Lockheed Martin Tapped For JASSM Production | Ivory Coast Gets Mi-8Ps | Tadmadaw Rejects Ceasefire Despite Coronavirus Threat

Americas

Lockheed Martin won an $818.2 million contract modification for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) Lot 17 and 18 production. The deal provides for 360 Lot 17 JASSM-Extended Range (ER) missiles; 40 Lot 17 Foreign Military Sales (FMS) JASSM-ER missiles; and 390 Lot 18 JASSM-ER missiles. The JASSM is a long range, conventional, stealthy, air-launched ground attack cruise missile designed for the Air Force and international partners with a range of 223-621.4 miles. JASSM was designed to destroy high-value, well-defended, fixed and re-locatable targets. The threshold integration aircraft were F-16, B-52, and F/A-18 E/F. Work will take place in Orlando, Florida. Expected completion date is October 31, 2024.

Boeing won an $11.1 million contract modification for F-15C and F-15E Mission Training Centers (MTC) services on contractor furnished, high-fidelity simulation equipment. Contractor will provide the simulation capability to train pilots and weapons system operators for F-15C and F-15E aircraft platforms. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.The F-15 Eagle has been the US Air Force’s primary fighter jet aircraft and intercept platform for decades. The Eagle’s air superiority is achieved through a mixture of unprecedented maneuverability and acceleration, range, weapons and avionics. Work will take place at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina; Mountain Home, Idaho; Langley, Virginia; Kadena Air Base, Japan; and Royal Air Force, Lakenheath, England, and is expected to be completed by December 31 2020.

Middle East & Africa

Ivory Coast Air Force has taken delivery of two second-hand Mi-8P helicopters. Their registrations are TU-VHL and TU-VHN. The country plans to use the helos to assist with coronavirus mitigation efforts. The aircraft were delivered to the Force Aerienne de la Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast Air Force) in mid-March and were seen transiting Palma de Mallorca Airport in Spain on March 14 during their ferry flight to Abidjan. The helicopters will be operated by the Groupe Aérien de Transport et de Liaison (Air Transport and Liaison Group), based at Abidjan-Port Bouet Airport. The Mi-8Ps were built before 1993 and are configured for VIP transport.

Europe

A pair of British Army Wildcat helicopters have been shuttling in and out of Derby on March 31. An army spokesperson confirmed that the helicopters were on “Covid-19 related tasking.” Derby Telegraph says the operation is given the code name Rescript. Aircraft from the Army Air Corps based at RNAS Yeovilton will provide assistance to the government where needed across the southeast and southwest UK. Additional helicopters from RAF Odiham and RAF Benson will also be mobilized. The twin-engine AW159 multirole helicopter has logged over 50,000 flight hours, with more than 70 being operated by the British Army, RN, South Korean Navy and Philippine Navy.

Asia-Pacific

The United States Department of State has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to South Korea for certain upgrades to the Republic of Korea Air Force’s (ROKAF) F-16 Block 32 aircraft. The approval covers the transfer of Mode 5 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) packages and Link 16 Tactical Datalink (TDL) equipment. An IFF system allows military aircraft to use on-board radar to discriminate friendly aircraft; advanced IFF systems can also determine an aircraft’s bearing and speed. IFFs contribute to the prevention of friendly fire incidents and enhance command and control for large fleets of aircraft. South Korea is a US treaty ally and the US State Department noted that the “proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by meeting legitimate security and defense needs of one of the US’s closest allies in the INDOPACOM Theater.” The primary contractor on the sale will be Lockheed Martin.

Myanmar’s Armed Forces (Tadmadaw) have officially rejected calls from foreign governments and local ethnic rebels for a ceasefire to facilitate a response to stem the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in the Southeast Asian country. Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the True News Information Team (TNIT), the Tatmadaw’s public relations wing, noted on April 2 that the ceasefire proposals were “not realistic,” adding that insurgent groups engaged in hostilities with the Tatmadaw “just have to follow the law”. The TNIT response came a day after the ambassadors to Myanmar of 10 European countries, the European Union, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States issued a joint appeal for a cessation of hostilities, the resolution of grievances through dialogue, and a lifting of Internet and media restrictions. The Rakhine conflict is underway in western Myanmar in the Rakhine and Chin states since 2015 between the ethnic Arakan Army and the Tatmadaw.

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