25 août 2021 | International, Aérospatial

What Is Going On With Midmarket Aerospace Mergers and Acquisitions? | Aviation Week Network

A flurry of headlines makes it seem the middle of the A&D industry is going to dwindle to just a few companies.

https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/manufacturing-supply-chain/what-going-midmarket-aerospace-mergers-acquisitions

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  • Here’s the Army’s latest electronic warfare project

    4 janvier 2019 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR

    Here’s the Army’s latest electronic warfare project

    By: Mark Pomerleau Europe's increasingly contested environments have required increasingly complex electronic warfare planning tools. Vehicles, however, can't house the power of command posts, so the Army is adapting an existing system for the tactical edge. The Electronic Warfare Planning and Management Tool, or EWPMT, is a command-and-control planning capability that allows commanders and soldiers to visualize on a screen the effects of electronic warfare in the field. As part of efforts to provide soldiers additional capabilities for EWPMT ahead of the program's scheduled add-ons — an effort dubbed Raven Claw — the Army received feedback that troops at the vehicle or platform level don't need the full application required at command posts. This feedback coincided with other observations from the Raven Claw deployment, which officials said were mixed. “It does what it's supposed to do, but it requires a lot of computing capacity and also it requires a lot of inputs from the [electronic warfare officers] right now,” Col. Mark Dotson, the Army's capability manager for electronic warfare, told C4ISRNET in a November interview. In response, a new effort called Raven Feather “will address both processing consumption and critical EW tasks required at the vehicle/platform level,” Lt. Col. Jason Marshall, product manager for electronic warfare integration at Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, told C4ISRNET in response to written questions. “Raven Feather will provide a more tactically focused Graphical User Interface as part of the EWPMT Raven Claw system mounted in the vehicle or loaded into the Mounted Family of Computer Systems (MFoCS).” Dotson added that the Army is eyeing lighter versions of the capability that could be available for lower echelons that may not need as much modeling and simulation. “We're looking at ways to tailor it specifically to the echelon, and then that will help us with the platform we need to put it on,” he said. The modeling and simulation might be important at the staff officer level, he added, but he questioned whether that computing power is needed at the micro-tactical level. https://www.c4isrnet.com/electronic-warfare/2019/01/03/heres-the-armys-latest-electronic-warfare-project

  • Leonardo and the Polish Armaments Group unveil next-gen W-3 helicopter concept

    5 septembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

    Leonardo and the Polish Armaments Group unveil next-gen W-3 helicopter concept

    Leonardo, through its industrial pillar in the Polish helicopter sector PZL-Świdnik, and the Polish Armaments Group, jointly with the Polish aviation industry and R&D centers, is presenting a next-generation multirole military helicopter concept based on a legacy W-3 Sokół platform at MSPO 2019. The new concept comprises state-of-the-art technologies offered by the Polish aviation industry. In the future this solution could meet the requirements of the Polish Armed Forces for a new generation of battlefield support helicopters. The collaborative project oversees a major modification of the W-3 platform which is the basis of the helicopter fleet of the Polish Armed Forces. Only the latest and already tested technologies available on the market have been used for the new concept, without compromising the Polish military needs through the guarantee of shorter delivery times, high level of reliability and savings in terms of the acquisition and operating costs. The helicopter will be equipped with new blades and main rotor and a fully digital avionics system, covering a glass cockpit, flight management system (FMS), synthetic vision system (SVS), digital maps and terrain avoidance warning system (TAWS), as well as a four-axis digital autopilot, new communication system, an engine FADEC and health & usage monitoring system (HUMS). All of this, combined with mission equipment and additional 200 kg of useful load (owing to an increase from 6,400 kg to 6,600 kg MTOW) will offer remarkable improvement in terms of performance and the operational capability of the helicopter. On display at MSPO 2019 there will be a mock-up of the new generation W-3 concept helicopter's cockpit. This concept further highlights the stringent global standard capabilities of the Polish aviation industry and how it can meet the battlefield demands of the Polish Armed Forces as well as the mission needs of the Polish military end-users. The type will meet latest requirements of NATO countries to remain in service for another 30 years and overcome a design generation gap between previous and latest generation systems. The venture will also see a significant technology transfer from Leonardo to PZL-Świdnik which, in turn, will enable the Polish aviation industry to further consolidate its growth domestically. Gian Piero Cutillo, Leonardo Helicopters' MD, said: “A key significance in the development of the new generation W-3 concept helicopter is through the transfer of technology with a view to guarantee to clients the operational autonomy and the broadest possible involvement of Polish industry. Particularly, the major role of our long-term partner, i.e. the Polish Armaments Group and companies belonging to it, which will be involved to a high degree in all phases of the project starting with the design, through to development, and the production which will support the helicopter into the future.” Sebastian Chwałek, vice president of the Polish Armaments Group, said, “Companies of our group bring into the modernization project several state-of-art solutions and competencies, including among others weapon systems equipped with guided and unguided missiles and firearms. Integration of those solutions on W-3 helicopter will allow this rotorcraft to support effectively soldiers in deployment of the tasks set on them, at the same time guaranteeing to the Armed Forces permanent access to munitions that can be used also by other armies of the NATO.” The next generation W-3 helicopter will provide the Polish Armed Forces with advanced battlefield support capabilities through a wide range of mission equipment, covering fully integrated armaments system (air-to-air missiles, anti-tank missiles, 70mm rocket pods, cannon pods (12.7/20 mm), machine gun installed in a cabin) and an integrated defensive aids system, an electro optical surveillance system, NVG compatibility and head up display. The helicopter will be able to perform a wide range of missions, including troop transport, special forces insertion/extraction, CSAR, intelligence, surveillance and armed reconnaissance, and medevac/casevac. https://www.verticalmag.com/press-releases/leonardo-and-the-polish-armaments-group-unveil-next-gen-w-3-helicopter-concept/

