26 novembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Pentagon’s ‘Replicator’ gambit may speed decisions on lethal autonomy
The program presents immense technological and personnel challenges for procurement and development.
9 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Turkish ‘brain drain’: Why are defense industry officials ditching their jobs in Turkey for work abroad?
By: Burak Ege Bekdil
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's procurement authorities are working to identify why some of the industry's most talented individuals are migrating to Western countries — an exodus that could stall several indigenous programs.
Turkey's procurement authority, the Presidency of Defence Industries — also known as SSB and which directly reports to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — conducted a survey to better understand the migration.
A parliamentary motion revealed that in recent months a total of 272 defense industryofficials, mostly senior engineers, fled Turkey for new jobs abroad, with the Netherlands, the United States and Germany topping the list, respectively. Other recipient countries are Britain, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Poland, France, Finland, Japan, Thailand, Qatar, Switzerland and Ireland, according to the SSB's internal study.
The companies affected by the exodus are state-controlled entities: defense electronics specialist Aselsan, Turkey's largest defense firm; military software concern Havelsan; missile-maker Roketsan; defense technologies firm STM; Turkish Aerospace Industries; and SDT.
Findings among those who left and responded to the survey include:
- 41 percent are in the 26-30 age group. “This highlights a trend among the relatively young professionals to seek new opportunities abroad,” one SSB official noted.
- 40 percent have graduate degrees; 54 percent have postgraduate degrees; and 6 percent have doctorates or higher degrees.
- 59 percent have more than four years of experience in the Turkish industry.
- The largest group among those who left (26 percent) cited “limited chance of promotion and professional progress” as the primary reason to seek jobs in foreign companies. Other reasons cited include lack of equal opportunities in promotion (14 percent); low salaries (10 percent); and discrimination, mobbing and injustice at work (10 percent).
- 60 percent said they found jobs at foreign defense companies after they applied for vacancies.
- 61 percent are engineers and 21 percent are industry researchers.
Among the respondents' expectations before they would consider returning to Turkish jobs were higher salaries, better working conditions, full use of annual leave, professional management and support from top management for further academic work.
They also want the political situation in Turkey to normalize and for employees to win social rights in line with European Union standards. They also want to guarantee there won't be employee discrimination according to political beliefs, life styles and religious faith. They added that mobbing should stop and that employees be offered equal opportunities.
A recent article in The New York Times, citing the Turkish Statistical Institute, said more than a quarter-million Turks emigrated in 2017, an increase of 42 percent over 2016, when nearly 178,000 citizens left the country. The number of Turks applying for asylum worldwide jumped by 10,000 in 2017 to more than 33,000.
“The flight of people, talent and capital is being driven by a powerful combination of factors that have come to define life under Mr. Erdogan and that his opponents increasingly despair is here to stay," according to The New York Times. "They include fear of political persecution, terrorism, a deepening distrust of the judiciary and the arbitrariness of the rule of law, and a deteriorating business climate, accelerated by worries that Mr. Erdogan is unsoundly manipulating management of the economy to benefit himself and his inner circle.”
One senior engineer who left his Turkish company for a job with a non-Turkish, European business told Defense News: “I know several colleagues who want to leave but have not yet found the right jobs. I expect the brain drain to gain pace in the next years, depending on Western companies' capacity to employ more Turkish talent.”
