culture Better Suited for Modern Technology Evolution — the strategy will need to create a culture of learning and innovation while discouraging custom, federated approaches. This approach to commercial cloud is not entirely unexpected, as DoD Chief Information Officer Dana Deasey said during an October 2018 press event for the Defense Enterprise Office Solution cloud contractthat the agency would be delineating between general purpose and fit for purpose contracts. "This marks a milestone in our efforts to adopt the cloud and also in our larger efforts to modernize information technology across the DOD enterprise," Deasy said in a statement on the memo to Congress. “A modern digital infrastructure is critical to support the war fighter, defend against cyberattacks and enable the department to leverage emerging technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence.” The new strategy also means that DoD will move away from a cybersecurity posture that focuses on perimeter defense and instead prioritize the protection of data and systems. “DoD will produce a unified cybersecurity architecture that addresses cloud and the needs of classified and unclassified missions and data. The capabilities will be tested and assessed independently and frequently to ensure that cybersecurity attributes remain effective against developing threats,” the memo said, adding that the CIO will determine the command and control requirements between the agency and the cloud service providers. Cloud contracts will also likely include requirements for training and workforce development to ensure that DoD can develop the expertise necessary to use and protect their new cloud environments. And any potential migrations to cloud will have to come with thorough evaluations of legacy DoD applications. “It is imperative that DoD has a cloud strategy to ensure that legacy applications are not moved to cloud without properly re-architecting them to make use of the data, security, resiliency and application advantages that cloud provides,” the memo said. “Additionally, DoD should independently test and assess cloud network security to verify security compliance and incident response and review all contractor and third-party testing results to ensure that performance and security monitoring are sufficient.” https://www.federaltimes.com/it-networks/cloud/2019/02/04/dod-to-officially-pursue-a-multi-vendor-cloud-strategy