Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Oman seeks Bid for Euro-fighter


The government of Oman has requested that BAE Systems submit a formal bid for the supply of Typhoon fighter aircraft. The move clarifies the Middle East nation’s continuing commitment to the program following delays in completing negotiations.
A spokeswoman for the U.K.-based defense company said it expected to complete negotiations by the end of the year, with deliveries of the first aircraft taking place 36 months later.
The request for proposals involves a squadron’s worth of Tranche 3 standard aircraft — about 12 airframes — a support package and training for the Omani air force.
Last month, Oman ordered a second batch of 12 F-16 Block 50’s from Lockheed Martin in a $600 million deal
The Omanis formally stated their intention to purchase the Eurofighter Typhoon in early 2010, and company executives said at the time that the deal could be ready for signing within months.
In a statement, BAE said it welcomed the release of the request for proposals, adding that the news underpins its long-standing defense and security relationship with the sultanate as a major equipment supplier.
The most recent major equipment sale was signed in 2007 to deliver three corvettes to the Omani navy in a deal valued at 400 million pounds.
The warships remain undelivered for technical reasons.
The first of the Khareef-class vessels should have been handed over in 2010 but have been delayed following the discovery of technical problems during sea trials.
The spokeswoman denied that the signing of the fighter deal between the two sides is dependent on the agreement of a get-well package for three corvettes.
The spokeswoman said the first of the corvettes is now scheduled to be handed over at the end of the second quarter.
The Omanis’ commitment to Typhoon follows recent competition losses for the fighter in Japan and Switzerland.
A decision by India on whether to select the Eurofighter aircraft or its French rival, Dassault Rafale, is imminent.
Earlier this month, BAE announced that talks with the Middle East’s first Typhoon customer, Saudi Arabia, over amendments to a deal to supply 72 fighters, were dragging on and would likely affect its 2011 earnings.
The original deal called for the first 24 aircraft to be delivered from the BAE production line in the U.K., with subsequent assembly in Saudi Arabia.
BAE and the Saudis announced a change of plan last February over where the final 42 aircraft would be built but are still haggling over the details.
Typhoon is a four-nation program involving the Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. So far, it has exported the aircraft to Austria and Saudi Arabia

Monday, January 16, 2012

France Offers Heron for NATO Role


PARIS - France is offering the Heron TP as its contribution in kind to the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance program, but technical and financial problems related to adapting the medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAV to French standards are holding up a deal with Dassault and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), industrial and political sources said.
DASSAULT IS NEGOTIATING with Israel Aerospace Industries on the contract for the Heron TP, which the French company would then deliver to French authorities. (Israel Aerospace Industries)
French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet told the French aerospace journalists' press club that the deal would be sealed by "the end of 2012."

