Americas
Bell Textron won a $815 million deal for the repair, upgrade or replacement of 35 items used on the UH-1Y and AH-1Z helicopter, along with inventory management, warehousing and establishing supply response time metrics. The UH-1Y utility helicopter provides command & control and assault support under day/night and adverse weather conditions. The helicopter is securable for deck movement up to Sea State 5. Missions include airborne command and control, aeromedical evacuation, troop transport, transport of supplies and equipment and search and rescue. Based on the Vietnam War-era AH-1 Cobra, the AH-1Z Viper is the Marine Corps’ primary rotor-wing ground attack aircraft. The AH-1Z attack helicopter provides rotary wing close air support, anti-armor, armed escort, armed/visual reconnaissance and fire support coordination capabilities under day/night and adverse weather conditions. Work will take place in Texas and North Carolina. Estimated completion will be by December 2024.
The Navy awarded Bell Boeing a not-to-exceed $18 million contract modification to continue to provide technical analysis, engineering and integration for the Marine Corps V-22 aircraft. The V-22 Osprey is a joint service multirole combat aircraft utilizing tiltrotor technology to combine the vertical performance of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft. With its rotors in vertical position, it can take off, land and hover like a helicopter. Once airborne, it can convert to a turboprop airplane capable of high-speed, high-altitude flight. This combination results in global reach capabilities that allow the V-22 to fill an operational niche unlike any other aircraft. The modification increases the ceiling to continue to provide technical analysis, engineering and integration for the Marine Corps V-22 aircraft. Work will take place in Texas and Pennsylvania and is expected to be complete in December 2022.
Middle East & Africa
Clayton International won a $7.6 million contract to provide depot level maintenance on one AS-61 helicopter for the government of Egypt. Foreign Military Sales funds in the full amount will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Clayton International will perform work in November 2021. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
AeroVironment won a $8.6 million Foreign Military Sale to Tunisia. The deal is for the procurement of eight Unmanned Aircraft Systems and initial spares package with operating software. The US Army Contracting Command in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland is the contracting activity. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will take place in Tunisia. Estimated completion date is May 31, 2020.
Europe
The US Army awarded Oshkosh Defense an $803.9 million modification to a Foreign Military Sale to Montenegro. The FMS provides for the procurement of 2,721 Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and 16,714 associated packaged or installed kits. The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) Family of Vehicles is an Army-led, joint-service program designed to replace a portion of each service’s light tactical wheeled vehicle fleets while closing an existing capability gap. Intended to provide protected, sustained, networked mobility for personnel and payloads across the full range of military operations, the JLTV FoV will restore the fleet’s balance of payload, performance and protection. Work under the modification will take place in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and estimated completion date is January 31, 2021.
Asia-Pacific
The Philippines will ink the contract for India’s BrahMos supersonic anti-ship missiles in the first or second quarter of 2020. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana added that two batteries will be purchased and they are being bought under “government-to-government mode”. The missile, which can be fired from land, submarines, ships and fighter jets, will be acquired for the Philippine Army for coastal defense missions and for Air Force. BrahMos will become the nation’s first weaponry with deterrent capability. The BrahMos is a medium range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarine, ships, aircraft, or land. It is the fastest supersonic cruise missile in the world. India on December 17 successfully conducted separate trials of two variants of supersonic cruise missile BrahMos to check its capability to hit targets with precision and accuracy.
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