European Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Well with delivered C17s and coming A400M it seems likely that some if not most of the mission need is covered. That just leaves extremely oversized cargo which would either require C5M requests to the USAF or possibly A380F or B747-8F

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Jura said:

yeah ultimately eventually undoubtedly NATO won't need Russians
LOL!

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Sikorsky taps sensor-maker Hensoldt in bid for German heavy helos
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  12 minutes ago
COLOGNE, Germany ― Sikorsky has picked German sensor and electronics manufacturer Hensoldt as part of its bid to sell the CH-53K King Stallion transport helicopter to the Bundeswehr, according to Sikorsky parent company Lockheed Martin.

The team-up is the latest in a series of announcements meant to

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in what will essentially be a multibillion-dollar purchase by Germany from either Sikorsky or Boeing, which is offering a version of its Chinook tandem-rotor helicopter.

According to Lockheed, Hensoldt’s contribution in the new partnership will focus on systems for terrain avoidance, self-protection, collision avoidance, mission avionics, identification and related ground support.

But exactly what work share the German vendor will get has yet to be hashed out, a Hensoldt spokesman told Defense News.



The company has existed for only one year, subsuming the security and defense-electronics division of Airbus Group when it was spun off. Its products are used in a number of notable U.S. and European military planes and helicopters, including the F-16, Eurofighter, Gripen and Rafale combat aircraft and the Airbus A-400M cargo hauler, according to the Hensoldt website.

“We are proud to join Sikorsky’s industrial team with regards to the STH program,” said Sabine Hipp, head of Hensoldt’s sales and marketing. “Due to our experience in German helicopter programs, we are able to bring in the equipment critical for the mission success and the survivability of the platform. Our contribution is an essential asset to secure the implementation of mission-critical German core technologies for closing existing or upcoming capability gaps in our country.”

The Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, plans to replace its fleet of 1970s-era CH-53G choppers with up to 60 new helicopters sometime in the mid-2020s. Defense contractors and industry groups here bemoaned a decision by Defence Ministry leaders to pick an off-the-shelf aircraft for the “Schwerer Transporthubschrauber” program, or STH, at a time when domestic companies, namely Airbus, had no such offering in their portfolios.

That lingering sentiment has upped the ante for the two American bidders to play up their domestic industry angles.

In the case of Lockheed-Sikorsky, executives made sure the effort would be visible for all who care to look, with a constant stream of announcements of new German-U.S. industry

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for the King Stallion.

Boeing, meanwhile, appears to be holding its marketing fire, though insiders expect a grand showing of a Bundeswehr-specific Chinook at the ILA Berlin Air Show next week. The company has largely relied on the message that its H-47 is a market-proven aircraft, whereas the CH-53K is only scheduled to meet initial operational capability, or IOC, for the U.S. Marine Corps in 2019.

A report this year from the Pentagon’s chief weapons testing office cast doubt on the goal of declaring IOC in late December of next year because testing was behind schedule. “Design of the CH-53K is not finalized,” testers wrote. “Sikorsky is working on [it] but has not yet resolved problems discovered in developmental testing.”

The Marine Corps program manager has since vowed that the program will be able to catch up in time, Inside Defense reported last week.

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The fast-attack Virginia-class submarine

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fired six Tomahawk cruise missiles in Friday’s allied airstrikes against Syria.

Now the mayor of Naples, Italy, is demanding the submarine stay far away from his self-designated “nuclear-free” city, according to several Italian media reports.

Mayor Luigi de Magistris penned a letter last week to Rear Adm.Arturo Faraone, head of the Naples port authority, expressing his displeasure with the John Warner’s presence near his city. The nuclear-powered Warner passed through the Bay of Naples in late March after the NATO Dynamic Manta exercise. Less than three weeks later, the sub was firing missiles into Syria from its position in the eastern Mediterranean.

“The fact that it is the same submarine [involved in the Syria attack] further reinforces the rightness of the order,” de Magistris told Italian news service

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. “Ships of nuclear propulsion or carrying nuclear weapons are not welcome in the port of Naples and, therefore, they are not allowed to transit or stay.”

In his letter, de Magistris referenced a resolution he passed in 2015 which declared the Port of Naples a “nuclear-free area.” He called Naples a “City of Peace” that respects “the fundamental rights of everyone, convinced of disarmament and international cooperation,” according to the Italian newspaper

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.

Faraone responded that although he shares the mayor’s concerns, the arrival and transit of foreign military units falls under the jurisdiction of the Italian Ministry of Defense. He also noted that the John Warner never actually entered the Naples port in March, but remained three and a half miles from shore due to its radioactive propulsion,

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reported.

Naples has been a support base site for the Navy since the early 1950s. It is home to U.S. Naval Forces Europe and the U.S. Sixth Fleet.

Italy did not participate in the joint American-British-French airstrikes against Syrian chemical weapons sites, although it did provide logistical support from the NATO air base in Aviano. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni backed the strikes, but didn’t want any attacks launched from Italian soil.

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