HE DM11 secondary ammunition for MBT 120mm smoothbore gun. (Photo: Rheinmetall)

June 15, 2011 defpro.com

Rheinmetall recently revealed a new 120m HE round to a group of international experts at its proving ground in Unterlüß, Germany. It can be fired from any in-service 120mm smoothbore gun (L44 and L55). Dubbed the DM11, the new ammunition was developed on behalf of the German Ministry of Defence. It enables main battle tanks to respond more effectively to a variety of contemporary threats.

The round has already been fielded by the US Marine Corp, which refers to it as the Multipurpose (MP) DM11. The Marines use it primarily for engaging non-armoured and lightly armoured targets in asymmetric encounters. Its long range makes a significant contribution to protecting friendly forces from attack by enemy combatants armed with short- and medium-range weapons.

From the technical standpoint, the HE DM11 stands out in two ways: it is programmable when loaded and features an airburst detonation capability. Modularly designed, the 120mm x 570 HE Temp DM11 consists of an IHE (Insensitive High Explosive) warhead with a programmable fuse and ballistic cap, a tail unit, driving band, a combustible case with a propelling charge, a newly designed stub case with primer and an integrated data link cable for programming.

Interfaces between the propulsion system and the warhead and between the propulsion system and the fuse ensure that the propulsion system can be exchanged once its service life expires; it will also be possible to exchange the fuse in future at reasonable cost. A further unique feature of the DM11 is that it safe to fire in all climate zones (-46oC to + 71oC).

The HE DM11 is principally used for engaging non-armoured and lightly armoured vehicles, antitank positions (both dug-in and in the open) and field fortifications. Furthermore, it can be employed – thanks in part to its high precision and long range – for penetrating walls and taking out targets in buildings, as well as for creating breaches and avenues of approach in built-up areas to support dismounted troops. To enable optimum exploitation of the new ammunition’s full tactical potential, it features three different fuse modes:

• Impact fuse mode/point detonation: the warhead detonates when it hits the target surface, creating a large breach;

• Programmable delay/point detonation with delay: the warhead detonates after penetrating the target;

• Programmable airburst mode: here, at ranges of up to 5,000 metres, the warhead detonates in front of, or above, the selected target.

Easy-to-add programming kit

A further design imperative was the ability to program the ammunition without altering the fire control unit. (In the Leopard 2A4, most of these are still analogue; in subsequent versions of the vehicle they are already partly digital.) This ensures that the ammunition can be fired from any Leopard 2 tank gun.

In addition, the necessary programming kit – developed by Rheinmetall at its own expense – had to be easily installable in existing tanks, with the need for new components, special tools or testing equipment kept to a minimum. After all, it was important for the crew to be able to engage targets without having to change well-rehearsed operating procedures.

To make sure that the ammunition and programming kit could be used in other MBT with the same main armament, the developers adhered to the internationally agreed interface control documents for 120mm tank main armament.

The programming kit comprises an ammunition communication module (ACM) for programming the fuses; an interface box between the ACM and the fire control unit that generates all relevant data for the ACM; and an add-on control box/ACM for the gunner/loader control console. The kit can be retrofitted into existing systems without major modification.

14 Jun 2011 By JULIAN HALE DefenseNews

BRUSSELS - Estonian Defense Minister Mart Laar told a European cybersecurity conference on June 14 that "we need to build up EU cyber defense teams to train us and to fight battles in cyberspace."

Estonia, which was subject to large-scale cyber attacks in 2007, will be part of a Nordic European Union battlegroup that will include a cyber defense team for the first time.

Ministers will discuss more details of the cyber defense team in the autumn, he said, but added that "the team should be on permanent standby and must be ready for missions. ... We need to look at how to protect our [EU] military and civilian missions."

He also argued that cyber policy should be part of every EU diplomatic relationship.

"When we raise issues such as human rights, we need to raise cyber crime and cyber attacks" as well, he said.

Speaking at the same event, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström stressed "there is no doubt that threats in cyberspace are real ones," and that "the number of cyber attacks is rising."

