13 avril 2023 | International, Naval

US Navy, Marines push to make virtual training more real

The sea services want to be able to practice complex scenarios in a training and simulation environment that pulls together all-domain sailors and Marines.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/naval/2023/04/13/us-navy-marines-push-to-make-virtual-training-more-real/

Sur le même sujet

  • Possible New 'Engine War' Recasts Pratt As Champion Of Competition

    16 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    Possible New 'Engine War' Recasts Pratt As Champion Of Competition

    By Steve Trimble Pratt & Whitney's F100 (pictured) is designed to be interchangeable with GE Aviation's F110 as the engine for the Boeing F-15 fleet. A jet engine maker is pressuring the U.S. Defense Department to scrap a plan to award a sole-source contract to a rival for a fleet of new fighters and investigate the opportunity for performance and cost improvements yielded by a competitive selection process. If that narrative sounds familiar, it is because it echoes a role GE Aviation played for more than 40 years, which included a successful bid in the 1980s to launch the “Great Engine War” over the F-15 and F-16 fleets and a failed campaign that ended almost a decade ago to establish the F136 as the alternate engine for the F-35. This time, however, the roles are reversed. Pratt & Whitney, which waged fierce lobbying campaigns against competitive engine policies for the F-15, F-16 and F-35, has switched sides in the debate. In response to the U.S. Air Force's decision to field the F-15EX into production powered solely by GE F110 engines, Pratt has filed two protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is scheduled to render judgments on both cases by early July. The Air Force sided with GE during the Great Engine War in 1984. Seeking to lower costs and motivate Pratt to resolve stall-stagnation problems with the original F100, the Air Force decided that year to split the engine contract for the F-15 and F-16 between GE's F110 and Pratt's F100. Thirty-six years later, the Air Force now worries about the schedule impact if the GAO sustains either or both of Pratt's protests of the F-15EX engine. Service officials decided to acquire the F-15EX after concluding the F-15C/Ds were too costly to sustain and because it would take too long for the Pratt F135-powered F-35A to replace all of them. Pratt's protests threaten to disrupt that schedule and erode the Air Force's original business case for the F-15EX. “If we have to do an engine competition, it will add time—2-3 years,” said Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on March 10. Only a decade ago, Pratt welcomed a vote by Congress in 2010 to cancel funding for the F-35 program's alternate engine, along with a decision by GE and Rolls-Royce a year later to abandon a plan to self-fund the certification of the F136. But Pratt now embraces the potential benefits of an engine competition for the F-15EX. “Our government supports competition at all levels, and we're interested in providing the F100 as a competitive alternative,” Pratt Military Engines President Matthew Bromberg told Aviation Week. “If we're not competitive in terms of capability, schedule [and] price, I get it. But after the U.S. government spent all this money creating two engines for the F-15 and F-16 platforms, why would it then not compete a 450-engine program?” Asked if the existing F100 would require additional development to meet the Air Force's requirements for the F-15EX, Bromberg replied that he cannot answer that question in the absence of a competitive process that allows Pratt access to the specifications. He also noted that the F100 exclusively powers the Air Force's existing fleet of F-15Es. The F100 and F110 were designed to fit interchangeably in the F-15, although the heavily modified Saudi Arabian F-15SA and the Qatari F-15QA from which the F-15EX was derived are exclusively powered by GE's engine. The GAO does not release complaints filed by protesters up front, but it does release the full text of decisions. It is not clear why Pratt filed two separate protests on the sole-source decision for the GE engine on the F-15EX, but Bromberg advised not reading too much into it. “I'd like to obviously be able to discuss them, but I can't because it's a legal process,” Bromberg said. “I would really view them as a single protest on a single procurement action, and that is a lack of competition.” https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/possible-new-engine-war-recasts-pratt-champion-competition

  • Covid-19: More US defence contractors re-open than close for first time since virus struck

    4 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Covid-19: More US defence contractors re-open than close for first time since virus struck

    Pat Host, Washington, DC - Jane's Defence Industry 02 May 2020 For the first time since the coronavirus (Covid-19) reached the United States, more defence contractors re-opened than closed over the past week, according to the Pentagon's top weapons buyer. Ellen Lord, under-secretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment (A&S), told reporters on 30 April that out of the 10,509 companies tracked by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), 93 are closed, which is 13 fewer than last week. Of these, 141 had re-opened, 73 more than last week's tally of 68. Additionally, out of the 11,413 companies tracked by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), 438 are closed while 237 that were closed have re-opened. https://www.janes.com/article/95908/covid-19-more-us-defence-contractors-re-open-than-close-for-first-time-since-virus-struck

  • Eurofighter Receives Final Offer Request from Finland for F-18 Replacement

    3 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial

    Eurofighter Receives Final Offer Request from Finland for F-18 Replacement

    The Eurofighter consortium has received a formal request from the Finnish Defense Forces to send a Best and Final Offer (BAFO) for the purchase of HX fighter to replace the Finnish Air Force's F-18 Hornet. "We believe that in addition to military and industrial interests, the Eurofighter offer, includes everything that Finland needs for the independent operation, maintenance and management of its machines," said Jeremy Quin, the UK Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The consortium is supported by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo. Eurofighter offers Finland and its industry unprecedented access to technology and independent performance, as well as creating high-skilled jobs and wealth," said Herman Claesen, CEO of Eurofighter. In 2020, Eurofighter partner countries committed to investing in technology that will keep the fighter's combat capability at the forefront of competition for the 2060s. The German Air Force has committed to acquire 38 new Eurofighter aircraft to form the core of its future air defense. The UK has pledged to invest in finishing a new, advanced electronically scanning radar. The latest investment will further improve the performance of nearly 500 Eurofighter fighters in the Air Force of five European countries. A common threat and military demands make Eurofighter a strong alternative to Finland. https://www.defenseworld.net/news/28861#.YBqzi-hKiUk

Toutes les nouvelles