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LOCATIONS
LAND
31 Jan 20. Rolls-Royce opens facility in Bristol to develop jet engines. 150 jobs have been created at the new technology centre. Rolls-Royce has open a facility in Bristol to develop jet engine technologies, creating 150 jobs. The composite technology hub will develop fan blades and cases which reduce weight in jet engines, lowering fuel consumption and emissions, according to the company.
Around 30 employees who worked for Rolls-Royce in the Isle of Wight, and some existing equipment from that facility, have also been moved to the new innovation centre. The new facility will use low-energy and low-emissions processes as well as state-of-the-art automated manufacturing methods and materials, Rolls-Royce has said.
Components made at the new Bristol site will reduce fuel burn and CO2 by at least 25 per cent compared to the first Trent engine, according to the company.
Alan Newby, Rolls-Royce, director of aerospace technology and future programmes, said: “This incredible new facility exemplifies our commitment to creating cleaner, more efficient forms of power.
“Our highly-skilled employees will use the latest technology, materials and manufacturing techniques to develop components that will contribute to lighter, quieter, more powerful jet engines with fewer emissions.”
The facility will focus on carbon-fibre composites, which are used in the aerospace industry to reduce weight significantly.
The lighter an engine is, the less fuel it burns, creating fewer emissions. A Rolls-Royce fan system made with carbon-fibre composites can save almost 700kg per aircraft – the equivalent of seven passengers and their luggage – according to the company.
The fan blades are made by manufacturing techniques that build up hundreds of layers of carbon-fibre materials, pre-filled with tough resin material.
Heat and pressure are then applied, and each blade is finished with a thin titanium leading edge, which offers extreme protection against erosion, foreign objects and bird strikes.
The facility has already started making fan blades and cases for the UltraFan demonstrator engine.
Rolls-Royce says the centre will benefit from manufacturing techniques that have been developed in partnership with the National Composites Centre in Bristol. (Source: News Now/https://www.business-live.co.uk/)
27 Jan 20. RUAG Australia upgrades production facilities. RUAG Australia has upgraded and expanded its facilities near Melbourne, Victoria, to build hydraulic actuators for platforms including the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft. RUAG said in a recent statement that the “major upgrade” to its Hydraulic Actuator Centre of Excellence – located at the company’s facilities in Bayswater – will “significantly improve productivity”. The company said its investment covers a total of 11 computer numerical control (CNC) machining centres.
“The enhanced facility is now well-positioned to process and deliver on larger order volumes thereby satisfying aerospace customers’ increasing supply-chain demands and sustaining [the company’s] commitment as sole-source supplier for the uplock actuator system for the F-35 programme,” said RUAG Australia. (Source: Jane’s)
23 Jan 20. In the second quarter of 2020, High Eye will be moving to its new location in Dordrecht, The Netherlands. High Eye has bought the 4000m² facility to prepare itself for upcoming orders and requirements. The new location features a 1,500m² production floor, which allows a vast expansion of the HEF 32 Airboxer production line. For High Eye this is a major step forward, closely aligning its future prospects to its capabilities. Next to the added production and storage capacity, the new location provides a 300% increase in hardware testing capability and R&D facilities. Several testing booths are being designed for continuous dynometer operations, whirltower endurance testing and a multifunctional engine test cell. Starting February 2020, a team of builders will strip and convert the facility. Thereby it will be ready in time for the upcoming HEF 32 Airboxer production schedule. Keep an eye on our website and social media to follow the transformation of our new home.
MARITIME
29 Jan 20. Italy launches its last FREMM. Italy’s Fregata Europea Multi-Missione (FREMM) multimission frigate Emilio Bianchi was launched at Fincantieri’s Riva Trigoso shipyard in Genoa on 25 January 2020, the company and the Italian Ministry of Defence announced later in the day. Fincantieri said the frigate is the 10th and last FREMM ordered by the Italian Navy under the Franco-Italian FREMM programme co-ordinated by the Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation (OCCAR). The company added that the launch will be followed by the fitting of equipment on Emilio Bianchi at the Muggiano shipyard in La Spezia before its delivery scheduled for 2021.