Dassault is negotiating with IAI on the contract for the Heron TP, which the French company would then deliver to French authorities.
That's later than expected by industry and parliamentary sources, who had thought the controversial contract would be signed before the presidential elections starting in April.
"There are many difficulties" on adapting the Heron TP, driving the cost above the 320 million euro ($408 million) budget, a parliamentary source said. An extra 150 million euros each for Dassault and Thales has been estimated for the modifications, the source said.
That would push the cost to 620 million euros, approaching the 700 million euro price tag of a previous Dassault offer of the Système de Drone MALE.
The Defense Ministry has asked Dassault to submit a technical-financial proposal on the Heron TP at the end of the month.
Among the key modifications are a satellite communications link and de-icing equipment, vital to plugging the UAV into the French - and NATO - network and fly in the northern European climate, the industry executive said.
Procurement officials are working hard to make progress on the UAV case, and one option might be to acquire the Heron TP with little or no modification, the executive said.
That might create problems of interoperability within NATO as Paris has offered the Heron TP as its asset contribution, instead of paying cash, toward maintaining the AGS system, the executive said.
Although 13 nations are acquiring AGS, based on the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk UAV, all 28 alliance members help maintain the system in return for access to AGS information.
"The AGS package is still being discussed at NATO," an alliance press officer said. "It is a topic to be discussed in the February meeting of defense ministers."
NATO has long sought to launch the AGS program, intended to provide commanders with a common operational picture.
France has had a troubled relationship with AGS, as Paris looked to gain a big technological role. The planned AGS system relies on five Global Hawks to provide radar and optical pictures of conditions the ground, and a network of transportable ground stations. The UAVs will be based at Sigonella airbase, Italy.
The choice of the Heron TP sparked resistance in the French Senate, which argued for acquisition of General Atomics' Reaper on grounds of cost, performance and interoperability with allied forces.
Longuet defended the choice of the Israeli UAV as "a compromise between capability and a long-term interest for industrial policy," he told the press club.
"We could have found a cheaper, more efficient, quicker solution, but at the [unacceptable] price of long-term dependence," he said.
Longuet denied that most of the contract value would go to IAI, saying that air vehicle is the smallest part of the system, with communication and observation more important.
The government argues that adapting the Heron TP to French needs will help develop competences among about 10 domestic companies in high-value areas, particularly in communications. Critics of the choice say there would be more work for French companies on the Reaper, pitched by EADS and General Atomics.
"No proposition was made by Reaper, which did not want to share, nor to adapt to French standards," Longuet said.
General Atomics did not make a formal offer because France did not send a letter of request, an industry executive said.
In 2010, the U.S. company signed a technical-assistance agreement with EADS detailing its offer, the executive said. The agreement listed modifications, including a communications link developed by French equipment firm Zodiac for the Harfang UAV flying in Afghanistan.
General Atomics also wrote in June 2011 to French Sens. Jacques Gautier and Daniel Reiner, setting out a $209 million offer for seven air vehicles, ground gear and service support.
The government, however, sees Dassault as holding a key position on a strategic roadmap intended to ensure interoperability in observation, surveillance, targeting and air power. That position stems from its work on the Rafale and Anglo-French cooperation, in the government's view.
Longuet said risk-reduction work on the Heron TP would start in 2013.
Dassault and DGA were unavailable for comment.
On a proposed new MALE UAV to be developed with Britain, Longuet urged a pan-European rather than a strictly bilateral approach.
The project "should accept the construction of Europe," he said. "We can't ignore countries with industrial capabilities. We'll probably have an Anglo-French project, which cannot avoid opening to other European partners."
On the Anglo-French cooperation treaty, Longuet said, a new date for a summit meeting would be set for before his birthday on Feb. 24.
"There are no doubts on defense," he said on relations between London and Paris.
EADS and Finmeccanica signed a deal in December to team on UAV development, reflecting wider discontent in Italy and Germany over the Anglo-French defense accord.
France would not develop the EADS Talarion Advanced UAV, Longuet said.
One way of bringing a European dimension into the planned Anglo-French MALE UAV would be to integrate it into the European combat aircraft environment, dominated by the Eurofighter Typhoon and Rafale aircraft, Longuet said.
"If we're intelligent, we should say, 'You British work on Eurofighter with Germany, Italy and Spain, and we'll work on Rafale,'" he said. "It would be good if the MALE UAV were to be compatible with one and the other."
OTHER PROGRAMS
France will buy the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) from Airbus "in 2013 for delivery four years later," Longuet said, leaving Boeing out in the cold.
Longuet dismissed previous official denials that Airbus had been chosen as "semantic elegance."
The U.S. Air Force's $35 billion pick of Boeing over Airbus for its KC-X tender effectively shut the door on a French tender.
France is expected to order five to seven A330 MRTT units in a first-batch order that could total 14.
Paris had been considering leasing part of Britain's A330 tanker fleet, but the Libyan air campaign led French authorities to decide they wanted their own aircraft.
On domestic consolidation, Thales would likely take a 10 percent to 20 percent stake in Nexter in exchange for handing over its TDA Armements mortar and munitions business to the land systems specialist, Longuet said.
Thales' holding would be significant but would not leave Nexter "dependent," he said.
Answering a question on anxiety at DCNS, where Thales is raising its stake in the naval company to 35 percent from 25 percent, Longuet said, "Thales is not the obligatory supplier of systems. DCNS can choose its systems."
DCNS makes naval combat management systems, and executives fear Thales will impose its own products, relegating the company to being a platform maker.
Nexter and DCNS had to forge European alliances to compete with companies from emerging economies such as Brazil, but first they had to consolidate their domestic base, Longuet said. Nexter had to look to German partners, as that was where the land sector was strong, he said.
Asked about the health of French defense companies, Longuet said, "Thales is a company necessarily in more peril because it is innovative on creative subjects on a world scale. It is more difficult. It has to take risks and goes through periods of uncertainty."
Regarding arms exports, the 2011 total for France would be around 6.5 billion euros, helped by an Indian contract for modernization of its Mirage 2000 fighters, Longuet said. That compared with 5.12 billion in 2010.
In October, procurement chief Laurent Collet-Billon had told lawmakers in October he expected 2011 export sales to reach 7.5 billion euros.
On export prospects for the Rafale, Longuet said a UAE decision to pick the Rafale would help sell the fighter to Kuwait and Qatar, which want to be interoperable with their neighbor's Air Force.
"They are interested" but would not be the first to commit, he said. "If they think no decision is being made [by UAE], they will look elsewhere."
Kuwait is looking at acquiring 18 to 22 jet fighters, with Qatar potentially 24, industry executives said, according to La Tribune.
The Defense Ministry appeared to harbor worries about Qatar raising its stake in Lagardère, the family-controlled company which owns 7.5 percent of EADS.
"There are fewer problems in football than in military aeronautics," Longuet said. "It's a subject."
But the decision on Qatar's shareholding in Lagardère was up to the Finance Ministry, not the Defense Ministry, he said.
A Qatari sovereign fund holds 10.07 percent of Lagardère stock, making it the largest single stockholder in the French company, and has asked for a seat on the board. Qatar bought 70 percent of the Paris Saint Germain football club for 30 million euros in May.
Julian Hale in Brussels and Tom Kington in Rome contributed to this report.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Australia Ranked 1st, N. Korea Last on Nuke Safety


