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UNITED KINGDOM AND NATO
19 Jul 18. Five companies form alliance to supply GA-ASI’s UK Protector UAS programme. Five companies have formed an alliance to supply weapons, sensors and other equipment and components for current and future variants of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) Protector unmanned aerial systems (UASs) being developed for the UK Royal Air Force (RAF). GA-ASI President Dave Alexander told a media briefing during the Farnborough International Airshow that the company aims to work with partners in the United Kingdom as the Protector programme goes forward. Representatives of Leonardo, GKN Aerospace’s Fokker business unit, MBDA, Raytheon UK and Cobham attended the briefing to signal their interest in the programme, which aims to replace early in the next decade the GA-ASI MQ-9 Reaper UASs operated by the RAF. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
13 Jul 18. Babcock Team 31 is poised to welcome a host of industrial specialists to its second Type 31e Suppliers’ Conference in Bristol on Tuesday 17 July building on growing interest in its T31e bid. Following on from the first conference in Rosyth, which saw the official unveiling of the proposed Arrowhead 140 design and a tour of Babcock’s Rosyth facility for delegates, Team 31 is meeting with supply chain companies to share the potential opportunities the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) new £1.25bn Type 31e general purpose light frigate programme could provide for organisations throughout the UK and in future, for export. The Bristol Suppliers’ Conference, hosted by the Society of Maritime Industries, will provide a platform for SMEs and the wider supply chain to network with Team 31 representatives and to find out more about how their specific expertise could be utilised across the programme. Committed to developing a genuine UK wide supply chain, if selected, Babcock Team 31’s proposal will deliver UK prosperity as shipbuilding, procurement and support service priorities are reinvigorated through this high-profile contract.
Craig Lockhart, Babcock’s Managing Director, Naval Marine said: “The Babcock Team 31 Suppliers’ Conference series is an important step in the development of our bid as we grow our already extensive supply chain and reach out to Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers. Arrowhead 140 develops a proven design that will meet the requirements of modern, global navies and it’s a product the supply chain is already showing enthusiasm to support and deliver for UK and international customers. We are looking forward to welcoming a wide range of companies to the event which has again attracted a high level of interest due to our distributed build and support approach.”
Backed by British engineering heritage, Babcock Team 31’s programme outlines a proven, capable and adaptable solution – which will meet the requirements of the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSbS) – and offers full adaptability and customisation for domestic and international customers. And optimising established distributed build methods, the team will utilise its individual and combined expertise to deliver a programme ensured to meet the needs of any modern navy. Babcock Team 31 is led by Babcock and includes Thales, OMT, BMT, Ferguson Marine and Harland and Wolff.
EUROPE
19 Jul 18. Consultants propose overhaul of Eurofighter consortium. Management consultants have proposed an overhaul of the Eurofighter industrial and procurement organisations to improve their ability to meet an increasing demand for upgrades and technology insertions from Typhoon operators. A report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) was delivered to the industry consortium that oversees Typhoon manufacturing, Eurofighter GmBH; the international procurement organisation that buys the aircraft, the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA); the partner companies, BAE Systems, Leonardo and Airbus; and the four core nations earlier this year. Jane’s understands that the proposals centre on streamlining the commercial and industrial processes to allow various Eurofighter-linked organisations to better manage and execute technology insertion and aircraft upgrades. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
19 Jul 18. Bulgaria relaunches jet fighter tender. Key Points:
- Bulgaria has issued an RfP for a new jet fighter to replace the BuAF’s ageing MiG-29s
- The MoD has set an ambitious target of signing the contract by the end of 2018
Bulgaria has issued a request for proposals (RfP) for a new jet fighter, the country’s deputy defence minister Anatoliy Metodiev Velichkov announced on 17 July. “On 3 July we sent enquiries to potential bidders and on 1 October we expect their bids,” Velichkov told Bulgarian TV station ON AIR, confirming speculation that had appeared on Bulgarian aviation web portal aeropress-bg on 2 July. The web portal quoted two independent sources familiar with the process as saying that the new jet fighter would initially complement, and later replace, all Bulgarian Air Force (BuAF) MiG-29 jets. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
18 Jul 18. Boeing in talks with Airbus, others for German helicopter bid. Boeing Co (BA.N) is in talks with Airbus (AIR.PA) and other companies about joining its bid for a 4bn euro ($4.7bn) heavy-lift helicopter contract in Germany, the head of business development for Boeing’s defence unit said on Wednesday. Gene Cunningham told Reuters that Boeing was continuing to fine-tune its approach for the German competition, which pits Boeing’s CH-47 Chinook against the new CH-53K Sikorsky King Stallion built by Lockheed Martin (LMT.N). The German defence ministry expects to start the competition later this year or early next, with the target of awarding a contract in mid-2020 for deliveries to start in 2023.
“We are still in talks with other companies, Airbus included, and we continue to strengthen the team that we’ve put in place,” Cunningham said in an interview at the Farnborough Airshow outside London. He said those discussions would continue as the proposal process unfolded, and Boeing evaluated Germany’s needs for the new helicopters and subsequent servicing.
Boeing has already teamed up with 10 German firms to bid for the contract, squaring off with the biggest U.S. arms maker, Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), which has also announced agreements with Germany’s Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) and other firms.
Cunningham said the CH-47 was well positioned to win the contract given its performance, cost and the fact it is already in use by a number of Germany’s NATO allies, including the Netherlands, Britain, Spain, Canada and Italy. The CH-53K is a new aircraft developed for the U.S. Marine Corps that is due to be declared operational in 2019. The new helicopters will replace the existing CH-53G fleet that has been flying for over 45 years. Buying the Chinook would strengthen cooperation among German and its NATO partners, while providing assurance that the products and capabilities would be readily available to be available, Cunningham said.
He said he did not expect changes at the helm of the German air force and arms procurement arm to affect the competition. “I don’t envision a significant change,” he said.
Barry McCullough, who leads business development at Lockheed’s rotary and missions systems business, said cost would clearly play a role, and that his company was working hard to reduce the cost of the new CH-53K aircraft. He said a plan was in place to trim overall programme costs by $800m, which would drive down unit costs for possible foreign military sales to Germany and Israel. ($1 = 0.8582 euros) (Source: Reuters)
18 Jul 18. Turkish Aerospace eyes more Atak deals after Pakistan win. Turkish Aerospace is confident of more international sales for its T129 attack helicopter, given the demanding process that Pakistan put the rotorcraft through prior to its recent 30 aircraft order. A schedule has yet to be set for deliveries as there remain export license formalities that need to be sorted out with the Turkish and Italian defence ministries, said Gorkem Bilgi, corporate marketing manager at Turkish Aerospace. Rome is involved because the T129 is largely based on the Leonardo Helicopters AW129 Mangusta. In addition, the helicopter’s T800 engines are produced by a joint venture between Honeywell and Rolls-Royce – the Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company. Bilgi spoke with FlightGlobal in the company’s static display. Once these formalities are sorted out, Bilgi says that deliveries can commence in three months. The deal involves the helicopters, logistics, training, and weapons. He says the Pakistan deal is a watershed for Turkey’s aerospace industry.
“Following Pakistan there are a lot of countries that we are negotiating with,” he says. “Pakistan is a tough customer. We went to the Himalayas for high altitude tests, we went to desert for testing in hot conditions at 52C. They tested the helicopter for four years. It’s kind of a diploma – if you sell a helicopter to Pakistan, then all countries are interested.”
Specifically, the T129 is in contention for attack helicopter requirements in Morocco, Thailand, and Bangladesh. Of these, Morocco is looking at an acquisition of 24 rotorcraft and Thailand 12-15, while Bangladesh has yet to decide how many it will obtain. While Bilgi says the relationship with Leonardo, which helped develop the T129, is strong, the companies have different attack helicopter paths in the future. Turkish Aerospace’s focus going forward will be on the Atak II helicopter, while Leonardo is concerned with the AW249.
“The T129 Atak is an important example of joint bilateral collaboration in the defence industry,” he adds. “On the other hand, they are working on a new development programme, and we are working on a new development programme. As of today we have some talks, but in the near future it’s a little hard to give any comments.”
In addition, in 2021 Turkish Aerospace will embark on a ten-year effort to build 109 UH-60 Blackhawks. Equipped with a large percentage of local content, including a glass cockpit produced by Turkish firm Aselsan, these will be designated the T-70I. The company also sees substantial export potential for locally produced Black Hawks, with Sikorsky leading this effort. (Source: Google/Flightglobal)
17 Jul 18. Aero Vodochody announces new L-39NG sales, backlog increase. Aero Vodochody signed agreements with two contracted air training service companies for its L-39NG at the Farnborough Airshow on 17 July. SKYTECH signed a binding agreement for the delivery of 10 L-39NG aircraft, as well as an option for a further six. SKYTECH’s senior vice-president, Mal Sandford, said that the company would be working to create a range of contracting models for potential customers, including pay-by-the-hour and leasing options.