She added that cyber attacks on EU institutions and on the EU's Emissions Trading System had accelerated the creation of a CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) for the EU institutions, which has been active since the beginning of this month.

Malmström stressed the importance of working together, both within the EU and with NATO.

"National CERTs and European CERTs and the cybercrime center [to be set up in 2013] are excellent places where actors can meet and identify solutions to attacks before they arrive, preferably, and also after [attacks]," she said.

The center is expected to be a focal point in the fight against cyber crime and to provide future responses to cyber attacks.

"A lot of cyber crimes are not put on record because they are not reported," Malmström said. "This must change. ... If we don't have the reports, how can we understand the patterns of criminal behavior?"

The commissioner also urged countries that had not done so to ratify the Council of Europe's Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which set out legal rules governing cyberspace.

The commission proposed an EU directive setting out criminal penalties for attacks against information technology systems, which Malmström said is "largely based" on the Budapest Convention.

14/06/2011 Adrien Prévost AEROCONTACT

La Pologne a lancé un appel d’offres pour des avions d’entraînement. Les appareils devront être dotés de commandes de vol électriques ainsi que de la capacité d’emporter des bombes Mk82 et des bombes Paveway II à guidage laser. Ils devront en plus posséder un radar longue portée et des capacités anti-brouillage.

Les avions en compétition sont : le M-346 Master d’Alenia Aermacchi, le Hawk AJT de BAE Systems, le T-50P du duo Korea Aerospace Industries, Lockheed Martin, le L-159T1des Tchèques d’Aero Vodochody et enfin les Finlandais de Patria qui offre des Hawk Mk51/51As issus de l’armée de l’air finlandaise. La clôture de l’appel d’offres est fixée au 29 juillet 2011.

Il porte sur 16 appareils qui seront livrés en deux tranches. Une première tranche de huit avions en configuration d’entraînement devra être livrée en novembre 2014 à l’armée de l’air polonaise. La deuxième tranche sera livrée avec les capacités d’entraînement complètes et les capacités de combat fin 2016.

Dernière minute : BAE Systems a renoncé à présenter son Hawk car la RfP demande un appareil supersonique, ce qui n’est pas le cas de l’avion britannique.

14/06/11 By Dan Thisdell SOURCE:Flight International

Europe today faces a defence crisis. Threats such as terrorism, a resurgent Russia or a nuclear-armed Iran are well known, but the arguably more urgent issue facing its political, military and industrial leaders is the more mundane, but all-pervasive, matter of cash.

From borderline-insolvent Greece to military heavy-hitters France and the UK, European defence budgets are under threat as governments wrestle with the immediate and long-term implications of the financial crisis and recession. The impact on Europe's individual and collective defence posture is being magnified by the fact that the USA, so long the willing provider of a costly security umbrella, is itself under budgetary pressure and likely to draw down its commitment to European defence. Thus, how European nations individually and jointly respond to their changed circumstances will have profound implications for their security for years to come.

As Tomas Valasek, director of foreign policy and defence at London-based think-tank the Centre for European Reform, puts it in a recent paper, Surviving Austerity: The case for a new approach to EU military collaboration, a "wave of budgetary austerity" is eroding European nations' defences, and their armed forces "will lose important skills and capabilities unless they can find ways to save money through collaboration". Critically, says Valasek, European Union leaders must encourage various groups of compatible member states to work together in what he calls military "islands of co-operation".

© Rex
Modern, for sure - but stretched thin in Libya

The problem may have been exacerbated by the current financial crisis, but its roots go back decades. Throughout the Cold War and even into the past decade, the USA often complained that Europe did not spend enough on its own defence, but in practice was content to be the dominant partner, taking the leadership role that its cash outlay bought it.

But as Valasek notes, this has changed and the USA now expects allies to take more responsibility for their own region, as is clearly evident in Libya, where European forces are having to carry the burden of sustaining operations after an initial surge by the Americans.

But Europe is ill-equipped to cope with an operation such as Libya. Valasek notes that while European nations invariably fight together today, they build their armed forces individually. The wastefulness of this approach is evident when considering that the 27 EU nations have 500,000 more people in uniform than the USA does, but can field only a fraction of what the USA can on "expeditionary" operations.

