Raytheon to Mod AOC WS with $375M Order from USAF | Saab to Supply RBS-15 Anti-ship Missiles to Sweden | China’s AG600 Completes Maiden Flight

Americas

• Raytheon has received a $375 million order from the USAF to modernize the service’s Air and Space Operations Center Weapon System (AOC WS) over the next six years. Under the terms of the agreement, the firm will update the existing AOC WS baseline software, as well as developing and deploying new software upgrades to enhance air and space command and control operations, while using a sustainment approach to improve systems incrementally without interruption of critical missions. Operating at 22 locations worldwide, Air and Space Operations Centers use the AOC WS for strategic command-and-control of aircraft. The firm added that they will be hiring a new team, to be based out of Hampton, Virginia, including system architects, software developers, cyber engineers, as well as an IT help desk.

• The US Navy has awarded the International Marine & Industrial Applicators and QED Systems a $260.1 million joint contract for coating work on US Navy vessel surfaces. The work includes a variety of applications, including multiple-coating, ultra-high solids, epoxy and solvent based. It is also crucial to anti-fouling surfaces and structural repair for aircraft carriers, submarines, and assorted surface vessels. Initial funding of $2,000 dollars has been allocated for Fiscal 2017 to start the process, which is expected to be completed by May 2022.

Middle East & North Africa

• Turkey’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Undersecretariat of Defence Industries (SSM) have announced that Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has successfully integrated the Roketsan MAM-L air-to-surface munition on the Anka UAV. The medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV is also fitted with a firing pod for Roketsan CiRiT laser-guided air-to-surface rockets, as well as an electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensor pod. Currently serving as Ankara’s main intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) drone, ten Anka-A variants were ordered in 2010, with the armed variant expected to be delivered later this year.

Europe

• Britain’s Labour Party has said that if they win next month’s Parliamentary elections, they will impose stricter export measures on the sale of weapons systems to repressive governments. The announcement was made by Barry Gardiner, the shadow International Trade Secretary, during a discussion on how the party is preparing a broader strategy aimed at exploiting trade opportunities abroad to boost industries at home, and comes just days after Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, praised MBDA, as a “role model” for post-Brexit trade, despite having sold missiles to Colonel Gaddafi in 2007. Last year, it was revealed by the Independent that the UK has sold weapons to 22 of the 30 countries on their own human rights watch list since 2010.

• Saab has received orders to supply additional RBS-15 anti-ship missiles to Sweden. The missiles will be integrated on Sweden’s fleet of Gripen E fighters as well as the naval fleet of Visby-class corvettes. Saab initially received the order for the missiles last month, with the additional order bringing the total value of the contract to $56.7 million. Deliveries of the missiles will commence in the mid-2020s.

• GKN Aerospace’s Fokker business unit has opened a production line in the Netherland’s for the manufacture of landing gear systems for Predator B UAVs. The British-based firm’s Dutch Fokker business is the in-country partner of the Predator’s main manufacturer, General Atomics, and have worked together to sell the drone to the Dutch military. A statement released by Fokker added that they are also exploring possible collaboration with GA in using advanced composite materials in the Predator B landing gear to reduce weight and improve production lead times.

Asia Pacific

• The world’s largest amphibious aircraft, the AG600, successfully completed its maiden flight on Saturday after it was initially reported that the seaplane was scheduled to first fly at the end of the month. News of the flight comes as China looks to increase their assertiveness to territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea, where they have been building airfields and islands on reefs disputed by several neighboring governments. Beijing is in the midst of a massive military modernization program, ranging from testing anti-satellite missiles to building stealth fighters and the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, to add to an existing one bought from Ukraine.

• Vietnam has started to take delivery of some components needed for the assembly of three RV-02 medium-range radars. The system is an improvement on the Vostok-E VHF radar made by Belarus, of which Hanoi bought 20 of the radars as an asymmetric warfare strategy against stealth fighters from China including the J-20 and J-31 over the disputed South China Sea. Acceptance and commission checks were conducted by engineers from Vietnam’s Examination Council of the PK-KQ Technical Institute.

Today’s Video

• Russian Su-30SMs fly in formation with MiG-29s:

Vietnam’s Restocking: Subs, Ships, Sukhois, and Now Perhaps F-16s and P-3s?

Kilo Class cutaway

In April 2009, reports surfaced that Vietnam had agreed in principle to a deal with Russia for 6 of its diesel-electric Kilo/ Project 636 Class fast attack submarines. By December 2009, it was an inflection-point deal for a capability that Vietnam has never had before. By November 2013, the new submarines had begun to arrive.

