The Defense Department Is a Bad Customer. Let’s Change That.

Sur le même sujet

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  27 juillet 2023 | International, Aérospatial

  Northrop Grumman won’t bid on Air Force’s NGAD fighter

  Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said the company is interested in bidding on the Navy's NGAD counterpart, if the conditions are right.

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  16 juillet 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Construction of first permanent US F-35 campus in Europe begins at Lakenheath

  By CHRISTOPHER DENNIS RAF LAKENHEATH, England — A $205 million construction project to prepare RAF Lakenheath for the arrival of two squadrons of U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II fighter jets in 2021 officially got underway Monday. The commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe - U.S. Air Forces Africa, Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, and other dignitaries plunged shovels into dirt at what will become the first permanent site for U.S. F-35s in Europe. U.K. firms Kier and VolkerFitzpatrick will build a flight simulator facility, maintenance unit, hangars and storage units at the site, in time for the arrival of 48 F-35s in November 2021. The Royal Air Force currently has nine F-35s at RAF Marham, about 25 miles north of Lakenheath. “This will be a great opportunity to reinforce together how we will train, execute and operate on a daily basis, and allow us to deepen what is a critically important relationship,” Harrigian said at the groundbreaking. The project is the first in a broad program to support Air Force operations in the U.K. A further $1 billion is expected to be invested in the program over the next seven to 10 years, said the Defense Infrastructure Organization, which last year awarded the contract for the F-35 campus. “The project team is in good shape — we are on schedule for completion in 2021,” Kier's managing director of aviation and defense James Hindes was quoted as saying by The Construction Index, an industry website. The completed campus will host around 1,200 U.S. airmen. Currently, more than 9,100 U.S. servicemembers are based in the U.K, according to Pentagon data. Recent problems with engine delivery of the F-35A are not expected to delay the arrival of America's newest fighter jet at Lakenheath, a 48th Fighter Wing spokeswoman said Monday. Of the 81 engines that were delivered in 2018, 86% were late, according to a Government Accountability Office report in April. That was up from 48% that were not delivered on time the previous year, when fewer engines were delivered. The delays were due in part to an increase in the “average number of quality issues per engine”— 941 in 2018 against 777 a year earlier, the GAO report said. United Technologies' Pratt and Whitney unit, the only company to make the engines, is under a corrective action request from the Defense Contract Management Agency for “poor delivery performance,” according to a July report by Bloomberg News. https://www.stripes.com/news/construction-of-first-permanent-us-f-35-campus-in-europe-begins-at-lakenheath-1.590422

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  24 avril 2022 | International, Aérospatial

  Thales obtient la certification de type du système de drone Spy'Ranger 330

  Thales a obtenu la certification de type du système Spy'Ranger 330, délivré par l'autorité technique de navigabilité de la Direction générale de l'armement (DGA). Le Spy'Ranger 330 équipe l'armée de Terre française au titre du programme SMDR (Système de Mini-Drones de Reconnaissance). Le certificat de type permet à l'armée de Terre de former et entraîner les opérateurs du SMDR et de mettre en œuvre le système en opérations extérieures (OPEX), sans autorisation de vol spécifique et de manière pérenne. « Le système de mini-drones Spy'Ranger 330 offre aux forces armées les technologies d'imagerie les plus innovantes disponibles sur le marché », indique Thales. Le Spy'Ranger 330 a été conçu, développé, industrialisé et produit pour le programme SMDR sous maîtrise d'ouvrage de la DGA, par la filière française des systèmes de drones légers de contact. La famille Spy'Ranger répond aux besoins des unités de contact et de renseignement, engagées sur des thé'tres d'opérations extérieures. « Ces unités disposent ainsi d'une capacité d'appui au contact et de renseignement d'origine image combinant plusieurs éléments au sein d'un même système : un drone endurant et robuste, résistant aux environnements exigeants, une chaine image contribuant à la supériorité tactique, une liaison de données sécurisée et enfin, un système de contrôle/commande (C2) simple à opérer », explique Thales. La Tribune et Zone-Bourse.com du 21 avril