The key reason for this, says Valasek, is that Europe's armed forces, funded and managed by each individual country, do not enjoy the economies of scale the USA has. With the USA no longer willing or able to provide such a huge defensive presence in Europe, that situation is no longer tenable.

Hence Europe's budgetary crisis poses a real military problem. Valasek says European armed forces need an expensive overhaul. Having been content to sit under the cover of their US protectors for decades, they have not been driven to find efficiencies in procurement, nor have they been driven to truly modernise their hardware. Much of Europe's capability is wrapped up in heavy Cold War-era weaponry that is costly to maintain and useless without expensive electronic upgrades.

FREEZING OR CUTTING

As Valasek details, almost every European nation is freezing or cutting its defence budget (see chart). Unless they work together, they will never be able to pay for the armed forces they want or need.

The best example of collaboration now is the Anglo-French accord of 2010. Among the principles agreed in this so-called "entente frugale" is the development of forces trained to fight together and the building and operation of joint facilities where feasible. Both countries are to ensure, for example, that aircraft can operate off each other's carriers and are looking to pool spare parts and servicing resources for types including the Airbus Military A400M transport.

The UK government's current consultation paper on defence spending, Equipment, Support and Technology for UK Defence and Security, clearly spells out three principles behind its proposed approach to equipping the armed forces: UK forces "must have the capabilities they require to protect the UK and its interests", "in an increasingly global world, we will draw from wherever we can the scientific and technology developments needed to provide capability edge", and "these capability and technology requirements are subject to affordability and the means of fulfilling them must demonstrate value for money".

Moreover, for the UK government, its "default position is to seek to fulfil the UK's defence and security requirements through open competition in the global market".

This emphasis on cost-effective procurement is to be expected and, as the paper goes on to note, buying urgently needed equipment for use in Afghanistan from global suppliers was a quick and effective approach to supporting armed forces in the field. However, it goes on, the use of foreign suppliers must be balanced with the need to maintain "freedom of action... to conduct combat operations at a time and place of our choosing. This freedom is the essence of national sovereignty".

© Rex Features
An icon of a bygone era, still in service

The devil, as ever, is in the detail, and this last point is perhaps the fulcrum of debate on the issue. The positions spelled out in this paper could reasonably be adopted by any sovereign nation and pose a question that all of them need to answer based on their own objectives and needs, and financial and diplomatic constraints: how much of a domestic defence industry must be maintained?

As one industry source puts it, buying off-the-shelf equipment from foreign suppliers may save money but there is a risk that the government will fall into the trap of failing to maintain the operational sovereignty it values. That is, without the domestic capability to maintain equipment, and when necessary prepare it for specific missions through modifications, a nation loses the ability to act independently.

Rees Ward, chief executive of the UK's ADS defence and security industry trade group, describes as a "stark dilemma" the implications of letting the UK's domestic industrial capability decline in favour of spending available funds to import commercial off-the-shelf equipment.

© Rex
The Cold War is so passé

"The government needs to be realistic about the security of supply implications of reliance on other nations for defence and security science and technology," he says. "State-of-the-art technology may increasingly be generated in countries which will not want to share it with the UK, or not on acceptable terms.

"There are no shortcuts to obtaining a world- class technological and industrial base for defence and security. Capabilities once lost are rarely recoverable, and risks taken with this base will almost certainly translate into military and security risk before too long."

The dilemma extends beyond Europe. As PricewaterhouseCoopers observes in its aerospace and defence industry 2010 review, once the Lockheed Martin F-35 programme concludes, no combat aircraft will be in development for the first time in the history of aviation.

Policy makers, says the report, "need to invest in retention of specialised expertise so that critical knowledge and skills are not lost as one generation of workers retires and the next takes its place".

Jun 14, 2011 By Gabriela Baczynska/Reuters AviationWeek.com

WARSAW - Europe’s biggest defense contractor, BAE Systems, has pulled out of the race for a 1.45 billion zloty ($530.5 million) contract to supply Poland with 16 training-combat aircraft, the company said June 14.

