Last updated: Friday Jan 24, 2020 - 05:00 UTC ()
Bringing Home the BACN to Front-Line Forces
AH-64E Apache Block III: Evolving Battlefield Roles
V-22 Osprey: The Multi-Year Buys, 2008-2017
Rapid Fire | Friday, January 24, 2020, 05:00 UTC ()
Northrop Tapped For BACN Payload Operation | Aero Vodochody Expects Doubling Of Revenues | Apache Down-Selected For Bangladesh Attack Helo
Americas
Northrop Grumman won a $217.2 million modification, which provides for Battlefield Airborne Communications Node payload operation and support for payload equipment and services. Under the contract, Northrup Grumman will support payload equipment and services for the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, a US Air Force relay and gateway system carried by the EQ-48 and Bombardier E-11A aircraft. The node enables real-time information flow across the battlespace in line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight operations. Work will take place in San Diego and at undisclosed overseas locations, with an expected completion date of January 23, 2021.
Florida Ordnance Corp. won a $48,6 million deal for M88 Recovery Vehicle diesel cylinder heads. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. The M88 is one of the largest ARVs currently utilized by the US Armed Forces. There are currently three variants, the M88, M88A1 and M88A2 HERCULES. The Hercules series was introduced during the 1960s. The M88 series of vehicles were capable to refuel M1 tanks from their own fuel tanks, but this was to be used as a last resort due to the possibility of clogging the AGT-1500’s fuel filters. The fuel pump draws fuel from the bottom of the fuel cell, and with it, all of the sediment that has accumulated with time. Work under the new deal will take place in Florida. Estimated completion date is March 26, 2026.
Middle East & Africa
The US Army awarded Scientia Global Inc. a $12.2 million Foreign Military Sale to Iraq. The deal is to procure combat effective Digital Mobile Radio Tier III equipment, development, deployment, training and support services. Scientia Global, Inc. was founded in 2002. The company’s line of business includes providing professional engineering services. Work will take place in Erbil, Iraq as well as Melbourne, Florida. Expected completion date is April 29, 2022.
Europe
Aero Vodochody expects a near doubling of its revenues year-on-year in 2020, attributable in part to backlog orders for maintenance, repair, and overhaul of military aircraft including the L-39 Albatros jet trainer. The Czech aerospace company has what it describes as a “unique order backlog” for MRO services of the legacy L-39 for 35 aircraft in Asia and Africa, as well as maintenance work for the Czech air force’s L-159 light attack/advanced trainer fleet. To this end, revenues are set to increase during 2020 as these contracts come to fruition, which the company expects to total approximately $220–265 million.
Asia-Pacific
Boeing confirmed that its AH-64E Apache attack helicopter has been down-selected for a potential program in Bangladesh. Company officials confirmed the development, which points to growing defense ties between the South Asian country and the United States, in a media briefing on January 21. Boeing’s Terry Jamison, senior manager for global sales and marketing for attack and cargo helicopter programs, said the program in Bangladesh is proceeding through a US Foreign Military Sale. He added that Bangladesh is looking to procure the AH-64E through a competitive-bidding process through which the Boeing platform had beaten competitors “on price”. Boeing officials indicated that cost efficiencies in the Apache program were being achieved through economies of scale and the certainty of long-term modernization. About 1,200 Apaches are in operation in global markets, said officials, and the platform has been identified by the US government to undergo modernization through the late 2040s.
China’s indigenously developed J-20 stealth fighter jet would be controlling skies this year, according to The News. The country has announced its plan to develop nine types of aircraft, conducting maiden flights for four types of aircraft, and receive a production permit for one type of aircraft in 2020. Chinese military enthusiasts are reportedly eagerly expecting the new, homemade warplanes to debut in 2020, naming the next-generation aircraft carrier-based fighter jet and the carrier-based early warning aircraft as their top wishes.
