Americas
Lockheed Martin won a $214.5 million deal for multinational early start engineering efforts including planning and advance studies, requirements development, and performance assessment of the planned modernization and new combat system capabilities selection for current and future International Partner ships operating AEGIS. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales to Canada and other countries. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by December 2023.
Northrop Grumman won a $25.4 million modification, which exercises an option for the fabrication and installation support to retrofit the Delta System Software Configuration 4.0 capabilities, to include Tactical Targeting Network Technology and the Beyond Line of Sight in the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. Work will be performed in Dallas, Texas (57%); Melbourne, Florida (11%); Boulder, Colorado (9%); Norfolk, Virginia (8%); Salisbury, Maryland (5%); Ronkonkoma, New York (3%); and various locations within the continental US (7%), and is expected to be completed in September 2025.
Middle East & Africa
The head of Algeria’s army hosted Russia’s top security official at the end of February to discuss boosting their military ties, the defense ministry in Algiers said. General Said Chengriha said the visit of National Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev reflected both countries’ “firm desire to strengthen their historic and strategic partnership… in particular in the area of military cooperation.”
Europe
Two Ukrainian pilots are undergoing skills assessment on simulators at a US military base in Tucson, Arizona to determine how long it could take to train them to fly attack aircraft, including F-16 fighter jets, according to two congressional officials and a senior US official. The US has approved bringing up to 10 more Ukrainian pilots to the U.S. for further assessment as early as this month, NBC News reports. This effort aims to evaluate the pilots’ skills and determine the duration of the training program needed. The pilots will not fly any aircraft during their time in the US They will use a simulator that can mimic flying various types of aircraft, and there are no updates on the U.S. decision to provide F-16’s to Ukraine.
Elbit Systems has received a $120-million contract to deliver unmanned turrets and mortar systems to the Romanian Armed Forces. Awarded by General Dynamics European Land Systems, the agreement covers the manufacture of UT30 MK2 turrets and SPEAR mortar systems to be integrated into Romania’s Piranha V armored personnel carrier.
Asia-Pacific
China claims to have conducted a hypersonic air battle simulation that involved neutralizing a fighter aircraft with F-35-like features. The experiment, conducted by a team of Chinese researchers led by a professor from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, sought to develop tactics for shooting down enemy assets that fly faster than the speed of sound. The enemy fighter jet involved in the computer simulation had a speed of Mach 1.3, close to the top speed of an American F-35.
Today’s Video
WATCH: E-2 Hawkeye: The Hummer You Don’t Mess With