Officials said Korean Aerospace Industries’ (KAI) T-50, the only supersonic aircraft in the tender, met all Warsaw’s technical requirements, with Italian Alenia Aermacchi’s M-346 Master its only potential rival.

The deadline for final offers is July 29.

”This is our final decision,” Steve Mead, BAE vice president for Central and Eastern Europe, told Reuters. “We have offered a trainer with combat capabilities, while Poland’s defense ministry in the end went for combat first, and training second.”

Poland, the biggest ex-communist NATO member, wants to replace its aging training and combat air fleet. The tender also requires the aircraft supplier to invest in Poland. Britain’s BAE was competing against companies from Italy, Finland, the Czech Republic and South Korea in the initial stage of the tender.

Warsaw would be only the second foreign buyer, after Indonesia, of KAI’s T-50, on which the company has cooperated with U.S.-based Lockheed Martin.

BAE played down the Korean offer saying it was coming from outside NATO.

“Poles are much more likely to find themselves in an operation with NATO rather than Korea,” Mead said.

Poland’s defense ministry was not immediately available for comment, but KAI said its aircraft was fully compatible with the F-16s the Polish air forces were now using.

“In line with Poland’s operational priorities, the T-50P has the combat capabilities of a light-combat aircraft, capable of carrying out missions … and supplementing Polish F-16 missions,” Jaenam Lee, KAI’s T-50 Regional Manager, said in a prepared statement.

Poland wants to update its air defenses and has already purchased F-16 planes from the United States. On June 13, Washington and Warsaw signed a deal for the stationing of U.S. air force personnel on Polish soil.

source defenceweb.co.za

14/06/11 By Arie Egozi SOURCE:Flight International

Israeli companies Aeronautics Defense Systems and BlueBird are the two final contenders in the Finnish armed forces' unmanned air system contest, with two other bidders having been removed from the running.

Respectively offering their Orbiter 2 and SpyLite systems, the remaining bidders are vying for a surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance programme requirement worth an estimated $25 million. A final selection is expected during November, with the winning company expected to deliver 30-45 unmanned systems under the deal.

Finland's latest move has eliminated two other bidders from the contest. Elbit Systems had been teamed with Patria to offer the former's Skylark LE design, while Polish manufacturer WB had promoted its FlyEye UAS.

14 Jun 11 UK MoD A Training and Adventure news article

Royal Navy personnel have joined 2,000 sailors from 13 nations for the world's largest submarine rescue exercise, off the south-eastern tip of Spain.

The ten days of NATO Exercise Bold Monarch witnessed an international effort to bring trapped submariners from four boats to the surface.

The exercise is run every three years to test the ability of allied teams - including the UK-based NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) - to react to the two most terrifying words in a submariner's vocabulary: submiss and subsunk.

This year rescue efforts focused on the western Mediterranean, just off Cartagena, with four diesel-powered subs from Portugal, host nation Spain, Turkey and, for the first time, Russia, 'bottoming' on the sea bed and awaiting rescue.

Coming to their aid were mini-submarines, diving bells, divers, parachutists and medical specialists.

Submarine rescue vehicles from Italy, the USA, Russia and Sweden all deployed to the waters off Cartagena, plus the Faslane-based Anglo-French-Norwegian NSRS.

They were joined by specialist divers and hyperbaric medical teams from France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Britain, charged with coping with challenging deep sea illnesses such as decompression.

Finally, parachutists from Italy, the USA and the Royal Navy's Submarine Parachute Assistance Group also headed to Spain to leap out of aircraft and be the first on the scene to assist people who came up to the surface directly from their stricken boats:

    "By their nature submarine operations are secret - with one exception: search and rescue. That brings together submarine communities from across the world, as this exercise shows," said Rear Admiral Ian Corder RN, Commander NATO Submarine Forces North.

     "We are extremely proud to show what we do."

The participation of the Russian Kilo Class boat 'Alrosa' particularly excited organisers and saw some historic link-ups, including the NATO and US rescue vehicles docking with the submarine 114 metres below the surface of the Mediterranean.

