Americas
Huntington Ingalls won a $40 million contract modification for the USS George Washington or CVN 73. The deal is for refueling complex overhaul. Work will include accomplishment of the overhaul, modernization, repair, maintenance and refueling. The modification provides additional funds required to support mandatory and essential work performed by Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News. The USS George Washington is a Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. It is part of the Nimitz Class of aircraft carriers. The ship was commissioned on July 4, 1992. Huntington Ingalls Inc. is the original building yard contractor for all ships of the CVN 68 class, the reactor planning yard, the lead design refueling yard and the only private shipyard capable of refueling and overhauling nuclear powered aircraft carriers. Therefore, it is fit to accomplish the refueling of CVN 73 without an unacceptable disruption of Navy-wide overhaul and repair schedule. The company will perform work in Virginia and is scheduled to be finished by August 2021.
The US Air Force will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the manufacture of the BLU-136/B warhead. A pre-solicitation notification posted by the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website says that the service will issue an RFP for production of an undisclosed quantity of BLU-136/B warheads on July 31. The service is looking for a total production quantity of up to 15,000 warheads, it said in an update to a request for information, originally published in February 2018. The weapon is intended for the US government and potentially also Foreign Military Sales.
Middle East & Africa
Raytheon won a deal to develop and deploy a mission-critical, advanced Cybersecurity Operations Center and services. The deal is for an undisclosed country in the Middle East North Africa region. According to a press release published by the company, Raytheon will perform vulnerability assessments and provide cybersecurity response centers that include intrusion detection, associated training, knowledge transfer, operational support, and incident response to proactively address cyber threats to the country’s critical defense systems. The deal is worth $110 million.
Europe
According to Thales, Belgium selected the company for onboard intelligence and data capabilities of its Land Forces. The CaMo contract awarded by the French defense procurement agency (DGA) on behalf of Belgium includes 60 Jaguar reconnaissance and combat vehicles (EBRC) and 382 Griffon multi-role armored vehicles (VBMR). As with France’s Scorpion program, under this contract Thales is in charge of common combat vetronics, including communications, onboard computing and decision support solutions, and perimeter vision, self-protection and navigation systems.
France wants to purchase an undisclosed number of CH-47 Chinooks for its Air Force. The French Military currently operates Airbus Helicopters H225M Caracals and NH Industries NH90 Caiman rotorcraft. The country’s deployment to Mali has been augmented by three Royal Air Force Chinooks. Flight Global reports that parts of the French military have long been keen on acquiring a heavy-lift capability. During the late 2000s Paris was engaged in a joint effort with Germany under the Future Transport Helicopter program. The CH-47 Chinook is a twin-engined, tandem rotor, heavy-lift helicopter.
Asia-Pacific
BrahMos Aerospace is currently working on a next generation missile to meet Indian Navy requirements for a fresh set of submarines being developed under Project 75 I. First test-firing of the sleeker and lighter „BrahMos-NG“ could take place within two years. It can potentially be a prime submarine weapon and could also be launched from torpedo tubes. India’s Project 75 I is following Project 75 Kalvari Class for the Indian Navy. Under the project, India wants to acquire six diesel-electric subs, which will also feature advanced air-independent propulsion systems.
Today’s Video
Watch: Iran Shows Off Home-Grown Qaher ‘Stealth’ Fighter Developed Despite Sanctions – AINtv
