USAF launches huge upgrade program for its F-16s - Skies Mag

Sur le même sujet

• 

  30 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Air Force Eyes New Industrial Base Model

  7/29/2020 By Connie Lee The Air Force wants to shake up the industrial base and is looking to move away from relying on large, traditional prime contractors and instead bring in new talent, the service's top weapons buyer said. The service needs “a new industrial base model that's not a defense industrial base model,” said Will Roper, the Air Force's assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics. “We have to have a new model that encourages companies to come in and work with [the] military, but not necessarily put them on a path to become a defense prime.” Such an approach would help the United States counter adversaries such as China, which has a larger industrial base, Roper said during a webinar hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The 2018 National Defense Strategy listed China as a great power competitor. “Our defense primes are going to continue to be heavy movers and shakers for us, but we're not going to win against China long term” without bringing in additional industry players, he said. “If they've got a nationalized industrial base, they have access to their entire talent pool. They have access to every company that's within their border. And we are only working with a small subset” of industry. To encourage these changes, the service has been taking steps such as setting up AFVentures.The effort is a collaboration between the Air Force Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Program and AFWERX to invest in companies that may have technology useful to the military. Some of the funding is coming from private investors. Over the last year and a half, the service has added over 1,000 companies to its industrial roster, Roper said. Many of these firms are working on research-and-development prototypes, which may lead to contracts for steady work later down the road, he noted. Through AFWERX, the Air Force has been giving out awards and making different levels of “bets” on technology, with small bets totaling between $50,000 to $75,000; medium bets worth between $1 million to $3 million; and big bets from $5 million to $50 million, according to the service. “It begins with getting companies through that front door so that they can move on to steady-state contracts and programs of record supporting the warfighters,” Roper said. Until recently the push to move away from the standard defense industrial base model through AFWERX has only been experimental, he noted. The service must make it the standard practice for acquiring new weapons, he said. “This is the year that we have to make it codified, steady-state across the Air and Space Force,” he said. “It's imperative. It's the bread and butter of winning the competition long term.” https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/7/29/air-force-eyes-new-industrial-base-model

• 

  11 juin 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre

  A Bourges, la DGA se prépare aux nouvelles formes de combat

  Mini-drones, véhicules blindés collaboratifs, neutralisation des engins explosifs... La Direction générale de l'armement prépare les matériels aux nouvelles formes de combat. Des mini-drones et des robots attendent, posés sur les tables et sur le sol dans un grand hangar. Au centre technique d'armement terrestre de Bourges (Cher), les experts de la Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) disposent d'une habitation avec ses pièces, ses cloisons, ses meubles, son escalier... De quoi tester en grandeur nature la maniabilité de ces équipements et surtout leur capacité à dénicher un individu dans un local inconnu. Discrets ou volumineux, sur roues ou sur chenilles, destinés au grand public ou directement conçus pour un usage militaire, les produits testés sont très variés. "Leurs caméras embarquées agissent comme des yeux déportés. Cela évite de mettre les vies des soldats en danger", explique le chef du laboratoire robotique de la DGA, à la tête d'une équipe de 16 experts. Avant de les mettre dans les mains des militaires, ils s'assurent que ces robots ont les capacités prévues, notamment en termes d'autonomie, de résolution et de transmission[...] https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/a-bourges-la-dga-se-prepare-aux-nouvelles-formes-de-combat.N698834

• 

  30 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Germany walks away from Lockheed, Boeing cargo helicopter offers

  Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The German Defence Ministry wants to start fresh on a new heavy transport helicopter after finding that offers from American firms Boeing and Lockheed Martin for the Chinook and the King Stallion, respectively, were too expensive, officials announced Tuesday. The surprise decision halts an acquisition race that was scheduled to a see a contract awarded in 2021. The two companies delivered their initial proposals for the program, aimed at replacing Germany's aging CH-53G helicopters, in January 2020. A request for a second proposal was expected by the end of this year. The move comes as the budget implications of the coronavirus crisis are starting to materialize, despite leaders' pledges to keep military spending high. Given that context, other programs are also expected to be on shaky ground, according to sources in Berlin. Officials canceled the helicopter race — locally known as Schwerer Transporthubschrauber, or STH — because the government deemed offers by the defense giants as “uneconomical,” a Defence Ministry statement read. The chance of meeting all requirements while adhering to the envisioned multibillion-dollar budget would be “unlikely,” officials wrote. The STH program was initially planned to be a poster child for a no-frills, off-the-shelf purchase that's easy on the defense budget. But acquisition officials kept piling on requirements to such a degree that it surprised some industry executives associated with the bidders, Defense News reported earlier this year. Also included in the government's requirements was a decades-long maintenance scheme under which contractors had to guarantee certain availability rates. Tobias Lindner, the Green Party's point man in the Bundestag for defense issues, called the helicopter program's a “bitter sign” for Germany's soldiers. He argued the Defence Ministry had been naive in its approach to the much-needed acquisition. “A new competition alone won't solve that problem,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/09/29/germany-walks-away-from-lockheed-boeing-cargo-helicopter-offers/