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  • How are the US Army’s modernization plans faring under a pandemic?

    7 avril 2020 | International, Terrestre

    How are the US Army’s modernization plans faring under a pandemic?

    By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army commands in charge of acquisition and modernization are taking it day-by-day as the COVID-19 pandemic worsens in the United States, but so far see minimal impact to production lines and modernization efforts underway. “The Army has been very carefully looking at our industrial base and our ability to maintain programs, both for continued readiness and continued modernization, and, in general, we are still remaining fairly close to being on track,” Bruce Jette, the Army's acquisition chief, told reports in an April 3 teleconference. “That doesn't mean that individual programs or individual issues haven't arisen, but, at this point, we have, we think, in the long run, we can resolve any of the challenges we have at hand,” he added. Jette said he has sent letters out to contracting officers, program managers and program executive officers as well as industry providing them guidance and insight “into how we want to work together as a team, through good constructive and continuous and transparent communications, make sure that we know what's going on in each other's camp well enough that we can respond quickly.” One major point of concern is what might happen with sub-tier suppliers to the bigger prime contractors, Jette said, so the Army is doing what it can to understand challenges that these suppliers might be experiencing if they have to shut down production to keep employees safe and healthy should cases of coronavirus crop up. “We are still working various individual issues,” Jette said. “I track, on a daily basis, about 21 pages... on suppliers down to those lower levels.” That list provides projection for 30, 60 and 90 days, but are updated all the time. So far, Boeing is the only major defense contractor to shut down an Army production line, according to Jette. The company reported late in the evening on April 2 that it would have to halt its H-47 Chinook production line in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, for 10 days to better prevent the spread of the coronavirus after some employees tested positive for the virus. Jette said he didn't believe the work stopping at the Boeing plant would affect the delivery schedule for the H-47s to the force. All other lines are delivering on schedule including the newest version of the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle — the A4 — he said. The fielding of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, Jette said, will be delivered at a “lower density,” but added, “it doesn't mean we won't catch up, it just means that we're slowing down.” Jette also said testing would likely be difficult in the coming months due to “the density packing necessary in some cases and how that puts a lot of people at risk.” The Joint Assault Bridge that was already delayed due to other issues was supposed to go into testing, but that will have to be rescheduled, Jette said. “It became a concern about moving the unit, moving the equipment together, getting all the testers,” he said, “and again, I go back to this issue that sometimes military operations require you to be in very close quarters for extended periods of time and that kind of violates our desire to keep people social distancing at this point.” The 2020 calendar year is also packed with major milestones for the Army's ambitious modernization plans. And as the country's citizens continue to self-isolate, avoid travel and work from home as much as possible, it becomes hard to conduct various tests or prototyping activities to move major programs along. “It's a changing situation, it changes pretty much daily,” Gen. Mike Murray, the Army Futures Command commander, told reporters on the same call. "It is very much a running estimate because it does change each and every day and we're not in control of this timeline, so in many ways, we are adjusting to the timeline to try to keep everything on track as best we The Army is having to take a “slight pause” in some activities, Murray said, such as briefly stopping some testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. “It's not because of a system,” he said. “It's based upon the maintenance of the systems as you test them. ... All the vehicles we're testing have to, daily, go into the maintenance bay to be maintained and so the interaction and the proximity, we just have to work through some mitigation strategies, we should have that done very quickly.” The Army's Interim Mobile Short-Range Air Defense System (IM-SHORAD) is one of the vehicles affected by the pause at APG. The system was undergoing automotive testing. The Army's plan to get to a critical soldier touchpoint or evaluation of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System this summer may be interrupted, Murray said, based on how long social distancing will be needed. “It's not Microsoft itself,” as the company is completely teleworking, but the IVAS deliveries could be affected by sub-suppliers, for example, he said. But, according to Murray, even if the touchpoint is delayed, he said the Army would do what is possible to avoid delaying the first unit equipped and believes, at this time, that the service will stay on schedule for t he initial fielding. The Army also has several major tests and evaluations coming up including a long-awaited Limited User Test (LUT) for its Integrated Air-and-Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS). A delay on the LUT would pile onto years of delays for the troubled program meant to serve as the brains of the Army's future air and missile defense system. And the Army is planning on another flight test of Lockheed Martin's Precision Strike Munition (PrSM) later this month, which will deliver a new long-range precision fires capability to the battlefield. LRPF is the Army's number one modernization priority. “We are working through mitigation strategies to keep both of those on track,” Murray said. “Every day we're readjusting and reevaluating whether we can physically do that or not.” The IBCS LUT and the PrSM test involve an entire community of representatives coming together, he said, but “I'm not ready to say today that either one of those are slipping; those are closer in and we'll work them through to keep them on schedule as best we possibly can. And if the analysis proves that we can't, there's a lot of sequential things that happen in a program; we may have to look at some concurrency.” Murray noted there are plenty of modernization programs that so far remain unaffected and likely will stay on track, such as Future Vertical Lift efforts to bring two future aircraft online in the mid 2030s, the Army's new network and initial work to restart the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle program to replace the Bradley. The Army and the Navy were also able to execute a major hypersonic missile test in March. For now, Murray said, he is focused not on alternative strategies, but how to mitigate impact to current ones. “I'm looking as far out as this fall just to make sure that we can get ahead of it with mitigation strategies," Murray said. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/04/06/can-the-army-stay-on-top-of-modernization-plans-during-covid-pandemic/