WASHINGTON - Australia has the tightest security controls among nations with nuclear material while North Korea poses the world's greatest risks, a new index by experts said Jan. 11.
The Nuclear Threat Initiative, in a project led by former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn and the Economist Intelligence Unit, aims to draw attention to steps that nations can take to ensure the safety of the world's most destructive weapons.
Among 32 nations that possess at least one kilogram of weapons-usable nuclear materials, Australia was ranked as the most secure. It was followed by European nations led by Hungary, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
On the bottom of the list, North Korea was ranked as the least secure of its nuclear material, edging out Pakistan.
The index, which gave rankings on a scale of 100, also listed Iran, Vietnam and India below the 50-point threshold.
"This is not about congratulating some countries and chastising others. We are highlighting the universal responsibility of states to secure the world's most dangerous materials," said Nunn, who has long been active on nuclear safety.
Nunn, a Democrat who represented Georgia in the Senate from 1972 until early 1997, voiced concern that the world had a "perfect storm" - an ample supply of weapons-usable nuclear materials and terrorists who want them.
"We know that to get the materials they need, terrorists will go where the material is most vulnerable. Global nuclear security is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain," he said.
The index, timed ahead of the March summit on nuclear security in South Korea, called for the world to set benchmarks and to hold nations accountable for nuclear safety. It also urged nations to stop increasing stocks of weapons-usable material and to make public their security regulations.
North Korea has tested two nuclear bombs and in 2009 renounced a U.S.-backed agreement on denuclearization. The world has watched warily since last month as young Kim Jong-Un takes over as leader from his late father Kim Jong-Il.
Pakistan has vigorously defended its right to nuclear weapons. The father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, admitted in 2004 that he ran a nuclear black market selling secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea but later retracted his remarks.
Australia does not have nuclear weapons and supports their abolition. But it has a security alliance with the United States and holds the world's largest reserves of uranium.
Of acknowledged nuclear weapons states, Britain scored best at 10th among the 32 countries. The United States ranked 13th.
The Nuclear Threat Initiative also released a separate index of security conditions in countries without significant nuclear materials, saying they could be used as safe havens or transit points. Somalia, which is partially under the control of the al-Qaida-linked Shebab movement and has effectively lacked a central government for two decades, was ranked last among the 144 countries surveyed.
Other countries that ranked near the bottom included Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Eritrea and Chad.
On the top of the list, Finland was ranked as the most secure nation among those without nuclear material. It was followed by Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Slovenia and Romania.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Bids Submitted for Aegis Follow-On System


Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing have submitted proposals to take over support and development of the Aegis combat system, the companies said Dec. 14.
The Combat System Engineering Agent (CSEA) competition also is intended to provide a follow-on system to Aegis, the U.S. Navy's most capable weapon system and the foundation for its fleet air defense, surface warfare and ballistic missile defense (BMD) missions.
Lockheed has held the Aegis development and support contract since 1995, when it acquired Martin Marietta. The system was first developed by RCA starting in the late 1960s. General Electric then bought the company, which in turn was sold to Martin Marietta and subsequently merged with Lockheed.
Aegis, perhaps the world's most effective naval combat system, has been worth many billions of dollars to Lockheed over the years. All 27 Ticonderoga-class cruisers and at least 70 DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have been built with the system. Spain, Norway, Japan and the Republic of Korea operate Aegis warships, and Australia is building a new class of Aegis destroyers.
A combination of radars, computers and weapons, Aegis was first developed to counter massed attacks by Soviet anti-ship missiles, and has evolved into an effective surface warfare system. Although not designed to target ballistic missiles, the system has been modified with more powerful processors as the basis for the Navy's BMD systems, and is the foundation for the Phased Adaptive Approach effort for the land-based missile defense of Europe.
According to the Missile Defense Agency, 24 Aegis ships - five cruisers and 19 destroyers - have BMD capability. That number is to increase to 32 ships by the end of 2013 as more units are upgraded.
The CSEA effort is intended to provide for the design, development and integration of Aegis weapon system and Aegis combat system future capabilities for existing cruisers and destroyers, and potentially create a new system for DDG 51 Flight III ships beginning in 2016.
Dependent on development, Flight III ships may be fitted with a new combat system or continue with Aegis.
The Navy is expected to award the CSEA contract in the fall of 2012.
A separate competition is underway to develop a new phased-array radar for Aegis. The Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) is to provide new radars to replace existing SPY-1 radars beginning with the U.S. Navy's 2016 Flight III destroyers.
Lockheed, Raytheon and Northrop are working to develop the AMDR, which will be a dual-band system. All three companies are working under Navy contracts to develop an S-band (AMDR-S) radar, with development contracts yet to be issued for the AMDR-X X-band system. The AMDR systems will also include a radar suite controller to integrate the radars.

Alenia, Cassidian To Explore UAV Cooperation


PARIS - In a bid become major industrial players, Italy's Alenia and EADS defense and security unit Cassidian have signed a preliminary agreement to explore cooperation in medium-altitude, long-endurance and combat UAVs, the companies said in a Dec. 14 statement.
"A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Cassidian on behalf of EADS Deutschland GmbH and Alenia Aeronautica SpA to jointly investigate the potential cooperation in the field of medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV)," a joint statement said.
"Alenia and Cassidian are aiming to strengthen their technological know-how in order to establish a leading role in the UAS market," the companies said. "Thanks to this agreement, the two companies will analyze the requirements expressed by each of their respective governments in the UAS sector with the objective to create a strategic partnership and to expand their global UAS market share.
Cassidian sought the agreement with Alenia to extend its work on the Talarion advanced UAV.
"We look forward to investigating further collaboration with Alenia Aeronautica around a next-generation MALE UAS, like for instance the Talarion, which is of outmost importance for Europe's military aviation industry," Cassisian chief operating officer Bernhard Gerwert said in the statement.
France, Germany and Spain have shown no willingness to sign a development contract for the Talarion after EADS delivered its 60-million euro risk reduction study.
Alenia sees cooperation with EADS as a way of staying current in the UAV market.
"The UAS sector has a strategic importance for the future of Alenia Aeronautica's programs, and we are convinced that this agreement will allow us to become even more competitive in this quickly expanding market," Giuseppe Giordo, chief executive of Alenia Aeronautica and Alenia Aermacchi, said.
An Anglo-French cooperation military treaty, which includes collaboration in UAVs and UCAVs, has sparked concern in Germany, Italy and Spain that the agreement is exclusively bilateral and locks out other European partners.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Australia Courts 3 Firms for Sub Fleet


