Sponsored by Exensor
www.exensor.com
————————————————————————
05 Aug 21. Italy hikes 2021 defense spending, finds cash for Tempest. Italy has hiked defense spending with a new budget that includes the first 20m euro Italian funding for the Tempest fighter.
The 2021 budget includes 16.8 bn euros ($19.9bn) in defense ministry spending, up five per cent over 2020, which was in turn an increase on the previous year, putting an end to serious of annual falls.
The part of the budget devoted to procurement stood at four bn euros, ($4.7bn) up a massive 44 percent on the previous year.
For a true picture of Italian procurement spending the annual top-up for domestic procurement provided by the Italian industry ministry must be added, which amounts to 2.7 bn euros ($3.2bn), also up from last year.
The total to spend on procurement therefore comes to 6.76 bn euros ($8bn), up 24 percent on last year’s 5.45 bn euros ($6.4bn).
The ministry said it was ring-fencing seven key strategic procurement programs including the Tempest fighter program, in which Italy is teamed with the UK and Sweden. Hitherto, the defense ministry has failed to launch funding for the program, despite warning that Italian industry would risk missing out on choice early workshare.
This year, the money has begun to flow, with 20m ($24m) euros due in 2021 and the same amount in 2022 and 2023 according to the budget.
Over the following three years, 90 m euros ($106m) would be freed up in total, while 1.85bn euros ($2.2bn) would be budgeted between 2027 and 2035, for a total investment of 2 n euros ($2.4bn) between now and 2035.
The ministry defined the seven ‘Flagship’ programs, which will have a guaranteed funding stream, as involving international cooperation, a high level of technology and Italian workshare. Apart from Tempest, the list includes cloud computing capability for the armed forces, a new amphibious vehicle, the upgrading of Italy’s air defense and missile capability, a new radar for the PAAMS air defense system, new Navy destroyers and a new army armored fighting vehicle. (Source: Defense News)
02 Aug 2021. UK defence secretary wants ‘volume’ Tempest production. The UK government envisages ‘volume production’ of the Tempest Future Combat Air System (FCAS) at BAE Systems sites in northwestern England. UK defence secretary Ben Wallace announced the launch of the Tempest FCAS (photo of mock-up) concept and assessment phase during a visit to BAE Systems’ Warton site on 29 July. (BAE Systems/Ray Troll)
Visiting the company’s Warton site in Lancashire on 29 July to formally announce the launch of the FCAS concept and assessment phase, UK defence secretary Ben Wallace told Janes that significant numbers of manned Tempest aircraft would be “built at scale” at Warton. Asked whether the widespread use of manned Tempest aircraft in conjunction with unmanned systems would drive down the number airframes required by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to significantly less that the 160 Eurofighter Typhoons ordered by the UK, Wallace said Tempest would not be a “boutique product”. “Volume matters,” he commented.
During his visit, Wallace announced the release of the first tranche of concept and assessment phase funding worth GBP250m (USD348m), which he described as a “momentous step in the next phase of our FCAS”. He said the “big decisions” on production numbers and the manned/unmanned mix would be made at the end of 2024.
The defence secretary toured BAE Systems’ ‘Factory of the Future’ demonstration laboratory, which is trialling advanced robotic manufacturing technology to be used in the Tempest programme.
Team Tempest executives at Warton said the concept and assessment phase contract award represented a stepping up of the programme’s pace and a series of further awards of funding tranches from the UK Ministry of Defence are to be expected at regular intervals over the next three years. (Source: Jane’s)
02 Aug 21. Britain’s ageing frigates are a gift in Greek navy deal. Two of Britain’s aged and retiring warships are to be offered to the Hellenic Navy to help Babcock International win a multibillion-pound deal with Greece to build new frigates and upgrade its fleet.
It is understood that Britain will throw in HMS Monmouth and HMS Montrose, two 30-year-old Type 23 vessels, in a proposed deal to equip the Greek naval forces with the Royal Navy’s newest class of frigate, the Type 31, in the face of perceived Turkish aggression.
Babcock is the Rosyth-based warshipbuilder and military support contractor that has been commissioned by the Ministry of Defence to build five cut-price Type 31 general-purpose frigates for the Royal Navy.
The MoD’s plan has always been to not only use the Type 31 to shore up the dwindling number of Royal Navy vessels but to market its design for export to help recoup taxpayers’ money.
The first test of the marketability of the Type 31 has come in a five-way battle to land a contract with Greece, as it doubles defence spending to counteract tensions with neighbouring Turkey in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean. British officials alongside Babcock have offered to build four new Type 31s for Greece, as well as Babcock upgrading the Hellenic Navy’s existing German-designed 30-year-old Hydra class frigates.
The plan would probably be to build at least the first Type 31 in Rosyth but then switch production to yards in Greece, which Babcock would help overhaul. However, industry sources have confirmed that as Greece also needs to strengthen its navy, the UK has offered as part of the Babcock deal two Type 23 frigates, which the recent integrated defence review ruled would be decommissioned.
HMS Monmouth, which spent much of its life protecting shipping from Somali pirates off east Africa, has come into dock. HMS Montrose is on anti-drug smuggling duties in the Gulf and is due to come out of service next year.
Babcock and the British government are up against four Nato allies in bidding for the Greek contract. Spain, Italy and France have all offered similar deals with stopgap solutions of providing frigates from their navies.
The US has offered to build four frigates at an American-owned yard on the Greek island of Syros.
The Type 31 has been derided by some as the embodiment of Britain’s diminished naval power — the cut-price “Lidl” frigate that is not so much about providing support to the more capable submarine-hunting Type 26 frigates being built on the Clyde by BAE Systems but peddling off-the-shelf design to cash-strapped nations.
A basic Type 31 frigate costs £250m — compared with £1.25bn for a Type 26 ship — though in reality it will probably cost £400m to make the Type 31 ready for action. A spokesman for the MoD said: “Providing the Type 31 to partner nations will ensure cost-effectiveness for the taxpayer.” (Source: The Times)
————————————————————————-
Founded in 1987, Exensor Technology is a world leading supplier of Networked Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) Systems providing tailored sensor solutions to customers all over the world. From our Headquarters in Lund Sweden, our centre of expertise in Network Communications at Communications Research Lab in Kalmar Sweden and our Production site outside of Basingstoke UK, we design, develop and produce latest state of the art rugged UGS solutions at the highest quality to meet the most stringent demands of our customers. Our systems are in operation and used in a wide number of Military as well as Home land Security applications worldwide. The modular nature of the system ensures any external sensor can be integrated, providing the user with a fully meshed “silent” network capable of self-healing. Exensor Technology will continue to lead the field in UGS technology, provide our customers with excellent customer service and a bespoke package able to meet every need. A CNIM Group Company
————————————————————————-