  • Think Tank Creates Informal Forum For Japan NGF Talks

    7 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre, C4ISR

    Think Tank Creates Informal Forum For Japan NGF Talks

    Japan's Next Generation Fighter (NGF) acquisition program is the focus of a new informal channel set up by a Washington think tank for Japanese, U.S., British and Australian officials to discuss requirements and expectations. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) held the first meeting in January with 25-30 people. It included government officials, business executives, and think tanks from all four countries, said Patrick Buchan, director of the center's U.S. Alliances Project. Organized as a “Track 1.5” level working group in the language of diplomacy, it represents a middle ground between formal, government-to-government talks and back-channel diplomacy, Buchan said. It is a format that allows government officials to discuss issues privately, with Chatham House rules imposed to avoid public attribution, Buchan says. The chair of the working group is CSIS Vice President for Asia Michael Green. He organized it to help avoid the miscommunications and disappointments of the FS-X program, which led in the late-1980s and early 1990s to Japan's underperforming F-2 fleet, Buchan says. The FS-X collaboration was designed amidst escalating trade tensions in the late 1980s between Japan and the U.S., two otherwise strong Pacific allies. Likewise, the Trump administration's demand for a 400% increase in Japanese payments to the U.S. to subsidize the costs of the U.S. military presence has also created friction within the alliance. The difference between the two eras is that China's military modernization efforts over the past three decades has raised the stakes for the outcome of the NGF development process, Buchan says. Neither side can afford a result that leads to a combat system that falls short of Japan's expectations for capability. Understanding the difficulty of directly engaging Japanese government officials, CSIS conceived of the working group to offer Tokyo an informal channel for discussing the desired capabilities and industrial collaboration for the NGF, Buchan says. In the first meeting, Green posed 12 multiple-choice questions to the group. Each member secretly answered by clicking a button on an individual controller. CSIS plans to release the full list of questions and answers from the first working group later this spring, along with an analysis. One example provided by Buchan was a question about technical compatibility for the NGF. Other than the U.S., the group was asked which country in the Indo-Pacific region should the NGF be compatible with. The possible answers included Australia, India and South Korea. Eighty-three percent of the respondents said the NGF should be compatible with Australia's air force, Buchan says. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/think-tank-creates-informal-forum-japan-ngf-talks

  • How COVID-19 could remake Canada’s military

    7 avril 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    How COVID-19 could remake Canada’s military

