Agrégateur de flux

On the heels of failed rains and a calamitous El Niño in Ethiopia, the country&#39s Government today launched an appeal for $948 million to urgently address food and non-food needs, while the United Nations agriculture agency warned that a new drought may put the East African nation&#39s hard fought gains at risk.

S’il s’agit d’un marché de niche, la construction des navires de croisière d’expédition se porte actuellement très bien. Une vingtaine d’unités sont désormais en commande, un nouveau projet venant d’être décroché par Vard. La filiale de Fincantieri a annoncé hier la signature d’une lettre d’intention avec un armateur dont le nom n’a pas encore été révélé. L’accord porte sur une unité de 145 mètres de long pour 20 mètres de large, avec une capacité de 220 passagers.

• Lire la suite de Navires d’expédition : Une vingtaine d’unités désormais en commande

Président de la région des Pays de la Loire et du groupe Les Républicains au Sénat, Bruno Retailleau suit de très près le dossier de la vente des chantiers STX France de Saint-Nazaire. Parmi les repreneurs potentiels évoqués ces derniers mois, Fincantieri n’avait pas sa préférence, sentiment partagé d’ailleurs par la plupart des élus locaux. Maintenant que le groupe italien est seul en course pour la reprise du constructeur français, il nous livre sa vision de la situation.

• Lire la suite de B. Retailleau (STX) : « L’Etat devra préempter si Fincantieri ne répond pas aux garanties »

La somme serait encore moins importante qu’évoquée fin décembre. L’offre déposée par Fincantieri devant le tribunal de Séoul pour la reprise des 66.6% détenus dans les chantiers nazairiens par le groupe STX Offshore & Shipbuilding ne serait pas d’une centaine de millions d’euros, mais de seulement 80 millions, a-t-on appris auprès de sources sud-coréennes proches du dossier.

• Lire la suite de Saint-Nazaire : Les Italiens n’auraient mis que 80 millions sur la table

P&O Ferries a annoncé avoir conclu avec le chantier polonais Remontowa de Gdansk un contrat portant sur la modernisation de quatre de ses navires, dont deux de la ligne Calais-Douvres. Il s’agit des Pride of York, Pride of Bruges, Pride of Canterbury et Pride of Burgundy.

• Lire la suite de Quatre ferries de P&O vont être modernisés par Remontowa

Elle le cherchait depuis un mois dans l’immense océan Austral. Hier, Sea Shepherd a annoncé avoir enfin trouvé le navire usine de la flotte baleinière japonaise. Selon l’organisation, le Nishin Maru a été surpris dans le sanctuaire antarctique et a été photographié avec, sur son pont, le cadavre d’une baleine de Minke. « Quand notre hélicoptère l'a localisé, il venait de hisser à son bord une baleine tuée par le harponneur Yushin Maru. Les baleiniers se sont alors empressés de couvrir le harpon et le corps de la baleine...

• Lire la suite de Sea Shepherd débusque les baleiniers japonais

Le bâtiment hydro-océanographique Beautemps-Beaupré, de la Marine nationale, a appareillé de Brest dimanche 15 janvier pour une longue mission de 10 mois visant à mettre à jour la cartographie marine nécessaire à la sécurité de la navigation. Lors de son passage en Méditerranée, le BHO va étudier les tourbillons océaniques et des fonds mal connus de cette mer, avant de franchir Suez et rallier Djibouti après trois semaines de transit.

• Lire la suite de Le Beautemps-Beaupré part pour 10 mois de mission vers l'océan Indien

Les futurs porte-avions britanniques ne disposant pas de catapultes, la Royal Navy demeure contrainte, comme cela avait été le cas avec ses anciens porte-aéronefs de la classe Invincible, de confier à des hélicoptères la mission d’alerte lointaine au profit des HMS Queen Elizabeth et HMS Prince of Wales. Le premier devrait débuter ses essais en mer au mois de mars alors que le second sera mis à l'eau cet été au chantier Babcock de Rosyth, où son aîné est en achèvement à flot.

• Lire la suite de Royal Navy : Feu vert pour la production des Merlin d’alerte lointaine

Livré en 2005 par Fincantieri, le patrouilleur maltais P61 va être modernisé par les chantiers italiens. D’une durée de six mois, les travaux, d’un coût de 7 millions d’euros, débuteront au printemps de cette année et se dérouleront au chantier de Muggiano, près de La Spezia, où le bâtiment a été construit. Le P61 bénéficiera d’un carénage complet et d’une remise à niveau de ses différents systèmes, le chantier de modernisation ayant également pour but, explique Fincantieri, d’accroître ses capacités de réaction.

• Lire la suite de Fincantieri va moderniser un patrouilleur maltais

Sparton and Ultra Electronics' joint venture (JV) Erapsco has been awarded subcontracts worth a combined $30.3m to produce sonobuoys for the US Navy.

The UK Ministry of Defence has entered a £269m deal with Lockheed Martin to start manufacturing of the new Crowsnest system to protect the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth-class (QEC) aircraft carriers.

The Armed Forces of Malta has awarded a contract to Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri to modernise its offshore patrol vessel, P61.

Americas

• The USAF and Army have tasked Raytheon with adapting their Coyote UAV into a suicide drone to take out quadcopters. The program will see the UAV given features in order to operate as an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) asset, as well as being fitted with a counter unmanned air system (C-UAS) capability in order to defend itself against small quad-copter UAVs by using a kinetic payload. Completion of the C-UAS is expected by the end of the year. Coyotes currently form the backbone the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST) program.

• Costs associated with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program could drop, according to Lockheed Martin’s CEO Marillyn Hewson. Hewson met with US President-elect Donald Trump for a second meeting last week, later telling reporters that her company is “close to a deal” to bring down the cost of the F-35 program. In addition to the fighter’s costs, Hewson committed the firm to increasing jobs at their Fort Worth, Texas, facility by 1,800.

• Ethical conflicts at Pratt & Whitney have resulted in the ousting of the head of the company’s F135 engine program alongside nine other employees. The dismissals come after the completion of an internal audit which uncovered an ethics issue linked to a visit by South Korean military officials several years ago. During the trip, the Korean delegation paid a visit to the company’s West Palm Beach facility in Florida, and Pratt & Whitney paid for a rental van to fetch them there. While certainly not the most outrageous form of graft in the industry’s history, causing no violation of US export control or anti-bribery laws, the engine company deemed the move as a breach of their strict ethics laws, amounting to “inappropriate entertainment.”

Africa

• An ex-USAF WC-130H Hercules aircraft has been offered to the government of Niger under the Pentagon’s Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program. Currently collecting dust at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the plane was offered to Niger in November 2015, but this offer has yet to be accepted. The WC-130H was used in weather reconnaissance and aerial sampling, and has been modified to penetrate hurricanes and typhoons to collect meteorological data that make advanced warnings of such storms possible. In a separate EDA transfer, Washington is sending a C-130 wing set to Niger, although it is unknown if the set would be used on the offered WC-130H, or an older C-130H first delivered in Niger in 1979.

Europe

• Leonardo will develop the replacement for the Italian Army’s A129 gunship, following the awarding of contracts by the Italian National Armaments Directorate of the Italian Defense Ministry. Under the contract, Leonardo will design and produce one prototype of the new exploration and escort helicopter (NEES) as well as three production examples. Rome could buy as many as 48 NEES as part of the replacement program. The company has also consolidated their UK operations under a single entity, Leonardo MW Ltd, comprised of AgustaWestland Ltd, Selex ES Ltd, Finmeccanica UK Ltd, and DRS Technologies UK Ltd.

• The Slovakian government has received a number of offers to buy or lease fighter planes that will replace their aging MiG-29s. Those offered include Saab’s JAS-39 Gripen fighter, currently operated by neighboring Czech Republic. Last December, both governments signed a “Joint Sky” agreement, aimed at collaborating on joint airspace defense, and if Bratislava selects the Gripen, both countries could potentially share maintenance and pilot training.

• EUROSAM has officially welcomed Italy’s participation in the development of their Aster 30 Block 1 NT program. A consortium led by MBDA and Thales, EUROSAM’s B1NT program is an effort supported by the French and Italian defense ministries to develop new technology for the Aster missile in addition to modernizing SAMP/T systems currently in service. Currently used to counter ballistic missile threats, improvements made to the Aster 30 Block 1 NT will allow operators to extend this capability to more complex threats and will also deal with the emerging threat of Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles.

Asia Pacific

• Pakistan is hoping that a Donald Trump presidency may restart a plan to procure F-16 jets through a foreign military financial aid scheme. US Congress downed the plan last year following concerns by some lawmakers over Islamabad’s allegiances in regards to counter-terrorism operations in the region. It was decided that if Pakistan wanted the F-16s, they would have to pay for them out of their own pocket.

Today’s Video

Aster 30 Block 1 NT:

Am 17. Januar 1987 verstarb der Karikaturist Herbert Kolfhaus.

Despite (or because of) Donald Trump’s various campaign statements, it is hard to predict confidently what path his administration will take in a wide range of foreign-policy areas. It is however possible to identify key issues and challenges in EU-US relations during his presidency. This briefing provides an overview of issues where US policy may change sharply during the next four years and what this may mean for the EU. Less interventionism, less commitment to NATO and a retreat from trade liberalization could be central to Trump’s presidency. Transatlantic relations would be affected by US actions such as rapprochement with Russia and a softer line on the Ukraine conflict, alignment with Assad and Putin in Syria, extreme counterterrorism measures, abandoning the Iran nuclear deal, and unconditional support for Israel. Confrontation with China over trade and regional security, and reversal of environmental policies will also have repercussions for the EU. In order to mitigate all these risks, the EU must at least entrench existing cooperation with the US before trying to enhance it. It can The do so by reaffirming European unity and solving threats to its integration, by becoming a better security “producer” and by “thickening” interparliamentary exchanges.
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Despite (or because of) Donald Trump’s various campaign statements, it is hard to predict confidently what path his administration will take in a wide range of foreign-policy areas. It is however possible to identify key issues and challenges in EU-US relations during his presidency. This briefing provides an overview of issues where US policy may change sharply during the next four years and what this may mean for the EU. Less interventionism, less commitment to NATO and a retreat from trade liberalization could be central to Trump’s presidency. Transatlantic relations would be affected by US actions such as rapprochement with Russia and a softer line on the Ukraine conflict, alignment with Assad and Putin in Syria, extreme counterterrorism measures, abandoning the Iran nuclear deal, and unconditional support for Israel. Confrontation with China over trade and regional security, and reversal of environmental policies will also have repercussions for the EU. In order to mitigate all these risks, the EU must at least entrench existing cooperation with the US before trying to enhance it. It can The do so by reaffirming European unity and solving threats to its integration, by becoming a better security “producer” and by “thickening” interparliamentary exchanges.
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP