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(Source: Defense-Aerospace.com; posted July 30, 2020) By Giovanni de Briganti Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini has officially confirmed the pending sale to Egypt of two Fremm frigates originally built for the Italian Navy, but which have not yet entered service. (Fincantieri photo) PARIS --- Italian shipyard Fincantieri has committed to delivering two new FREMM-class frigates to the Italian Navy by 2024 to replace the two ships that are being sold to Egypt, Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini told a July 28 Parliamentary hearing. This is the first ministerial confirmation of a multi-billion euro Italian arms sale to Egypt that has been regularly reported in Italian media for the past two years. The reports also mentioned corvettes, helicopters and two or four squadrons of Eurofighters, with a total value of up to €9-10 billion euros. The commitment to deliver two new ships by 2024 is predicated on signature of a contract by the end of the year, a senior industry offici...

If you want to know one reason why Lockheed’s F-35 fighter program—at $400 billion, the most costly weapon system in world history—is so screwed up, check out this line from Theresa Hull, an assistant inspector general at the Defense Department: “The DoD is in an environment in which it is dependent on Lockheed Martin for information related to the F-35, including contractor performance, because the government did not maintain its own data,” she told the House Oversight and Reform Committee July 22. Did you catch that? “…dependent on Lockheed Martin for information related to the F-35, including contractor performance…” (Italics are The Bunker’s.) Like so much involving Pentagon procurement, this gets complicated. But try to follow along. It highlights what is effectively a tacit alliance between weapons-sellers and weapon-buyer, to the detriment of the taxpayer footing the bill. About 1,000 of the F-35’s 50,000 parts, roughly 2%, are deemed critical and need to be accompanied by d...

In the 6th edition of its latest research titled "Prospects for the Small Satellite Market", Euroconsult forecasts that two mega-constellations will account for half of the smallsats to be launched between 2020 and 2029, yet only account for one fifth of the total smallsat market value due to economies of scale, mass manufacturing and batch launches. The report also addresses the impact of COVID-19 on the small satellite industry and provides updated analysis of the ongoing uncertainties related to the pandemic, smallsat constellations and the OneWeb bankruptcy, despite its recent acquisition. The 2020s are predicted to be the decade of small satellites with an annual average of 1,000 smallsats to be launched. By comparison, 2019 had the highest number of smallsats to date, with 385 smallsats launched. These spacecraft generated $2.8 billion of market value in 2019, of which 70 percent for manufacturing and 30 percent for launch. From 2020 to 2029, the smallsat market valu...

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center has awarded multiple indefinite-delivery / indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts to The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri; General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California; Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems, Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Palmdale, California. These initial awards will establish a vendor pool that will continue to compete for up to $400 million in subsequent delivery orders in support of the Skyborg Vanguard Program. The aim of the Skyborg Vanguard program is to integrate autonomous attritable unmanned air vehicle (UAV) technology with open missions systems to enable manned-unmanned teaming. This will provide a game-changing capability to the warfighter. The attritable UAV line of effort awarded by this contract will provide the foundation on which the Air Force can build an airborne autonomous 'best of breed' system that adapts, orients, and decides at machine speed for a wide...

The 55th and last satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has commenced operation in the network after completing in-orbit tests and network access evaluations, according to a statement from China's Satellite Navigation System Management Office Wednesday. Launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on June 23, the satellite is a geostationary earth orbit satellite of the BDS 3 system, which has been offering basic navigation services to countries and regions along the Belt and Road, as well as the world, since December 2018. According to the office, the satellite will offer users positioning, navigation and timing services. It was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology. Named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper constellation, BeiDou is one of the four space-based navigation networks operating globally, along with the US GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo networks. Source: Xinhua News Agency Related Links B...

Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected to provide the prime mission equipment for the Sierra Nevada Corporation-led AC/MC-130J Radio Frequency Countermeasure (RFCM) program. Northrop Grumman's RFCM system utilizes the latest in antenna, amplifier and electronics technology. This technology provides superior situational awareness and better enables aircraft survivability in operationally relevant environments. "With the radio frequency threat growing, modern electromagnetic spectrum protection for AC/MC-130J operators worldwide is essential," said Jim Conroy, vice president, navigation, targeting and survivability, Northrop Grumman. "Our product line approach to the RFCM program is mature and in use throughout our electronic warfare systems." The modular, open systems approach to the suite is designed to provide radar warning, threat identification and countermeasure capabilities today, while allowing for the flexibility to adapt to future threats. Th...

In pulling 12,000 US troops from Germany, President Donald Trump is laying bare what has long been clear -- there is no love lost between him and Chancellor Angela Merkel. Trump has clashed with plenty of US allies but he has appeared to have special enmity for Merkel, whose liberal, technocratic approach on issues from the coronavirus to immigration is at stark odds with the New York mogul's in-your-face populism. After the Pentagon made the cuts official, Trump said he was acting because Germany had failed to meet the NATO goal of spending two percent of GDP on defense -- although Italy and Belgium, which will take some of the US troops, spend even less. "Germany is delinquent. They haven't paid their fees," Trump told reporters. "The United States has been taken advantage of on trade and on military and on everything else for many years, and I'm here and I've been straightening it out." Trump, himself of German ancestry, has long accused NATO...