SYDNEY - Australia said Dec. 13 it had invited three companies from France, Germany and Spain to submit designs for its new submarine fleet, a project expected to span the next 30 years.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith said Canberra had asked French naval defense firm DCNS, Spain's Navantia and HDW of Germany - a ThyssenKrupp subsidiary - to submit designs for the program, which will see 12 new submarines built.
"The Future Submarine Project is a major national undertaking and is of a scale, complexity and duration never before experienced within (the) Defence (Department)," Smith said, adding that Australia would need a "significant amount of help from overseas."
"The submarines will be constructed over the course of the next three decades."
Jason Clare, minister for defence materiel, said the Future Submarines Project would involve hundreds of companies, thousands of workers and many skills that "do not currently exist in sufficient numbers."
"Some of those skills are available overseas, others will have to be grown here. Now is the time to develop a plan to make sure we have the skills we need when we start designing and building the submarines," he said.
Australia unveiled plans in 2009 to spend more than $70 billion boosting its military capability over the next 20 years.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Germany Hands Over Anti-Piracy Mission Command


BONN, Germany - Spain is the new lead nation of maritime task force 465 on an anti-piracy mission in the waters around the Horn of Africa. German flotilla Adm. Thomas Jugel handed the command of the European Union's flotilla Atalanta over on Dec. 6 to Spanish Capt. Jorge Manso.
Jugel had been commanding the task force of six ships and eight helicopters from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France for the past four months.
In a report issued by the German military, he spoke about the decline in the number of successful pirate raids from 50 in 2010 to 20 so far in 2011. According to the German admiral, more and more ships are passing the area registered and preferably in a convoys. In addition, the EU warships in May were granted a more offensive mandate to tackle the situation.
German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière, who visited the troops in Djibouti for the occasion, said he regarded the operation so far as a success. However, he warned that the military mission only fights the symptoms. A final solution requires that constitutional structures be established in Somalia, and the pirate masterminds had to be found and their cash flows cut off, he said.
Just a few days before the change in command, the German parliament voted to extend the country's participation in Atalanta for one more year. In the coming month, the German Navy will take part with about 500 troops, one frigate and a P3-C Orion maritime patrol aircraft. The upper limit of the mandate is 1,400 troops.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Romania Ratifies U.S. Missile Shield Agreement


BUCHAREST, Romania- The Romanian parliament ratified an accord to host U.S. missile interceptors on its soil on Dec. 6, a day before a meeting of the 28 NATO members in Brussels.
The Senate unanimously adopted the draft law ratifying the Romania-U.S. agreement signed in September that would allow the establishment and operation of a U.S. land-based ballistic missile defense system in Romania as part of NATO's efforts to build a continental missile shield.
"The location of some elements of the U.S. missile shield represents a very important contribution to the security of Romania, the U.S. and the entire alliance," Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi told senators, according to Mediafax news agency.
The draft law was adopted by the lower house in November and is now set to be promulgated by President Traian Basescu.
The deployment of the missile interceptors is expected to take place in 2015 at a former airbase in southern Romania.
The missile shield, which is based on U.S. technology, is one of the transatlantic alliance's main development axes for the coming years, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said.
Along with Romania, Turkey, Poland and Spain have also agreed to take part in the project.

Monday, November 28, 2011

French, Germans Should Team on UAV: German Minister


PARIS - Germany's junior defense minister is calling for France and Germany to cooperate on a common UAV program rather than pursue competing projects, business daily La Tribune reported Nov. 28.
Asked in an interview on what programs France and Germany should collaborate, Stéphane Beelemans said: "Drones, for example. The projects being studied in France and Germany reflect a split from the past.
"And I say it clearly in France and Germany to our companies. I don't believe in two projects of this scale at the European level. And I find it hard to believe there is the political will to realize two competing projects. There is enough political will to do a common project," he said, according to the paper.
There was no sense in having two different kinds of equipment, for reasons of interoperability, maintenance, use and budgets, he said.
The competing projects are the next-generation medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) Talarion advanced UAV, proposed by EADS to France, Germany and Spain; and the Telemos air vehicle from BAE Systems and Dassault, pitched to Britain and France.
EADS seeks a place at the top table in the Telemos project alongside BAE and Dassault, but Dassault will only consider a junior subcontractor role for the pan-European company, retaining leadership firmly in the hands of the Anglo-French team.
France, Germany and Spain paid for a 60 million euro ($79.5 million) risk-reduction study for the advanced UAV, but EADS has been unable to convert that into a development and production contract.
Work on a next-generation MALE drone is seen as vital to maintaining a design engineering capability in Europe's military aircraft sector in the absence of development for a manned jet fighter.
The Anglo-French military cooperation treaty calls for joint work on a new-generation MALE surveillance UAV, and collaboration on an unmanned combat aerial vehicle.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Czech Planes Grounded for 3rd Time This Year

