By Pierre Tran Paris – Dassault Aviation has suspended its €212 million ($232 million) dividend on financial year 2019, withdrawn its business forecast for 2020, and placed some staff on furlough in response to disruption caused by coronavirus. “To support Dassault Aviation in this unprecedented crisis, the board decided today…
By Pierre Tran Paris – Arquus last week delivered 13 VAB armored troop carriers to support the French army in the African Barkhane operation, and an initial batch of 100 VT4 light vehicles for national security, the vehicle manufacturer said March 31. Meanwhile, Nexter partially restarted production March 30 after…
By Robbin Laird The argument of my forthcoming report on the nature and impact of the new build Australian OPV program is that the new build OPV is shaping a new template for Australian shipbuilding. And it is one in which the role of the prime contractor is being redefined…
By Robbin Laird In the first part of this article, I posed the question: What does it mean to be a supplier to such an effort in which the prime contractor is tasked to deliver ongoing capabilities and contribute those capabilities across the force, rather than to provide simply capabilities…
By Robbin Laird I have focused in recent months on the shaping of the integrated distributed force as the core outcome of shaping a sixth-generation force. At the heart of being able to do so is to have C2/ISR systems operating on platforms which allow for synergy management, or the…
By Lieutenant Geoff Long and Lieutenant Commander Kristen Russo Sydney residents had a first glimpse of their city’s namesake ship with the arrival of NUSHIP Sydney at Garden Island today. The last of the three Hobart-class destroyers joining Navy’s fleet entered Sydney Heads and made her way through the harbour,…
By Robbin Laird The first time I met Vice Admiral (Retired) Tim Barrett was at the 2016 Williams Foundation Seminar in which he addressed the evolving role of the Australian Navy in the transformation of the Australian Defence Force. He provided a keynote presentation to the August 2016 Seminar on…
By Robbin Laird The Australian Offshore Patrol Vessel or the Arafura Class OPV program is the launch program for the new Australian approach to shipbuilding. Termed a “continuous shipbuilding process,” the core point is to have an ongoing shipbuilding effort, rather than a start and stop approach built around a…
