30 août 2018 | International, Aérospatial
The Pentagon is trying to paper over serious problems with the F-35 joint strike fighter aircraft that could endanger troops, according to an investigation released Wednesday by the Project On Government Oversight.
An oversight board looking at development of the high-tech fighter made by Lockheed Martin decided in June to downgrade 19 of the aircraft's most severe deficiencies without a plan for fixes, the watchdog group found.
The moves could help speed up the F-35 program, the most expensive in Pentagon history, as it moves into a critical phase of development, said Dan Grazier, a military fellow at POGO and long-time program watcher.
“They want to be able to go up to Capitol Hill and say, ‘Nope, we don't have any more Category 1 deficiencies,'” Grazier said.
Those types of deficiencies can lead to death and injury, loss of the aircraft or a halt to the F-35 production line. The 19 Category 1 deficiencies downgraded by the F-35 Deficiency Review Board on June 4 included an emergency alert system for when pilots eject and a system for bombing coordinates that could protect troops on the ground from friendly fire.
The issues were moved to Category II status, which can impede a military mission, according to board meeting minutes obtained by POGO. Overall, the Government Accountability Office found the F-35 has 111 of the most severe Category 1 problems and 855 deficiencies classified as Category II.
“This is not how the development process is supposed to work,” according to the watchdog's investigation.
The Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin did not immediately comment on the POGO investigation.
The next big hurdle for the F-35 comes on Sept. 15, which is the deadline for initial test and evaluation of the aircraft. The tri-service fighters are billed as the most advanced in the world and are chock full of new military technology. The Air Force and Marine Corps variants are already in operational use. The Navy's version is expected to be deemed ready to deploy next year.
“We are obviously just three weeks away from that, so the big rush to kind of clear up these paperwork issues is to try to meet that deadline,” Grazier said. “Having these deficiencies, it actually increases the likelihood that the program will not pass IOT&E.”
29 janvier 2024 | International, Aérospatial
"You just can't do this stuff in a simulated environment," Boeing's Scott Belanger said of the Autonomous Aircraft Inspection initiative.
2 mai 2019 | International, Terrestre
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army has decided to outfit all of its brigades equipped with Double V-Hull A1 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles with 30mm guns following an evaluation of the vehicle equipped with the cannons in Europe, according to an Army official. The service plans to open up a competition to integrate and field up-gunned DVHA1, the official told Defense News on background. The Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and the Army Requirements Oversight Council decided on March 20to equip future Stryker brigades with 30mm Medium Caliber Weapon System (MCWS) capability after reviewing lessons learned from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Europe, but also directed the Army to ensure that the new MCWS capability be applied to the more mobile, better protected DVH ICVVA1 that will be the basis for the future Stryker fleet, according to the official. Based on an urgent operational need out of Europe, the Army was provided emergency funding from Congress in 2015 — a little over $300 million — to rapidly develop and field a Stryker with a 30mm cannon specifically for the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which is permanently stationed in Germany. The funding covered development, eight prototypes and upgrades to 83 production vehicles, as well as spares. The Army spent 18 months to put together its upgunned Stryker using off-the-shelf solutions, such as the remote turret, from Kongsberg in Norway, and the 30mm cannon from Orbital ATK and shipped those vehicles off to Europe for an evaluation that went on for the better part of a year. The plan going forward is to execute a competition in two phases to select a 30x173mm-equipped MCWS integrated onto a Stryker DVH ICVVA1, the official said, which will lead to equipping the first brigade with a new capability in fiscal year 2022. Army Contracting Command released a Request for Quote to begin the first phase of the Stryker MCWS program on April 9. The recent request called for integration designs. The Army will award up to seven design integration study contracts for potential vendors to study integrating a MCWS onto a Stryker ICVVA1 platform. The Army will supply both a Stryker platform and the XM813 30mm cannon to build production representative system samples, the official said. The service will then circulate a draft request for proposal this fall to begin the second phase of the