PRAGUE - The Czech Army grounded its four CASA C-295M military planes Oct. 31 due to equipment failure, said an army spokesperson, the third time the aircraft have been grounded this year.
The navigation screen and other equipment in a plane Oct. 30 from Seville, Spain, "stopped working during landing," spokesperson Mira Trebicka said in a statement. "One of the two engines then stopped working. Army Gen. Vkastimil Picek has ordered the immediate grounding of all planes, until the inquiry has ended."
The two pilots managed to land with one engine.
In 2010, the Czech Army replaced its obsolete Antonov An-26 fleet, which dated from its communist era, with CASA C-295M planes.
The aircraft were already grounded in February following a severe drop in altitude midflight, and again in May after problems with an avionics system.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Spain readies to pull troops from Libya

MADRID - Spanish Defence Minister Carme Chacon on Tuesday said Spain would pull its troops from Libya as soon as NATO formally announces the end of its operations there.
"As soon as NATO formally confirms the end of this operation, Spanish assets will be immediately pulled back to Spanish territory," she said at a news conference.
"This means that all the troops that we have today in Libyan territory will be in Spain before October 31," she added.
On Oct. 12 Chacon said Madrid was withdrawing its four F-18 fighter jets assigned to the NATO air campaign in Libya due to positive developments in the north African country.
The minister noted that Spain still had two refueling aircraft in Libya and would continue to help enforce the UN-mandated arms embargo on the country with a frigate and a maritime patrol aircraft.
NATO ambassadors are scheduled to meet Wednesday to make a formal decision on a preliminary agreement to terminate the seven-month-old mission on Oct. 31.
But Libya's new regime has asked the alliance to maintain air operations a month longer than planned.
The alliance decided to wind down the mission after determining that civilians were essentially free from the threat of attacks from fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, who was killed last week by troops loyal to the new regime.

Monday, August 1, 2011

German Party Sues Government on Saudi Tank Deal

BERLIN - Germany's opposition Green party is taking the government to court over a reported secret deal to sell hundreds of tanks to Saudi Arabia, a party spokeswoman said Aug. 1.
"A suit brought by the members of parliament Christian Stroebele, Claudia Roth and Katja Keul was filed on Friday" with the Constitutional Court, the spokeswoman added.
The Greens, who oppose the reported deal, have asked the court to rule on whether the government is entitled to grant an export license for the tanks without informing parliament.
Press reports recently suggested that Saudi Arabia would be buying 200 Leopard-2s, Germany's main battle tank, which is also produced under license in Spain, for a multibillion-euro sum.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government have refused to comment on the reports, saying such matters are confidential and decided by the federal security council, a panel that rules on arms exports and is chaired by the chancellor.
"Deliberation and decisions by the federal security council are secret for good reason," Merkel has told the press.
For decades, Germany has declined to sell such heavy weapons to Saudi Arabia because of concerns over human rights and fears for Israel's security.
Opposition politicians and even some members of Merkel's ruling center-right coalition have slammed the reported tank sale, particularly in light of pro-democracy uprisings throughout the Middle East.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Hacker Group Claims Hit on U.S. Defense Contractor

SAN FRANCISCO - Hacker group Anonymous on July 11 released a trove of military email addresses and passwords it claimed to have plundered from the network of U.S. defense consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.
AN IMAGE OF a data center in Chicago. Hackers say they stole thousands of passwords for U.S. military email addresses by getting into Booz Allen Hamilton's network. (Microsoft)
Anonymous made available a file containing more than 90,000 email addresses and other information it said in online messages that it stole from an unprotected server at Booz Allen.