    "We've proved that we can 'mate' with four different boats from four different nations and we've shown that we can evacuate 70 people from a submarine within 24 hours - that covers almost all the non-nuclear submarines in the world," said Lieutenant Commander Stewart Little, the Royal Navy's rescue element commander overseeing the NATO submersible's missions.

Submarines are operated by more than 40 navies worldwide and, in addition to the countries participating in the exercise, numerous nations have sent observers to watch proceedings.

Planning is already underway for the next Bold Monarch, scheduled for Polish waters in 2014.

This story was originally published in Navy News.

14/06/11 By Craig Hoyle SOURCE:Flight International

A decision on the remaining fixed-wing elements of the UK's tri-service Military Flying Training System (MFTS) programme will be taken around the middle of next year, according to the company charged with overseeing the selection process.

Ascent Flight Training managing director Barry Thornton said the Ministry of Defence's training system partner has continued to make progress since three bidders expressed interest in the requirement earlier this year. Dialogue is continuing with each, he said, with cost targets also recently having been established.

A request for proposals for detailed solutions will be issued in October or November, Thornton said, with the rivals to be given around 90 days to respond. An evaluation will then be conducted, before a preferred bidder will be announced around mid-2012.

In addition to a fresh round of dialogue with the contenders, Ascent is placing its current emphasis on assessing their possible ground-based training equipment solutions. The contenders are a BAE Systems-led team also comprising Babcock, Gama Aviation and Pilatus; Elbit Systems; and the Cobham Aviation Services/CAE UK/Cassidian Air Systems Team C3 consortium.

BAE is the only one of the bidding teams to have revealed its proposed solution for the UK military's fixed-wing training needs, with its offer including an upgraded Grob G115E, Pilatus's PC-21 basic trainer and Cessna's Citation Mustang. Team C3 is promoting the Hawker Beechcraft T-6C as part of its proposal, while Elbit Systems has yet to disclose its offering.

A joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Babcock, Ascent is responsible for delivering the planned 25-year MFTS service. "This is about Ascent, working in partnership with the Ministry of Defence, delivering the training, not just providing the assets," said Thornton.

The company also is leading a competitive process to meet the UK's rotary-wing training needs, with AgustaWestland and the Alphar consortium formed of Eurocopter, CAE and FB Heliservices in contention.

13/06/11 By Craig Hoyle SOURCE:Flight International

The UK's Military Flying Training System (MFTS) programme will begin providing instruction to its first students on 20 June, following the acceptance of four converted Beechcraft King Air 350ERs.

Ascent Flight Training took delivery of the new fleet on 9 June, with the type to meet observer training requirements with the Royal Navy's 750 Sqn at RNAS Culdrose, Cornwall. To be named the "Avenger" in RN use, the aircraft will replace the British Aerospace Jetstream T2, operations of which ended in March. Tasks will include preparing observers in areas such as route navigation and the use of tactical sensors.

Now equipped with a Telephonics 1700A maritime search radar, two onboard student consoles and two laptop-based instructor stations, the aircraft will train personnel before their conversion onto the navy's frontline helicopters.

To support this, the King Air has also been equipped with CAE's tactical mission trainer software, which can introduce emulated and simulated inputs, such as the use of electronic support measures equipment.

Cobham Aviation Services received a roughly £20 million ($32.6 million) contract in July 2009 to convert the King Air fleet at its Bournemouth airport site in Dorset. It started work on its first example in May 2010, before flying a modified aircraft last December. Avenger ZZ503 will be flown to Culdrose on 15 June, with the others to follow by the end of this month.

"These aircraft are going to be delivered on time," said Cobham Aviation Services managing director Des Taylor.

"Hopefully that will build a level of confidence in Cobham's ability as part of the Ascent team." The company will provide in-service support for the new fleet for a five-year period starting on 1 July, but Taylor said its goal is to go "hopefully way beyond that".

© Craig Hoyle/Flightglobal

Ascent managing director Barry Thornton said the four-strong fleet should also be capable of meeting the MFTS programme's additional multi-engine rear-crew training requirements for the Royal Air Force.