Analysis
FREMM is replacing the phased-out Lupo-class and the Maestrale-class frigates built by Fincantieri in the 1970s. (Source: Jane’s)
24 Jan 20. First HSI32 fast interceptors arrive at Saudi naval base. The first two HSI32 high-speed interceptors have arrived at Royal Saudi Naval Forces’ (RSNF’s) Ras Mishab base in the Gulf, the Saudi Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 23 January. It was announced in April 2018 that 39 CMN boats will be delivered to the RSNF, with half of them built by the Zamil Shipyard in Dammam on Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coast. The value of the contract and type of boats involved were not revealed at the time, but a launch ceremony held at CMN’s Cherbourg yard in July 2019 revealed that at least two of them were HSI32s armed with Nexter 20 mm Narwhal remotely operated weapons. These two boats (315 and 316) were seen in the photographs of the 23 January reception ceremony released by the MoD, which indicated that all 39 boats will be HSI32s. The photographs also showed that the RSNF’s base at Ras Mishab, about 50 km south of the Kuwaiti border, has been upgraded with a new breakwater and jetty to accommodate the new interceptors. The facility is the base for 34m Halter-class coastal patrol boats and smaller craft. In an apparent reference to the 10 Sikorsky MH-60R multirole helicopters that have been ordered for the RSNF, the MoD added that the Eastern Fleet would also receive new combat helicopters in the coming months. (Source: Jane’s)
AIR
28 Jan 20. Lockheed Martin starts production of Denmark’s first F-35 aircraft. Lockheed Martin has started the production of Denmark’s first F-35 fighter aircraft at its plant located in Fort Worth, Texas, US. The front fuselage for the aircraft, which has arrived on the production line at the plant, will contain the cockpit. Slated for completion by the end of this year, the F-35 aircraft will arrive at Luke Air Force Base next year. There the fighter aircraft will be included in the training for the Royal Danish Air Force. The interns will be in Fort Worth until June this year as part of a special training programme sponsored by Terma. Denmark joined the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme in 2002 during the system development and demonstration phase and has influenced technical elements of the aircraft. It confirmed plans to procure 27 F-35As in June 2016. Various Danish companies such as Terma and Multicut secured work related to F-35 and are manufacturing parts such as pylons, advanced composites, machine parts, radar components and horizontal tail edges on every single aircraft. Since the early 1950s, Lockheed Martin and the Danish Armed Forces partnered for the T-33 Shooting Star, F-104 Starfighter, C-130 Hercules and the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
At present, Denmark is building parts and components for the projected 3,100 F-35 aircraft to be manufactured. Earlier this month, Lockheed Martin won a $1.9bn contract from the Pentagon to support operations and sustainment of the global F-35 fleet and continue to improve readiness and reduce cost. By 2025, the company continues to pursue 80% mission capable rates in the near term and aims to reduce the F-35 cost per flight hour to $25,000.(Source: airforce-technology.com)
27 Jan 20. Afghanistan to field Chinook heavy-lift helos. Afghanistan is to receive an undisclosed number of Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to help replace its ageing Russian-built inventory and to enhance its air mobility capabilities, the US government disclosed in late January. In its December 2019 report to Congress, titled Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan, the US Department of Defense (DoD) noted that it is to equip the Afghan Special Mission Wing (SMW) with Chinook helicopters to fully replace its current Mil Mi-17 ‘Hip’ fleet by the end of 2023.
The SMW, which is part of the Afghan Special Security Forces, will use these helicopters to support counter-terrorism operations.
While the DoD did not disclose numbers, the SMW currently fields approximately 30 Mi-17s that are in the process of being replaced by 40 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Depending on the DoD’s plans for building up the capabilities of the wing, a force of about 10 to 15 Chinooks would provide an appropriate force mix.
