9 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Tony Osborne September 08, 2020
LONDON—British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has hinted that the UK's future combat air system initiative, Tempest, could be one of the winners in the government's Integrated Review of defense and foreign policy.
Writing in the Times newspaper on Sept. 6, Wallace said the UK needed products that could be exported to help the country afford the equipment the UK requires for its armed forces. He also cited the UK's aerospace industry as being at the forefront of those efforts.
“Our aerospace industry isn't just a domestic concern,” Wallace wrote, noting that aerospace exports amount to £34 billion ($50.1 billion).
The UK's Tempest has already secured Italy and Sweden as partners, with Saab expected to make investments in an FCAS technology center worth £50 million.
“The defense and security sector is a breeding ground for science, invention and world-beating technology, as the bedrock of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the UK,” Wallace wrote.
While the review will re-examine the UK's foreign policy and defense operations, Wallace says it will also “recognize the importance of research, skills and the aerospace industry. Without them, our forces could risk losing the battle-winning advantage we will need in this evermore insecure and anxious world.”
Wallace said he recognized a need to reform and modernize the country's armed forces to meet new threats.
He said the UK had a “sentimental attachment” to a static armored-centric force that was anchored in Europe, possibly hinting at reports that the UK may do away with its fleet of Main Battle Tanks and instead focus on light armored and airborne capabilities.
Reports have also suggested that the UK may not buy its full complement of 138 Lockheed Martin F-35s, and potentially buy as few as 70 airframes over the program's life.
“If we are to truly play our role as ‘Global Britain,' we must be more capable in new domains, enabling us to be active in more theaters,” Wallace wrote.
Wallace also confirmed that the government would publish a Defense Industrial Strategy alongside the Integrated Review, which is expected in November.
16 novembre 2021 | International, Aérospatial
Al Tariq has integrated a long-range precision-guided munitions kit onto a 1,000-pound high-speed, low-drag Mk 83 bomb, giving it the lonest range of its kind worldwide at 120 kilometers, the Emirate company told Defense News.
22 septembre 2020 | International, C4ISR
Mark Pomerleau WASHINGTON — The Army has signed a cooperative research and development deal with Estonia focused on cyber defense and other technologies. The Sept. 14th agreement, signed by the Army Futures Command's Combat Capabilities Development Command's Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center and the ministry of defense, will establish a working group to identify new technologies mutually beneficial to each nation, mostly in the multidomain operations sphere. “This is part of Army Futures Command's' mission: to discover and deliver technology. We're reaching out to pretty much any source that we can find something innovative, whether it's innovative thoughts and ways of doing business or if it's potentially altering a product or modifying it for use by government and by the military,” Brian Lyttle, division chief for cybersecurity at the C5ISR Center, told C4ISRNET in an interview. Under the agreement, the two nations will identify technological areas of mutual interest and share researchers to develop them, Robert Kimball, senior research scientist for cybersecurity at the C5ISR Center, told C4ISRNET. He noted the agreement is in preliminary stages and researchers haven't identified specific projects yet. Andri Rebane, director of the Cyber Defense Department at the Estonian Ministry of Defense, also told C4SIRNET in an emailed response that the joint working group will hold regular meetings to identify those technologies and explore experimentation on those they both agree to. “The ambition is to develop long term research and development projects in cyber defense to encounter the threats from disruptive technologies,” he said. Estonia is considered one of the most digitally connected nations in the world and has continued to up its game in the digital realm following a 2007 cyberattack, largely attributed to Russia. The Army's research and development community wants to chase new technology that can better serve soldiers. “Our mission in the R&D area is to identify those technologies that will benefit the Army as a whole. Our ability to identify those technologies extends far beyond what's available in our own government labs, in research institutions in the United States,” Kimball said. “We're interested in new cyber technologies from wherever they exist. The Estonians have deep capabilities because of their past that they've spent a lot of time working on.” Rebane explained this agreement is part of a larger partnership between the two NATO nations. “In a more practical view the two parties can leverage their vast experience to invest into new research and development to mitigate cyber threats across the spectrum of conflict. In the long term this agreement will benefit also our other allies countering the threats emerging from the shared cyberspace,” he said. Lyttle noted that the Army – and Department of Defense – will never fight alone and thus agreements like this help to foster greater interoperability with coalition partners. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/09/21/army-mints-new-cyber-research-and-development-agreement-with-estonia/
