SOFEX NEWS: Center East Allies Clamoring for U.S. Counter-Drone Tech
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AQABA, Jordan — U.S. allies within the Central Command space of operations participating the Military in overseas army gross sales are asking officers for extra assist countering unmanned aerial programs, a senior U.S. official based mostly within the area mentioned Nov. 2.
Conrad Bonner, director of Centcom regional operations for the Military’s Safety Help Command, mentioned by far the primary know-how regional allies are asking for are programs that may eradicate drones.
“Proper now … what everyone seems to be on the lookout for is counter-UAS. It’s a no brainer,” he mentioned talking on the Affiliation of america Military speaker’s nook on the SOFEX convention in Aqaba, Jordan.
“For the nations which have built-in air and missile protection, it’s very costly to shoot a UAV with a Patriot missile,” he mentioned.
Know-how for border safety is the second hottest know-how in demand, adopted by interoperable communications programs, he mentioned.
“We nonetheless have tons of requests for rotary-wing plane, heavy raise and utility, with Patriot [surface to air missiles] nonetheless excessive on the listing,” he added.
About 62 p.c of the Military’s share of overseas army gross sales comes from the Center East and in a typical 12 months, it totals about $12 billion in commitments and has been as excessive as $21 billion, he mentioned.
Bonner is the service’s level man for Military overseas army gross sales within the Central Command area, which spans from Egypt by the Center East north to Kazakhstan. Bonner’s group receives requests from pleasant governments for sure U.S. manufactured know-how, which fits by a six-step course of together with negotiating the phrases of a contract, gaining approval from U.S. authorities — together with export licenses — and ultimately supply of the product.
The issue is that these six steps can take upwards of 5 years, he mentioned.
“We’re always listening to from combatant commanders, from the nations, that the method is just too sluggish,” he mentioned.
Step one goes comparatively shortly. That’s the half by which the Safety Help Command is in management. A rustic requests a sure know-how produced by a U.S. vendor. Then, Bonner’s group and the combatant command put collectively an endorsement. That may be rotated 4 to 6 months. That course of as soon as took for much longer however has undergone a sequence of reforms to shorten it, he famous.
Subsequent comes State Division or congressional approval if the contract quantity exceeds sure financial thresholds. The Safety Help Command then develops a enterprise case and negotiates the contract phrases between the seller and the shopper. If the events agree, the shopper makes a deposit. That course of usually takes one other 12 months, Bonner mentioned.
Then, issues are likely to get slowed down, he mentioned. It will possibly take as much as 725 enterprise days to get below contract. “It’s the execution section we have to concentrate on, not the event.”
As soon as the contract is signed, the sale runs into the identical pink tape that each protection acquisition program encounters, together with the Protection Federal Acquisition Rules. They have to develop necessities, bear Protection Contracting Company audits and inspections, and that doesn’t even embrace the time to truly manufacture the product, he mentioned.
As for rushing up the execution section, Bonner mentioned State Division approvals and laws like DFARS are “not going to go away.” Congress will keep its accountability function.
“That’s a darkish rail nobody has even touched,” he mentioned. “And nobody within the Protection Division goes to push Congress to go means too quick. So, we simply should reside with it,” he mentioned.
After all, there’s a approach to shorten the acquisition timeline for purchasers and U.S. companies, Bonner famous. And that’s to do a direct army sale. In that case, the corporate is by itself for negotiating and writing contracts and getting paid and doesn’t benefit from the “safety and safety” the federal government gives.
“The time to do this is when the FMS course of won’t meet the [customer’s] timeline,” he added.
Subjects: Robotics and Autonomous Methods