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28 septembre 2018 | International, Naval
LOCKHEED MARTIN AND FINCANTIERI MARINETTE MARINE AWARDED CONTRACT TO BUILD LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP 29
Construction will begin in first half of 2019 WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2018 – The U.S. Navy awarded the Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) team a fixed price incentive fee contract to build an additional Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). LCS 29 will be built in Marinette, Wisconsin, at FMM, the Midwest's only naval shipyard, and is the 15th Freedom-variant LCS ordered by the U.S. Navy to date. The team will leverage capital investment and improvement in the shipyard and efficiencies created with serial production to maintain high quality at an affordable cost. "We are excited to continue our partnership with the U.S. Navy and FMM to build and deliver increasingly capable ships to the fleet,” said Joe DePietro, vice president, Lockheed Martin Small Combatants and Ship Systems. "With the Freedom-variant in serial production, we continue to enhance efficiency, incorporate capability while maintaining ship and program affordability." Since the LCS program's inception, Freedom-variant LCS production has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into local economies throughout the Midwest. The program supports thousands of direct and indirect jobs throughout the United States, including more than 7,500 in Michigan and Wisconsin alone. The Lockheed Martin and FMM team is in full-rate production of the Freedom-variant, and has delivered seven ships to the U.S. Navy to date, including two this year – the future USS Sioux City and the future USS Wichita. There are seven ships in various stages of construction at Fincantieri Marinette Marine. Lockheed Martin's Freedom-variant LCS is highly maneuverable, lethal and adaptable. Originally designed to support focused missions such as mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare, the team continues to evolve capabilities based on rigorous Navy operational testing; sailor feedback and multiple successful fleet deployments. The Freedom-variant LCS integrates new technology and capability to affordably support current and future mission capability from deep water to the littorals. For additional information, visit: www.lockheedmartin.com/lcs. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 100,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. This year the company received three Edison Awards for ground-breaking innovations in autonomy, satellite technology and directed energy. About Fincantieri Marinette Marine Fincantieri is the leading western shipbuilder with a rich history dating back more than 230 years, and a track record of building more than 7,000 ships. Fincantieri Marine Group is the American subsidiary of Fincantieri, and operates three Great Lakes Shipyards: Fincantieri Marinette Marine, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, and Fincantieri ACE Marine. Fincantieri Marine Group's more than 2,100 steelworkers, craftsman, engineers and technicians in the United States specialize in the design, construction and maintenance of merchant ships and government vessels, including for the United States Navy and Coast Guard. About Gibbs & Cox Gibbs & Cox, the nation's leading independent maritime solutions firm specializing in naval architecture, marine engineering and design, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The company, founded in 1929, has provided designs for nearly 80 percent of the current U.S. Navy surface combatant fleet; approaching 7,000 naval and commercial ships have been built to Gibbs & Cox designs. https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2018-09-27-Lockheed-Martin-and-Fincantieri-Marinette-Marine-Awarded-Contract-to-Build-LCS-29
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12 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial
Northrop Grumman to Develop Advanced Air-to-Air Missile Engagement Concept
Posted on February 11, 2021 by Seapower Staff REDONDO BEACH, Calif. — Northrop Grumman Corp. has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office to develop an advanced technology weapon concept designed to significantly increase engagement range and weapon effectiveness of U.S. forces against adversary air threats, the company said in a Feb. 10 release. “Our collaboration with DARPA is the critical first step in the development of innovative operational concepts and solutions that will enhance our warfighter's combat capability against a rapidly growing threat,” said Jaime Engdahl, program director, kinetic weapons and emerging capabilities, Northrop Grumman. “The LongShot program enables us to combine our digital engineering skillset with our extensive knowledge in advanced technology weapons, autonomous systems and strike platforms to increase weapon range and effectiveness.” Spurred by rapid technological advancements and an ever more dangerous and disruptive battlefield, DARPA's LongShot program will explore new lethal engagement concepts by leveraging multi-modal propulsion, weapon systems that can be operationally deployed from existing fighters or bombers. DARPA's advanced aerospace systems activities are focused on utilizing high pay-off opportunities to provide revolutionary new system capabilities, as opposed to incremental or evolutionary advancements, in order to achieve undeterrable air presence at dramatically reduced costs. The LongShot program enables Northrop Grumman to combine its expertise in weapon system design, survivability, autonomy, advanced mission systems and rapid prototyping to deliver advanced solutions that help to maintain a competitive military advantage in highly contested environments. https://seapowermagazine.org/northrop-grumman-to-develop-advanced-air-to-air-missile-engagement-concept/