  • BAE wins Marine Corps contract to build new amphibious combat vehicle

    20 juin 2018 | International, Terrestre

    BAE wins Marine Corps contract to build new amphibious combat vehicle

    Jen Judson WASHINGTON — BAE Systems has won a contract to build the Marine Corps' new amphibious combat vehicle following a competitive evaluation period where BAE's vehicle was pitted against an offering from SAIC. The contract allows for the company to enter into low-rate initial production with 30 vehicles expected to be delivered by fall of 2019, valued at $198 million. The Marines plan to field 204 of the vehicles. The total value of the contract with all options exercised is expected to amount to about $1.2 billion. The awarding of the contract gets the Corps “one step closer to delivering this capability to the Marines,” John Garner, Program Executive Officer, Land Systems Marine Corps, said during a media round table held Tuesday. But the Corps isn't quite done refining its new ACV. The vehicle is expected to undergo incremental changes with added new requirements and modernization. The Corps is already working on the requirements for ACV 1.2, which will include a lethality upgrade for the amphibous vehicle. BAE's ACV vehicle will eventually replace the Corps' legacy amphibious vehicle, but through a phased approach. The Assault Amphibious Vehicle is currently undergoing survivability upgrades to keep the Cold War era vehicle ticking into 2035. BAE Systems and SAIC were both awarded roughly $100 million each in November 2015 to deliver 16 prototypes to the Marine Corps for evaluation in anticipation of a down select to one vendor in 2018. [BAE, SAIC Named as Finalists in Marines ACV Competition] All government testing of the prototypes concluded the first week of December 2017 and the Marine Corps issued its request for proposals the first week in January 2018. Operational tests also began concurrently. Government testing included land reliability testing, survivability and blast testing and water testing — both ship launch and recovery as well as surf transit. Operational evaluations included seven prototypes each from both SAIC and BAE Systems, six participated and one spare was kept for backup. BAE Systems' partnered with Italian company Iveco Defense Vehicles to build its ACV offering. [BAE Systems completes Amphibious Combat Vehicle shipboard testing] Some of the features BAE believed were particularly attractive for a new ACV is that it has space for 13 embarked Marines and a crew of three, which keeps the rifle squad together. The engine's strength is 690 horsepower over the old engine's 560 horsepower, and it runs extremely quietly. The vehicle has a V-shaped hull to protect against underbody blasts, and the seat structure is completely suspended. SAIC's vehicle, which was built in Charleston, South Carolina, offered improved traction through a central tire-inflation system to automatically increase or decrease tire pressure. It also had a V-hull certified during tests at the Nevada Automotive Test Center — where all prototypes were tested by the Marine Corps — and had blast-mitigating seats to protect occupants. The 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton, California, is expected to receive the first ACV 1.1 vehicles. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2018/06/19/bae-wins-marine-corps-contract-to-build-new-amphibious-combat-vehicle/

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