Americas
Lockheed Martin won a $266.2 million contract for special tooling and special test equipment in support of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. The deal benefits the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps as well as non-US DoD participants. The Department of Defense is developing and fielding a family of fifth-generation strike fighter aircraft integrating stealth technologies with advanced sensors and computer networking capabilities for the United States Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy, eight international partners, and four Foreign Military Sales customers. The family is comprised of three aircraft variants: The F35A, F35B and F35C. Work under the new contract will take place in various places within the US as well as the UK, Norway, Canada and Australia. Estimated completion will be by July 2022.
Raytheon published the first images of the Next-Generation Jammer Mid-Band on the EA-18 Growler. According to the company the NGJ-MB is a high-capacity and high-power airborne electronic attack weapon system. It will protect Air Forces by denying, degrading and disrupting threat radars and communication devices. In July, the jamming pod was the first of 15 EMD pods to be delivered to the USN for mission systems testing and qualification on the Boeing EA-18G Growler, the service’s carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft.
Middle East & Africa
The US Army awarded PAE Government Systems a $26 million contract modification to a Foreign Military Sale to Afghanistan. The deal provides for Maintenance Strategy Ground Vehicle Support effort. In May 2019, PAE Government Systems won an $8.1 million National Maintenance Strategy Ground Vehicle Support effort deal and in August 2018 a deal worth $10.1 million. Fiscal 2019 Afghanistan Security Forces, Army funds in the full amount were obligated at the time of the award. Work will take place in Kabul, Afghanistan. Estimated completion date is March 1, 2020.
Europe
Four Belgian Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft touched down at Siauliai Air Base, Lithuania on August 29, 2019 to take over the lead of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing from the Hungarian Air Force JAS-39 fighter aircraft. The Belgian Air Force, which back in 2004 was the first ally to start NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission in the region, will be the lead nation for the last four months in 2019. The official handover-takeover ceremony of the mission took place at Šiauliai Air Base on the 3rd of September 2019. “It is great for Belgium to be back here in the Baltics,” said Major Simon Gerard, Detachment Commander of the 60-strong Belgian F-16 detachment.
Asia-Pacific
The US Army contracted Motorola Solutions a $10.2 million modification to upgrade and expand the Pacific Japan and Korea land mobile radio system, connect sites to the current joint Japan land mobile radio system and to upgrade the Army backup core infrastructure in Japan. A land mobile radio system (LMRS) is an individual-to-individual voice correspondence system comprising of two-way radio handsets which can be mobile, introduced in vehicles, or convenient. Work locations and funding under the contract modification will be determined with each order. Estimated completion date is May 24, 2023.
Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) says it has received six separate inquiries on the Mi-28NE attack helicopter. Tass reports that these countries are from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and CSTO members-states. Six foreign customers have sent in requests for purchasing Russia’s Mi-28NE attack helicopter since 2015. Mi-28NE is an all-weather attack helicopter. Its main tasks are the elimination of armored vehicles and low-flying low-speed air targets, air reconnaissance and identification of targets for combat helicopters and planes. It is armed with guided and unguided missiles and a 30-mm gun.
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