    By Elliot Hughes. Published on Apr 6, 2020 10:20am "It's safe to say that everyone involved in defence procurement should expect a significant shift to the right in timelines, and a retrenchment and re-focus towards projects that align with the government's recast military and geopolitical priorities." Since everyone is either overrun with work or inundated with COVID-19 news, here's the bottom line up front (or the BLUF in military jargon): the COVID-19 pandemic will have a material impact on all aspects of Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE), Canada's defence policy. These changes will be felt acutely in defence funding, overseas operations, and defence procurement, though it's too early to predict the scale of the impact. There you have it. You can now go back to watching Tik Tok videos. For those choosing to forge ahead, it was only last week that Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Chief of the Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance laid out the domestic military response plan to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dubbed Op LASER, the plan will prioritize slowing the spread of COVID-19, support vulnerable communities, and assist provincial, territorial and municipal partners, if needed, by mobilizing up to 24,000 regular and reserve force members, all while maintaining the Canadian Armed Force's (CAF) ability to respond to natural disasters in Canada via Op LENTUS. This announcement was preceded by a letter to all CAF members from General Vance where he outlined the global pandemic's impact on Canada's military. In the letter, General Vance tells troops and their families in no uncertain terms that ‘normal activities have changed dramatically'. Too true. But the impacts of COVID-19 won't stop with the women and men in uniform. SSE was a historical investment in Canada's military, with new funding in the tens of billions of dollars ($48.9B on an accrual basis, $62.3B on a cash basis) from a party that some felt was not inherently defence friendly. The 20-year plan set aside hundreds of billions of dollars ($497B on an accrual basis, or $553B on a cash basis) to rebuild, retool, and refocus Canada's military after years of neglect during the Harper years. With unprecedented levels of new funding, DND finally had the plan, the funding, and the political commitment to move forward with confidence, poised to become the agile and adept military of the future. Then the world was hit with a global health crisis. In the face of the pandemic, the federal government has, to date, announced combined direct economic measures and tax deferrals of $190B. The numbers are eye-popping, and the implications of such spending are hard to fathom. The deficit this year and next could creep up towards $200B. Now, there's no question these fiscal measures are necessary and non-structural, meaning they could be unwound depending on how the Canadian economy looks post-COVID-19. The soaring deficits will place tremendous pressure on government to reduce its spending in non-COVID-19 areas in favour of healthcare and related priorities. DND/CAF had already been struggling to spend the money it had been allocated in SSE, and that was before their annual budgets increased significantly. People within and outside of government were beginning to question the department's ability to absorb the money they had been given. It is my view that COVID-19 will force Defence officials, with or without urging from Finance Canada, to use the upcoming five-year review period of SSE to re-assess and re-prioritize the entire strategy. In fact, that work is likely already underway. There are some who suggest that defence spending is a good way to get money flowing back into the domestic economy, particularly through the manufacturing supply chain. And there are areas that should remain off-limits to claw backs including big ticket procurements like the Canadian Surface Combatants (CSC) and Future Fighter Capability Project (FFCP), programs that directly support troops and their families, domestic operations and disaster relief, investments to support the development of defence and security capabilities such as the IDEaS program, IT investments (including in data analytics and updating key IT infrastructure), deferred maintenance, and perhaps most critically, cyber defence. Everything else will be fair game. Ring-fencing and reprioritizing essential programs won't be easy. But under the current circumstances, it's the right thing to do. Every department should be prepared to do the same. Overseas operations, including joint military exercises and training, is another area COVID-19 will have a direct and material impact. At this juncture, it's hard to know how big a role the CAF