"While this should certainly be embarrassing to Booz Allen Hamilton, the real impact is on the U.S. military," the post continued."Anonymous claims to have erased four gigabytes worth of source code and to have discovered information which could help them attack U.S. government and other contractors' systems," computer security firm Sophos said in a blog post.
In a message accompanying the data at file-sharing website The Pirate Bay, Anonymous said Booz Allen was targeted in a "Meltdown Monday" as part of an anti-security, or "antisec," movement.
"So in this line of work you'd expect them to sail the seven proxseas with a state-of-the-art battleship, right?" Anonymous said, using pirate jargon and playing off a reference to proxy computer servers.
"Well, you may be as surprised as we were when we found their vessel being a puny wooden barge," the message continued. "We infiltrated a server in their network that basically had no security measures in place."
Although some downplayed the value of the looted data, computer security specialists warn that the email addresses could be used to target messages that trick recipients into revealing information or downloading viruses.
Booz Allen declined to comment on the incident, citing a company policy of not discussing "specific threats or actions taken against our systems."
Anonymous rose to infamy last year with cyber attacks in support of controversial whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.
The group was linked to attacks on Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, which blocked donations to WikiLeaks after it published thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables.
Early this year, Anonymous took credit for breaking into the website of HBGary Federal, stealing tens of thousands of email messages and temporarily routing traffic to a page with a vitriolic message.
Anonymous claimed to have busted through HBGary Federal computer defenses in February because the firm was working with federal agents to expose the hackers' identities.
The HBGary hack was more sophisticated than the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks last year on the Amazon, Visa and MasterCard websites in apparent retaliation for their decisions to stop working with WikiLeaks.
In a typical DDoS attack, a large number of computers are commanded to simultaneously visit a website, overwhelming its servers, slowing service or knocking it offline completely.
In recent months, police in Spain, Turkey and Italy have arrested suspected members of Anonymous, which is believed to have branches in several countries.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Dassault Recommends Heron To Fill Interim UAV Need

PARIS - Dassault Aviation has proposed the Israeli-built Heron TP to the French authorities in the case of an urgent operating requirement for a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV, a company executive said June 17.
The offer consists of the supply of the air vehicles without sensors from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the executive said. That makes it simpler than the previous système de drone MALE (SDM) proposal Dassault made jointly with IAI, Indra of Spain and Thales.
Dassault has pitched the Heron TP as an interim solution, to provide a quick capability for the French forces while work went ahead on a planned MALE UAV to be developed jointly with Britain under the Lancaster House defense cooperation treaty signed November 2010.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Industry Fronts Money for Typhoon Radar R&D

Industry is funding development of the Captor-E active electronically scanned array radar destined for the Eurofighter Typhoon because the four governments in the fighter program don't have the money available at this stage.
Selex Galileo chief executive Fabrizio Giuliani told reporters June 8 that members of the Euroradar consortium and Eurofighter would provide "pre-funding, not self-funding."
The Italian executive said that by the expected signing of a letter of intent backing the AESA program at the Paris Air Show later this month the governments of Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain are "committed to pay back Eurofighter and Euroradar what we anticipate [spending]."
Euroradar, which is led by Selex, also involves EADS and Indra. Eurofighter is the Typhoon management organization operated by BAE Systems, EADS and Finmeccanica.
Bob Mason, the executive vice president for sensors and airborne systems at Selex Galileo, said finance was not an issue. The important thing was to get the Eurofighter nations officially committed to the program through the letter of intent, Mason said.
"We understand the financial constraints. Finance is not the issue; that is being made available by Eurofighter and Euroradar for full-scale development. The issue is the backing of the governments and that's what the letter of intent will give us. Export customers like India and Japan will be more comfortable with the backing of the Eurofighter governments," he said.
The four nations "will join at the appropriate time when they have the budgets available," he said.
The availability of an AESA radar was a key requirement for the multi-billion dollar competition being run by the Indian government to equip the air force with a multi-role medium weight fighter. Typhoon was downselected recently alongside the Dassault Rafale for the final stages of the competition.
Talks over the releasability of the AESA technology to India is still under debate and depends on the final solution and final negotiations, Mason said.
"We are looking at the manufacturer of certain subsystems in India software transition in terms of modes and bringing new modes into the radar as well," he said.
Mason said they had agreed a "large amount of funding" from the Eurofighter governments through to the first production standard radars scheduled for completion in 2014 for aircraft production the following year.
The executive said Euroradar now had a huge team working on the development at Selex's main development plant in Edinburgh and elsewhere.
Aside from the Captor-E, Selex is also working in the combat aircraft field on a similar AESA radar for the Saab Gripen NG, and is involved in separate technology demonstrator programs funded by the British and Italian governments.