China May Be Making, Selling Unlicensed Russian Radars | Turkey’s F-X Program Attracts Foreign Suitors | NATO Receives First Shared ISR Drone

Americas

• Huntington Ingalls was awarded $4.3 billion through two contracts on Friday, with the shipyard handed a $3.35 billion detail design and construction contract for CVN-79, a member of the Navy’s new class of super-carriers. The subsidiary of Newport News Shipyard also received a $941.2 million modification to a previously awarded contract in support of CVN-79, also known as the USS John F. Kennedy. The new class of carriers was recently criticized for being too expensive, with Huntington Ingalls the sole manufacturer of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The John F. Kennedy is the second ship in the class, under construction with a cost-cap of $11.5 billion.

• Raytheon has been contracted by the Missile Defense Agency to provide Standard Missile-3 Block IB production support and engineering. The Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) SM-3, also referred to as the RIM-161 equips the Japanese Kong-class and US Ticonderoga-class AEGIS-equipped vessels.

• AM General was handed a $9.5 million contract for 50 HMMWVs, split equally between M1151A1B1 and B2 models. Meanwhile, Navy Special Operations are set to receive MK281 40mm practice grenades, following a $10.3 million Navy contract with Rheinmetall Defense.

Europe

• NATO’s first Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance UAV has been unveiled, with the Global Hawk the first of five set to fulfill the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) program requirement. The aircraft are a result of the 2012 NATO Summit which called for broader alliance ISR capability. Fifteen nations are participating in the program, including the Czech Republic, Poland, Norway, Italy, Slovenia, the Baltic States and the US.

• Turkey will select a foreign partner for it’s F-X program by next year, according to reports over the weekend. The partner will work with Turkish industry through the program’s four-year design and development phase, with the partnering deal estimated to be worth approximately $1 billion. The F-X program saw preliminary designs unveiled in May 2013, with the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defense Industries releasing a Request for Information in early March this year. Several large defense contractors have reportedly responded to this, including US and European firms, as well as China’s Shenyang Aircraft Corp.

Asia

• China may be manufacturing unlicensed clones of Russian radar systems to supplement the licensed versions deployed on its warships. These include the FREGAT-MAE-4K radar employed on the Chinese Liaoning carrier, as well as fire control radar systems for hovercraft vessels and other systems for PLAN destroyers.

• Pakistan has increased the country’s defense budget by 11% to approximately $7.7 billion for fiscal year 2015-2016. This increase follows a similar jump in defense spending from the previous year, with the army set to receive approximately 45% of this figure. the country’s air force will receive just under 23% and the navy approximately 12%, with the remainder split between the Strategic Forces and Civil Armed Forces.

• India will procure two US-manufactured ISTAR aircraft, following an offer by the Indian Defense Minister to SecDef Carter during the latter’s three-day visit to the country. The model of aircraft to be sold has not been disclosed, but will be manufactured by Raytheon and will be equipped with a Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. This follows an Indian RFI issued in 2011, followed by negotiations with Raytheon since 2013 regarding the Indian Air Force’s requirement. The aircraft model offered by Raytheon could be a Gulfstream business-based aircraft, with indications estimating the two aircraft being worth approximately $700 million collectively.

• Rheinmetall Defence will offer its Boxer armored vehicle in Australia’s LAND 400 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV) competition. A Request for Tender was released in February and Rheinmetall’s bid will consist of the Boxer fitted with a two-man, 30mm LANCE turret. Other competitors consist of a pair of industry teams made up of BAE Systems/Patria and General Dynamics Land Systems/Thales Australia, with a Raytheon/Nexter teamdeciding not to compete.

• Chinese defense firm North Industries Group Corp (Norinco) is pushing its main battle tanks for export, with a broad spread across the price/capability spectrum, from cheap and less-capable to the expensive and capable.

Today’s Video

• The Boxer with LANCE turret…