Modernization / Retrofit - Meta-Defense.fr

While the US Air Force wants to retire 33 F-22 Raptors unfit for combat, Congress wants to modernize them

June 22, 2022June 22, 2022

It is common for the United States Congress, which, let us remember, has the last word in matters of military planning across the Atlantic, to play the role of moderator when faced with the demands of the American armies, which are often quick to make radical decisions in terms of format. Thus, in recent years, Congress has consistently rejected requests from the US Air Force to withdraw its fleet of A-10s, the latter deeming them unsuitable for modern high-intensity combat. For the American parliamentarians, on the other hand, there is no question of reducing the size of the forces without being able to put a coherent recapitalization in the face. This is how…

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KF51 vs EMBT: Speckled foil duel between Rheinmetall and KNDS around the MGCS program

June 14, 2022June 14, 2022

Like the SCAF next-generation combat aircraft program, the Main Ground Combat System, or MGCS, program, aimed at designing the replacement for the German Leopard 2 and French Leclerc tanks, is encountering many difficulties. In addition to the deep doctrinal differences which oppose in the specifications between the Army and the Bundeswehr, the industrial sharing between the main actors, the German Rheinmetall on the one hand, and the groups Nexter and Krauss Maffei Wegman gathered in the KNDS group on the other, is also the subject of intense tension. Indeed, the Munich group, which is also very politically introduced to the Bundestag, the German parliament, is not from…

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Can we save the European SCAF next-generation fighter program?

June 9, 2022

Announced in 2017 by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, the SCAF program for Future Air Combat System aims to develop, by 2040, a new generation combat aircraft (the 6th at the last count), the Next Generation Fighter, as well as a a set of systems designed to provide the aircraft with unparalleled operational capabilities. Since its launch, the program has found itself on several occasions faced with major difficulties, whether related to political arbitration and in particular to the requirements of the German Bundestag, to the difficult industrial sharing between the 3 participating countries (Germany, France and Spain) and the conceptual and doctrinal differences between the armed forces…

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Russia deploys T-62M tanks to Ukraine

June 7, 2022June 13, 2022

Reports had indicated the possibility for Russian forces of a deployment of T-62M tanks in Ukraine, an armored vehicle dating from the 60s. Recent photos published on social networks have confirmed the presence of these tanks in the Kherson region, in southern Ukraine. Recent photos published on social networks have confirmed the presence of T-62M tanks belonging to the Russian Army in Ukraine, more precisely in the Kherson region in the south of the country. The tanks were equipped, like what was widely observed on Russian T-72 and T-80 tanks, with a protective grid...

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By reducing the MMRCA 57 program to 2 aircraft, India increases the Rafale's chances of winning

June 1, 2022June 1, 2022

In 2001, New Delhi launched a very important competition aimed at acquiring 114 medium combat aircraft to replace its Mig-27 and Jaguar which were to reach their age limit by the end of the 2010s. In 2012, the Indian authorities announced the victory of the Dassault Rafale, and the start of negotiations for the local industrial production of these aircraft intended for the Indian Air Force. However, many difficulties came to handicap the discussions, in particular concerning the participation of the state industrialist HAL, leading Paris and New Delhi to announce in 2015 the cancellation of this operation, replaced by a firm order of 36 Rafale produced in France. . However,…

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Greece ready to spend €2 billion to modernize its Leopard 1 and 2 heavy tanks

May 11thMay 11th

If the United States and some of the Europeans tend to soften their positions vis-à-vis Turkey, the Greek authorities and military, for their part, are far from sharing this hope about a possible change of method. and objectives on the part of the Turkish President, R. T Erdogan, and a normalization of relations with Ankara. While Greece can rely on solid growth of 8,1% in 2021 and more than 7% expected in 2022, and its public finances are again in the green, Athens can now focus on modernizing its its ground forces, after devoting…

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After the Freedoms, the US Navy's Independence LCS are facing major failures

May 11th

The more time passes, the more the US Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program, supposed to prefigure developments in littoral naval combat, seems to join the long list of technological and operational impasses which the Pentagon has made a specialty of over the past 30 years. . After having, in 2014, abandoned the principle of combat module which was to allow the two Freedom and Independence classes constituting the program to have advanced operational flexibility by equipping themselves, according to needs, with anti-ship warfare capabilities, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence and electronic warfare or mine warfare, the staff of the US navy has never ceased to…

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US Congress may authorize the export of new F-16 Block 70 Vipers to Turkey

May 5thMay 5th

In October 2021, the Turkish authorities had officially submitted a request to the Foreign Military Sales, or FMS, the American organization in charge of arms export files to the allies of the United States, to acquire 40 new F-16s. Block 70 Viper and 80 kits to bring its own aircraft to this much more advanced and efficient standard than the F-16 C/D Block 52 currently in service with the Turkish Air Force. If President Biden promised to do what he could to bring this request to fruition, the American Congress, which firmly controls US arms exports, had opposed it, against the background of the crisis concerning the acquisition…

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The F-35 program still faces significant delays and additional costs

April 26th

In recent months, the F-35 has won in many international competitions, including in Europe Whether in Switzerland, Finland, Canada or Germany, the Lockheed-Martin device has systematically taken over on its Western counterparts, such as the American Super Hornet, or the European Rafale, Typhoon and Gripen. Paradoxically, at the same time, the Pentagon announced that it intended to reduce the number of F-35s which will be acquired by 2025, and this in a substantial way. Indeed, despite its undeniable commercial success, the device continues to face significant delays regarding the availability of the version…

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Lessons from the War in Ukraine: The Vulnerability of Frontline Armor

April 25thApril 25th

According to the Oryx site, which refers to the losses documented by both sides since the beginning of the conflict, the Russian armies have so far lost more than 550 heavy tanks, of which more than half were destroyed by anti-tank missiles, artillery strikes or by enemy tanks. The situation is essentially the same for armored combat vehicles (350 including 150 destroyed) and infantry combat vehicles (600 including 350 destroyed), which represents half of all front line armored vehicles deployed by the Russia around Ukraine before the fighting started. Fact,…

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