NG Tapped For Repair Services On Global Hawk | Belgium Receives First A400M | India Will Get 3 More Rafales

Americas

Northrop Grumman Aerospace won a $53.7 million deal for the RQ-4B Global Hawk. The contract provides for repair services for “common items” for both the RQ-4 GH and MQ-4C Triton.  It will support reparable national stock numbers (NSNs) which encompass the air vehicle, multiple sensor packages, mission control element and launch and recovery element.  In addition, this effort includes support engineering services covered under the Engineering Delegation Authority (namely Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages projects) for NSNs transferred to and under the management of the 407th Supply Chain Management Squadron. Northrop Grumman successfully completed the first flight for the Global Hawk Ground Station Modernization Program at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. earlier this month. The modernized Global Hawk ground stations will revolutionize the operator experience with new cockpit displays, the ability to fly all Global Hawk variants without software or configuration changes, simpler maintenance interfaces, and improved situational awareness and environmental conditions for pilots and sensor operators. Work under the new contract will take place in California, Virginia, New Mexico, Missouri, Ohio, Canada, New Jersey, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York and Maryland. The basic ordering period and six one year ordering periods are expected to begin January 1, 2021, and end on December 31, 2028.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won an $8.7 million contract modification adds scope to provide program management support to execute the planning, procurement and delivery of initial aircraft spares in support of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy; non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers operational aircraft. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion date is in December 2021.

Middle East & Africa

AITC-Five Domains JV LLC won a $29 million contract to provide train, advise, assist and mentor services.  Bids were solicited via the internet with one received.  Work will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with an estimated completion date of December 30, 2025. Fiscal 2021 Foreign Military Sales (Saudi Arabia) funds in the amount of $29,028,329 were obligated at the time of the award. The company also won a $17.7 million contract with an estimated completion date of August 30, 2023.

Spartan Air Academy Iraq LLC won a $15.7 million contract modification for the Iraq T-6A contractor logistics support and training maintenance program. The modification provides for the exercise of an option to extend the term of the contract for the continued services needed in order to effectively maintain and operate a fleet of 15 T-6A training aircraft. The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II is a single-engine turboprop trainer aircraft built by the Raytheon Aircraft Company. Work will take place at Balad Air Base, Iraq. Expected completion date is June 30, 2021.

Europe

Belgium’s first A400M has been delivered and flown to the 15th Wing Air Transport in Melsbroek. The second A400M for Belgium will be delivered in early 2021. The country has ordered seven aircraft. This A400M, known as MSN106, will be operated within a binational unit composed of a total of eight aircraft, seven from the Belgian Air Force and one from the Luxembourg Armed Forces. The second A400M for Belgium will be delivered in early 2021.

Asia-Pacific

Hindustan Times reports that at least three Dassault Rafale fighters will be flown to India next month. This is the third ferry flight and like the second delivery flight, all three aircraft will fly non-stop from France to India. The jets were ordered from France in September 2016 under a government-to-government deal. The delivery of the three jets in January will take the number of Rafales in the IAF’s inventory to 11.

Today’s Video

Watch: MQ-4C Triton – America’s First-Class Unmanned Surveillance Aircraft

Airbus’ A400M Aerial Transport: Delays, Development, and Deployment

Airbus’ A400M is a EUR 20+ billion program that aims to repeat Airbus’ civilian successes in the full size military transport market. A series of smart design decisions were made around capacity (35-37 tonnes/ 38-40 US tons, large enough for survivable armored vehicles), extensive use of modern materials, multi-role capability as a refueling tanker, and a multinational industrial program; all of which leave the aircraft well positioned to take overall market share from Lockheed Martin’s C-130 Hercules. If the USA’s C-17 is allowed to go out of production, the A400M would also have a strong position in the strategic transport market, with only Russian AN-70, IL-76 and AN-124 aircraft as competition.

Airbus’ biggest program issue, by far, has been funding for a project that is more than EUR 7 billion over budget. The next biggest issue is timing, as a combination of A400M delays and Lockheed’s strong push for its C-130J Super Hercules narrow the field for future exports. This DID Spotlight article covers the latest developments, as the A400M Atlas moves into the delivery phase. Will Airbus’ 3rd big issue become its own customers?