Instructors for the new type will begin operating the aircraft at Culdrose on 1 July, with the first intake of students to undergo basic flying training on the fleet from later this year. This will follow their receipt of ground school, initial flying and elementary navigation training at RAF Barkston Heath in Lincolnshire, including the use of Grob 115Es from the navy's 703 Sqn.

Despite the use of a smaller fleet than the navy's previous nine Jetstreams, 750 Sqn commanding officer Lt Cdr Nick Armstrong said more students will be trained using the Avengers. The previous training system delivered three courses of 10 students each a year, while the new model will be based on six courses of six each, he said.

Once at full strength the unit will have nine instructor pilots - three navy officers and six Ascent recruits, plus eight naval observers and three from industry.

VLISSINGEN, Netherlands, June 13 (UPI)

Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding reports the keel has been laid for a new joint support ship for the Dutch navy.

The JSS, designed to operate both in the lower and higher levels of the force spectrum, will measures 673 feet in length and 98 feet in breadth.

The vessel accommodates a crew of 180 sailors as well as 120 non-listed people, such as helicopter crews and medical teams.

The company says the vessel features a helicopter deck that can handle two Chinooks simultaneously and a hangar with a storage capacity six helicopters; facilities for loading and unloading operations of materiel and goods in harbors, near the shore or at open or at sea; two Replenishment-At-Sea masts; an elevator and crane for up to 40 tons; a roll on/roll off facility for vehicles; and a steel beach stern construction for accommodating cargo transfer via landing craft.

Weaponry includes two Goalkeepers, two 30mm automatic guns, and four automatic medium caliber gun systems.

To reduce the vulnerability, the vessel will be outfitted with signature reduction measures, ballistic protection, blast resistant constructions, redundant, shock resistant and decentralized systems, a gas citadel and extensive fire fighting systems.

Construction will take place at Damen Shipyard Galatz, while final systems outfitting, commissioning and testing of the vessel will take place at DSNS in Vlissingen.

photo helicopassion.com

June 13, 2011 SHEPARD GROUP Source: Finnish Army

Finnish Defence Forces made aviation history on 8th June, when eight NH90-helicopters executed large troop transportation in FDF main field exercise “Pyörremyrsky”.

Over 150 jaegers were transported from Helsinki area to Kauhava. This was the largest troop transportation so far made with NH90-helicopters in Finland, perhaps even in the whole world.

In Finnish Defence Forces' main field exercise “Pyörremyrsky”, whirlwind in Finnish, Helicopter Battalion was given a mission where 157 conscripts from Guard Jaeger Regiment had to be relocated from Helsinki area at a 320 kilometres distance to Kauhava.

Eight NH90-helicopters were planned to use in this massive troop transportation. Plan was quite ambitious because it demanded 80 percent usability of the helicopter capacity. Utti Jaeger Regiment’s Helicopter Battalion has so far been delivered ten NH90-helicopters out of twenty Finland has ordered from NHI. In the early morning of the D-day up to nine NH90’s were straight in flight line on the apron ready to start the operation, one helicopter being in the reserve.

To be able to do this, technicians had to put up a lot of maintenance works. But if the planning and the execution of the mission was a good training for the pilots, then also was the preplanning and maintenance task also very good training for the mechanics, tells Lieutenant Colonel Ari Pellinen, Commanding Officer of the Helicopter Battalion.

The actual operation planning was done between the troops, helicopter pilots, Army and Air force HQ´s, says Captain Kimmo Nordberg, who was the main planner and leader of the helicopter operation.

The first transportation from Helsinki to Kauhava was made with eight NH90’s leaving about 45 jaegers still in Helsinki. The second transportation took place with four helicopters taking the rest of the troop to their new operation zone.

Two hot refuels were performed during the operation. Four helicopters were refuelled at same time taking only nine minutes.

The whole transportation was made in tactical eight ship formation in low level flight. Only few minor failures occurred during mission and in the end all the helicopters landed to main base and would have been able to get airborne still right after the mission. So the usability was still 80% after the mission, continues Captain Kimmo Nordberg very pleased.

Eight NH90-helicopters used all together 40 flight hours in the operation which proceeded better and faster than was expected as it took five hours to relocate 157 soldiers in this mission.  NH90 aviation history was made at least in Finland, maybe in the whole world.

11/06/2011 Par AFP L’Express.fr

BERLIN - Le patron d'Airbus, Thomas Enders, s'est déclaré contre une entrée du gouvernement allemand au capital du constructeur aéronautique européen EADS, dans une interview au journal Welt am Sonntag.

"Pour une internationalisation réussie, nous n'avons pas besoin de plus de participation étatique dans EADS, mais de moins", a déclaré M. Enders.

"Le retrait de Daimler ne doit pas aboutir à ce qu'on ait un actionnaire public supplémentaire", a ajouté le patron d'Airbus, filiale d'EADS.

Le constructeur automobile Daimler, principal actionnaire allemand d'EADS avec 22,5% des droits de vote (soit autant que le groupe français Lagardère et l'Etat français ensemble) et 15% du capital, souhaite réduire sa participation dans le groupe européen d'aéronautique et de défense. Mais il ne s'est pas fixé de date.

Aucun acteur privé n'est pour l'instant en vue pour reprendre des parts à Daimler.

Le directeur financier de Daimler a incité récemment Berlin à s'engager au capital d'EADS.

EADS, dont l'acte de naissance remonte à l'automne 1999, est issu des entreprises aéronautiques allemande DASA, française Aerospatiale-Matra et de l'espagnol Casa. Etant donné le caractère hautement stratégique de cette industrie, l'équilibre franco-allemand est inscrit dans les statuts du groupe.

Outre Daimler, Lagardère et l'Etat français, EADS est aussi contrôlé côté allemand par des investisseurs publics et régionaux.

10 Jun 2011 By ANDREW CHUTER DefenseNews

Industry is funding development of the Captor-E active electronically scanned array radar destined for the Eurofighter Typhoon because the four governments in the fighter program don't have the money available at this stage.

Selex Galileo chief executive Fabrizio Giuliani told reporters June 8 that members of the Euroradar consortium and Eurofighter would provide "pre-funding, not self-funding."

The Italian executive said that by the expected signing of a letter of intent backing the AESA program at the Paris Air Show later this month the governments of Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain are "committed to pay back Eurofighter and Euroradar what we anticipate [spending]."

Euroradar, which is led by Selex, also involves EADS and Indra. Eurofighter is the Typhoon management organization operated by BAE Systems, EADS and Finmeccanica.

Bob Mason, the executive vice president for sensors and airborne systems at Selex Galileo, said finance was not an issue. The important thing was to get the Eurofighter nations officially committed to the program through the letter of intent, Mason said.

"We understand the financial constraints. Finance is not the issue; that is being made available by Eurofighter and Euroradar for full-scale development. The issue is the backing of the governments and that's what the letter of intent will give us. Export customers like India and Japan will be more comfortable with the backing of the Eurofighter governments," he said.

The four nations "will join at the appropriate time when they have the budgets available," he said.

The availability of an AESA radar was a key requirement for the multi-billion dollar competition being run by the Indian government to equip the air force with a multi-role medium weight fighter. Typhoon was downselected recently alongside the Dassault Rafale for the final stages of the competition.

Talks over the releasability of the AESA technology to India is still under debate and depends on the final solution and final negotiations, Mason said.

"We are looking at the manufacturer of certain subsystems in India software transition in terms of modes and bringing new modes into the radar as well," he said.

Mason said they had agreed a "large amount of funding" from the Eurofighter governments through to the first production standard radars scheduled for completion in 2014 for aircraft production the following year.

The executive said Euroradar now had a huge team working on the development at Selex's main development plant in Edinburgh and elsewhere.

Aside from the Captor-E, Selex is also working in the combat aircraft field on a similar AESA radar for the Saab Gripen NG, and is involved in separate technology demonstrator programs funded by the British and Italian governments.