28 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
China's state media has issued a fresh warning for Australia, after a TV appearance by the US Secretary of State sparked a diplomatic storm. China's state media says Australia should “be well prepared to be abandoned at any time” by the United States, after a TV appearance by the Secretary of State sparked a diplomatic storm. The Chinese government-owned Global Times newspaper urged Australia to side with China, drawing on recent remarks from Mike Pompeo that the US could “simply disconnect” from us at any time. “Obviously, what is on the mind of Pompeo and his likes is only US self-interests, and Washington is not going to foot the bill for the lost Australian jobs,” the article says. “Australia is already in a passive position in the face of wavering US policy. Canberra is forced to pick a side between Beijing and the Washington even when it is loath to jeopardise its relationship with China.” On Sunday, Mr Pompeo spoke to Sky News Australia about a proposal by the Victorian state government to work with China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). “I don't know the nature of those projects precisely, but to the extent they have an adverse impact on our ability to protect telecommunications from our private citizens, or security networks for our defence and intelligence communities, we will simply disconnect, we will simply separate,” Mr Pompeo said. “We're going to preserve trust in networks for important information. We hope our friends and partners and allies across the world, especially our Five Eyes partners like Australia, will do the same.” The remarks raised eyebrows in Canberra, and prompted the US embassy in Australia to issue a statement making clear the US had “absolute confidence in the Australian government's ability to protect the security of its telecommunications networks and those of its Five Eyes partners”. Based on Mr Pompeo's comments, the Global Times report said “Australia should realise that the US views it only as a lackey”. “The possibility that the US will not come to Australia's rescue when needed is nothing new,” it said. “While the US maintains its global hegemony by running roughshod over the interests of its allies, it does not offer any rewards.” The report concluded by accusing Prime Minister Scott Morrison of “not taking the interests of people in each state seriously”, after the PM said the federal government had never supported Victoria's involvement in the trillion-dollar project. “Boosting employment and economic opportunities is one of the essential tasks for every government, especially local governments. As the US tries to block Victoria's BRI deal, what alternatives does the US offer?” It's just the latest in a series of targeted messages from the Chinese government. Yesterday, the same newspaper warned Australia to “distance” itself from the US amid growing tensions between the two countries, saying it would be “extremely dangerous” for Canberra to get involved in a “new cold war”. “If the Trump administration plunges the world into a ‘new Cold War', forcing China to take countermeasures against the US and its allies, it would be extremely dangerous for Canberra to become a player in a diplomatic club led by the US, given Australia's high dependence on the Chinese economy,” the article said. “Once Australia is regarded as a supporter of the US in a ‘new Cold War', China-Australia economic ties will inevitably suffer a fatal blow. “Australia's economic deterrent force is much smaller than the US', so China to some extent will enjoy more room to fight back against Australia with countermeasures if Canberra supports Washington ... it means Australia may feel more pain than the US.” The debate over trade has intensified as the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic becomes more pronounced. The US, which is closing in on 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, is trying to pin the blame squarely on the Chinese Communist Party, while Beijing says the Trump administration is trying to keep it from becoming a global power. Meanwhile, there have been reports China is considering targeting more Australian exports, with Chinese authorities reportedly drawing up a list of potential goods including dairy, wine, seafood and fruit, which could be subject to tariffs if relations continue to sour. https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/prepare-to-be-abandoned-china-seizes-on-mike-pompeos-disconnection-comment/news-story/36eebb8c45e9486fe0437124b2936449