program, which will establish a full-and-open competition to award a production contract for a MCWS integrated onto an ICVVA1, which will be based on vendors' production representative system samples and proposals. The MCWS will be part of a suite of lethality improvements for Stryker formations which include the Common Remote Operated Weapons Station-Javelin (CROWS-J) — that was also on the Stryker ICV Dragoon in Europe — and the Stryker Anti-Tank Guided Missile Vehicle (ATGM) engineering change proposal program. The Army is also developing a host of other capabilities for the Stryker through the Army Futures Command Cross-Functional Team initiatives, according to the official. Col. Glenn Dean, the Stryker program manager, told Defense News last fall that between early user testing in 2018 and subsequent fieldings, there had been an overall “very positive response” to the lethality and effectiveness of the Stryker ICVD. “The cannon provides a tremendous standoff and additional maneuver space, and it is very effective against the threats they are concerned about in Europe,” he said. But some feedback suggested that the physical layout of the vehicle could use some improvements, particularly when it came to situational awareness. The turret for the cannon takes up a lot of roof and hatch space and also affects how equipment is stowed. But the Army was already making modifications to the Dragoon based on feedback from the field, according to Dean. It is unclear what the specific requirements might be for a more lethal Stryker, but one factor up for debate could be whether there is a need to reload and operate the turret under armor, which could change the physical nature of the vendors' designs. Another issue to work out is what is necessary for a field-of-view inside the vehicle and how that might be achieved and who might control the cameras providing a view of the battlefield. Soldiers in the Stryker ICVD noted a lot of dead zones where users couldn't see. The Army made improvements to the cameras used on the vehicles in Europe providing an overlapped field-of-view. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/05/01/army-to-outfit-all-double-v-hull-strykers-with-30mm-firepower/
15 juin 2020 | International, Naval
Par Michel Cabirol | 13/06/2020, 8:00 | L'Italie va vendre deux frégates FREMM à l'Égypte, autrefois cliente de l'industrie d'armement française. Rome souhaite également vendre de 12 à 24 Typhoon au Caire. L'erreur majeure de la France en Égypte continue d'exploser à la figure de Paris. Comme prévu, l'Italie va réussir à vendre au Caire deux frégates FREMM, qui était initialement destinées à la marine italienne, pour un montant de 1,2 milliard d'euros. Depuis la visite du 28 janvier 2019 d'Emmanuel Macron en Égypte où il s'était autorisé à donner la leçon sur les droits de l'homme au maréchal Abdel Fattah Sissi chez lui, la France s'est fait complètement sortir du marché de l'armement égyptien au profit notamment de l'Italie et de l'Allemagne. Les nouvelles ventes de Rafale et de corvettes Gowind semblent définitivement enterrées. La vente de deux FREMM italiennes va se concrétiser alors que l'affaire entre Le Caire et Rome portant sur l'étudiant italien Giulio Regeni, retrouvé mort et atrocement mutilé et torturé, n'a jamais été résolue en dépit des demandes de l'Italie. Quelle ironie du sort pour la France, qui a joué la carte des droits de l'homme début 2019 alors que l'Italie a quant à elle préféré la realpolitik même si elle tente de ménager son opinion publique : "Le gouvernement et les institutions italiennes continuent d'exiger la vérité des autorités égyptiennes par le biais d'une coopération réelle, efficace et effective", a assuré mercredi aux députés le ministre des Affaires étrangères Luigi di Maio. "La vente des frégates est une opération commerciale qui n'a rien à voir avec la recherche de la vérité sur la mort de Giulio Regeni. Au contraire, c'est seulement en maintenant les canaux ouverts que nous pouvons penser obtenir quelque chose de l'Egypte", ont pourtant expliqué des sources gouvernementales relayées par le quotidien La Repubblica. Un feu vert imminent Le gouvernement italien a donné jeudi soir son feu vert à la vente des deux frégates à l'Égypte. Ces deux frégates seront prélevées sur le programme de la Marina militare (9e et 10e) : Spartaco Schergat et Emilio Bianchi. Fincantieri s'est notamment appuyé pour cette vente sur un intermédiaire proche de Sissi, l'homme d'affaires Ahmed Elsewedy. Il ne reste plus que l'accord formel d'une administration en charge des exportations d'armements pour rendre définitive cette vente. Le feu vert pourrait être donné ce dimanche, selon nos informations. Le projet est financé à 100% par un crédit comme le souhaitait Le Caire. Il est piloté par Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) associé à la banque... https://www.latribune.fr/entreprises-finance/industrie/aeronautique-defense/armement-l-italie-au-nirvana-en-egypte-la-france-aux-oubliettes-850137.html