General Dynamics won a $9 million modification to exercise options on previously awarded contract N00024-23-C-4413 for the USS Arlington (LPD 24) fiscal 2023 docking selected restricted availability. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2024. Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC), Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. The USS Arlington is a a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock.
The United States Air Force (USAF) has confirmed that hypersonic missiles will not be bought in fiscal 2024. Instead, the Air Force will continue to focus on research and development of the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), which features a boost-glide hypersonic vehicle. The budget request for the upcoming fiscal year includes $150 million allocated to ARRW R&D. Aside from the ARRW, the request also includes $380 million for R&D on the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM), which is a scramjet-powered hypersonic weapon. In December 2021, Raytheon Technologies was awarded a $985 million contract to continue its HACM development.
Middle East & Africa
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has recently inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Australian’s Daronmont Technologies, collaborating to bid on Australia’s Ministry of Defense Tender (AIR-6502) for the supply of Medium Range Ground Based Air Defense system. IAI’s wide Australian Industry Capability (AIC) plan will implement Daronmont’s established integration, manufacturing and development capabilities to supply BARAK-MX Air and Missile Defense (AMD) system – a battle-tested defense system – that will provide an efficient safeguard to the Australian Defense Forces (ADF) and other national properties. Moreover, it will deliver initial combat capability.
Europe
The British Ministry of Defense is reportedly investigating the supply of Royal Air Force (RAF) Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 1 fighter jets to European MiG-29 operators. The ultimate aim is to replace the Soviet-era MiG 29 planes gifted by these operators to Ukraine, with these advanced Eurofighter aircraft. In parallel, Poland is considering gifting its Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine within the next four to six weeks, a move that would bolster Ukrainian forces’ firepower. These planes are already familiar to the country’s air force and can be utilized immediately. However, both the UK and Poland have stated that this supply would be part of a larger international coalition. Other countries, including Slovakia, have also declared their readiness to provide their MiG-29 planes to Ukraine, and NATO nations have urged others to come forward.
The Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) has demonstrated a new battle management system (BMS) for the Swedish Armed Forces. Called the BMS 3.1.2, the capability grew out of trials to develop a command support system for the combat vehicles of the Swedish Army’s two training companies. An initial system, dubbed the LSS Mark 2.0, was fielded in 2021 but had technical deficiencies, according to FMV.
Asia-Pacific
Russia said Wednesday it had started naval exercises with China and Iran in the Arabian Sea as it seeks to shore up ties with Beijing and Tehran. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that the trilateral exercises dubbed the “Marine Security Belt 2023” had begun in the vicinity of the Iranian port of Chabahar. The naval part of the drills will take place on Thursday and Friday.
LPD-17 San Antonio class amphibious assault support vessels are just entering service with the US Navy, and 11 ships of this class are eventually slated to replace up to 41 previous ships. Much like their smaller predecessors, their mission is to embark, transport, land, and support elements of a US Marine Corps Landing Force. The difference is found in these ships’ size, their cost, and the capabilities and technologies used to perform those missions. Among other additions, this new ship is designed to operate the Marines’ new MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, alongside the standard well decks for hovercraft and amphibious armored personnel carriers.
While its design incorporates notable advances, the number of serious issues encountered in this ship class have been much higher than usual, and more extensive. The New Orleans shipyard to which most of this contract was assigned appears to be part of the problem. Initial ships have been criticized, often, for sub-standard workmanship, and it took 2 1/2 years after the initial ship of class was delivered before any of them could be sent on an operational cruise. Whereupon the USS San Antonio promptly found itself laid up Bahrain, due to oil leaks. It hasn’t been the only ship of its class hurt by serious mechanical issues. Meanwhile, costs are almost twice the originally promised amounts, reaching over $1.6 billion per ship – 2 to 3 times as much as many foreign LPDs like the Rotterdam Class, and more than 10 times as much as Singapore’s 6,600 ton Endurance Class LPD. This article covers the LPD-17 San Antonio Class program, including its technologies, its problems, and ongoing contracts and events.
Latest updates[?]: The British Ministry of Defense is reportedly investigating the supply of Royal Air Force (RAF) Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 1 fighter jets to European MiG-29 operators. The ultimate aim is to replace the Soviet-era MiG 29 planes gifted by these operators to Ukraine, with these advanced Eurofighter aircraft. In parallel, Poland is considering gifting its Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine within the next four to six weeks, a move that would bolster Ukrainian forces’ firepower. These planes are already familiar to the country’s air force and can be utilized immediately. However, both the UK and Poland have stated that this supply would be part of a larger international coalition. Other countries, including Slovakia, have also declared their readiness to provide their MiG-29 planes to Ukraine, and NATO nations have urged others to come forward.
Italian Eurofighters
The multi-national Eurofighter Typhoon has been described as the aerodynamic apotheosis of lessons learned from the twin engine “teen series” fighters that began with the F-14 and F-15, continued with the emergence of the F/A-18 Hornet, and extended through to the most recent F/A-18 Super Hornet variants. Aerodynamically, it’s a half generation ahead of all of these examples, and planned evolutions will place the Eurofighter near or beyond parity in electronic systems and weapons.
The 1998 production agreement among its 4 member countries involved 620 aircraft, built with progressively improved capabilities over 3 contract “tranches”. By the end of Tranche 2, however, welfare state programs and debt burdens had made it difficult to afford the 236 fighters remaining in the 4-nation Eurofighter agreement. A 2009 compromise was found in the EUR 9 billion “Tranche 3A” buy, and the program has renewed its efforts to secure serious export sales. Their success will affect the platform’s production line in the near term, and its modernization plans beyond that.