Given the Chinook’s intended counter-terrorism missions, it could well be that the helicopters provided to the Afghan SMW will be the MH-47 special mission variant rather than the CH-47 transport variant.
While the US has provided the SMW and the Afghan Air Force (AAF) with surplus Black Hawks, it has at the same time provided new-build MD Helicopters Inc MD 530F Cayuse Warrior light attack rotorcraft and Sierra Nevada Corporation A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft. It is not stated in the report whether the Chinooks will be surplus US Army CH-47D/MH-47E or new-build CH-47F/MH-47G models. (Source: Jane’s)
PLANT CLOSURES, JOB LOSSES AND STRIKES
27 Jan 20. Former Boeing CEO Muilenburg resigns from Caterpillar board. Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) said on Monday former Boeing Co (BA.N) Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg had resigned from its board. Caterpillar said in a regulatory filing here that Muilenburg’s resignation, which is effective immediately, was not due to any disagreement with the company. Muilenburg joined the board in 2011. Boeing fired Muilenburg last month after repeatedly failing to contain the fallout from a pair of fatal crashes that halted output of its best-selling 737 MAX jetliner and tarnished its reputation with airlines and regulators. (Source: Reuters)
MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT
PERSONNEL
30 Jan 20. UK Submarine Delivery Agency still short of staff. A shortfall of staff is still affecting the UK’s Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA), which started work in 2018 to oversee and overhaul the Royal Navy’s (RN’s) nuclear submarine building and in-service support programmes. According to the agency’s first annual reports and accounts, published on 30 January, the organisation is 311 staff short of its 1,798 target up to April 2019. “Our resourcing key performance indictor, which measures the SDA’s size against the targeted SDA staffing level, was not achieved,” said the SDA. “At the year end the SDA had a total of 1,487 full-time equivalents against a baseline target of 1,798 (including graduates and apprentices). (Source: Jane’s)
EUROPE APPOINTMENTS
23 Jan 20. On January 7 the new Conservative-Green government coalition in Austria swore in Klaudia Tanner as Austria’s first woman Defence Minister. She previously headed the Lower Austrian Farmers’ Union when she was asked by the young Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (OEVP) to take over the long neglected and chronically underfunded Ministry of Defence. The former interim defence minister, Lieutenant General Thomas Starlinger, has calculated an investment backlog of €16bn. The politicians surrounding Chancellor Kurz – often referred to as “young Turks” – do not give the impression that they want to fundamentally change this dire situation.
In a first public appearance before the military leadership and civil defence partners on January 20 Minister Tanner inaugurated “Conscription Day”, an anniversary that was created in 2013 in the wake of a plebiscite to maintain conscription and to oppose the change to a much more expensive professional army. Under the heading “Comprehensive National Defence – a Comprehensive Response to Modern Threats,” high-ranking experts from the army and adjacent civilian ministries highlighted the links between military, economic and civilian national defence.
Tanner thanked the 16 partner organisations of the alliance “Defensible Austria” and recalled: “Since my time in the Farmers’ Union, our association and I have defended conscription, with the focus on disaster relief by the military. And I would like to remind of the stormy media headwind against conscription which opposed the plebiscite. But it was true then and it is still true today: our recruits are the foundation of our army. Without conscription there would be no cadres and no militia. Without conscription, the military would be incapable of action and would also lose any anchoring and embedding in society. That is why I want to make military service and the militia more attractive. In the near future there will be two levels of fitness for military service. On the one hand, we will significantly improve the contact points for initial registration in each federal state, as these are the first points of contact for young men with the armed forces. And those who are fully fit for military service will then be deployed primarily for purely military roles and not for purely system functions. Furthermore, I stand for a militia as it is anchored in the constitution as the basis of the Austrian military. For a militia that is equipped with sufficient personnel and material. And for a militia that can be called up to conduct more exercises out there!”
According to data from 2018, 24% of the 46,519 mustered 18-year-old male young Austrians were unfit for military service and 4,650 were temporarily unfit. The main reasons were overweight, metabolic diseases and psychological problems. Of the 30,700 fully fit for service, 44% opted for community service in the Red Cross/hospital or geriatric sector. This means that 17,200 (56%) entered the 6-month military service.
Tanner then underlined how much she stands behind every soldier and officer, and she said that she, her cabinet and the general staff have been informed about several “major acquisitions” in advance, especially with regard to helicopters and air police. “But please excuse me for not being able to make any budgetary and/or tax returns tonight,” she concluded.
Currently, Austria spends only 0.6% of GDP – a little over €2bn – on national defence. Its predecessor STARLINGER has demanded a minimum of 1% or €3bn. For 2020, there is a provisional budget from 2019. The next budget for the period from 2021 will be presented in Parliament on March 18. (Source: ESD Spotlight)
U.S. APPOINTMENTS
30 Jan 20. MG Kenneth T. Bibb, Jr., director, Strategic Plans, Programs, Requirements and Analyses, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to commander, Eighteenth Air Force, Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
30 Jan 20. MG Mark D. Camerer, director, Strategic Plans, Requirements and Programs, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, to commander, United States Air Force Expeditionary Center, Air Mobility Command, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.
30 Jan 20. MG Jeannie M. Leavitt, commander, Air Force Recruiting Service, Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, to director, Operations and Communications, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.
30 Jan 20. MG Michael L. Lutton, deputy director, Nuclear, Homeland Defense and Current Operations, J-3, Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia, to commander, Twentieth Air Force, Air Force Global Strike Command, Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.
30 Jan 20. MG William A. Spangenthal, director, Operations and Communications, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, to deputy commander, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.
30 Jan 20. MG Mark E. Weatherington, deputy commander, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, to commander, Eighth Air Force, and Commander, Joint-Global Strike Operations Center, Air Force Global Strike Command, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana.
30 Jan 20. BG Laura L. Lenderman, commander, 502d Air Base Wing, and commander, Joint Base San Antonio, Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to director, Plans, Programs and Requirements, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.
30 Jan 20. BG Robert K. Lyman, director, Command, Control, Communication, and Cyber Systems (C4), Headquarters United States Transportation Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, to assistant deputy chief of staff, Cyber Effects Operations and assistant deputy chief information officer, Digital Transformation, Headquarters United States Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia.
30 Jan 20. BG Albert G. Miller, commander, Defense Logistics Agency-Energy, Defense Logistics Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to director, KC-46A Enterprise Lead, Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
30 Jan 20. BG James D. Peccia III, director, Financial Management, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio to deputy assistant secretary for budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia.
30 Jan 20. BG Bradley L. Pyburn, director, Cyberspace Operations, deputy chief of staff, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Cyber Effects Operations, Headquarters United States Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia, to director of operations, Sixteenth Air Force, Air Combat Command, Joint Base San Antonio – Lackland, Texas.
30 Jan 20. BG Michael T. Rawls, deputy commander, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Mission Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq, to commander, Spaatz Center for Officer Education, and commandant, Air War College, Air University, Air Education and Training Command, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
30 Jan 20. BG George M. Reynolds, director of operations, Sixteenth Air Force, Air Combat Command, Joint Base San Antonio – Lackland, Texas, to vice commander, United States Air Force Warfare Center, Air Combat Command, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
30 Jan 20. BG Ryan R. Samuelson, director, United States Central Command Deployment and Distribution Operations Center, United States Central Command, Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, to deputy director, Strategic Plans, Requirements and Programs, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
30 Jan 20. BG James R. Sears Jr., director, Plans, Programs and Requirements, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, to commander, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.
30 Jan 20. BG Daniel L. Simpson, deputy chief of staff, Intelligence, Resolute Support/deputy director, J2-P, United States Forces-Afghanistan, United States Central Command, Kabul, Afghanistan, to assistant deputy chief of staff, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Headquarters United States Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia.
30 Jan 20. BG Edward W. Thomas Jr., director, Public Affairs, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia, to commander, Air Force Recruiting Service, Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.
