Americas
Raytheon won a $136.4 million deal for MK 15 close-in weapon system upgrades and conversions, system overhauls and associated hardware. MK 15 Phalanx CIWS provides ships of the US Navy with an inner layer point defense capability against anti-ship missiles, aircraft and littoral warfare threats that have penetrated other fleet defenses. Phalanx automatically detects, evaluates, tracks, engages and performs kill assessment against ASM and high-speed aircraft threats. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (85%); and the government of South Korea (15%), under the foreign military sales program. If all options are exercised, work will continue through September 2026.
The 325th Fighter Wing’s Formal Training Unit, which trains pilots to fly the F-22, will be permanently located at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. The unit is currently located at Eglin Air Force Base. It was forced to settle in Florida after Hurricane Michael damaged its original home at Tyndall in 2018. The move will bring 28 F-22s and 16 T-38s to Virginia.
Middle East & Africa
According to reports, the Biden administration is sharply reducing the number of US antimissile systems in the Middle East in a major realignment of its military footprint there as it focuses the armed services on challenges from China and Russia, administration officials said. The Pentagon is pulling about eight Patriot antimissile batteries from countries including Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, according to officials. Another antimissile system known as a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad system, is being withdrawn from Saudi Arabia, and jet fighter squadrons assigned to the region are being reduced, those officials said.
Europe
An experiment by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) Boundary Layer Transition (BOLT) flight experiment team will soon determine whether the boundary layer transition of a hypersonic vehicle is laminar or turbulent. The team is targeting a late-June launch of the vehicle from the Esrange Space Center (SSC) in Kiruna, Sweden. Understanding the transition provides valuable information in the design of hypersonic aircraft and missiles.
Duqm Naval Dockyard, the Joint Venture between Babcock International and the Oman Drydock Company, has completed a first of its kind double engine replacement for the Royal Navy in the Middle East. Undertaken at Asyad dry dock facility at Duqm, in Oman, the operation to replace the Forward Auxiliary Machinery Room generators was a package of more than 500 items, and enabled the Royal Navy to sustain operations within the region as the latest example of Babcock’s global reach.
Asia-Pacific
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s first Type 075 Yushen Class amphibious assault ship Hainan recently conducted helicopter takeoff and landing training. The ship has a two-digit number 31 on its hull, indicating its likely role as a small aircraft carrier. Several 13 ton-class Z-8 transport helicopters could be seen landing on the large, straight flight deck of the newly commissioned warship, local news reported.
Today’s Video
Watch: The Powerful US Phalanx CIWS in Action
