Boeing Leads Phase 2 Upgrade of 79 CF-18 Fighters

CF-18 drops Paveway

Out of its original purchase of 138 aircraft (98 single-seat CF18A and 40 dual-seat CF18B), Canada retains an operational fleet of 60 CF-18s, plus an additional 25 CF-18Bs in service with 410 Tactical Fighter (Operational Training) Squadron to train its fighter pilots.

In June 2006, Canada’s Department of National Defense began an arrangement with Boeing for the second and final phase the CF-18 Modernization Project. The upgrade will add a Link 16 system, a helmet-mounted sight, new cockpit displays and a new flare-dispensing electronic warfare system to 78 CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft. Two additional aircraft were to be modified for the essential validation and verification of the planned upgrade, bringing the total to 80. The program delivered its 79th, and final, CF-18AM/BM aircraft in March 2010.

• The CF-18 Upgrade Program, Phases 1 & 2
  
• Contracts & Key Events
  
• Additional Readings
  

Rapid Fire: 2010-03-29

• NATO chief urges missile defense system against rogue states, calls on Russia to join. Reuters | Bloomberg | Haaretz

• UK MoD gives go ahead for full production of the 5th Astute Class nuclear-powered fast attack submarines, early material & equipment buys for #6.

• Two if by sea: Honeywell lights LAMPS for US Navy.

• DynCorp to maintain Royal Saudi helicopter fleet under US Army contract worth up to $43.1 million.

• SAIC snags $26 million order to provide IT to Walter Reed Army hospital.

• The Heritage Foundation calls on Congress for 1 day to walk to work, skip lunch, turn off Blackberries, and debate by candlelight, all to simulate an EMP attack. Like that’s going to happen (without another snowstorm).

• Pentagon revamps Afghan deployment strategy so US troops can develop regional expertise; Canada confirms Afghan troop withdrawal in 2011.

• USMC contract to Israel Military Industries for their Foot-Mobile Assault Bridge. For a better understanding of why that matters in Afghanistan, and the challenges faced by the USMC in theater, see below:
  
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Sweden, Norway Cooperating on Archer Artillery Project

Bofors Archer system

BAE Systems Bofors’ Archer is a light, air-portable, and highly automated 155/52 light mobile artillery system. Archer began as a Swedish project, administered by their FMV procurement agency. Funding was provided for system development and some initial production, but the project’s future had been shadowed by anemic Swedish defense budgets.

In May 2007, however, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Norway’s FLO procurement agency, which evolved into a joint production venture. Now, initial production orders have moved the Archer system from concept to imminent reality.

Setting Up The BCTs: Ft. Bliss, TX Getting a Lot of Construction Work

Fort Bliss, Texas is seeing a lot of activity these days, in part due to its convenient location near Biggs Army Airfield and White Sands Missile Range. In addition to hosting the US Army’s Center for Air Defense, Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas will be relocating Brigade Combat Teams from their previous posts in Europe. One of those brigades will then assume a role as the Evaluation Brigade Combat Team tasked with testing and training with systems from the Future Combat Systems program. The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 process added impetus to this expansion.

As one might gather, that means a lot of construction work etc. over at Fort Bliss, TX. This article shines a spotlight on announced contracts from September 2006 to the present day, adding contracts that have been issued since October 2008.

EG&G Gets $181.3M to Close CAMDS at Deseret Chemical Depot

Chemical weapons disposal

EG&G Defense Materials, a division of URS Corp., in Tooele, UT received a $181.3 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Phase 2 chemical agent munitions disposal system (CAMDS) closure as well as CAMDS & Deseret Chemical Depot secondary waste and nerve gas tabun (GA)/Lewisite disposal.

The US Army’s CAMDS, located at Deseret Chemical Depot, ceased chemical munitions disposal in 2005. Initial closure activities were carried out by the Tennessee Valley Authority, who was replaced by private contractor EG&G Defense Materials.

The closure process is currently in phase II, with equipment already removed from the buildings. More detailed closure plans are being written for CAMDS and final closure is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2012…

Rapid Fire: 2010-03-26

• The Apple of the Army’s eye: Service looks at i-prefixed devices for military application. Army release | Mac Observer | Ubergizmo | Ars Technica | Touch Reviews

• MQ-9 UAV to patrol Texas borders. Meanwhile, US Army AMCOM delays and slow US equipment delivery is endangering Merida Initiative efforts in Mexico.

• Solutions appearing to the challenges of machining next-generation alloys and materials like titanium, Inconel, Hastelloy, and Waspalloy alloys and composites.

• Cowabunga, Dude!: Marine Corps Base Hawaii uses sun and waves to generate electricity.

• Raytheon ups dividend by 21%, plans $2 billion in share repurchases.

• USAF looking for companies to develop a high capacity SATCOM link for RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV.

• USAF cracking down on Blackberries, Windows Mobile devices.

• German helicopter test uses Galileo GPS signals for navigation.

• $250 million US Army Joint Fires training contract to Potawatomi Training-led team that includes Northrop Grumman.

• A-10 at Eglin AFB, FL becomes first USAF aircraft powered solely with a biomass-derived jet fuel blend.

• General Dynamics IT snags $22 million SeaPort-e order to support new US Navy Air and Missile Defense Command in Dahlgren, VA.

• Lockheed Martin, ATK team to offer small payload launch services aboard 2nd generation Athena rockets.

$89.5M to Raytheon for 96 AN/ALR-67(V)3 RWR

AN/ALR-67 V3

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems in Goleta, CA received an $89.5 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-priced contract (N00019-09-C-0052) for 96 Lot 12 full-rate production AN/ALR-67(V)3 radar warning receivers (RWRs) for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.

A majority of the receivers, 68, are for the US Navy, but Switzerland is getting 25 and Australia 3. Switzerland is currently engaged in a program to upgrade its F-18 fleet, which includes purchases of the AN/ALR-67v3. And Australia is upgrading its radar after abandoning efforts to develop its own ALR 2002 radar warning system for the RAAF’s F/A-18 Hornets.

Raytheon’s AN/ALR-67v3 is a RWR that provides visual and audio alerts to F/A-18 aircrew when it detects ground-based, ship-based, or airborne radar emitters…

Stargazing: US Navy Surveys Stars to Better Track Space Objects

JMAPS Concept

The US Navy is undertaking a bright star survey called the Joint Milliarcsecond Pathfinder Survey (JMAPS) mission. The survey will be carried out by a microsatellite containing a telescope set for launch in 2012. The JMAPS mission is intended to improve space situational awareness, in particular tracking space objects.

To build the telescope’s bus, the Navy is contracting with AeroAstro in Ashburn, VA. On March 25/10, the company received a $37.9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to supply its low-jitter JMAPS spacecraft bus.

The bus will contain solar panels and will house the power, avionics, communications, thermal control, and inertial measurement units. The instrument/payload deck, which sits on top of the bus, will contain the optical telescope and electronics.

Rapid Fire 2010-03-25: UK Space Agency

• Water desalination on a chip could be a game-changer for post-disaster scenarios, expeditionary militaries.

• Britain consolidating work of 6 government departments, 2 research councils, a technology committee and the Met Office into one new UK Space Agency.

Hear the Navy ROAR: Radar Upgrade Kits for US Ships

AN/SPS-48E radar on
LPD-17 USS San Antonio

The AN/SPS-48E radar was introduced into the US Navy’s fleet in the mid-1980s. It is a medium-range, 3-dimensional (height, range, and bearing) air search radar whose primary function is to provide target position data to a weapon system and a ship command and control system.

Two decades later, the US Navy is upgrading the radar using AN/SPS-48G(V) radar modification kits [pdf] as part of its Radar Obsolescence, Availability Recovery (ROAR) program. ROAR is intended to extend the service life of AN/SPS-48 radar systems on aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, and land-based sites.

This ROAR program is upgrading more than 30 radar systems. The upgrades include adding a solid state transmitter, a digital receiver/ processor, open architecture, and a tactical integrated digital environment…