Air Force and Raytheon to modernize SPADOC | CFM International contracted for Poseidon Engine | Pakistan presents plans for Fifth-Generation-Fighter

Americas

The Air Force contracted Northrop Grumman with $22 million for engineering services on the T-38 Talon and F-5 Tiger II trainer aircraft. The T-38 is a two-seat twinjet supersonic jet trainer. It was the world’s first supersonic trainer when it first entered service in the 60s. Until 1972, nearly 1,200 aircraft were produced. 500 are still operational. Northrop produced a replacement wing for the Talon, which will help extend the trainer’s service life until at least 2020. Student pilots train supersonic techniques, aerobatics, formation, night and instrument flying and cross-country navigation with the help of the T-38A. The F-5 is a twin-engine tactical fighter, that had its maiden flight in 1963. Northrop Grumman built more than 2,600 Tiger II fighters. The US Navy operates the F-5 in its adversary squadrons to simulate enemy aircraft in aerial combat training exercises. The US Air Force used the F-5 in a similar training role. The F-5 now serves as the primary trainer for F-16s, F/A-18s, F-15s or Mirage aircraft. Work under the current contract will take place in Clearfield, Utah, and is scheduled to be finished by March 31, 2024.

The Air Force and Raytheon will work together on modernizing the Space Command and Control System (SPADOC). The Air Force is planning to replace the SPADOC, which reached the end of its planned service life, with modern systems that will simplify operations and provide greater space situational awareness and collision avoidance capabilities. The Command-and-Control system is designed to monitor and track space debris. The new emulated environment, SPADOC Emulation Analysis Risk Reduction, known as SPEARR, will reduce cooling and power consumption and requires minimal maintenance.

Middle East & Africa

According to Reuters, Turkish pilots are still training in the US in the midst of the dispute between the two countries over F-35 delivery. Just a few days ago, it was reported, the US had halted its deliver of F-35s to Turkey due to Turkey’s plans to buy the Russian S-400 air defense systems. Vice President, Mike Pence even warned, that Turkey could risk its NATO-membership if it went ahead with the procurement. The S-400 is designed to detect and shoot down stealth fighters like the F-35. Planting the air-defense system on Turkish soil could, by means of its powerful radar, help Moscow discover the the vulnerabilities of the F-35s that Turkey intends to acquire.

Israeli’s Netline Communication Technologies won a tender by the Spanish Ministry of Defense for the supply of frequency jammers to neutralize roadside IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). The tender itself consists of two parts: an open public part, and a part consisting of classified elements. The order, worth $73.4 million, should be fulfilled by 2023. The first stage of the tender will include the installation and testing of jammers on twelve vehicle types. The equipment by Netline is designed to jam the communication between the receiver attached to the explosive charge and the remote control unit used to initiate the blast, thereby preventing the activation of the IED.

Europe

The US Navy awarded CFM International a $13.5 million contract modification for a spare P-8A Poseidon jet engine in support of the government of the UK. The Poseidon is a military aircraft that conducts anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, and shipping interdiction. The aircraft can cruise at high altitude at nearly 926km/h (500kt) and loiter at a speed of 333km/h (180kt) over the sea at 60m. It has two CFM International CFM56-7B27A high-bypass turbofan engines, each rated at 120kN. CFM International, a West Chester company, won a $3.2 billion jet engine order for the Latin American low-cost carrier Viva Air just a few days ago. Work for the modification awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command will take place in France and Ohio and is supposed to be complete in January next year. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $13,247,329 are being obligated at time of award.

Asia-Pacific

The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) outlined plans for a fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), Jane’s reports. The FGFA is part of the so called Project AZM. The PAC established a new office to lead the Project AZM. Additionally, a new aerospace complex – named Aviation City, that was launched in 2017 to support Project AZM and other national military aerospace requirements – aids the development program. PAC also outlined several specialist project teams, including an engineering management and support office, an Aviation Design Institute, a Mission Electronics Design Institute, an Aero Structures Design Institute, an Advanced Technologies Center, and a Flight Test Center. that it will establish in collaboration with other national agencies as part of the Aviation City initiative.

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P-8 Poseidon MMA: Long-Range Maritime Patrol, and More

Maritime surveillance and patrol is becoming more and more important, but the USA’s P-3 Orion turboprop fleet is falling apart. The P-7 Long Range Air ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) Capable Aircraft program to create an improved P-3 began in 1988, but cost overruns, slow progress, and interest in opening the competition to commercial designs led to the P-7’s cancellation for default in 1990. The successor MMA program was begun in March 2000, and Boeing beat Lockheed’s “Orion 21” with a P-8 design based on their ubiquitous 737 passenger jet. US Navy squadrons finally began taking P-8A Poseidon deliveries in 2012, but the long delays haven’t done their existing P-3 fleet any favors.

Filling the P-3 Orion’s shoes is no easy task. What missions will the new P-8A Poseidon face? What do we know about the platform, the project team, and ongoing developments? Will the P-3’s wide global adoption give its successor a comparable level of export opportunities? Australia and India have already signed on, but has the larger market shifted in the interim?