NATO faces big bill if it does not pick AWACS successor soon: officials

[ad_1]

PARIS (Reuters) - NATO faces significant costs if it does not act soon to choose a successor for its ageing fleet of 14 Boeing E-3A Airborne Warning & Control System (AWACS) surveillance aircraft, often called the alliance’s “eyes in the sky”, senior officials said.

FILE PHOTO: A NATO AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control Systems) aircraft approaches the Air Base number 5 during the Real Thaw 2018 exercise in Monte Real, Portugal February 6, 2018. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante/File Photo

Michael Gschossmann, general manager of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization agency that manages the AWACS fleet, said he expected to finalize by December a $750 million contract with U.S. arms maker Boeing Co to extend the life of the aircraft through 2035, with $250 million more earmarked for design, spare parts and testing.

But he said it was critical to decide quickly how to replace the 1979/1980-era airplanes, with their distinctive radar domes on the fuselage, or NATO would need to take costly steps to keep them flying even longer.

“We have to get moving on this. We have to ensure that the studies move along quickly. We need a reality check,” he said.

The AWACS planes are among the few military assets owned and operated by NATO, rather than individual states. They are used to conduct missions such as air policing, support for counter-terrorism operations, evacuations, and crisis response.

Gschossmann told Reuters NATO could follow the lead of member states Britain and Turkey in purchasing the E-7, a newer radar plane also built by Boeing. Those aircraft, he said, were large enough to add potential new capabilities, such as operating drones for expanded surveillance, in coming years.

“We have to ensure that we acquire a system that has growth potential, but that also – for financial and time reasons – is based on existing capabilities,” he said.

NATO is considering the AWACS replacement issue as part of a broader study of surveillance, but the process has dragged out given rapidly changing threats and newly emerging capabilities.

France and the United States also operate E-3A aircraft and could potentially buy E-7 planes in coming years, which could lower costs by generating larger order quantities.

“Why don’t we bet on the proven technology that we already have in the E-7 and provide NATO with a certain number of those aircraft? That would give us a basic capability that could be expanded in the future,” he said.

George Riebling, deputy general manager of the agency and a former senior U.S. official, said NATO was running out of time.

“If you don’t have an idea of what you’re going to do to replace NATO AWACS, then the ‘F’ in Final Lifetime Extension Programme (FLEP) can’t stand for final,” he said.

“There will be things we need to do to the NATO E-3A fleet to keep it flying past 2040.”

The FLEP program will update the aircraft’s mission system, as well as the processors for its electronic support measures (ESM) antenna. But it does not cover the radar itself, which would have doubled the cost.

Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

French, Italian shipbuilders forge naval alliance

[ad_1]

PARIS (Reuters) - France and Italy forged a military shipbuilding alliance on Friday, as state-controlled Naval Group and Fincantieri signed off on a 50-50 joint venture that will bid for Franco-Italian warship projects and sell to the world market.

FILE PHOTO: A sub-scale sized model of a Corvette by Fincantieri is displayed at Euronaval, the world naval defence exhibition in Le Bourget near Paris, France, October 23, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

The alliance reflects the two countries’ desire to fend off competition in naval shipbuilding from the likes of China, the United States and Russia.

It is targeting orders worth up to 5 billion euros ($5.63 billion) over the next decade. Naval Group said the joint venture aims to build 10-15 warships in that period, with synergies estimated at 10-15%.

“It is the product of a shared industrial ambition,” Herve Guillou, chief executive of Naval Group told reporters on a call.

“We are by far the two biggest naval shipbuilders in Europe, but we cannot remain competitive and maximize our resources if we rely only on our domestic markets.”

The joint venture does not entail a share swap between the two groups.

France and Italy first outlined plans to deepen naval shipbuilding cooperation in September 2017.

However, political and business relations between the two euro zone powerhouses have become increasingly fraught since then and uncertainty hangs over other deals.

Earlier this month, Fiat Chrysler withdrew its proposal for a 35 billion euro merger with Renault, with both the Italian-American carmaker and Rome blaming French government interference for the deal’s collapse.

Meanwhile, at France’s request, the European Union’s antitrust chief is examining Fincantieri’s purchase of a 50% stake in French shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique, formerly STX, a move which irritated Fincantieri and Rome.

Fincantieri top executives recently said they were confident of winning approval from Brussels, but that it could take some months.

The joint venture between Fincantieri and Naval Group, in which French defense company Thales has a 35% stake, seeks to balance power within the alliance.

That has been a stumbling block for other Franco-Italian mergers such as the troubled Essilor-Luxottica tie-up.

The new enterprise will be headquartered in Genoa, with its engineering center based in France’s southern Var region.

Its chief executive Claude Centofanti is a Frenchman and its chairman, Giuseppe Bono, an Italian who is also CEO of Fincantieri.

The two companies have said they will look for efficiencies by taking advantage of their bigger scale, jointly conducting some research and sharing test facilities.

Guillou said the market for mid-size to large frigates was growing 5-7% a year. “It’s also where the emerging competition is attacking us the hardest,” he added.

He said there was potential for Naval Group and the new JV to derive synergies too from the Fincantieri-Chantiers de l’Atlantique tie-up, but a go-ahead from Brussels would be needed before they can be more deeply explored.

But he added that the setting up of the venture and the merger between Fincantieri and Chantier were separate issues, downplaying analysts’ hopes the JV could make it easier to win the go-ahead for Fincantieri-Chantier.

Naval Group holds a minority stake in Chantiers de l’Atlantique.

“We could imagine buying steel benefitting from scale of volume,” Guillou said. “When you think about what vessels of the future might look like, and cleaner energies, it’s not something that will only interest military shipbuilders.”

Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Jan Harvey

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

UK poised to give special forces greater Russia focus: BBC

[ad_1]

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s special forces are about to shift away from counter-terrorism work and instead concentrate on blocking covert operations by countries such as Russia, the BBC reported on Thursday, citing unnamed British officials and military sources.

Senior military officers are considering the proposal and are likely to recommend the government approve it, the BBC’s security editor said.

“The counter-terrorist task is drawing down, while the need to confront dangerous international behavior by peer adversaries is increasing,” the BBC quoted one source as saying.

Britain blames Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency for the poison attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury last year. Russia denies responsibility.

The Skripals’ poisoning with a nerve agent prompted a wave of diplomatic expulsions and recriminations, with ties between London and Moscow shriveling to a post-Cold War low in its wake.

Russia has raised international concerns following its 2014 annexation of Crimea, the Skripal affair and accusations by the United States and some EU governments that it interfered in their elections.

“Under the new plan, an operation might be mounted in a Baltic republic or African country in order to uncover and pinpoint Russian covert activities,” the BBC said.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the BBC report, and a spokeswoman said the government did not routinely comment on matters affecting special forces.

The BBC said the change would boost the role of Britain’s Special Reconnaissance Regiment, a military unit which carries out covert surveillance such as planting cameras in insurgent-held territory and electronic eavesdropping.

It quoted an unnamed senior British military officer as saying commanders wanted a greater range of options beyond conventional military action.

“Right now, you do nothing or you escalate,” the officer said. “We want to expand that competitive space.”

Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Sandra Maler

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link