Americas
Lockheed Martin won a $194.7 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide non-recurring engineering, integration and testing of the aircraft interface module in support of ASQ-239 electronic warfare/countermeasures system upgrades planned for F-35 Lot 17 aircraft deliveries for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and non-Department of Defense participants. The AN/ASQ-239 provides offensive and defensive options to enable the F-35 to identify, monitor, analyze, and respond to threats like radar-guided anti-aircraft missile batteries and air-search radars. Work will take place in New Hampshire and Texas. Expected completion will be in April 2024.
Babcock and Leonardo that they are to team on Canada’s Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) programme. Babcock Canada and Leonardo Canada have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to offer a joint solution to meet the country’s military flight-training requirements. “Babcock and Leonardo can offer a modern and comprehensive solution, drawing on their long experience as leading providers of civil and military fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and mission training services. The companies stand ready to offer an innovative and comprehensive turnkey solution to meet all of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s training requirements,” the companies said in a joint statement.
Middle East & Africa
Two RAF Typhoons have successfully bombed a group of Islamic State jihadis in Iraq, according to UK militarily chiefs. According to the UK Ministry of Defense, Iraqi security forces recently encountered a group of Islamic State terrorists in a strong defensive position about twenty five miles south west of Mosul. The MoD said the fighter jets used precision-guided bombs to take-out heavily armed IS militants who were dug-in at a site near to the city of Mosul.
Europe
The 209 new Lynx infantry fighting vehicles recently ordered by Hungary will be equipped with Rheinmetall’s StrikeShield hard-kill active protection system (APS) under a new $171 million contract signed. StrikeShield is the third and latest generation of Rheinmetall’s Active Defence System technology, a specific variant of hard-kill APS. It is a distributed system whose sensors and countermeasures are integrated into the contours of the entire vehicle. StrikeShield has the lowest emissions in the electro¬magnetic spectrum on the market, as well as the fastest reaction time in ambush and multi-hit situations. It protects the vehicle from shaped charge warhead threats such as rockets or missiles by neutralizing incoming projectiles before they hit the platform itself.
Navy vessels from 10 nations are massed off the Scottish coast for a NATO interoperability exercise to include live missile fire. The three-week integrated air and sea missile defense exercise involves over 3,000 personnel, and began on Saturday in the British Defense Ministry’s Hebrides Range in western Scotland.
Asia-Pacific
According to Japan’s Ministry of Defense and the US Navy, two US Navy MQ-4C Triton drone aircraft will move from Guam to Japan this month. In a statement, the ministry mentioned an “increasingly severe security environment surrounding Japan,” noting that “it is critical to enhance ISR activities by both countries,” adding that the drones “will be temporarily deployed to Japan after mid-May.”
Today’s Video
Watch: Electro-Optical Targeting System for the F-35