Nor is that the only change in Vietnam’s military capabilities these days, courtesy of their long-standing relationship with Russia. There have been some outside deals for items like maritime surveillance floatplanes, and a Dutch deal will provide high-end frigates. For the most part, however, Vietnam’s new combat power in the air, at sea, and on land is coming from Russia. China’s displays of naval might are only part of the mosaic influencing Vietnam’s decisions in these matters.

Raytheon’s SM-6 Almost at FOC | LM’s Fury 1500 UAV Undergoes Long-Range Flight Tests | US Clears FMS to New Zealand for $1.46B in P-8A’s

Americas

• Raytheon’s Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) is expected to be declared fully operational in the near future, after the missile was successfully put through a series of rigorous Navy testing. Four missiles were fired from surface ships using the MK 41 Vertical Launch System—deployed on Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers—at a variety of land-launched targets, including supersonic and subsonic missiles, with all four test fires successfully intercepting their targets. Furthermore, the missile has been approved for international sales to select countries as of January this year.

• Lockheed Martin has been conducting long-range flight tests of the Fury Unmanned Aerial System ahead of the platform’s low-rate production later this year. Fully funded and tested with the company’s own dollar, the Fury boasts an endurance of more than 12 hours and a 100-pound payload of surveillance sensors and communications systems. The firm is targeting both domestic and international orders, touting the platform for special operations missions as well as a possible replacement system for the US Army’s Shadow UAS. So far, only an unknown Middle East buyer has ordered the system, with orders for six units as well as a potential follow-up order of a further six.

Middle East & North Africa

• Israel’s air defense systems have fired a Patriot missile at “a target” over the Golan Heights, with local media reporting that the target in question was a drone from Syria. The incident occurred just hours after an earlier bombing of a suspected arms dump belonging to the Lebanese group Hezbollah and located near Damascus international airport, by the Israeli air force. While having stayed out of much of the neighboring civil war in Syria, there has been a steady increase in Israeli responses to Hezbollah activity in Syria and around the Golan Heights. The plateau, which is recognised as Syrian territory, has been occupied by Israeli forces since 1967.

Europe

• A team including Airbus, BAE Systems, Eurofighter GmbH, MBDA and the UK‘s Ministry of Defence, have successfully completed a dual firing of two Meteor air-to-air missiles from a Eurofighter Typhoon, hitting an important milestone with the integration of the missile on the fighter. The missiles were fired from Airbus’s Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) 4 over the UK’s Hebrides range, and marks the sixth in a series of tests that started last year aimed at upgrading the fighter’s multi-role capabilities. As well as the Eurofighter, the Meteors are going to arm some export models of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

• Greece has requested the transfer of five second-hand CH-47D helicopters from the US Army’s inventory in a deal estimated to be worth $80 million. The sale, already approved by the US State Department, also includes seven units of the Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) and 12 T55-GA-714A turbine engines. Greece’s procurement of the helicopters goes toward their efforts to expand rotary-wing transport capability in an effort to modernize their armed forces while further enhancing greater interoperability between Greece, the US and other allies.

Asia Pacific

• Japan is moving ahead with a study into the possibility of deploying the Aegis Ashore missile defense system in the country. Seen as a cheaper alternative to the high profile deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea, only two Aegis sites (compared with six THAAD sites) would be needed to cover the entire country from a potential ballistic missile launch from North Korea. At present, Tokyo’s air defense network includes naval-based Aegis destroyers as well as the Patriot system. However, the inclusion of a permanently deployed, land-based Aegis system will allow Japanese forces to respond much quicker to any incoming missile threats.

• The government of Australia has been cleared by the Trump administration to move forward with the purchase of 70 AGM-88B High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) and 40 AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles (AARGM). With a total cost estimated at $137.6 million, the deal will also include up to 16 CATM-88B HARM Captive Air Training Missiles (CATM); up to 16 CATM-88E AARGM CATM; up to 25 AGM-88B Control Sections; up to 25 AGM-88B Guidance Sections; up to 20 AGM-88E Control Sections; up to 20 AGM-88E Guidance Sections; up to 48 Telemetry/Flight Termination Systems; as well as US Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services; and other associated support equipment and services. The missiles are being requested for use on the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) fleet of Electronic Attack EA-18G Growler aircraft, of which, the service plans to have 12 operational Growlers by the middle of this year.

• New Zealand has been cleared by the US State Department for the $1.46 billion purchase of four Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft alongside associated equipment and support. The sale will go toward the maintenance of Wellington’s Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) capability, following the retirement of the P-3K maritime patrol aircraft. Japan had also tried to sell the Kawasaki P-1 to New Zealand, a rival platform being marketed agains Boeing’s P-8A.

Today’s Video

• Dual firing of a Meteor missile from a Eurofighter Typhoon: