Americas
Leidos won a $58.9 million contract modification, which provides for the development of Adaptive Radar Countermeasure (ARC) Software/Firmware (SW/FW) capabilities and integration of ARC SW/FW on the AN/ALQ-214A electronic countermeasure host. ARC SW/FW supplements F/A-18C-F survivability in the presence of radio frequency guided surface-to-air and air-to-air weapons systems. Work will take place in Virginia, New Jersey, California, Missouri, North Carolina and Alabama. Expected completion date is in February 2023.
Lockheed Martin won a $35.3 million deal, which procures labor and hardware for the development of preliminary software for Phase 2 Network Enabled Weapons (NEW) capabilities. Specifically, this order provides software coding, testing and integration of NEW into a software development branch of the MH-60R/S software configuration with a merge into MH-60R/S fleet release baseline after the capability has established maturity. Work will take place in Owego, New York. Expected completion will be in August 2023.
Middle East & Africa
Reports in the Israeli media said that snipers from the Hezbollah terrorist group were responsible for Tuesday night’s incident in which IDF troops near the northern border were fired upon from Lebanese territory. The reports said the snipers took position about 300 meters away from the border in an area between two positions of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force. They fired two shots, which both missed. There were no casualties among the IDF troops. In retaliation for the incident, IDF attack helicopters and other aircraft attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanon including observation posts. The IDF also conducted an intensive sweep of the border area to ensure that there was no infiltration.
Europe
Greek newspapers report that Greece will be getting 18 Rafale fighters. The report says a preliminary agreement for the acquisition has been reached. Ten of these fighters will be the F3-R variant built from scratch while the other 8 jets will be second-hand aircraft that will be transferred free to Greece from the French Air Force. Rafale is a twin-jet combat aircraft capable of carrying out a wide range of short and long-range missions, including ground and sea attack, air defense and air superiority, reconnaissance, and high-accuracy strike or nuclear strike deterrence.
Saab announced that it is developing a new decoy missile system, the Lightweight Air-launched Decoy Missile, as part of Gripen’s E/F Electronic Warfare capability. The company will offer the missile together with the new Electronic Attack Jammer Pod for Finland’s HX fighter procurement program. It also revealed that the missile has a stand-in jammer that can jam or create false targets for acquisition, tracking, fire control and airborne radars. “The decoy missile, that we present today, will constitute a strong addition to Gripen E/F’s built-in electronic attack capabilities.The payload of the new decoy missile is to a large extent developed in Finland and this will strengthen our offer to Finland even further,” says Jonas Hjelm, Senior Vice President and Head of Saab Business Area Aeronautics.
Asia-Pacific
The Indian government is expected to clear the purchase of two A-50EI airborne early warning platforms that are equipped with the Israeli EL/W-2090 radar. This is the second time that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is reviewing the purchase. India has three PHALCON AWACS with a 360 degree rotodome mounted on top of the aircraft and two DRDO-built AWACS with 240 degree rotodome. China has 28 AWACS and Pakistan has seven for directing the air battle in the worst case scenario.
Today’s Video
Watch: U.S SELLING F-35 LIGHTNING II TO SINGAPORE, SOUTH KOREA & JAPAN -CHINA STILL HAS NO ANSWER TO IT !