will be asked to play domestically. The situation in Canada is evolving by the hour. The dreaded peak of the pandemic has yet to hit. While we should remain optimistic, we also need to be realistic. This means the military should be poised to intervene if required. We know that close to a quarter of all active troops are on standby and depending on the severity of the crisis, this number could go up. On any given day, approximately 8,000 troops are involved in some form of deployment – preparing to ship out, actively engaged in theatre, or returning from mission. It's hard to see how this rotation rhythm escapes the reaches of COVID-19. Indeed, General Vance alluded to this in his letter stating, ‘mission postures would be reviewed', and that this year's ‘Annual Posting Season (APS) will be seriously disrupted'. It's likely the pull towards supporting domestic efforts will be strong. That doesn't mean the desire to re-engage internationally won't persist. However, the ability to do so will depend on how the situation unfolds here in Canada, the willingness of countries abroad to welcome back foreign troops, and the impact COVID-19 has on the geopolitical landscape. (This is by no means an endorsement of that view. Canada should do everything it can to remain engaged internationally wherever possible, particularly with respect to humanitarian missions). Cyber defence is one domain we should do everything we can to remain engaged in. But while Canada's expertise and influence on the world stage is undoubtedly a positive one, this global pandemic will inevitably lead to a further focusing of our most critical interests. Defence procurement, and the potential implications of COVID-19, is an area of acute interest to the defence community. This subject could be an entire article in and of itself (and if you're looking for the latest analysis on how DND/CAF was doing on procurement spending I'd encourage you to read David Perry's piece from December 2019). However, broadly speaking, it's worth noting that before this global health crisis hit, DND/CAF were progressing on procurement. Many projects, though not all, were moving ahead, even with the structural constraints and limitations of government processes holding them back. Large procurements, namely jets and ships, were plagued with delays that are expected for any large procurement. Now, given the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, those typical speed bumps are bigger than before. The reality for defence procurement today is that the pace of work has come to a grinding halt. Nearly all personnel across government are working from home. Government IT challenges persist, with DND staff having to coordinate amongst themselves to schedule when they can log on to their system. And any work requiring access to a secured system is a non-starter as this would require being in the office. The Defence department is a bit like an aircraft carrier in that it takes time to get up to full speed and doesn't handle sharp corners very well. This crisis will expose that rigidity. But it isn't simply DND that needs to get back to work for defence procurement to start moving again – it will take a government-wide effort. For the process to run effectively officials from a range of government departments, including Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), Finance Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard and Global Affairs Canada, need to be fully engaged. Today, those Departments are focused almost exclusively on addressing the immediate challenges posed by COVID-19, with this to continue for the foreseeable future. Moreover, one also needs to consider the impact COVID-19 is having on companies bidding on projects. The entire supply chain has been hit and it will take months to get it humming again. How significant an impact this delay will have, and on which projects, is difficult to predict today. But it's safe to say that everyone involved in defence procurement should expect a significant shift to the right in timelines, and a retrenchment and re-focus towards projects that align with the government's recast military and geopolitical priorities. We are still in the early days of this crisis. Government is projecting a return to some sense of normalcy in July, at the earliest. The run-on impacts of that kind of pause are hard to comprehend, with a full understanding of the entirety of COVID-19 impacts likely to take even longer still This is a once-in-a-century event, with every person and institution expected to face indelible consequences. The very nature of the defence department, its size and scope, means we should expect a proportionate impact. https://ipolitics.ca/2020/04/06/how-covid-19-could-remake-canadas-military/

