By Pierre Tran Paris - Dassault Aviation has suspended its €212 million ($232 million) dividend on financial year 2019, withdrawn its business forecast for 2020, and placed some staff on furlough in response to disruption caused by coronavirus.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by defenceWeb The French Navy has suspended its Mission Corymbe off West Africa due to the COVID-19 coronavirus, and withdrawn a vessel from the area. The patrol vessel Lieutenant de Vaisseau Le Henaff, which departed Brest on 3 March for West Africa, returned to France at the end of the…
By Paul Dibb Two important military developments recently should give China pause for thought. The first one is the announcement by Prime Minister Scott Morrison of a $1.1 billion upgrade to the Royal Australian Air Force base at Tindal, which is about 300 kilometres south of Darwin, to lengthen the…
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 defenceWeb French, Malian, Burkinabe and Nigerien soldiers took part in a joint counter-terrorism operation in the Sahel earlier this month involving several thousand troops. As part of Operation Monclar, 1 700 soldiers of the French-led Barkhane force, and 3 000 Malian, Nigerien and Burkinabe soldiers G5 Sahel joint force…
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 defined…
By Robbin Laird After my visit to Perth and the Henderson Shipyard, I had a chance in Canberra to discuss the new class of OPVs with the senior leadership team in Navy and the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) within the Australian Department of Defence. Participating in the discussion…
