Raytheon Tapped For AMRAAM GK | 4 Italian F-35s Deployed To Estonia | DoS Approved P-8I FMS To India

Americas

The project manager for the US Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft(FLRAA) says the final request for proposal is to be released this summer. Col. David Phillips said the final document will not have any major changes relative to the draft proposal that was release late last year.

Raytheon won a $16.5 million deal for the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) program for Gordian Knot (GK) application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) life-of-type buy. This effort provides for a life-of-type procurement of GK ASIC in support of production and sustainment through the AMRAAM program of record. The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM is an American beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. Work will take place in Arizona. Estimated completion date is May 31, 2023.

Middle East & Africa

Sallyport Global Holdings won a $240 million contract action to provide base operations support, base life support, and security services in the support of the Iraq F-16 program. This contract is the result of a sole-source acquisition and involves Foreign Military Sales to Iraq. Work will take place at Balad Air Base, Iraq. Expected completion date is January 30, 2022.

Europe

Four Italian F-35As have deployed from Amendola Air Base, Italy to Ämari Air Base, Estonia to augment the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission. This marks the first time the F-35 is used for this mission. As part of the “Baltic Eagle II” mission, the Italian F-35A aircraft, operating within the Task Group Falco of the Task Force Air Estonia will replace the German Air Force Eurofighters which have been deployed to Amari since late August.

Asia-Pacific

A Royal Australian Air Force E-7A early warning aircraft flew to Hawaii for the inaugural exercise Pacific Edge last month. The E-7A were joined by F-22s from the Hawaii Air National Guard as blue force. The red force was played by F-16s from the 442nd Training and Evaluation Squadron. Seventeen F-22 pilots also flew inside the E-7A during the three-week exercise to provide real-time feedback to the E-7A on what is happening inside the F-22 cockpit during air-to-air engagements.

The US State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale of six P-8I maritime patrol aircraft to India for an estimated cost of $2.42 billion. In November 2019, the Defense Acquisition Council, chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, approved the procurement of the long-range maritime surveillance aircraft manufactured by Boeing. This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping strengthen the US-Indian strategic relationship and improve the security of a major defensive partner.

Today’s Video

Watch: The AMRAAM®-ER Missile Goes Long and Flies High