L3Harris Tapped For SWARMM | IAI Presents BlueWhale | Airbus Delivered 1st Medical Transport Containers To German Armed Forces

Americas

L3Harris won a $85 million deal for Small Form Factor Weapons Attritable Radio Multi-Mode (SWARMM) Family 1 (SF1) radio products and services. Fiscal 2023 research and development funds (Navy) in the amount of $1,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work will be performed in San Diego, California. The ordering period for this contract is through May 2026. Naval Information Warfare System Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting authority.

A US F-16 fighter jet crashed in a farming area south of Seoul during a training exercise on Saturday, said the US military, but appeared to have caused no casualties or property damage. The jet’s pilot safely ejected before the crash and was taken to the nearest hospital, the US Air Force said in a statement. “An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 8th Fighter Wing crashed in an agricultural area near Osan Air Base at about 9:45 am” in Gyeonggi province, the statement said.

Middle East & Africa

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is extending its maritime capabilities and presenting its BlueWhale Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for the first time. This has successfully undergone thousands of autonomous operation hours, including intelligence-gathering for both maritime and coastal targets, acoustic intelligence, and identifying the presence of naval mines. The autonomous submarine can perform a significant portion of the operations of a manned submarine, for periods of several weeks, at minimal cost and maintenance, without the need for operators on board.

Europe

Airbus Defense and Space has delivered the first of 13 medical transport containers to German Armed Forces medical personnel. The protected-wounded transport containers (GVTCs) enable sick, wounded, and injured warfighters to be moved between hospitals and field centers. The GVTCs also permit specialists to provide patients with medical care during transportation.

Image Soft, a Finnish underwater and maritime technology company, launched on May 8 the latest version of its Underwater Surveillance System (UNWAS) designed to protect subsea cables, pipelines, and harbours. The new third-generation UNWAS system is a highly automated maritime surveillance system that detects, locates, and classifies all underwater threats such as submarines, divers, autonomous underwater vehicles, and remotely operated vehicles, the company said.

Asia-Pacific

The Royal Australian Navy has awarded Rheinmetall a $138 million contract to deliver anti-ship missile defense systems. The service will deploy the Multi Ammunition Softkill System (MASS) on its Hobart-class destroyers and ANZAC-class frigates with an option to equip its entire fleet for $678 million. The first systems will arrive by the end of 2023 and achieve full operational capability by 2027.

Today’s Video

WATCH: How Powerful Is Royal Australian Navy | Australian Navy | RAN | in English

Australia’s Future ASW Frigates: Warfare Down Under

As Asia-Pacific nations invest in submarines, serious regional players also need to invest in anti-submarine capabilities. Aircraft like the P-8A Poseidon are great, but nothing really replaces dedicated and capable ASW ships. Their opponents’ anti-ship missiles are also experiencing a jump in capability, so a secondary air defense role isn’t optional. Australia’s 2 remaining FFG-7 Adelaide-class frigates have finished an expensive and somewhat rickety systems upgrade, but they fall short of what’s needed, and won’t last all that much longer. The Adelaide-class will soon be succeeded by 3 new Hobart-class AWD. The RAN’s 8 ANZAC-class frigates are receiving much smoother ASMD air defense upgrades that will make them quite useful, but their service life will begin ebbing around 2024. Hence Australia’s SEA 5000 Future Frigate program, which may receive an early push from issues with Australia’s naval industrial base…