6 octobre 2022 | International, Terrestre
US Army eyes new ways to evaluate autonomous vehicles
Winners from a competition will deliver the first prototypes by 2028.
8 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial
USAF Issues Contracts for Supersonic Air Force One
- September 4, 2020, 12:56 PM
Exosonic and Hermeus—relatively unknown developers of faster-than-the-speed-of-sound passenger aircraft—recently were awarded separate contracts by the U.S. Air Force's Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate to develop executive transports that could be used as Air Force One. The former company is working on a 70-passenger supersonic airplane, while the latter is developing a 20-seat hypersonic airplane.
The contract awarded to Exosonic, which was announced earlier this week, is for the company's low-boom, Mach 1.8 twinjet that would fly U.S. leaders up to 5,000-nm nonstop, allowing them to more quickly meet with world leaders or react to developing situations.
Meanwhile, Hermeus's USAF award granted earlier this month for its Mach 5 airplane comes under an “other transaction for prototype agreement direct to Phase II contract” after the company successfully tested a hypersonic engine prototype in February. The company said it has taken an “off-the-shelf gas turbine engine and operated it at flight speed conditions faster than the famed SR-71.” Though performance and specification data for its Mach 5 jet are scant, it claimed the aircraft will be able to fly from New York to London in about 90 minutes.
Neither company has yet provided development timelines for these airplanes.
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12 septembre 2019 | International, Terrestre
DSEI: UK’s Warrior fleet upgrade about 18 months away from kickoff
By: Andrew Chuter LONDON — Negotiations are underway on a production contract to update the British Army's fleet of Warrior infantry fighting vehicles, according to the Ministry of Defence official running the program. “We are now talking about how we go forward on production,” Marcus Bruton, the MoD's Warrior upgrade director said during an interview at the DSEI show Sept. 10. Bruton said the two sides were probably 18 months away from a contract allowing Lockheed Martin and its supply chain to start upgrading the Warrior. The effort to progress the long running Warrior capability sustainment development program into the manufacturing phase has come on the back of Lockheed Martin successfully achieving 20 battlefield mission assessments – a key milestone in the reliability growth test program now underway. The MoD said in March it would open manufacturing contract negotiations once it was satisfied with progress on reliability trials. In late August Lockheed Martin achieved that milestone. The company said that in cooperation with the British Army Armoured Trials and Development Unit, it had fired thousands of rounds from the new CTAI developed 40 mm cannon, driven more than 5,000 kms, and achieved the battlefield mission assessments with flying colors. Lockheed Martin Warrior program Director Lee Fellows said he is expecting a deal towards the back end of next year. The company is keen to get the production contract signed and sealed but “we need to get it right, so it will take as long as it needs to," he added. "Getting it done at pace and quality aequally important.” Quantities, the mix of variants and affordability are among the items due to be discussed. Discussions on how to overcome issues of design authority ownership is also part of the build up to a production contract, said the officials. BAE holds the design authority on the existing legacy Warrior, but Lockheed Martin holds the approval for the extensive upgrade — particularly the new turret. “The expectation is there will be a collaboration with BAE. We are talking with them already, that's part of the negotiations,” said Fellows. Neither executive will comment on what sort of upgrade numbers the British Army is looking at. Roughly 740 vehicles were delivered to the British Army starting 1988 but a number were lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. A number of vehicles have been earmarked for battlefield support duties that don't require a new turret. At one time the number of hulls to be updated was in the region of 380, but suppliers at a company briefing in March said that as the British Army downsized and budgets became more challenging the figure slipped to around 265 or lower. The Lockheed Martin executive said that the next 18 months or so will bring further reliability growth trials, but that the major risks have been removed and testing had not unearthed any significant problems. The update is considered one of the Army's top priorities alongside other vehicle programs, including the Challenger 2 tank upgrade and procurement of the Boxer mechanized infantry vehicle from German company Artec. Lockheed Martin was awarded a development deal to upgrade Warrior vehicles back in 2011, but the program has been dogged with problems slowing down progress towards a production deal by several years. The update program includes a new turret fitted with the CTAI cannon, electronic architecture, a modular protection systems and other enhancements. It's a much needed update. The current vehicle's inability to fire on the move is just one of a number of shortcomings deemed to make the Warrior obsolete by current battlefield standards. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/dsei/2019/09/11/uks-warrior-fleet-upgrade-about-18-months-away-from-kickoff
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22 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
Otan : les dépenses militaires européennes progressent encore en 2020
Par Le Figaro avec AFP Les dépenses des pays européens de l'Otan et du Canada en matière de défense vont augmenter pour la sixième année consécutive en 2020, avec un tiers des pays atteignant l'objectif des 2% du PIB, a indiqué mercredi le secrétaire général de l'Otan, Jens Stoltenberg. «Cette année sera la sixième année consécutive de hausse des dépenses militaires par les alliés européens et le Canada, avec une progression réelle de 4,3%. Nous nous attendons à ce que cette tendance se poursuive», a déclaré Jens Stoltenberg lors d'une conférence de presse, à la veille d'une réunion par visioconférence des ministres de la Défense de l'organisation. L'Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord a publié mercredi ses chiffres sur les dépenses de défense de ses membres. D'après ces données, qui ne sont que des estimations pour 2019 et 2020, les États-Unis devraient encore fournir de très loin le plus gros effort budgétaire, avec des dépenses représentant 3,87% de leur PIB. Les pays de l'Otan, Allemagne en tête, sont budgétairement sous la pression du président américain Donald Trump qui leur réclame un effort plus massif pour arriver à l'objectif de dépenses égales à 2% du PIB. Sur les 30 pays membres, 10 se situeraient au-dessus de ce seuil en 2020, dont la Grèce (2,58%), le Royaume-Uni (2,43%), la Pologne (2,30%) et la France (2,11%). Ils n'étaient que trois l'an dernier (États-Unis, Grèce et Royaume-Uni). L'Allemagne resterait encore en dessous (1,57%), tout comme le Canada (1,45%). Les ministres de la Défense des pays de l'Otan doivent se réunir jeudi et vendredi par téléconférence. Parmi les sujets abordés, sera discutée «la juste répartition du fardeau» militaire, a indiqué M. Stoltenberg. https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/otan-les-depenses-militaires-europeennes-progressent-encore-en-2020-20201021