European Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Miragedriver

Brigadier
The Czech company Aero Vodochody is in early negotiations to offer its L-159 light attack aircraft to Argentina.

Unfortunately we are talking about only 12 to 14 aircraft. The real number should be 30 to 36 aircraft.
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The Czech company Aero Vodochody ...
the factory is located just about six miles (I know checked) from the place where I frequently visit a bunker, so I think three times over the years they "took for a ride" the aircraft and flew it over my head (I guess that's because this direction is less populated) ... but no, I can't tell
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from
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only from a Gripen :)
 

Miragedriver

Brigadier
the factory is located just about six miles (I know checked) from the place where I frequently visit a bunker, so I think three times over the years they "took for a ride" the aircraft and flew it over my head (I guess that's because this direction is less populated) ... but no, I can't tell
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from
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only from a Gripen :)


I hope that Argentina acquires a license to produce the L-159.
 

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
Quite sure replace the 2 small Stromboli do 8700 t they have also Etna more big 13400 t she have 19 years.

Fincantieri launches bow-section of Italian Navy Vulcano-class LSS
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri launched the bow section of Italian Navy’s new logistic support ship in a March 10 ceremony in Riva Trigoso, Italy.

The launched bow section is 94 meters long, 24 meters wide, 16.3 meters high, and weighs about 4.100 tons. It will now be transported by sea to the shipyard in Muggiano (La Spezia), where it will be assembled to set up the entire unit with the stern section.

Work on the ship started in February, 2016, while a keel laying ceremony was held six month later, in July.

The new Vulcano-class logistic support ship is built under the Navy’s fleet renewal plan and is replacing the old Stromboli-class fleet replenishment oilers that have been in service with the Italian Navy for 42 years.

The Italian fleet renewal plan is a €3.5 billion project that includes six patrol vessels, with four more in option, and one logistic support unit. Fincantieri and Finmeccanica are the main contractors where Fincantieri’s share amounts to approx. €2.3 billion while Finmeccanica will receive the remaining €1.2 billion.

Future ITS Vulcano (hull number: 6259) will be a 165-meter ship featuring hospital and healthcare capabilities thanks to the presence of a fully equipped hospital, complete with operating rooms, radiology and analysis rooms, a dentist’s office and hospital rooms capable of hosting up to 12 seriously injured patients.

The ship is capable of combining capacity to transport and transfer to other transport vessels used for liquids (diesel fuel, jet fuel, fresh water) and solids (emergency spare parts, food and ammunitions) and to perform at sea repairs and maintenance work for other vessels.

Vulcano is scheduled to be delivered to the navy in 2019.

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Miragedriver

Brigadier
You bet me to the post Forbin

ROME and PARIS -- The consolidation of Europe’s naval industry has taken a first, hesitant step with the approval of the purchase by Italy’s Fincantieri of a 48 percent stake in the French shipbuilder STX.

The green light from the French government for the deal will put Italy’s state-controlled builder of frigates and submarines in the driving seat at the only European yard big enough to build aircraft carriers.

Crucially, as part of the deal, the French government brought in state-owned DCNS with a shareholding reported to be some 12 percent, putting Italy and France’s top naval shipbuilders in the same corporate boardroom for the first time.

“Fincantieri and DCNS have teamed on naval programs before, but this means a more structural relationship in the running of a yard which recently built Mistral helicopter carriers, and it could be the first step towards a naval Airbus, built on an Italo-French foundation,” said Francesco Tosato, an analyst at the Centro Studi Internazionali think tank in Rome.

Acquiring the stake will not only win DCNS a seat on the board of directors but also help the French and Italian firms make joint offers on the export market, a DCNS spokesperson said.

“This will ensure the protection of France's strategic interests while strengthening our export capacity,” DCNS chairman and CEO Hervé Guillou said in a statement. The deal would help “our shared ambition to develop industrial cooperation between France and Italy in the naval sector," he added.

The deal, which was announced on Thursday by French industry minister Christophe Sirugue, will see Fincantieri take 48 percent in the yard and DCNS some 12 percent, while the French government will keep its 33.3 percent stake.

The remaining 6.6 percent will be taken by Italian investment body Fondazione CR Trieste. Promoted by Fincantieri as a blueprint for European integration, the agreement came close to being scrapped due to French public sentiment to protect jobs at the shipbuilder at Saint-Nazaire, northern France, a key base in regional politics.

Things got underway last year when STX’s then-owner, Korea’s STX, went bankrupt, leaving its controlling 66.66 percent stake in the yard up for sale. Fincantieri was named as the preferred bidder, with the French state hanging on to its 33.3 percent stake.

The prime objective of Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono was to take over the healthy, €12 billion ($12.7 billion) order book for cruise ships held by the STX French unit, a sector in which Fincantieri is also thriving.

But opposition to the deal soon grew in France, with unions fearful of job losses, and politicians wary of losing votes ahead of presidential elections in just over a week.

Several presidential candidates opposed a Fincantieri acquisition, and former prime minister François Fillon, the candidate for the conservative Les Républicains, called for the yard to be nationalized.

That drew a fierce response from Claudio Costamagna, head of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the state investment fund which controls Fincantieri, who called the resistance “shameful and unacceptable,” given the large number of Italian firms which have been snapped up by French buyers in recent years.

“At the end of the day, the French likely decided not to be too protectionist since it would have put an end to further French investments in Italy,” said Tosato.

The deal laid out this week by Sirugue requires Fincantieri to hold a stake below 50 percent for eight years, while pushing the Italian firm to find a smaller private shareholder “independent of Fincantieri”.

That explains the 6.6 percent share taken by Fondazione CR Trieste, which operates in the Italian northeast, close to Fincantieri’s headquarters, and was approached by Fincantieri’s Bono.

The arrangement puts the Italian shareholding bloc above 50 percent, but split between two independent companies, as requested by France.

“We are not on board to take orders from Fincantieri, we are there to support Italian industry to create a critical mass with French industry,” said a source at Fondazione CR Trieste.

The French deal gives Paris the right of veto, allowing the government to block any big cut in work for the design office or the shipyard, transfer of intellectual property rights, and any strategy that undermines the defense interests of the nation.

The government will hold those veto rights for 20 years, with a review after 12 years. Fincantieri is also committed to allowing STX to respond independently to tenders. The deal is not done yet, as the pact needs to be submitted to labor unions for mandatory consultation, as required under French labor law.

There is concern among the unions that STX could cut French jobs if the Italian parent company fell into difficulty. Labor unions are also worried about Fincantieri’s joint venture with China State Shipbuilding Corp., seen as opening the door to a transfer of sensitive French technology to the Asian partner.

DCNS and Fincantieri worked together as industrial partners and respective prime contractors on the French and Italian Horizon air defense frigate and multimission frigate. The level of joint procurement of subsystems fell sharply from the former to the latter.

But Italian finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan said he was confident the deal would be “a big success for Italian shipbuilding,” adding, “This shows that large Italian firms which have invested in being competitive and building their international credibility can take positions of leadership in sectors which are strategic for the global economy.”

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FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
500th Eurofighter Typhoon delivered

Fourteen years after the delivery of the very first Eurofighter Typhoon, the 500th aircraft was delivered on Tuesday 11 April. At Leonardo’s Turin facility, the Italian Air Force took delivery of the Typhoon in question.

The ceremony was witnessed by several authorities, with officials from Kuwait also among those present. Kuwait in 2016 ordered 28 Typhoons in a bilateral contract with Italy. The ceremony in Turin saw the presentation of very first part for the very first jet for Kuwait. The country will soon join the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria and Saudi Arabia as a Typhoon operator.

In Turin, Chief Executive Officer of Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH Volker Paltzo said: “The 500 strong Eurofighter Typhoon fleet represents one of the largest and most capable fighter fleets in the western hemisphere, and will be the backbone of European airpower for decades to come. Today’s handover is a great testament to the programme’s success, and I firmly expect to see the fleet grow further as our partner companies continue to pursue opportunities for more orders internationally.”

Filippo Bagnato, Leonardo Aircraft Division Managing Director, said: “We are very proud to deliver the 500th Eurofighter Typhoon produced to the Italian Air Force. The Eurofighter Typhoon is the largest collaborative industrial program in Europe, it is a successful and significant contributor to the nation’s economic wellbeing, employing high-skilled workers and generating thousands of high-value manufacturing and engineering jobs. We are now fully committed to completing deliveries to the Italian Air Force, to develop the capabilities of the aircraft, and to the activities envisaged by Kuwait’s contract, while continuing to pursue a number of significant market opportunities around the world.”

The first Eurofighter was delivered to the UK at the end of 2003. The 100th Eurofighter was delivered to the UK Royal Air Force in September 2006. The 200th aircraft was handed over to the German Air Force in November 2009. The 300th aircraft was delivered to the Spanish Air Force in October 2011, and the 400th to the German Air Force in December 2013.

The Typhoon has since been deployed on multiple occasions on air policing duties with the Spanish, German, Italian and UK air forces and has seen combat during operations in Libya, Iraq and Syria.

