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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10 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial

Accord belgo-britannique pour une participation à l'Eurofighter
Le groupe de défense et de sécurité britannique BAE Systems et les entreprises aéronautiques belges ont signé ce jeudi soir à Bruxelles un accord non exclusif de coopération. Il fixe les modalités de la participation de l'industrie belge au programme de l'avion de combat Eurofighter en cas de choix de cet appareil pour succéder aux F-16 vieillissants. BAE Systems et des représentants des trois associations régionales - Entreprises wallonnes de l'aéronautique (EWA), Brussels Aeronautical Group (BAG) à Bruxelles et Flemish Aerospace Group (FLAG) en Flandre se sont mis d'accord sur les modalités d'une éventuelle collaboration si le gouvernement fédéral opte pour l'Eurofighter - Typhoon, avion de chasse britannique, pour remplacer les F-16 de l'armée belge. Ce partenariat associe aussi les "clusters" qui leur sont liés, a-t-on expliqué de source industrielle en marge de la cérémonie de signature, organisée par l'ambassade du Royaume-Uni, qui promeut l'Eurofighter - Typhoon pour les Britanniques - en Belgique. Cet accord chapeaute en quelque sorte ceux déjà signés séparément par les industriels belges et les partenaires du consortium Eurofighter, rassemblant les trois principaux groupes européens du secteur - BAE Systems, Airbus Defence&Space (ASD) et Leonardo. L'accord est non-exclusif car des industriels belges ont également conclu des ententes avec le groupe américain Lockheed Martin, constructeur du chasseur furtif F-35 Lightning II, et avec le groupement français qui propose, hors d'appel d'offres, le Rafale de Dassault Aviation. Il doit servir de tremplin pour discuter de la participation de l'industrie belge à la maintenance et au soutien d'une flotte belge d'Eurofighter, au développement des capacités futures de cet appareil européen et à la définition d'une plate-forme de combat aérien future. Le gouvernement Michel souhaite acheter 34 nouveaux chasseurs, pour un montant initial de près de 3,6 milliards d'euros. https://www.lecho.be/entreprises/defense-aeronautique/accord-belgo-britannique-pour-une-participation-a-l-eurofighter/10047057.html
27 avril 2018 | International, Aérospatial

Companies unveil Eurodrone model at Berlin Air Show
By: Sebastian Sprenger BERLIN ― Airbus, Dassault and Leonardo have revealed the first full-scale model of an envisioned European drone at the Berlin Air Show, upping the the visibility ― and scrutiny ― of a project meant to epitomize the continent's growing military profile. Thursday's mock-up unveiling was orchestrated with big fanfare on the tarmac of Schönefeld airport south of the German capital. Featuring climactic music, lights and dissipating smoke, the ceremony organizers were lucky enough to catch a momentary break between a hefty mix of rain showers, sunshine and wind gusts, considered typical April weather here. The medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft rides on a twin-turboprop propulsion system and will come in a strike-capable configuration when it reaches the actual flying stage in the mid-2020s. Germany, France, Italy and Spain have a hand in the program, though only the first three are considered the principal main industry partners, with Germany's Airbus in the lead. Notably, companies are building the unmanned plane so it can operate immediately in the dense European airspace. Past practice of first acquiring a drone and later worrying about requisite certifications has proven to be problematic, especially for the Germans. The mock-up is based on a vehicle configuration agreed by the partner nations in mid-2017. In January, the program passed a systems requirements review, prompting another study phase that should last through 2018 and lead to another milestone, a “system preliminary design review,” the companies wrote in a statement. “While still a lot of work lies ahead of us, this full-scale model represents a first milestone of what Europe can achieve in a high-technology sector if it bundles its industrial strength and know-how,” said Dirk Hoke, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space. Hoke told reporters he views the approach to the drone as a learning experience for a new combat aircraft development that is on the horizon between Germany and France. In addition, he told Defense News there is some hope of redemption for problem-plagued projects of the past. For example, the European drone will come in one base configuration for all the countries that users can then move to expand, avoiding too many separate build types that came to haunt the A-400M, Hoke said. “This is a chance to prove that we can work in a different way together,” he said. One of the configurations will entail a strike package, though officials said they had yet to think about the particulars of that mission set. In an apparent nod to Germany, Hoke told Defense News that the combat capability would depend on political sensitivities in each user nations, and that customers can opt to solely install the reconnaissance features. Armed drones are a thorny subject in Germany, as the weapons conjure up images of the U.S. government's targeted killing of suspected terrorists, which many in the country reject. By the time the issue of armaments comes up for the Eurodrone, however, there may already be a resolution. That's because upcoming parliamentary decisions could lead to Germany's first-ever armed drone, the Heron TP, leased through Airbus from Israel. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2018/04/26/companies-unveil-eurodrone-model-at-berlin-air-show/
23 septembre 2024 | International, Terrestre

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

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