Americas
Aptiv Services won a $28.4 million contract for F-15 aircraft electrical special purpose cable assemblies. Using military service is the US Air Force. The F-15 Eagle has been the US Air Force’s primary fighter jet aircraft and intercept platform for decades. The aircraft has electronic systems and weaponry to detect, acquire, track and attack enemy aircraft while operating in friendly or enemy-controlled airspace. The weapons and flight control systems are designed so one person can safely and effectively perform air-to-air combat. Aptiv Services US, LLC designs and engineers a variety of automotive systems and components. The Company manufactures fuel cells, entertainment systems, sensors, powertrain systems, driver interfaces, and security devices. The company will perform work in California. Estimated performance completion date is November 5, 2024.
The US Navy is reportedly preparing to sign a contract for nine Virginia Class Attack submarines. Eight of them will include an 84-foot section that boosts the boat’s strike missile capacity. Bloomberg reports that the Navy has reached an agreement with General Dynamics. The contract will also include an option for a 10th boat if needed. The news comes after the Virginia Class program has seen creeping delays and slipping profits in recent years caused by labor issues and a strained submarine industrial supply base. “We have reached a multiyear” agreement “and are working to announce a contract” by December 31, Navy spokesman Captain Danny Hernandez said in a statement. It “will achieve significant savings, will include important lethality enhancements,” and “provide critical stability to the industrial base. Further information will be available upon contract award,” he said.
Middle East & Africa
Iran reportedly said Tuesday it will begin injecting uranium gas into more than 1,000 centrifuges at its Fordow enrichment plant. Since the nuclear deal was struck in 2015, the centrifuges at the Fordow plant had actually spun empty. According to president Hassan Rouhani, the gas injection will begin Wednesday. He also states that the country’s new activities will be under the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) supervision. On the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the “Iran deal” or the “Iran nuclear deal“, on May 8, 2019, Tehran decided to reduce its commitments to the JCPOA, based on Article 26 and 36, and set a deadline for Europeans to remedy breaches. The move is the fourth step away from the JCPOA, which was brokered four years ago between Tehran and a coalition including the United States, Britain, Russia, France, Germany, China and the European Union. The Iranian leader said, however, that each step Tehran has taken away from the agreement can be reversed if the United States agrees to lift economic sanctions it imposed in place of the nuclear deal.
Europe
Finland has issued a call for revised tenders for its F/A-18 replacement contest, local media reports. All five contenders were reportedly given the documents on October 31. They have until January 31 next year to submit their response. The calls for tenders allows those companies to revise their bids to the comply with what was negotiated with Finland during the initial bids. The fighter jets under consideration in the so-called HX Fighter Program are Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-35 and Saab Gripen. The goal of the project is to replace the aging fighter jet fleet with up to 64 multi-role fighter jets that meet the requirements of the operating environment.
Asia-Pacific
Vietnam has mounted its KCT 15 anti-ship missile on Pohang Class Flight III corvette HQ-20. It has also been reported that the Igla anti-air missile has been mounted on another corvette HQ-18. The Pohang is a class of Patrol Combat Corvette originally of the Republic of Korea Navy. The Vietnamese Pohang Flight III Class submarine guard installed their own versions of the Russian 3K24E, the Uran-E anti-ship missile on a Pohang type corvette received at the end of 2018 as military aid from the South Korean Navy. Vietnam became the second country in the Asia-Pacific region to develop its own missile based on the Russian 3M24 Uranus. The first such country was North Korea, which previously showed images of a missile that looked very much like a Russian medium-range anti-ship missile. The Vietnamese version is designated KCT 15 and is the result of technology transfer from Russia. The nature of the program is still unclear: it remains to be seen whether Vietnam will organize full-cycle production, or whether it is only an assembly from Russian components.
The Indonesian Air Force is planning to procure two squadrons of Lockheed Martin’s F-16V (Viper) Block 70/72 Fighting Falcon multirole combat aircraft. The procurement is planned to coincide with the third and final phase of the TNI-AU’s modernization program called Minimum Essential Force (MEF). The program runs from 2020 until 2024. During this phase, the TNI-AU also plans to finalize its planned procurement of Sukhoi Su-35 fighter aircraft from Russia. The Indonesian Air Force currently operates some 36 older-variant F-16s, including 24 F-16C/D Block 25s transferred to Indonesia as Excess Defense Articles after first undergoing an upgrade to Block 52 status under a $670 million US government-to-government Foreign Military Sales agreement. This sale included six additional F-16s that are used solely for spare parts.
Today’s Video
Watch: UGVs Unmanned Ground Vehicles for Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light (RCV-L) program of US Army AUSA 2019