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I don't think have the 500 :) but last number i have

UK : 141 on 160 ordered used by 5 Sqns + 1 OCU + 1 small OEU, planned 2 new Sqns stand up
Italy : 82 on 96 used by 5 Sqns
Spain : 60 on 73, 2 lost used by 4 Sqns
Germany : 125 on 143 used by 8 Sqns
Saudi Arabia : 68 on 72, used by 3 Sqns
Oman : 12 in order for a Sqn
Kuwait : 28 right now only country to receive with new ASEA radar Captor for 2 Sqns
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
EDA pushes for more action on tanker capacity

  • 11 APRIL, 2017
  • SOURCE: FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM
  • BY: ANNO GRAVEMAKER


European Defence Agency (EDA) officials have urged the organisation's partner nations to take further steps to optimise their delivery of air-to-air refuelling (AAR) operations.

"AAR is one of the four key projects in which the EDA and its member states have identified a capability gap," says Air Cdre Peter Round, the agency's director, capability, armament and technology. "We are working hard to overcome the shortfall in Europe."

Speaking during the European Air Refuelling Training (EART) exercise at Eindhoven air base in the Netherlands early this month, Round described tankers as a "critical enabler" for current operations. The annual event was first staged in 2014, to address lessons learned during the allied campaign Unified Protector mounted over Libyan airspace three years earlier.

Highlighting the current challenge facing European air forces operating ageing equipment, two of the tankers assigned for the EART media day – a French air force Boeing C-135 and a Royal Netherlands Air Force KDC-10 – were unavailable due to technical issues. The remaining assets: a German A310 and an Italian Boeing KC-767, were used to support combat aircraft participating in the multinational exercise Frisian Flag.

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Anno Gravemaker

As well as staging such exercises, the EDA is striving to optimise the use of existing capabilities by boosting interoperability via entities such as the European Air Transport Command. It also is attempting to streamline the various national certification processes which lead to clearances to refuel individual aircraft types as a priority.

The EDA also is planning to acquire additional refuelling pods that can be used by partner nations operating the tanker-capable Airbus A400M.

However, its biggest AAR initiative is linked to a multinational programme to acquire and operate a pooled fleet of A330 multirole tanker transports by 2020. The Netherlands and Luxembourg signed a memorandum of understanding last year to acquire an initial two aircraft, plus two years of in-service support.

Belgium, Germany and Norway have also signed a declaration of intent to join the pooled fleet scheme. Their addition could potentially lead to a long-term requirement for a pooled fleet of between eight and 11 aircraft, according to the EDA.
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More Tankers for Europe. by the way it's not just for fighters, Transports use tankers to. Especially if you have an oversized load they take off with just enough fuel to get in the air then tank up.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
And Waffles are off the Menu at the Boeing Catena
Boeing pulls out of Belgian fighter competition

  • 19 APRIL, 2017
  • SOURCE: FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM
  • BY: LEIGH GIANGRECO
  • WASHINGTON DC


Boeing will not compete its F/A-18 Super Hornet to replace Belgium’s fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16s, the company informed the nation's government this week.

In a statement, the airframer says it will not participate in a 19 April bidders conference, nor respond to Brussels' request for proposals for the new fighter.

“We regret that after reviewing the request we do not see an opportunity to compete on a truly level playing field with the...F/A-18 Super Hornet,” Boeing says.

“This decision allows Boeing to concentrate its efforts and resources on supporting our global customers, securing new orders and investing in technology and systems required to meet the threats of today and tomorrow. Where there is a full and open competition we look forward to bringing the full depth and breadth of Boeing to our offer.”

Belgium’s recapitalisation effort is expected to replace its 59 F-16A/Bs with 34 new fighters, with a budget of up to €3.6 billion ($4 billion), FlightGlobal has previously reported.

Boeing’s American rival, Lockheed Martin, remains in the competition with its F-35. Other candidates include the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen E.

Over the past year, Boeing has chalked up a number of coups for its tactical fighter business, from a Canadian Super Hornet purchase to a renewed interest in the aircraft from US President Donald Trump, as well as orders from Kuwait and Qatar.

However, interest from Europe appears to be waning. After losing Denmark’s fighter competition in 2016 to the F-35A, Boeing issued a legal challenge against the Danish defence ministry arguing that the government executed a “flawed” evaluation process. On 15 September 2016, Boeing submitted a request for insight seeking documents and information on the fighter decision.

"Since then, the ministry has shared only a small fraction of the documents that Boeing is entitled to review, and has not provided a complete list of all its documents and information as required by law," Boeing says.

Boeing filed a legal challenge on 2 March, fighting the failure to release the documents; that court hearing is still pending.

Meanwhile, Boeing sees other opportunities from fighter contests being held by Finland and Switzerland.
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