Defense`s Feeds

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $22.7 million modification to exercise an option for industrial post-delivery availability support for the Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship USS Cleveland (LCS 31). Work will be performed in Marinette, Wisconsin, and is expected to be completed by March 2025. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity. Green Expert […]

In the context of the cluster of UAS-related projects that aim at providing the sought “UAS Enablers for Safe Airspace Integration in European Sky”, the European Defence Agency (EDA) intends to launch a tender with four lots to support the progress of safe airspace integration of UAS, from low level to high altitude operations (HAO).

Lot 1: UAS Single European Sky Experimental Integration (max. estimated budget 1.5M Eur)

In a drive to elevate the capabilities of European-made low-cost small and tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for precision navigation, the new project focuses on two key objectives. Firstly, it seeks to enhance their operational resilience in challenging environments for safe airspace integration – specifically environments with limited or denied GNSS access and potential electronic jamming threats. Secondly, the project will leverage recent breakthroughs in EU space-based services alongside onboard sensor fusion powered by artificial intelligence. This integration aims to achieve unwavering navigation accuracy regardless of spectrum availability, demonstrably validating its effectiveness through real-world proof-of-concept and demonstration phases. The successful development of these advanced navigation capabilities for UAS aims to ensure their safe integration into the airspace.

Lot 2: Risk Assessment for UAS operations (max. estimated budget 400 k Eur)

The objective of this lot is to expand the current online tool supporting the MIL-UAS-SPECIFIC methodology (see EDA webpage https://eda.europa.eu/mil-uas-specific-study) to automatize most of the risk assessment process by leveraging the – regularly updated - MIL-UAS-SPECIFIC methodology or any other harmonised Risk assessment methodology accepted by the military (e.g., SORA). The current online tool will become a “networking/connecting” online tool, with selectable Risk assessment methodologies running back office, including a selectable accepted risk level for the UAS operations to cover operations in peace, crisis and war times.

Lot 3: Higher Airspace Operations study (max. estimated budget 800 kEur)

Over the last years, Higher Airspace Operations (HAO) have been in the spotlight. The upcoming EASA regulatory work requires that the civil–military aspects are included. The objective is to clarify specific civil–military aspects in the domain of HAO in order to: a) analyse the security risks posed by HAO; b) Address potential challenges in order to avoid any adverse impact on national security and defence capabilities with an EU approach; c) Ensure military access to higher airspace. Take advantage of all opportunities, particularly those offered by the civil-military collaboration make the most of the identified synergies.

Lot 4: Consultancy services for needs assessment, market research and consultation, analysis of the state-of-the-art (max. estimated budget 200 kEur)

This project aims to bridge the gap by assessing the specific needs of military UAS users and leverage the dual-use of UAS technology towards the safe integration into European airspace. It has three key objectives: a) to understand end-user needs for safe airspace UAS integration. b) to evaluate technologies for enhanced UAS integration, including the market research and analysis of state-of-the-art of current conspicuity, ATM and positioning technologies within the EU market, that can enable safe UAS integration; c) proposal of way forward and consultation for future projects.

For more information, please consult the Public Information Notice.

https://ted.europa.eu/en/notice/-/detail/292847-2024

Information Session: Where and When?

The information session will be held on 04 July 2024 from 10:00 am until 12:00 CET.

The event will be done remotely via Webex. Link to be provided after registration to the contacts provided in the register form.

How to register?

Participation is free of charge, but interested parties must register in advance, and no later than 28 of June 2024 EOB, using the following link:  https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/EDA_UAS_Enablers

Contact Information

Please use the registration form as primary mean to access information. Please refrain from email exchange, unless strictly necessary and no other option is possible.

Americas Northrop Grumman will collaborate on the US-Japan counter-hypersonic missile system development program. Along with the US Missile Defense Agency, Northrop will team up with the Japanese Ministry of Defense and its industry partners to develop elements of the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI). This stems from the 2023 US-Japan bilateral memorandum of understanding for research, […]

Americas Pratt & Whitney won a $9 million delivery order against a five-year basic ordering agreement for F100 engine case diffusers. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The delivery order end date is December 31, 2027. Using military service is Air Force. […]

Americas Lockheed Martin has announced the first-ever launch of a Patriot PAC-3 missile segment enhancement (MSE) interceptor using the Virtualized Aegis Weapon System. Conducted in collaboration with various US Department of Defense components, the test saw the advanced missile engage and neutralize a cruise missile target mid-flight. It utilized a ground-based MK-70 containerized launch platform from […]

Americas The US Army has signed a $756-million deal with Lockheed Martin to acquire new capabilities for the country’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) system. Under the contract, Lockheed will provide additional LRHW battery equipment, systems and software engineering support, and logistics solutions. The items will boost the force’s ability to launch hypersonic missiles from ground […]

Americas The Royal Canadian Navy has commissioned its fourth Harry DeWolf-class Arctic and offshore patrol vessel, the HMCS William Hall, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Hall was built under Ottawa’s National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy to amplify the country’s naval forces against evolving threats in North America. The US Army is collecting feedback from its soldiers regarding the […]

Americas Austal won an $8 million deal to provide advance planning, material procurement, and accomplishment of work for emergent availabilities in support of the littoral combat ship USS Kingsville (LCS 36). This effort is to develop and provide planning, engineering support, planning and logistics technical documentation, funds and man-hour expenditure data, projected costs, cost estimates, […]

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $79 million contract. This contract procures diminishing manufacturing sources parts required for the production and sustainment in of the F-35 aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is […]

Americas Technology company Sigma Defense Systems has signed a $4.7 million task order to build a virtual reality intelligence training ecosystem for the US Army. Under the deal, the Georgia-based firm will build, demonstrate, and deploy a next-generation training platform for the army’s Operator Maintainer Immersive Virtual Reality Environment for Intelligence Training (OMNIVORE-IT) project. The resulting […]

MiG-21 ‘Lancer’ (click to view full) The MiG-21 is reaching the end of its service life, but it can still be effective for a little while. India’s refurbished MiG-21 ‘Bisons’ combined Russian, Indian and Israeli technology to excellent effect in the COPE India 2004 and 2005 exercises with the USAF, and there’s even a Russian-Israeli […]

Americas Applied Visual Technology won a $28 million firm-fixed-price contract for Targeted Fidelity Apache Tactical Trainer simulators, the Tactical Control Centre, and the Network Simulation Environment. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida; and Kooiweg, Netherlands, with an estimated completion date of September 15, 2026. Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity. The […]

Americas The US Army is testing the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle-mounted Modular Turreted Mortar System (MTMS) prototype. Trials have been ongoing since January to ensure the expected performance from the system before an upcoming demonstration at Fort Moore, Georgia, in September. “We are diligently verifying its advertised capabilities and making sure it is safe for the […]

Americas Marvin Land Systems won a $14.7 million deal for M1 Abrams tank auxiliary power units. The ordering period end date is September 19, 2024. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2023 through 2024 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan. […]

Americas Bell Boeing won a $14 million modification to provide continued post-production systems engineering and program management support for the V-22 Common Configuration Readiness and Modernization retrofit program for the Marine Corps. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania; and Fort Worth, Texas and is expected to be completed in September 2024. Naval Air […]

Nathalie Guichard joins the European Defence Agency (EDA) as Research, Technology and Innovation (RTI) Director. Ms Guichard is a Brigadier General and was previously the managing director of L’Atelier Industriel de l’Aéronautique de Clermont-Ferrand (AIA CF), a French state-owned military aircraft maintenance facility . 

“I am delighted and honoured to be joining the European Defence Agency at this critical time. Innovation is indispensable for our armed forces, and it is at the European level that we can coordinate our efforts with the civilian sector to give us the technological superiority we need,” Ms Guichard said upon taking up her duties. 

Ms Guichard is a military engineer who graduated from France's L'École polytechnique and the Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-Supaéro). She also holds a master’s degree in public management. 

With her engineering background, Ms Guichard brings a wealth of experience to EDA. She started her career in 1990 as a project manager for flying test bench modification. Two years later, she became head of the equipment maintenance department. After transferring to the aeronautical programs office of Délégation générale pour l’armement (DGA), France’s procurement agency, in 1998, Ms Guichard then became the Rafale manufacturing and support manager at the French Ministry of Defence.  

In 2001, Ms Guichard left the ministry and became the information technology adviser of Auvergne regional prefect, to develop mobile phone and wide bandwidth networks, among other projects. She also liaised with the European Regional Development Fund. She joined Clermont Ferrand community of cities to develop start-ups as well as technology transfer from university research centres to local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In 2016, she returned to the military sphere, first as deputy managing director and then chief operating officer of AIA CF, before becoming managing director in 2020. 

As Research, Technology and Innovation Director, Ms Guichard leads EDA’s directorate that fosters and supports defence research in the European Union. Most notably, her directorate runs the Hub for EU Defence Innovation, known as HEDI, which stimulates and facilitates cooperation on defence innovation among Member States while also working with the European Commission and ensuring coherence with NATO innovation initiatives. HEDI’s activities contribute to EU priorities for capability development and defence research, as well as on skills, technologies, and manufacturing capabilities.

The Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS), has marked the end of its third phase, running from 2019 to 2024, playing its part in the European Union’s Green Deal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

With initiatives to improve energy efficiency in the military, as well as pilot projects to optimise energy use in buildings and efforts to electrify transport within defence facilities, Phase III generated over 30 project ideas and 15 research studies. Initiatives also included integrating hydrogen fuel technology in military vehicles and  promote military behavioural change among military personnel.

The European Defence Agency (EDA) and the Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER) organised the CF SEDSS III Dissemination Conference on 25 April 2024 under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and hosted by the Ministry of Defence of Belgium.

The CF SEDSS is a Commission-funded initiative managed by the EDA. It is Europe’s largest defence energy community, reinforcing the defence sector's involvement in the energy transition. It will now move to Phase IV, running until 2028. The forum focuses on four interrelated areas: energy efficiency and buildings performance; renewable energy sources; protection of defence-related critical energy infrastructure; and policy, research and technology, and funding for defence energy-related projects.

“It is more crucial than ever to fully embrace a spirit of sustainability in our defence policies. Climate change also highlights the need to diversify our energy sources,” Belgium’s Minister of Defence Ludivine Dedonder told the conference. “The Member States of the European Union, through the Green Deal, have committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Defence can play a crucial role by integrating the fight against climate change into its operations and by developing skills to meet the new environmental challenges.”

EDA Deputy Chief Executive André Denk said that the next phase of the Consultation Forum would be crucial. “The EU’s goal to become climate neutral by 2050 cannot be achieved without the engagement of the defence sector – defence may be responsible for up to 5.5% of the world’s total CO2 emissions. More energy sustainability in defence means also less costs, less reliance on fossil fuels, and increased resilience.” 

Paloma Aba Garrote, Director, European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), said that: “Europe’s defence and security sector is crucial to achieving the EU Green Deal targets of energy efficiency, renewables deployment and decarbonisation of the economy.”

In total, seven plenary conferences were organised during Phase III, including two onsite exhibitions, as well as workshops and ad-hoc meetings. EDA organised the first CF SEDSS table-top exercise to assess and mitigate vulnerabilities in critical energy infrastructure related to defence in the face of hybrid threats.

These efforts have collectively supported EU goals in energy and climate, highlighted by the development of the Symbiosis project, which will identify and address barriers for offshore renewable energy developments in areas used or reserved for present and future military activities and purposes.

The Forum's contributions are acknowledged in high-level EU documents such as the Progress Report of the EU Climate Change and Defence Roadmap, the Action Plan on Military Mobility and the EU Joint Communication on Climate Change.

To read more about the CF SEDSS  

• Greening Defence with Innovation: 2nd Energy Technology Solutions Conference & Exhibition (europa.eu)  

• EDA green defence forum reaches highest level of participation (europa.eu)  

• Defence and energy communities step up efforts on sustainable energy and publish new ground-breaking climate change study (europa.eu)  

• Climate change and EU defence: released new report analysing the links between climate, energy and defence (europa.eu)  

• EDA-led energy forum meets to reduce defence carbon footprint (europa.eu)  

• Fifth Consultation Forum meets in Prague to promote sustainable energy in defence (europa.eu)  

 

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $9 million modification to a previously awarded fixed-price incentive (firm-target), cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable contract. This modification increases the contract ceiling to procure the necessary hardware and associated technical engineering, management and logistics support for fabrication, assembly, test, and delivery of eight AN/APR-39 D(V)2 Radar Warning Receiver/Electronic Warfare Management Systems, and […]

High intensity, state-to-state war in Ukraine is forcing the European Union to reenergise its defence industrial base on a large scale to defend Western democratic values. At the same time, the EU is preparing for future challenges, developing the most innovative, high-end capabilities. The EU and the European Defence Agency (EDA) are accelerating efforts in support of Ukraine and for the defence of Europe.   

 

In the Agency’s annual report for 2023, we provide an overview of EDA’s milestones reached and achievements over the year. Our highlights include: 

• Denmark joining as EDA’s 27th member 

• Deepening ties with the United  States Department of Defense through an Administrative Arrangement 

• Agreeing the 2023 Capability Development Priorities across the five military domains 

• Stepping up in 2023 with EDA’s two-year fast-track procedure for the joint procurement of 155mm artillery rounds, with a project arrangement signed by all EU Member States and Norway 

• Transferring EDA’s long-running helicopter programme to a new centre in Portugal 

• Achieving Initial Operational Capability for the multinational fleet of Airbus A330 tanker and transport aircraft, a project established by EDA  

Overall, in 2023, the Agency managed around 94 cooperative ad-hoc projects and programmes in capability development, training, and joint procurement, as well as Research and Technology (R&T) and innovation, with a total estimated value in the range of €664 million. 

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the European Defence Agency. Over two decades, we have helped our armed forces to cooperate and invest better together. We continue to anticipate tomorrow's defence needs. The EDA’s added value for EU defence is sharply increasing. 

Download the full 2023 Annual Report here

Americas Raytheon Missiles & Defense won a $212.5 million for an option exercise of combat system engineering, miscellaneous material, and travel supporting combat system installation, integration, development, testing, correction, maintenance, and modernization of ZUMWALT class mission systems and mission system equipment. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Rhode Island (40%); Tewksbury, Massachusetts (33%); San Diego, […]