Americas
The US Navy awarded Lockheed Martin Aeronautics a $542.2 million firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to support the F-35 Program. Under this deal, Lockheed Martin is to deliver ancillary mission equipment (AME) and associated spares for F-35 Lightning II jets. The F-35 Lightning jet is a supersonic, multirole fighter jet. It is being used by the defense forces of the US and other nations around the world due to its advanced stealth, integrated avionics, sensor fusion, superior logistics support and powerful integrated sensors capabilities. Back in August 2018, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics received a $302 million order against a previous contract for ancillary mission equipment to support the F-35. Work for the current contract will be performed in Texas, and is scheduled to be completed by May 2023.
The Navy contracted Rolls-Royce with a $35.7 million contract modification to support the V-22 aircraft with 17 AE 1107C engines. The AE 1107C is a turboshaft engine powering the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. The engine delivers 6,000 shp Rolls-Royce AE engines power C-130Js, V-22s, Global Hawks and a number of military, corporate and regional aircraft. Rolls Roye is in service with the US Air Force, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, NASA and multiple military and civil customers around the world. The AE engine line began as a powerplant for the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft for the US Marine Corps and US Air Force Special Operations Command, with the first flight of the V-22 in 1989. Under this deal one engine goes to the Marine Corps, eight engines to the Navy and another eight to the government of Japan. Work will be performed in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is expected be completed in May 2020.
Northrop Grumman Systems won a $44.4 million deal in support of Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) E-11A platform maintenance requirement. Under this contract, the company provides logistics support for four E-11As that were built on Bombardier BD-700 aircraft platform. Bombardier E-11A is the military variant of the civil Bombardier BD-700 Global Express. It carries BACN allowing disparate battlefield communications systems to share data. It enables real-time information flow across the battlespace between similar and dissimilar tactical data link. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center received two offers for the firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursable contract via a competitive acquisition. Work is scheduled to conclude by Jan. 23, 2020, and will take place in Maryland and Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Middle East & Africa
A fighter jet F7-PG crashed near Mastung, Pakistan while carrying out a training flight today. The F-7PG aircraft is based on the Soviet-era Mig-21 and built by a Chinese aircraft manufacturer. It holds a bad service record in PAF (Pakistan Air Force) service with the majority of recent crashes involving the aircraft. Pakistan is currently the largest non-Chinese F-7 operator, with roughly 120 F-7P and 60 F-7PG. The PAF seeks to replace its entire fleet of F-7 with the JF-17 multirole fighter. All F-7P are planned to be retired and replaced with the JF-17 Thunder aircraft by 2020. It is currently unknown what caused today’s crash. Air Headquarters has ordered the formation of a board of inquiry to investigate the incident.
Rafael wants to trial its Suite for Future Armored Vehicles with a live fire demonstration in summer, Jane’s reports. The Suite is a vehicle automation and capability enhancement system based around data fusion from the vehicle’s sensors. It is in development for the Israeli Carmel future fighting vehicle program. With such a suite of armored vehicles, an operator could manage drones and a variety of weapons systems. Inside the company’s prototype, several screens display a 360-degree picture of what is happening outside, and a map shows the locations of friendly forces.
Europe
Poland wants to modernize its Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter fleet. Warsaw intends to conduct a dialogue with potential suppliers, running from July to September. The Mil Mi-24 is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and troop transport with room for eight passengers, produced by Mil Moscow. The Mil Mi-24 features an armored cockpit for its pilot and weapons officer as well as a staggering array of internal and external weapons. Its seen action in nearly every conflict that the Soviet Union has engaged in since its first release in 1976. However, the helicopter has its weaknesses, such as its rotors and engine exhaust ports. Man-portable surface-to-air missiles have accounted for the greatest number of Mil Mi-24 losses.
Asia-Pacific
Moscow and Astana agreed to launch the assembly of Mil Mi-8AMT and Mi-171 „Hip-H“ helicopters in Kazakhstan. The deal will see 45 kit versions of the helicopters delivered to Kazakhstan until 2025 for local assembly. The Kazakhstan Engineering NC of the Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan as well as Russian Helicopters JSC of Rostec State Corporation signed the contract. The technology of assembling heavy helicopters is being introduced in Kazakhstan for the first time ever. The production is organized without any public funding. The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine helicopter used as a transport helicopter, an airborne command post, armed gunship, and reconnaissance platform.
South Korea started a production of locally developed automatic command-and-control system. Back in December, the Defense Acquisition Administration (DAPA) signed a contract worth $29.1 million with Hanwha Systems to produce 12 Command Control Alert (C2A) Systems by next year. The C2A system, which was developed from 2011 to 2017 by a team led by the state-owned Agency for Defense Development in co-operation with more than 20 local companies, is expected to enter service with the Republic of Korea Armed Forces in late 2019. The new command-and-control system will transmit data digitally in real time. It is also designed to assign a target to the air-defense weapon system best suited to counter it.
Today’s Video
Watch: Stealth Shocker: China Claims It Can Track Air Force F 22 Raptors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Py77aKyoPU
