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Archives by date > 2013 > January > 7th

The Global C-17 Sustainment Partnership

Jan 07, 2013 17:10 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: 9-Year, $850M+ contract for upgrades.
C-17 Hawaii

C-17 over Hawaii

The rising cost of maintenance has made it a greater concern to the world’s militaries, and new contract vehicles are reflecting that. Under the C-17 GSP/GISP, Boeing has total system support responsibility for the big transport aircraft, including materiel management and depot maintenance, to support customer fleets around the world. The goal is total aircraft sustainment support under a single contract, in order to achieve improvements in mission readiness, while reducing operating and support costs.

While the C-17 may have limited production time in its future, the C-17 GSP is likely to continue for many years. The initial C-17 GSP contract has grown and broadened, even as Boeing’s customer base grew in the USAF (now 223), Australia (6), Britain (8), Canada (4), India (10-16), Qatar (4), NATO (3), the UAE (6) – and possibly Kuwait (1).

This in-depth, public-access DII Spotlight Article offers key statistics for the C-17A, explains the Globemaster III Sustainment Partnership’s (GSP) components, and details its contracts.

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Game-Changer: USA Developing UAV Aerial Refueling

Jan 07, 2013 15:48 UTC

Latest updates[?]: Contract to prep for X-47B tests; Article improvements.
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UAV-AAR 2007

2007 AAR experiment

Quick question: what’s the biggest limiting factor in today’s aircraft? Answer: the pilot. Fortunately for pilots, they’re also an aircraft’s greatest advantage, which will keep them in the mix, and in the cockpit, for some time to come. Those limitations are bringing unmanned aircraft into the combat picture, however, especially when it comes to the greatest limitation a pilot places on an aircraft: aerial endurance. Remaining awake, active, and effective in a manned fighter aircraft for 72 hours straight is simply not within the realm of possibility. On the other hand, a UAV with that endurance level, flown by pilots on the ground or at sea who can hand the aircraft off to a colleague while they depart for a coffee, bathroom break, or sleep, could easily remain aloft that long. All it needs is an appropriate level of mechanical reliability – and, of course, the ability to take on fuel from an aerial tanker aircraft.

That simple concept has profound implications for the ways in which airpower might be used.

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Rapid Fire Jan. 7, 2013: Picking a Secretary, Or a Fight?

Jan 07, 2013 10:00 UTC

  • Former US Senator Chuck Hagel is widely reported as President Obama’s pick to replace Leon Panetta as Secretary of Defense, to be officially confirmed later today. He will face certain opposition from some Republican senators. WaPo | Omaha World Herald.
  • DARPA is soliciting research proposals for developing a communications link capable of transmitting data at a rate of 100 Gb/s within a single radio frequency channel. They have $18.3M set aside for the 1st phase. A Proposer’s Day will take place on Wednesday Jan. 9.
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