Un rapport parlementaire évoque l’idée de porter le budget de la Défense à 2,5% du PIB

Sur le même sujet

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  28 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial

  MDA group president notes opportunities for Canada in space

  MDA Press Release Canada's role and potential involvement in the growing new space economy require a commitment from the Government of Canada for a new space strategy that would secure Canada's place as a leader in space, Mike Greenley, the group president of MDA, a Maxar company, said in a speech to the Canadian Club in Ottawa. “We need a long-term space plan for Canada that establishes the requisite funding to maintain and enhance our existing world-leading capabilities in space robotics, satellite communications, Earth observation and space science, while cultivating new areas of leadership. And we need it now, because there are pressing decisions that need to be made,” said Greenley. The most urgent question facing Canada is whether the country will participate in the international space community's next big exploration project. As governments wind down their investments in the International Space Station, the leading spacefaring nations, including the United States, Europe, Japan and Russia, are planning a return to the Moon in the 2020s. NASA is planning to build a small space station that orbits the Moon, which will serve as a base for lunar exploration, a platform for science experiments, and a gateway to explore deeper space. Canada's commitment would involve the development of a third-generation Canadarm, the iconic Canadian space robotics technology featured prominently on the five dollar bill. Canadian space robotics would provide highly visible, innovative and critical lunar gateway operations, including the assembly of the gateway itself (and its ongoing maintenance), the capture of visiting spacecraft, and the enabling of science conducted in the lunar vicinity. Given the distance to the Moon, these advanced space robotics would need to operate autonomously, powered by Canadian AI technology. Subsequent contributions could involve lunar rovers and space medicine technology. “The international community expects Canada to participate in this mission and to provide the advanced robotics systems for the Lunar Gateway, our area of expertise that no other country does better,” said Greenley. “It is Canada's role for the taking.” “Making a commitment to participate in the Lunar Gateway as part of the upcoming space strategy would maintain and enhance Canada's acknowledged world leadership in space robotics and signal to the world that Canada plans to claim its place in the new space economy,” said Greenley. “The value of the global space market reached US$380 billion in 2017, and analysts forecast it will grow to be a multi-trillion-dollar market in the coming decades.” Participation in space will not only accelerate innovation and fuel Canada's future competitiveness, but will also maintain our country's ability to influence the global discussion around space, said Greenley. “We know how important it is for Canada to be part of the conversation,” said Greenley. “A re-commitment to space would enhance our ability to participate in shaping developments in space and bolster emerging areas of Canadian expertise like space law.” Greenley said MDA and other partners in the Canadian space industry will spend this fall talking to Canadians and elected officials about the importance of space. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/mda-group-president-notes-opportunities-for-canada-in-space

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  14 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  We Need $10B to Pay Contractors’ Coronavirus Expenses, Pentagon Tells Congress

  It's the first time a defense official has put a specific price tag on DoD's COVID relief efforts. The Pentagon needs Congress to approve “around $10 billion” to cover defense contractors' coronavirus-related expenses, a top defense official said Monday. Alan Shaffer, deputy defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, became the first Defense Department official to put a price tag on the relief effort. “If there is another supplemental or stimulus package for realistic economic adjustment, we could be looking at somewhere around $10 billion in additional program costs,” Shaffer said during a taped appearance on the Government Matters television show that aired Monday afternoon. Also on Monday, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow told Fox Business that the Trump administration is putting together a fourth coronavirus stimulus package. The CARES Act allows defense companies to recoup money they used to keep employees working amid the pandemic. While Congress authorized these reimbursements, they did not appropriate the funding. Until now, Pentagon officials have been vague in saying how much money was needed to cover the costs. During a June 11 House Armed Services Committee hearing, Ellen Lord, the defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, said the Defense Department would request in the “lower end” of “tens of billions of dollars.” Last week, defense analyst Jim McAleese estimated that between $12 billion and $15 billion would be needed to cover companies' coronavirus expenses. If Congress does not appropriate the funds, the Pentagon would likely cut weapons buying and research funding to cover the costs, the CEOs of most major U.S. defense firms wrote in a July 7 letter to White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. Factory shutdowns and trouble receiving parts from suppliers in the U.S. and globally have caused manufacturing disruptions across weapons programs. The current spike in COVID-19 cases in the southern United States in Florida, Texas, and Arizona, states with large defense manufacturing hubs, further disruptions to weapons projects are possible. “We're going to be at this for a while,” Schaffer said. “The exact number of months — your crystal ball is as good as mine.” Pentagon officials have been closely monitoring the aviation sector, where a substantial drop in commercial airline passenger travel has prompted airlines to ground planes and cancel new aircraft orders. In recent weeks, the Pentagon has awarded more than $400 million in bailouts to aviation, shipbuilding, space and even textile companies that manufacture military uniforms. Shaffer in the interview that aired Monday said more bailouts through so-called Defense Production Act Title 3 might be necessary. “I think we're going to have to look at what we can do through Defense Production Act title 3 [and] through other mechanisms to make sure that we remain viable in the aircraft [industry],” he said. “We've seen some projections from the industry that suggest the aircraft industry will take two to three years to rebound.” While Shaffer said “shipbuilding should be OK,” he said, “we're watching the space industrial sector very closely because we've seen a contraction in the commercial side for space launch.” Major U.S. defense firms are scheduled to report second-quarter earnings before the end of the month. https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/07/we-need-10b-pay-contractors-coronavirus-expenses-pentagon-tells-congress

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  29 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  COVID-19 Alters DOD View Of Supply Chain

  Lee Hudson The spread of the novel coronavirus has changed the way the Defense Department views its supply chain and the military is beginning to understand where the industrial base is “hyper efficient but very brittle,” according to the U.S. Navy acquisition executive. The Pentagon is discovering there are components made by either a single supplier or an overseas supplier that is impacted by COVID-19, Hondo Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, told reporters April 28. Geurts said the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing the Pentagon to dig deeper into understanding various supply chain elements. This allows the military to begin making deliberate choices in where it needs additional “resilience” or “flexibility, he said. “We meet now weekly at the department level to have a look through industrial base concerns, issues, hot spots or strategic challenges,” Geurts said. “That's one of the areas that I view, when we come out of this, that needs to be a normal course of business.” The Pentagon identified Mexico and India as countries where the defense industrial base is being hit hard by supplier closures, Ellen Lord, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters April 20. Geurts said it is not that other nations do not deem defense work as essential, but they are facing different circumstances with the novel coronavirus. His team is looking at various programs where there are overseas supply chains and understanding how they are operating or not during this time. The Navy not only has many contracts with suppliers in Mexico, but also in Italy and Spain. “We're just keeping an eye on it,” Geurts said. “We have flexibility and may have programs that rephase elements of construction or use stock we have on hand.” Separately, since commercial aviation is being hard hit by COVID-19, the Pentagon is specifically focusing on propulsion contractors to put in orders during this time by rephasing work. For example, the military did not intend to purchase an engine until three months from now, but because of the global pandemic will submit an order early. “There'll be a natural limitation of funding, so we can't do that infinitely, but we're looking to leverage all the different tool sets we have,” Geurts said. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/supply-chain/covid-19-alters-dod-view-supply-chain