19 août 2024 | Terrestre
21 juin 2023 | International, Aérospatial
U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin said on Wednesday it was continuing to work with the government on capability and performance upgrades for its F-35 jets.
29 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial
By: Kirk Pysher In a few months, the U.S. Air Force will choose two of the four competing space companies to provide five years of launches in the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program. One of the core objectives for this program is to increase affordability by leveraging the technologies and business models of the commercial launch industry. Is that a realistic expectation given the current commercial space market and historical precedents? Historically, the commercial launch market has seen significant variability. Launches of commercial communication satellite constellations began in the early 1970s with NASA serving as the launch provider. New launch providers began to emerge from the commercial world after the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984 allowed the private sector to provide launch services. We then witnessed a remarkable growth in commercial space launches in the 1990s that peaked just before the turn of the century. Then, until about 2014, the commercial launch market stabilized at 20-25 commercial geostationary orbit satellites per year that were split essentially between three global launch suppliers. Since then, new entrants into the commercial launch market and pricing pressure from terrestrial-based communication systems have significantly impacted the viability of the commercial launch market, reducing profit margins and returns on investment across the board. The expected 20-25 commercial GEO missions is now in the range of 10-15 launches per year and is expected to remain at that level beyond the NSSL five-year period of performance. With new entrants into the commercial launch market, that 40-50 percent reduction in annual launch opportunities will now be competed among seven to eight global launch providers, putting further pressure on the viability of those launchers. Additionally, commercial launch revenue is also expected to decrease over that period by as much as 30 percent as satellite operators look to reduce their launch cost through shared launch, smaller spacecraft and reduced launch pricing. Given the projected commercial launch market and additional competition from new entrants, launch service providers will have difficultly building and maintaining viable commercial launch business plans, let alone having commercial launch-driven capital to invest in new technology. History has proven that no commercial launch service provider can succeed without having an anchor government customer. The commercial launch market simply has not been able to provide the stable, long-term demand needed to maintain affordable pricing, innovation and factory throughput for the Air Force to benefit from. History has also demonstrated that it is the Air Force with NSSL since 2003 that has provided the launch service providers with a stable number of launches. The defense and commercial launch markets have a fundamental difference. The former focuses strictly on satisfying national security mission requirements in space — needs that are driven by risk, strategy and geopolitical events regardless of vulnerabilities in commercial markets. The defense market began in the late 1950s with industry designing, developing and building launch vehicles for the U.S. government to place critical national security satellites into orbit. Early on, we saw a large number of launches in the beginning — peaking at more than 40 in 1966 — before activity levels decreased to level out by 1980. After more than 400 launches of defense-related satellites, the defense launch market finally settled into an average eight launches annually, whereas the commercial launch market is strictly tied to the ability of global satellite operators to close business plans and obtain institutional and/or private funding on new and replacement satellites. The global COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the vulnerability of all commercial markets. Airlines, aircraft manufacturers and commercial space companies are needing to seek tens of billions of dollars in government assistance; and private commercial space investors are also reassessing their risk postures, as is demonstrated by the recent OneWeb bankruptcy filing. Given the projected decline in commercial launch along with the historical precedents, there would be significant risk for the Air Force to expect to leverage benefit from commercial launch. In fact, I believe history has demonstrated that it is commercial launch that is able to leverage the benefits derived from the steady cadence of defense and civil government launches. The Air Force, in its role as anchor customer, needs to clearly understand commercial market dependencies and business cases of its key providers. With that understanding, the Air Force will mitigate any risk of critical national security missions being dependent on a finicky and fluctuating commercial market. Kirk Pysher is an aerospace executive with more than 20 years in the commercial launch market, serving most recently as the president of International Launch Services until October 2019. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/04/28/will-commercial-and-military-launch-programs-ever-be-truly-complementary/
17 juin 2020 | Local, Aérospatial
David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen The cost of modernizing the planes used by the Snowbirds aerobatic team has more than doubled and could end up costing more than three times the original amount because of the needed upgrades. The Department of National Defence had budgeted $26 million to keep the Snowbirds aircraft operating until at least 2030, according to a briefing provided to aerospace industry representatives last year in Ottawa and obtained by this newspaper. DND officials couldn't explain Monday the difference in the cost estimates but when aerospace industry representatives were briefed last year the project at that point included modernizing aircraft avionics. The project details on the DND website have added a new ejection seat as well as modernized communications and navigation equipment for the Snowbirds CT-114 Tutor jets. Questions about the ejection seats in the Tutor aircraft fleet emerged after Capt. Jennifer Casey, the team's public affairs officer, died on May 17 when the Snowbirds aircraft she was a passenger in crashed in Kamloops, B.C. Video of the incident appears to show Casey and Capt. Richard MacDougall, the pilot of the CT-114 Tutor aircraft, eject from the plane shortly before it slammed into the ground. MacDougall survived with serious injuries. A Canadian Forces flight safety team has focused its investigation into the crash on a possible bird strike as well as on the performance of the aircraft's escape system, the team noted in a statement. A witness at the crash scene claimed that Casey's parachute did not open. The Canadian military knew in 2016 the ejection seat on Snowbirds aircraft needed to be upgraded but it acknowledged it is still only in the early stages of modernizing that system. The Royal Canadian Air Force has now started a project to upgrade the parachutes on the ejection seats. During the briefing last year, aerospace industry officials were told a request for bids to upgrade the Tutor jets would be issued next year. A contract would be awarded that same year, the briefing noted. The first of the upgraded CT-114 Tutors would be ready for the Snowbirds in 2022, according to the industry briefing. The project would be finished by 2025 with all upgraded planes delivered by then. “The project will life extend the CT-114 Tutor until the year 2030,” industry officials were told. The avionics upgrade is required if the planes are to continue flying in North American airspace. The Department of National Defence stated in an email to this newspaper that the analysis of what is needed for the aircraft modernization is almost complete. “The project is progressing into definition where design, engineering and prototyping will take place over the next 18 months,” the email noted. The cost to modernize the Tutors pales in comparison with the proposed price tag for replacing the aircraft. That project could cost between $500 million and $1.5 billion, according to the DND. The planes have been in the Canadian Forces inventory since 1963 and have been used by the Snowbirds since 1971. The Tutors were supposed to have been retired in 2010, but that date was then extended to 2020. The latest extension allows the aircraft to fly until at least 2030. The Royal Canadian Air Force, however, is facing a potential dilemma with replacing the aircraft. The federal government has indicated it wants the aerobatic team to continue operating and the Snowbirds are seen as a key public relations tool for the military. But some in the Canadian Forces have privately questioned spending money on the Snowbirds because they do not directly contribute combat capabilities to the air force. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/modernization-program-for-snowbirds-aircraft-jumps-in-price