  • Video conference of foreign affairs ministers (defence), 6 April 2020

    6 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Video conference of foreign affairs ministers (defence), 6 April 2020

    We agreed to explore how we could use the military expertise at EU level to support exchange of information and sharing of best practices among Member States. To do so, we could set up a task force with the European External Action Service, led by the EU Military Staff. Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy EU Ministers of defence today held a video conference, chaired by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. Ministers discussed the defence implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing in particular on military assistance in the fight against the crisis, and the situation in the EU's military and civilian missions and operations in the framework of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Defence ministers shared examples of how their armed forces have contributed to the efforts to counter the Covid-19 crisis by providing transport and logistic support, building hospitals in record time, deploying their medical staff, and supporting the police and other national services. In this context it was decided to explore setting up a task force led by the EU Military Staff to better exchange information and share best practices among EU member states. This would be done in full coordination and complementarity with NATO. EU Defence ministers also discussed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the 17 EU CSDP missions and operations around the world, focusing on the six military operations and missions. Ministers highlighted the importance of maintaining EU's presence on the ground, especially in those countries and regions that are already fragile and affected by instability. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/fac/2020/04/06/

  • COVID-19 Funding Opportunities / Possibilités de financement liées à la COVID-19

    6 avril 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    COVID-19 Funding Opportunities / Possibilités de financement liées à la COVID-19

    We have funding opportunities for Canadian innovators who can help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The Public Health Agency of Canada and the National Research Council of Canada are looking for a Point of Care and Home Diagnostic Kit. The National Research Council of Canada has also modified their Low Cost Sensor System challenge to address needs for COVID-19. Think you can solve one of these challenges? Compete for funding to prove your feasibility and develop a solution! COVID-19 Funding Opportunities COVID-19 Challenge - Point of Care and Home Diagnostic Kit for COVID-19 Défi COVID-19 - Trousse de diagnostic au point de service et à domicile pour le COVID-19 COVID-19 Challenge - Low-cost sensor system for COVID-19 patient monitoring Défi COVID-19 – Système de capteurs peu coûteux surveiller l'état des patients atteints de la COVID-19 Nous avons des opportunités de financement pour les innovateurs canadiens qui peuvent aider à lutter contre la pandémie COVID-19. L'Agence de santé publique du Canada et le Conseil national de recherches du Canada sont à la recherche d'un kit de diagnostic aux points de service et à domicile. Le Conseil national de recherches du Canada a également modifié son Défi du système de capteurs peu coûteux pour surveiller l'état des patients pour répondre aux besoins de COVID-19. Vous pensez pouvoir résoudre l'un de ces défis ? Participez pour avoir la chance de recevoir du financement pour prouver votre faisabilité de votre solution et la développer ! Possibilités de financement liées à la COVID-19 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. Vous souhaitez changer la façon dont vous recevez ces courriels? Vous pouvez mettre à jour vos préférences ou retirer votre nom de la liste de distribution.

  • Raytheon Technologies Corp. begins trading on NYSE

    6 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Raytheon Technologies Corp. begins trading on NYSE

    By: Jill Aitoro WASHINGTON — Less than a year after announcing plans to combine into a $121 billion company, Raytheon and United Technologies are officially no more — replaced by the combined entity Raytheon Technologies Corp., which kicked off trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. Listed under the ticker RTX, Raytheon Technologies began selling at $51 a share. With more than 866 million shares outstanding and a market cap of $74.5 billion, that price is bound to shift in the coming days, weeks and months. To put it in perspective, Raytheon closed Thursday at $122.43 a share, and UTC closed at $91.37 a share. With the merger, UTC shareholders owned 57 percent of Raytheon Technologies, and UTC will control eight of the 15 board seats. Tom Kennedy will serve as executive chairman, Greg Hayes as CEO and Toby O'Brien as chief financial officer. Planned divestitures will be completed post merger, though United Technologies did complete the spinoff of HVAC, refrigeration, fire and security solutions company Carrier Global Corp., as well as elevator and escalator manufacturer Otis Worldwide Corp. Both are now trading on the S&P 500. Amid the stock market fallout from the new coronavirus pandemic, Raytheon saw a bigger drop than most pure-play companies, likely due to the increased exposure to the commercial market that came with the merger. However, that could be short-lived, said Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners. “Raytheon has been the worst-performing stock [during the crisis] because they got tied into commercial aerospace through the merger," he told Defense News in an interview. “But going forward, that may be the most interesting [stock] of all because there will be a degree of balance.” https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/04/03/raytheon-technologies-corp-begins-trading-on-nyse/

  • Pentagon denies it seeks to hide future budget information

    6 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Pentagon denies it seeks to hide future budget information