Today’s Video
Watch: Here Comes the New F-16 Fighter: Thanks to F-22 and F-35
More In-depth Contract News & Updates
P-3 Orion’s SMIP Program Keeps on Rolling
| South Korea is participating in Exercise Sea Dragon for the first time, it dispatched a P-3C to Guam. South Korea had previously sent observers to the exercise. The Exercise Sea Dragon began on Monday and will last through the end January. Sea Dragon also involves Australia and New Zealand. It was designed to enhance the countries' maritime patrol relationship and build anti-submarine warfare proficiency, according to the officials. It is the first time that South Korea partook in this exercise, a Navy official said, adding the Navy sent its P-3C patrol aircraft. The exercise comes amid concern that North Korea could launch an advanced type of submarine-launched ballistic missile. The communist country fired a Pukguksong-3 SLBM in October 2019 as the latest such test and pledged earlier this year to show off a "new strategic weapon" in the near future. More »
F-35 Lightning: The Joint Strike Fighter Program
| Lockheed Martin announced in a press release that two US Air Force F-35s were integrated with the US Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, providing an airborne sensor capability to successfully detect, track and intercept near simultaneous air-breathing threats in a test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. In December 2019, the F-35s were used as sensors during an IBCS live fire test against multiple airborne targets for the first time. Linking F-35s to IBCS via the Multifunction Advanced Data Link provided enhanced situational awareness and weapons-quality track data to engage airborne targets. The proof of concept demonstration reportedly used experimental equipment developed by Lockheed Martin, including the Harvest Lightning Ground Station and IBCS adaptation kit. The F-35 is a stealthy, supersonic multi-role fighter. More »
Airfields Afloat: The USA’s New Gerald Ford Class Super-Carriers
| The USS Gerald R. Ford left port in Norfolk to begin aircraft compatibility testing off the East Coast, the Navy announced. The ACT started Thursday It is meant to continue testing of systems for aircraft to launch and land on the vessel. It started in earnest, the Navy said in a press release, with an E-2D as the first aircraft to land on the carrier as it departed from port. The Ford is intended to replace Nimitz Class carriers. However it had troubles with cost overruns and delays. The Ford logged 747 launches and arrestments to date. This will be the first time the T-45 Goshawks, E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes and E/A-18G Growlers aircraft will launch and recover from the aircraft carrier. More »
India’s IGMP Missile Programs: Export contenders?
| According to media reports, India’s Strategic Forces Command has begun receiving 42 Su-30MKI air dominance fighters modified to carry air-launched BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. This will significantly enhance the striking power of the air leg of India’s nuclear triad. The Sukhoi Su-30 MKI is a twin-seater, highly maneuverable, fourth-generation multirole combat fighter aircraft built by Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau and licensed to India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The plane will serve as the backbone of India’s Air Force through 2020 and beyond. Delhi has already acquired around 200 jets, and eventually plans to acquire 282 of them. The Brahmos is jointly developed by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroeyenia. Capable of traveling at speeds of Mach 3.0, the Brahmos is the fastest cruise missile in the world. As Russia and India Report explained, “The BrahMos’ 3000 km per second speed – literally faster than a bullet – means it hits the target with a huge amount of kinetic energy. In tests, the BrahMos has often cut warships in half and reduced ground targets to smithereens.” More »
Joint Riveting: Britain’s RC-135 Airseeker Electronic Snooping Planes
| Raytheon won a $442.3 million deal for the force element terminal (FET) development effort. The contract provides for the design, development, testing, integration, and logistical support of a FET system that will transition the B-52 and RC-135 hardened communication terminals from the Military Strategic Tactical Relay satellite communications satellite constellation to the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite constellation. According to the US Air Force’s latest strategic bomber guidance document, the B-52H Stratofortress are no longer approved to carry nuclear gravity bombs. There have long been concerns that the B-52 lacks the capability to penetrate modern air defenses to deliver a nuclear strike with gravity bombs. The B-52 Stratofortress entered into service in the 1950s. With the Cold War in full swing, the bomber became an integral part of the US’ nuclear deterrent as a part of the Nuclear Triad, alongside intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear-armed submarines. Decades later the aircraft is still integral in this role. Boeing RC-135 is a four engine, medium weight reconnaissance aircraft designed and manufactured by Boeing Defence and Integrated Systems for the USAF. Work will take place at Raytheon's facilities in Marlborough, Massachusetts; and Largo, Florida, and is expected to be completed by August 2023. More »