30 Jan 20. BG select Christopher R. Amrhein, deputy, Deputy Chief of Staff Support, Resolute Support, and director, CJ4, United States Forces-Afghanistan, United States Central Command, Kabul, Afghanistan, to Inspector General, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
30 Jan 20. BG select Larry R. Broadwell Jr., executive officer to the chief of staff, United States Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia, to commander, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, Air Combat Command, Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates.
30 Jan 20. BG select Daniel A. DeVoe, vice commander, 618th Air Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center), Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, to commander, 618th Air Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center), Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
30 Jan 20. BG select Leslie A. Maher, senior military assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia, to commander, Jeanne M. Holm Center for Officer Accessions and Citizen Development, Air Education and Training Command, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
30 Jan 20. BG select Joshua M. Olson, executive officer to the commander, United States Transportation Command, Headquarters United States Transportation Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, to commander, 86th Airlift Wing, United States Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa, Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
30 Jan 20. BG select Michael E. Conley, commander, 1st Special Operations Wing, Air Force Special Operations Command, Hurlburt Field, Florida, to vice commander, Space Operations Command, United States Space Force, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
27 Jan 20. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Teagle, currently assigned as the 3rd Special Forces Group command sergeant major, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, has been selected to replace Command Sgt. Maj. Michael R. Weimer as the command senior enlisted leader of the Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan (SOJTF-A), Afghanistan.
INDUSTRY
PERSONNEL
U.S. APPOINTMENTS
24 Jan 20. Calian SED (formerly SED Systems), Calian Group Ltd.’s (TSX.CGY) global supplier of communication systems solutions and products, has appointed Rob Vance as its new Director, Satellite Ground Antenna Systems. The new position was created to lead the sales activities for the company’s new line of high performance composite carbon fiber antennas, designed to meet the demanding operational requirements of Ka/Q/V-band frequencies and beyond.
Reporting to Calian SED’s VP, Communication Ground Systems, Darren Schlageter, Vance will assume his role immediately and will be based in San Jose, California.
31 Jan 20. IBM has named Arvind Krishna, the head of research and development, as its new chief executive. He will replace Ginni Rometty, who took over the top job in 2012 and oversaw a 25 per cent fall in IBM’s shares. Mr Krishna, who will become only the tenth IBM CEO in its 106-year history, masterminded last year’s $34bn acquisition of open source software company Red Hat and ran the company’s cloud and cognitive software operations. (Source: FT.com)
24 Jan 20. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) today announced its board of directors has elected former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph F. Dunford Jr. to the board, effective Feb. 10, 2020. Dunford is a retired U.S. Marine Corps general. He served as the 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer and the principal military advisor to the president, secretary of defense and the National Security Council, from October 2015 until his retirement in September 2019. His previous assignments include serving as the 36th Commandant of the Marine Corps and the commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Commissioned in 1977, Dunford served as an infantry officer at all levels, including commanding the 5th Marine Regiment during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Dunford will serve on the corporation’s Classified Business and Security Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.
27 Jan 20. SCD.USA announced that Matthew Richi has been appointed to the Board of Directors of SCD.USA. A seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in the electro-optics industry, Mr. Richi has held many key positions, including as President of KEO, President of Maritime Sensor Systems at L3, President of L3 Wescam, and L3 Sector President of Tactical Mission Systems. The appointment took effect as of 1 January, 2020.
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ExFor+ CIC is a relatively new organisation but has been established with the objective of becoming a National overarching organisation within the Veterans Support Sector. Our aim is to bring about, positive Social and Economic change for the country as well as a significant
transformation of how Service leavers, Veterans, their families and communities are supported. We will do this through effective collaboration, communication and management of a number of services and departments, ranging from engaging with Government, The Third sector and also the supporters of, those who’ve served and often sacrificed so much for their country. We are currently supporting a number of service leavers and veterans with a range of issues ranging from housing, unemployment, benefits, personal development, education, and are constantly looking for employers who see the positives in recruiting and supporting individuals in to work to create longterm and sustainable futures.
www.InvestorsInVeterans.com
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