    By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is pushing back on reports that it seeks to classify previously public information about its future spending plans, with the department insisting that the transparency of this information that is public as part of the regular budget rollout process will not change. The Future Years Defense Program provides spending projections for how the Department of Defense plans to invest its money over the coming five-year period. While the numbers are not locked in and regularly change year by year, the projections can provide valuable information to the public and industry about what the department views as priorities and where programs might be going. Information about a legislative proposal from the Pentagon seeking to classify FYDP data was published Monday by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists. Aftergood wrote that the proposal would “make it even harder for Congress and the public to refocus and reconstruct the defense budget.” It is traditional for FYDP numbers to be included as part of the budget rollout, as well as be included in program-by-program breakdowns. However, Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood said that the legislative language is not aimed at information that is currently made public during the normal budget process. Instead, it is focused on a requirement in the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act on what is provided to Congress. “The 2018 NDAA required a formal unclassified version of the FYDP report,” Sherwood said in a statement. “The Department has not to date complied with that request because we are very concerned that providing that level of detail for the outyears might put critical information at risk and breach classification standards." “The DoD is exploring all possible paths forward, including requesting relief from the new requirement, as well as trying to determine how much information can safely be public in addition to all the budget information already made available,” he continued. “It is important to note that there is a difference between a formal Unclassified FYDP report and the unclassified outyear data for any given program that people often refer to as the FYDP for a program. We have and will continue to provide the classified FYDP as we have since 1989. There will be no reduction in any currently provided information,” he added. Asked specifically if that meant information about the FYDP that is usually included in public budget documents provided to media, Sherwood said: “The legislative proposal would not affect or change how DoD currently provides budget information.” Whether that assurance will satisfy advocates of keeping the FYDP open is uncertain, but the DoD appears behind the ball on convincing Congress that less transparency is a good idea. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas., the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, said he had only learned of the proposal when reports emerged, but indicated that any attempt to limit information about the FYDP is unlikely to meet a warm reception on Capitol Hill. “Obviously my inclination is: That's a bad idea,” Thornberry said. “I have not heard the department's justification for it. But I would say they've got a pretty high evidentiary threshold to overcome, to get Congress [to] go along with classifying the five-year FYDP.” Thornberry said he understands the concern, elucidated in the DoD proposal, that modern computing techniques could allow a foreign competitor to gather information about American plans from the data. But taxpayers deserve to know how their money will be spent in the future, the former committee chairman said, and that outweighs such concerns at the moment. The House believes “that the greater good is the transparency with the American people. So that's our default position, I think in both parties,” Thornberry said. “They hadn't made their case to me yet, but I think it's going to be hard for them to overcome that default position.” The Pentagon ultimately benefits from more openness when it comes to discussions on the budget, said Tom Mahnken, a former Pentagon official who is now president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “It clearly is important to protect certain aspects of the U.S. defense budget from disclosure. The Defense Department has successfully met that challenge for decades,” Mahnken said. “But there is also a compelling case for disclosing how the Defense Department plans to spend its resources and whether its budget is aligned with its strategy. “Transparency ultimately helps the Defense Department make the case for the resources it needs in Congress as well as the public at large.” https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2020/04/03/pentagon-denies-it-seeks-to-hide-future-budget-information/

  • Daily Memo: Emergency Funding For Suppliers, Aftermarket Providers

    6 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Daily Memo: Emergency Funding For Suppliers, Aftermarket Providers

    Sean Broderick The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act sets up several new programs and adjusts some existing ones—each aimed at pumping much-needed cash into specific sized organizations or industry sectors. Large portions of the U.S. commercial aviation industry got specific carve-outs in the $2 trillion economic relief package enacted March 27. While these loans and grants will help air carriers and other key industry players offset some financial strife caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, most suppliers will be looking elsewhere for money. Thankfully, CARES gives even the smallest companies options. Topping the list is the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a $349 billion pot of money designed to enable the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide “expeditious” relief to eligible businesses, an interim final rule published late April 2 said. PPP provides SBA-guaranteed loans equal to up to 2.5 times monthly payroll costs, with a $10 million cap, that businesses can use to keep the lights on for two months. Eligible expenses include payroll, health care benefits, rent and utility payments, as well as some interest expenses. The loans come with a 1% interest rate, maximum two-year terms, and require no collateral or personal guarantees. But they will be forgiven if 75% or more of the funds are used to cover payroll. Among the PPP's wrinkles: only the first $100,000 in an employee's salary can be counted when calculating payroll expenses. Contractors are eligible to apply for their own relief, so their costs can't be counted at all. Also ineligible for counting in the payroll expenses: salaries of employees that live outside the U.S. Businesses can only apply for one PPP loan, so the SBA advises applying for the maximum eligible amount. Determining eligibility is straightforward: a business must find its North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, check the maximum employee size for its business category, and compare it to its staff size. While the general small-business benchmark is 500 or fewer employees, aerospace has many exceptions. The threshold for aircraft engine and engine parts manufacturing/maintenance (NAICS code 336412) is 1,500 employees. For aeronautical instruments manufacturing (334511), it's 1,250. If your business falls into multiple codes, the one that generates the most work determines your NAICS code. SBA has an online tool that walks through the process at www.sba.gov/size-standards. The PPP application window opened on April 3. The program's sheer size—SBA's cornerstone 7(a) loan program issued about $20 billion in loans in all of 2019—and its first-come, first-served basis triggered a massive, front-loaded surge of applications. The interim final rule contained key guidance that banks needed to service the program, which meant not all lenders were ready to start processing applications right away. But the situation was improving hourly throughout the day April 3 as more lenders came onboard. Another SBA program that CARES leans on is the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). Capped at $2 million with a 3.75% interest rate, EIDLs can be used for a wider variety of expenses than the PPP. Unlike the PPP, however, they are not eligible for forgiveness. CARES also gives the U.S. Treasury Department the authority to make special loan allowances for medium-sized businesses, generally those that are too large for an SBA program and have up to 10,000 employees. Among the caveats: maintaining or restoring 90% of its equivalent workforce as of Feb. 1, 2020 within four months of the official U.S. declaration that the COVID-19 public health emergency is over. Further guidance from Treasury, including basics such as how to apply, are in the works. Some suppliers are eligible to apply for shares of the aviation-specific funds set aside in CARES. FAA-certificated repair stations are mentioned as being eligible for some of the $29 billion in CARES loans, specifically from the $25 billion pot allocated for passenger airlines. But the law says they should exhaust other available CARES funding options first. There is another pot of $17 billion in loans set aside for companies critical to national security. Neither the law nor Treasury defines the term, however, so eligibility remains unclear. If Treasury looks to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Critical Infrastructure guidance, aircraft and engine supply-chains would qualify, as would repair stations. Payroll grants for suppliers are murkier. CARES language has a $3 billion set-aside for contractors that both work for airlines and are on-airport. Many maintenance providers would seem to fit here, though Treasury will have the final say. Industry trade associations and legal experts working the issue are learning more by the hour. Their one common piece of advice for businesses: consult with an attorney or tax expert, determine what your business qualifies for, and weigh your options. Many businesses will qualify for multiple programs that cannot be mixed, creating an either/or choice that comes down to the various strings attached to each. https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/aircraft-propulsion/daily-memo-emergency-funding-suppliers-aftermarket-providers

  • Idled industrial plants seen as an untapped source of protective equipment for health workers

    6 avril 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Idled industrial plants seen as an untapped source of protective equipment for health workers

    Families of health workers in Quebec driving grassroots campaign to get pandemic equipment to hospitals Murray Brewster Guillaume Tardif, a soon-to-be-retired army tank officer, quietly but frantically combed the internet in January as coronavirus reports coming out of Wuhan, China became more alarming. Even then, he was convinced a viral storm was approaching and was determined to do everything possible to protect his wife, a Montreal emergency room physician — up to and including the purchase of reusable face masks. Tardif, a captain who served in Afghanistan, has been at the forefront of an unusual grassroots campaign in Quebec — driven by the families of frightened health care workers — to mobilize the provincial and federal governments to requisition industrially-certified respirators from idled industries and suppliers. He spent over $800 out of his own pocket to equip his wife with personal protective equipment (PPE) for the daily battle against coronavirus. "She's the love of my life," Tardif said in an interview. "She's the mother of my children and I'm going to make sure that I do everything possible for her to come home every night and us to get through this." (Staff at the hospital where his spouse works have been warned not to talk to the media and CBC News has agreed not to publish Tardif's wife name, or the name of the facility where she works.) Tapping into industrial supplies Other families in the medical community have followed Tardif's lead by buying up large stocks of industrial masks and respirators locally, and donating them. Earlier this week, the federal government announced an ambitious $2 billion plan to swiftly increase the stock of personal protective equipment for frontline health-care workers caring for critically-ill and dying patients. Quebec Premier François Legault said Tuesday the province has three to four days before it runs out of some personal protective equipment (PPE), but that the province has orders that are expected to arrive in the coming days. The province went through a year's worth of PPE in a matter of weeks because of the surge in COVID-19 cases. The question of whether the federal stockpile of equipment is adequate has been on federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu's mind. "No we likely do not have enough," she told the daily media briefing Wednesday. "I think federal governments for decades have been underfunding things like public health preparedness and I would say that obviously governments all across the world are in the same exact situation." In all likelihood, it will be weeks before suppliers, old and new, can ramp up production of vital equipment such as medically-certified N95 masks, which many doctors and nurses throughout the country are being forced to ration and reuse. Tardif argues there is a large alternative supply of identical industrial-grade masks and respirators that can be requisitioned by the federal government and the provinces in the meantime. "We need to take every chance to avoid running out of PPE and in my opinion that involves requisitioning every device that's out there," he said. It's a good idea, says doctor Dr. Andrew Willmore, medical director of emergency management at the Ottawa Hospital, said having the provinces or the federal government coordinate the collection of industrial protective equipment is a very good idea. "I think it's absolutely useful," Willmore said. "I think it's a very important role, both federal and provincial, to be able to enact the appropriate legislative measures by which they can really dig down into industry and create a pool of resources that can be distributed equitably in a way that supports the health care system as a whole." Both 3M, the manufacturer of the N95, and Health Canada have said industrial masks — the kind used in construction, factories and paint shops, where fumes are a problem — are a suitable emergency substitute. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that major shipments of protective equipment, including millions of masks, have started to arrive — one shipment landed on Wednesday — and federal officials are in the process of conducting inventory and getting the equipment out to the provinces. "We will be there to support the provinces and territories with whatever they need," he said during his daily media briefing. "This includes sending personal protective equipment and other supports for the health care system." The shortage of protective equipment for hospital staff was to be the subject of a teleconference between Trudeau and the premiers Thursday night. Willmore said the Ottawa Hospital has reached out to some local businesses in the hopes of laying its hands on an industrial supply. In other parts of the country, major industrial concerns have stepped forward. Honda Canada donated 1,200 masks to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, Ont., and a further 1,000 and 40,000 pairs of gloves to the Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston, Ont. 'A single point of failure' Tardif said his research suggests that's a fraction of the industrial stock across the country and it's the federal government's responsibility to step in and coordinate a nationwide drive. Shortages of protective equipment for health care staff in a pandemic create "a single point of failure" for the whole system because it either puts doctors, nurses and technicians in danger or leaves them unable to provide care, Willmore said, adding that "the highest levels of government" need to engage with the problem. It has been suggested that giving health care staff reusable respirators, such as the 3M-manufactured 6000, would help cut down on the use of disposable masks. Willmore said that depends on the environment and the patient being treated, noting that there's a danger involved in overusing some equipment. Cost and availability are other factors. "These are expensive pieces of equipment and they're difficult to source, especially since there's been a pull to purchase such equipment," he said. "It's certainly effective but there are practical limitations." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-coronavirus-pandemic-masks-respirators-1.5518401

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