LM Gets $100M for JASSM Support | 2nd Type 209 Sub to Egypt from ThyssenKrupp | BAE Wins $1.77B MoD Contract for Nuke Pwr Sub for Brit Royal Navy

Americas

• The USAF has awarded Lockheed Martin a $100 million contract to support efforts related to the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). Work to be carried out by Lockheed includes life cycle support for all the missile’s variants, including the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile and the Extended Range variant, as well as the provision of system upgrades, integration, production, sustainment, and logistical support. The contract is expected to run until April 2020. Alongside the USAF, foreign operators of the JASSM include Finland, Poland, and the Royal Australian Air Force.

• VSE Aviation has announced that its subsidiary, Prime Turbines LLC, will undertake servicing the engines used by UH-1H Huey helicopters operated by the US Department of State for counter-narcotics operations. With a ceiling value of $16.6 million, the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract calls for the repair, overhaul and modification of the T53-L-703 engines used on the 85 Huey’s in the Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs aviation. The aircraft provide support for the eradication and interdiction of illicit drugs, the training of contractor and host national personnel, embassy support, movement of personnel and equipment, reconnaissance, personnel recovery, medical evacuation and other purposes.

Middle East & North Africa

• Egypt has received its second new Type 209 submarine S41 from German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, marking the halfway point for scheduled deliveries of the vessels to Cairo. The first two submarines were initially ordered in 2011 and were followed by orders for two more in 2014, and will be used to support national security missions. Equipped with missiles and torpedoes, and capable of operating at a range of 11,000 nautical miles at a maximum speed of 21 knots, 69 individual Type 209 submarines (in five variants) have been exported by ThyssenKrupp to 13 individual operators.

• Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces are to receive nearly $300 million worth of equipment after the US State Department cleared the sale to the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). The equipment, which includes 4400 rifles, 113 Humvees, and 36 howitzers, will go toward supporting two infantry brigades and two support artillery battalions for Iraqi Kurds in order to continue pushing against the militants of the Islamic State. AM General, Oshkosh Defense, Navistar Defense, Harris Radio, and Colt Corporation have all been listed as contractors in the deal. The Peshmerga, autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan’s military forces, alongside Kurdish forces from neighboring countries, have been fighting against ISIS since August 2014, following the launching of an offensive by the jihadists after the Fall of Mosul in June 2014.

• Washington is also seeking additional ways of supporting Saudi Arabia in an effort to break the ongoing stalemate currently experienced by the Riyadh-led coalition in Yemen. Additional military support is expected in order to break the deadlock and bring the opposing Houthi rebels—who have found a friend and military support in Saudi’s regional rival, Iran—to the negotiating table and a potential ceasefire. Since the war started in March 2015, as many as 10,000 civilians have been killed and some 3 million Yemenis have been displaced, with chronic food shortages leading the country toward famine.

Europe

• BAE Systems will build a sixth Astute-class nuclear-powered submarine for the British Royal Navy following the award of a $1.77 billion MoD contract. Dubbed the Agamemnon, the sub will be about 318 feet long, have a submerged speed of 30 knots and an endurance of 90 days. It can carry Tomahawk missiles as well as torpedoes. The first three Astute class submarines HMS Astute, HMS Ambush and HMS Artful are currently in service with the Royal Navy with a further four in various stages of construction at the company’s site in Barrow, Cumbria.

• Saab has been contracted by the Polish Navy to conduct maintenance and logistics support for the service’s RBS15 MK3 surface-to-surface missile system. First bought by Warsaw in 2006, the RBS15 system has been used by Poland as a naval defense platform and has been typically integrated on the country’s three Orkan-class fast attack craft. Produced jointly by Saab and Germany’s Diehl Defense, the system features a prelaunch programmable active radar seeker, which enables a fire-and-forget capability in all weather conditions.

Asia Pacific

• The Taiwanese Navy has issued a request for tender to produce the island’s first indigenous landing platform dock. Funding worth $207 million has been allocated for the project up to 2021, and calls for a length of 502 feet and a weight of 10,000 tons. The tender also requires that the vessel be fitted with a 76mm gun and Phalanx close-in weapon system, as well as the indigenous TC-2N missile system for air defense, a top speed of 21 knots, and a range of up to 7,000 miles. It’s expected that Taipei will build two such vessels by 2021 and use them to support amphibious operations and transport tasks, and act as hospital ships and vessels for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions in peacetime.

Today’s Video

• Egypt’s Type 209 submarine: