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Archives by category > Legal (RSS)

Japan’s Next F-X Fighters

Nov 22, 2022 04:54 UTC

Latest updates[?]: Asahi news in Japan reports that Tokyo will finalize an agreement with Italy and United Kingdom to develop its next fighter. The report says Avio Aero from Italy will be involved in researching for a new engine for the F-X fighter together with Mitsubishi and Rolls-Royce.

F-35A, weapon bay open

F-35A

In December 2011, Japan picked Lockheed Martin’s new F-35A stealth fighter as its next fighter aircraft, to replace its aging F-4 “Kai” Phantom fleet. The F-35 was actually their 2nd choice.

Back in February 2006, Inside The Air Force (ITAF) reported that momentum was building within the USAF to sell the ultra-advanced F-22A Raptor abroad to trusted US allies, as a way of increasing numbers and production. Japan clearly wanted them, and the Raptor was a topic of diplomatic discussions in several venues, including a 2007 summit meeting. In the end, however, US politics denied export permission for downgraded export variants of the F-22, and its production line was terminated. That left Japan looking at other foreign “F-X” fighter options in the short term, while they considered a domestic stealth fighter design as their long-term project.

In the ensuing F-X competition, the F-35 Lightning II beat BAE’s Eurofighter Typhoon, as well as an upgraded F/A-18E Super Hornet from Boeing. Now Lockheed Martin has to deliver, and so will its Japanese partners. Will the F-35A’s price and program delays create problems in Japan? This article looks at the JASDF’s current force, its future options, and ongoing F-X developments.

Continue Reading… »

Eurofighter’s Rough Ride in Austria Continues

Jan 08, 2021 04:54 UTC

Latest updates[?]: Austrian defense minister Klaudia Tanner wants to sell the country’s Eurofighters as soon as possible. It is still unclear, which fighter will replace the Eurofighter Typhoon. However, in an interview with the daily newspaper „Der Standard“ Tanner has voiced plans to procure an interim aircraft from a neutral country until parliament decides to buy a new fighter aircraft. Before Austria procured the Typhoons in 2003 leading to many years of bribe an fraught investigations, the country’s Air Force was flying the Saab J35 Draken. As an interim solution between the Draken and the Typhoon, the service operated Swiss F-5 Tiger aircraft.

Austrian Eurofighters

Austrian Typhoons
w. IRIS-T missiles

In 2003, Austria signed a EUR 2 billion contract to receive 18 EADS Eurofighters plus required support (just over $2.5 billion, or about $140 million per plane). The aircraft were already under construction in Germany when the 2006 election results forced the leftist SPO party, whose campaign promises included canceling the fighter deal, into the Austrian government coalition.

That shift led to a fraught series of negotiations within Austria, and then with EADS. The 2 sides played a game of billion-dollar chicken, leading to a settlement in 2007. The Eurofighter’s rough ride in Austria seemed to be over with delivery of the 15th and final aircraft in 2009, but controversies continue.

Continue Reading… »

Airbus’ A400M Aerial Transport: Delays, Development, and Deployment

Dec 28, 2020 04:54 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: Belgium’s first A400M has been delivered and flown to the 15th Wing Air Transport in Melsbroek. The second A400M for Belgium will be delivered in early 2021. The country has ordered seven aircraft. This A400M, known as MSN106, will be operated within a binational unit composed of a total of eight aircraft, seven from the Belgian Air Force and one from the Luxembourg Armed Forces. The second A400M for Belgium will be delivered in early 2021.
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A400M rollout

A400M rollout, Seville

Airbus’ A400M is a EUR 20+ billion program that aims to repeat Airbus’ civilian successes in the full size military transport market. A series of smart design decisions were made around capacity (35-37 tonnes/ 38-40 US tons, large enough for survivable armored vehicles), extensive use of modern materials, multi-role capability as a refueling tanker, and a multinational industrial program; all of which leave the aircraft well positioned to take overall market share from Lockheed Martin’s C-130 Hercules. If the USA’s C-17 is allowed to go out of production, the A400M would also have a strong position in the strategic transport market, with only Russian AN-70, IL-76 and AN-124 aircraft as competition.

Airbus’ biggest program issue, by far, has been funding for a project that is more than EUR 7 billion over budget. The next biggest issue is timing, as a combination of A400M delays and Lockheed’s strong push for its C-130J Super Hercules narrow the field for future exports. This DID Spotlight article covers the latest developments, as the A400M Atlas moves into the delivery phase. Will Airbus’ 3rd big issue become its own customers?

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Britain’s A330 Voyager FSTA: An Aerial Tanker Program – With a Difference

May 19, 2020 04:54 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: NATO’s Multinational MRTT Fleet will take delivery of its first two A330 MRTT aircraft next month. The handover is at the Main Operating Base in Eindhoven. The third and fourth aircraft are currently under conversion at the Airbus Defense facilities in Getafe, Madrid. The fifth A330 was flown from Toulouse to Getafe earlier this month. Six countries have signed up for the program to operate 8 aircraft. The contract includes options for 3 more tankers.

RAF A330 MRTT, Tornado GR4, Eurofighter Typhoon

Voyager & friends

Back in 2005, Great Britain was considering a public-private partnership to buy, equip, and operate the RAF’s future aerial tanker fleet. The RAF would fly the 14 Airbus A330-MRTT aircraft on operational missions, and receive absolute preferential access to the planes. A private contractor would handle maintenance, receive payment from the RAF on a per-use basis – and operate them as passenger charter or transport aircraft when the RAF didn’t need them.

The deal became politically controversial, and negotiations on the 27-year, multi-billion pound deal charted new territory for both the government, and for private industry. Which may help to explain why a contract to move ahead on a “Private Financing Initiative” basis had yet to be issued, and procurement had yet to begin, over 7 years after the program began. In March 2008, however, Britain issued the world’s largest-ever Defence Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract. This FOCUS Article describes the current British fleet, the aircraft they chose to replace them, how the new fleet will compare, the innovative deal structure they’ve chosen, and ongoing FSTA developments.

Continue Reading… »

LAS in, LAS out: Counter-Insurgency Planes for the USA and its Allies

Oct 29, 2019 04:58 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: The US Air Force has decided to buy two to three A-29 and AT-6 light attack aircraft. The final request for proposal was published on October 24. The A-29 will be deployed at Hurlburt Field, Florida, by Air Force Special Operations Command to develop an instructor pilot program for the Combat Aviation Advisory mission. The contract award is expected to be end of the year. The AT-6 will be going to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, for continued testing and development of operational tactics and standards for exportable, tactical networks by Air Combat Command. The propeller-driven planes will be part of the Light Air Support program of the Air Force, which seeks a light counter-insurgency, ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft. The Air Force and US Navy have flown both planes since 2017 to assess their capabilities.

Mauritanian A-29

Winner

The USA needs a plane that can provide effective precision close air support and JTAC training, and costs about $1,000 per flight hour to operate – instead of the $15,000+ they’re paying now to use advanced jet fighters at 10% of their capabilities. Countries on the front lines of the war’s battles needed a plane that small or new air forces can field within a reasonable time, and use effectively. If these 2 needs are filled by the same aircraft, everything becomes easier for US allies and commanders. One would think that this would have been obvious around October 2001, but it took until 2008 for this understanding to even gain momentum within the Pentagon. A series of intra-service, political, and legal fights have ensured that these capabilities won’t arrive before 2015 at the earliest, and won’t arrive for the USAF at all.

The USA has now issued 2 contracts related to this need. The first was killed by a lawsuit that the USAF didn’t think they could defend successfully. Since February 2013 they have a contract that they hope will stick. The 3 big questions are simple. Will the past be prologue for the new award? Will there be an Afghan government to begin taking delivery of their 20 planes much beyond 2014? And will another allied government soon need to use this umbrella contract for its own war?

Continue Reading… »

MFTA: The US Navy’s New Towed Array for Naval Detection

Sep 23, 2019 04:56 UTC

Latest updates[?]: The US Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $24.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to develop the first production unit fabrication and qualification of the TB-37X Multi-Function Towed Array (MFTA) System. The legacy TB-37/U MFTA is an integral part of the AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 Undersea Warfare Combat System Improvement Program for the Arleigh Burke Class guided missile destroyers (DDG-51), Ticonderoga Class missile cruisers (CG-47) and Zumwalt Class destroyers. The TB-37X MFTA shall incorporate next-generation telemetry to mitigate reliability and obsolescence issues experienced with the legacy TB-37/U MFTA. The TB-37X will be deployed on additional platforms, including Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and Next Generation Guided Missile Frigates (FFG(X)). Lockheed will perform work in Liverpool, New York; Millersville, Maryland; Marion, Massachusetts; Cleveland, Ohio; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is expected to be completed by October 2026.

MFTA concept

Naval technologies have advanced on many fronts, but one of the most significant is the growing roster of diesel-electric submarines that boast exceptional quietness. Some of the newer AIP (Air-Independent Propulsion) models even have the ability to operate without surfacing for a week or two at a time. In exercises against the US Navy, diesel-electric submarines have successfully ‘killed’ their nuclear counterparts, and in 2006, a Chinese submarine reportedly surprised a US carrier battlegroup by surfacing within it.

The US Navy is slowly moving to beef up anti-submarine capabilities that had been neglected since the end of the Cold War, and other navies are also beginning to adjust. One of the first areas that requires attention is improved detection. That means wider coverage areas, longer baselines, better sonar and other detection systems, and greater use of small unmanned platforms on the surface and underwater. With UUV/USV platforms still maturing, and almost every advanced navy except the Chinese getting smaller due to the cost of new warships, towed systems are a natural place to start.

Continue Reading… »

The Rockets’ Red Ink: from EELV to a Competitive Space Launch Future

May 13, 2019 04:58 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: United Launch Services won a $149.4 million modification in support of National Security Launch delta IV heavy launch services. The modification is for the National Reconnaissance Office mission NROL-68, the second of three missions awarded to ULA under the Launch Vehicle Production Services contract in October 2018. The deal provides for a Delta IV heavy-lift rocket variant for the US Air Force’s National Security Space Launch program. ULA was awarded three NRO missions in October— NROL-91, NROL-68, and NROL-70 — scheduled to launch in fiscal year 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. Work under the modification will take place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and company sites in Colorado and Alabama. The scheduled completion date is in December 2022.

Delta IV Rocket

Boeing Delta IV Heavy

The EELV program was designed to reduce the cost of government space launches through greater contractor competition, and modifiable rocket families whose system requirements emphasized simplicity, commonality, standardization, new applications of existing technology, streamlined manufacturing capabilities, and more efficient launch-site processing. Result: the Delta IV (Boeing) and Atlas V (Lockheed Martin) heavy rockets.

Paradoxically, that very program may have forced the October 2006 merger of Boeing & Lockheed Martin’s rocket divisions. Crosslink Magazine’s Winter 2004 article “EELV: The Next Stage of Space Launch” offers an excellent briefing that covers EELV’s program innovations and results, while a detailed National Taxpayer’s Union letter to Congress takes a much less positive view. This DID Spotlight article looks at the Delta IV and Atlas V rockets, emerging challengers like SpaceX and the new competition framework, and the US government contracts placed since the merger that formed the United Launch Alliance.

Continue Reading… »

The Odyssey: Greece’s U-214 Submarine Order

Jan 15, 2019 04:52 UTC

Latest updates[?]: The Hellenic Armed Forces, the combined military forces of Greece move forward with two Hellenic Navy acquisition programs for heavyweight torpedoes and maritime helicopters. The programs were approved in December and are now being forwarded to the Ministry of Defense for implementation, Jane’s reports. The Hellenic Navy wants to procure 36 533 millimeter heavyweight torpedoes for the Papanikolis-class Type 214 submarines and sole Type 209 AIP-equipped submarine, HS Okeanos. The new torpedoes are to replace AEG SUT and SST-4 torpedoes. The type 214 submarine features diesel propulsion with an air-independent propulsion system. The 209 Type is a diesel-electric attack submarine armed with eight bow 533 mm torpedo tubes and 14 torpedoes.

U214 S-102

Papanikolis at HDW

On Monday Sept 21/09, ThyssenKrupp Marine informed the Greek Minister of Defence that it was canceling “The Archimedes Project” contract for 4 U-214 diesel-electric submarines with Air-Independent Propulsion technology, because the government’s payments had remained underwater for too long. That development was the just the latest chapter in a long and continuing saga. If the issue remains unresolved, or arbitration results in termination payments but no delivery, Greece could find itself without a submarine force.

Accumulated payment arrears were over EUR 520 million (then $767 million), and so ThyssenKrupp and its subsidiary Hellenic Shipyards sought international arbitration, in order to recover some of the payments due under its contract. A resolution was arrived at, but failed execution by Hellenic Shipyards has left Greece’s future submarine fleet in limbo, even as investigations and trials are sending former Greek officials to court and to jail for corruption associated with the purchase.

Continue Reading… »

Five Year Extension on Paveway-II Missile Production

Aug 13, 2018 04:54 UTC

Latest updates[?]: The Philippines and a few other countries are set to receive Paveway bombs as part of a US foreign military sale package. The package costs $110 million and includes activities such as studies, production, certification, integration, and sustainment. The Paveway family of laser-guided bombs are capable of converting "dumb" bombs into precision-guided munitions. The variants include Paveway II and Paveway III that are laser-guidance kits; and the Enhanced Paveway II, Enhanced Paveway III and Paveway IV use both laser and GPS guidance. Work will be performed at Raytheon's facility in Tucson, Arizona and is expected to be completed by February 2029.

GBU-12 Paveway II

GBU-12 Paveway II

Paveway II kits convert standard Mk 80 family free-fall bombs into laser-guided weapons. Each guidance kit consists of a computer control group (CCG) guidance system with a semi-active laser seeker and pneumatically-controlled guidance canards for the front-end of the bomb, plus an air foil group (AFG) on the back end that provides lift and stability. Once a target is designated, laser guidance is more accurate than GPS, but it can be foiled by obscurants like fog, sandstorms, etc.

At the beginning of August 2011, the US government issued a contract worth up to $475 million…

Continue Reading… »

FMTV 2010-2018: Pyrrhic Victories? Oshkosh Wins The Re-Compete

Feb 12, 2018 04:54 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: The US Army awarded Wednesday, February 7, a $476 million contract to Oshkosh to build the latest A2 variant of the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV). Production will be completed by February 2022, with work locations to be determined with each order. The Army and Oshkosh Defense will now finalize the FMTV A2 designs, conduct required testing, and then launch into production. New vehicles should begin rolling off the production line in 2020. First introduced in 1991, the years has seen multiple vendors produce, upgrade, and improve more than 75,000 FMTVs. Over this period, the Army has also pursued several improvements to its Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, most recently with the competitively awarded "A1P2" version in 2008. For the A2, the Army asked vendors to propose a series of changes to the truck's design, known as Engineering Change Proposals, along with a plan to take the updated design and begin producing new trucks. Those new trucks will feature a higher capacity chassis to carry enhanced protection, a higher output alternator to simplify the electrical system and feed the growing demand for power, support enhanced vehicle diagnostics, increase engine power and performance, and introduce key safety features like electronic stability control.

medium tactical vehicles

FMTV Family

The 14 variants in the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) form the core of the USA’s new state-of-the-art medium military transport truck fleet. Which in turn forms the core of the “mature logistics capability” seen in the Iraqi theater and elsewhere. FMTV trucks are all automatic transmission, and range from 2.5-ton cargo and van models to 5-ton cargo, tractor, van, wrecker, tanker, specialty, and dump-truck models in various 4×4 and 6×6 configurations. Some models also have attached trailers that increase their carrying capacity. Even so, the use of common engines, transmissions, drivelines, power trains, tires, cabs, etc. create over 80% parts commonality between FMTV models. Where possible, commercial components are used for added savings.

There have been 3 main phases of the FMTV program, including the last “SO23” open competition in 2003. All told, more than 50,000 FMTV trucks in various models have been delivered to the US Army. A bridging order to BAE continued production in Sealy, TX from 2008 through 2010, but the 4th phase re-compete saw a new firm begin FMTV production – alongside heavy truck production for the Army (FHTV) and Marines (LVSR), and medium trucks for the US Marine Corps (MTVR).

Continue Reading… »
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