USAF To Renew A-10 Mission Computer | Jordan Signed LoA For F-16s | Australia Sent 4 M113AS4 Armored Personnel Carriers To Ukraine

Americas

Northrop Grumman Systems won a $20.5 million contract modification, which provides additional labor and material to incorporate production engineering change proposals that modify MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system production assets (B13-B15) to an Integrated Functional Capability 4.0 multiple intelligence configuration for the Navy. Work will take place in California, Virginia, New York, Utah, Wisconsin, North Dakota and various other locations within the continental US. Expected completion is in April 2023. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

The US Air Force will swap the A-10 mission computer with a new one from Raytheon Intelligence & Space. Common Open Secure Mission Computer will become the main central computer for the A-10C under a $46.2 million firm-fixed-price Project-Level Agreement.

Middle East & Africa

Jordan has officially signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for the sale of eight new production F-16 Block 70 aircraft, Lochheed Martin announced. According to the announcement, the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) is to receive eight Block 70 aircraft to be built at Greenville in South Carolina.

Europe

Dutch State Secretary Christophe van der Maat has informed lawmakers that the Embraer C-390M will be replacing the country’s aging C-130 fleet. Five aircraft will be acquired to replace the four C-130s, delivery will begin in 2026. Van der Maat explained that the extra aircraft is necessary due to increase flying hours projected. It was also found that the C-390M can already meet the minimum requirement of 2,400 flying hours with 4 aircraft. The rival C-130J needs 5 aircraft for this.

The first Meeting of States Parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will take place at the Austria Center in Vienna, Austria from 21 to 23 June 2022.   The TPNW entered into force on 22 January 2021 – the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty in more than two decades. The TPNW contains among other things, a comprehensive set of prohibitions on participating in any nuclear weapon-related activities. This includes undertakings not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. The Treaty also prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons on national territory as well as the provision of assistance to any State in the conduct of prohibited activities.

Asia-Pacific

Australia has sent the first four of a planned 14 M113AS4 Armored Personnel Carriers being donated to Ukraine. The armored vehicles were loaded onto a Ukrainian Antonov AN-124 aircraft and took off from Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley last week, the Australian Department of Defense announced on Sunday.

Today’s Video

WATCH: Royal Netherlands Air Force to Replace C-130H Hercules fleet with C-390M Millennium

The C-130J: New Hercules & Old Bottlenecks

The C-130 Hercules remains one of the longest-running aerospace manufacturing programs of all time. Since 1956, over 40 models and variants have served as the tactical airlift backbone for over 50 nations. The C-130J looks similar, but the number of changes almost makes it a new aircraft. Those changes also created issues; the program has been the focus of a great deal of controversy in America – and even of a full program restructuring in 2006. Some early concerns from critics were put to rest when the C-130J demonstrated in-theater performance on the front lines that was a major improvement over its C-130E/H predecessors. A valid follow-on question might be: does it break the bottleneck limitations that have hobbled a number of multi-billion dollar US Army vehicle development programs?

C-130J customers now include Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, India, Israel, Iraq, Italy, Kuwait, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Tunisia, and the United States. American C-130J purchases are taking place under both annual budgets and supplemental wartime funding, in order to replace tactical transport and special forces fleets that are flying old aircraft and in dire need of major repairs. This DID FOCUS Article describes the C-130J, examines the bottleneck issue, covers global developments for the C-130J program, and looks at present and emerging competitors.