“There’s shortfalls in training, there’s shortfalls in human resources for air forces, and there’s also a shortfall in budgets. So, we will provide a very innovative way to allow air forces to come and fly this – not in terms of a training school, but give governments access to these aircraft on a cheaper scale,” Sandford said.
Basing for the company’s aircraft is still under negotiation. US-based training company RSW Aviation also signed a letter of intent for delivery of 12 L-39NG aircraft, and also for the upgrade of six legacy L-39 to the L-39CW variant. RSW Aviation currently operates the L-39, as well as the Shorts Tucano, Cessna 172, Bell 206, and Beechcraft King Air for pilot training and aircraft maintenance training. The company is headquartered in Arizona and has a training facility in Roswell, New Mexico. According to Giuseppe Giordo, CEO of Aero Vodochody, the company has an orderbook backlog of 38 aircraft that will extend production to 2022. However, a further order of 22 aircraft is expected to be confirmed by the end of 2018. Should these orders be confirmed, the backlog is expected to swell to 58 aircraft.The company is expecting that first flight of the aircraft will take place by the end of the year, with series certification expected in 2019. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2020. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
17 Jul 18. Europe to settle on one future fighter solution, Eurofighter CEO. Eurofighter says that further development of the Typhoon would bridge the gap through to any future European fighter. The two future fighter development programmes recently launched in Europe will eventually be whittled down to a single solution that will feature strong technological input from the Eurofighter Typhoon, the CEO of the consortium told reporters on 17 July. Speaking at the Farnborough Airshow, Volker Paltzo said he believed that the Franco-German Système de Combat Aérien Futur/Future Combat Air System (SCAF/FCAS) and the United Kingdom’s Tempest programmes would be distilled down, with just one platform being taken through to production and eventual service.
“We think that we will demonstrate technology on the Eurofighter that will feature on both the current [future fighter] solutions, but it is my firm conviction that Europe will converge on one future fighter solution,” he said.
Both the Tempest and SCAF/FCAS solutions are touted as being ready to enter service in the 2040s, and with BAE Systems leading the former and Airbus supporting the latter, Eurofighter already has a major presence in both camps. With 623 aircraft ordered and 542 delivered (of which approximately 500 are in service with the core European nations of Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom), the Typhoon is the largest defence project in the Europe’s history. With further orders expected for Germany and export campaigns in effect in Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Poland, and Switzerland, production could continue well into the 2030s. In order to keep the aircraft relevant over the coming decades, Eurofighter has mapped out a series of capability enhancements that could serve as a technological pathway to the continent’s future fighter efforts.
“The Eurofighter is best-placed to host a wide array of technologies for developing a future fighter; it is logical for Europe’s largest fighter project to do this,” said Paltzo. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
17 Jul 18. Romania moves towards Venom and Viper procurement. Romania has recently taken a step forward in its plans to procure both the Bell UH-1Y Venom and AH-1Z Viper helicopters for which it earlier issued a letter of request (LOR). Speaking to Jane’s on 17 July, Bell’s international business development manager Joel Best said that the early industrial components of the deal for 21 Venom utility and 24 Viper attack helicopters have been worked through, and that the programme is moving ahead.
“We are working with the [Ministry of Defence] MoD and industry, and have completed the first phase of the transition study for in-country check-out and transfer of technology,” Best said during the Farnborough Airshow. “There will be some [maintenance, repair and overhaul] MRO opportunities for Romania, and we certainly see this as a long-term partnership.” As part of its offering to Romania, Bell signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with IAR – Ghimbav Brasov Group for the support of the Venom and Viper.
Romania has a requirement to replace 37 indigenously produced IAR-330 Puma tactical helicopters, of which about 20 are the SOCAT multirole variant that has been modified to carry a 20 mm cannon and Spike anti-tank missiles. Best told Jane’s that in its selection of the Venom and Viper platforms Romania is following the US Marine Corps’ (USMC) model of operations, whereby small deployment packages of helicopters can be easily supported in the field.
“There is 85% commonality between the Venom and Viper, which means that a maintainer on one and easily work on the other. This is true for the pilots also – they can transfer from one to the other,” Best said. “Romania understands that with its potential enemy [of Russia], it cannot have all of its helicopters parked out on big bases – they need to be forward deployed.” (Source: IHS Jane’s)
16 Jul 18. Slovak MoD plans to procure 3D radars. The Slovak Ministry of Defence (MoD) has approved plans to procure new 3D radars through government-to-government sales, the MoD announced on 11 July. Between the years 2018 and 2025, the MoD plans to procure a total of 17 3D radars – six 3D medium-range radars, five 3D short-range radars and six 3D very short-range radars for an estimated framework price of $181.1m. Peter Gajdoš, Slovak Minister of Defence, said: ‘We will purchase a total of 17 pieces of 3D radars just as requested and defined by the Slovak armed forces. In this regard, we will invite all governments to enter into negotiations with us so that we can find the most advantageous solution and submit it to the cabinet for approval no later than the end of June 2019.’ The new radars will help protect Slovak airspace on a 24/7 basis. (Source: Shephard)
USA
18 Jul 18. F-35 Block Buy: An Assessment of Potential Savings. In 2015, the United States and partner governments in the F-35 program began considering the use of a three-year block buy (BB) contract for procurement of F-35 aircraft during fiscal years 2018–2020. A BB contract (which is similar to a multiyear procurement contract) can save money by providing prime contractors and their suppliers the incentive and ability to leverage quantity and schedule certainty and economies of scale, thus generating savings that would not be available under three annual single-lot contracts. This report presents an assessment of potential cost savings available through a BB contract for F-35 procurement. The research independently assessed savings for the aircraft’s air vehicle and engine, consistent with the way contracting is handled in the program, and focused on recurring flyaway costs. For the air vehicle, the estimated savings is $1.8bn, or 5.2 percent of the cost of contracting annually for three lots. For the engine, the estimated savings is $280m, or 3.8 percent of the cost of contracting annually. Thus, the combined BB savings is approximately $2.1bn, or 4.9 percent of the cost of annual contracting. These savings are estimated relative to an annual contracting baseline computed by RAND and are roughly comparable to those estimated for historical multiyear contracts for other fighter aircraft.
Key Findings
— Block Buy Contracts Present Potential Savings but Some Risk
* Potential savings from a BB contract for F-35 lots 12–14 (during fiscal years 2018–2020) are approximately $2.1bn for the air vehicle and engine combined, 4.9 percent of the cost of annual contracting for these lots.
* This estimate is in the range of savings estimated for historical fighter programs that employed multiyear contracts.
* Using alternative “hybrid” BB constructs, the estimated savings for these constructs is reduced by approximately 10 to 20 percent, compared with the full BB approach.
* This analysis focuses on potential cost savings from an F-35 BB contract and does not include a formal risk assessment, but it provides bounding estimates that will inform relevant business decisions going forward.
* Potential areas of risk may include the availability of early economic order quantity funding, configuration changes, and aircraft quantity reductions.
(defense-aerospace.com EDITOR’S NOTE: Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office want Congress to authorize a ‘Block Buy’ of 442 F-35 aircraft to gain what they say are significant savings. Rand found that the most favourable outcome is that it could reduce total airframe cost by $1.8bn, and total engine cost by $280m, but with an element of risk. This means, at best, that the Block Buy would reduce the cost of each airframe by $4.07m, and for each engine by $663,000, for a total of $4.7 million for each complete aircraft. Rand estimates the possible total savings at “4.9 percent of the cost of annual contracting for these lots.” However, the Government Accountability Office in June estimated the F-35 price at $143.84m, the potential savings are of about 3%. While not insignificant, these possible savings – they are far from assured, as Rand notes — will not change the economics of the F-35 program. In fact, they will at best pay for the post-delivery fixes, upgrades and repairs that all F-35s coming off the production line require. This confirmed that the true purpose of the Block Buy initiative is not, as Lockheed and JPO claim, to reduce unit costs, but to make as big a financial commitment to the program to ensure that it is, finally, “too big to kill.”)(Source: (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Rand Corporation)
18 Jul 18. Light Attack Experiment participant expects draft RFP in weeks. Key Points:
- A Light Attack Experiment participant expects a draft RFP to be released in weeks
- This will provide clues to which capabilities in light attack aircraft the USAF prioritises
A participant in the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) Light Attack Experiment (LAE) expects the service to release a draft request for proposal (RFP) in weeks and issue a contract award in April. Sierra Nevada Corp (SNC) vice-president Taco Gilbert told Jane’s on 18 July that the USAF has told participants to expect an RFP in December. The draft RFP will be key as it will provide insight into the USAF’s thoughts on what aircraft capabilities it will prioritise as it works its way to a potential contract award. The USAF did not return a request for comment by press time. The flying portion of LAE ended in late June following a fatal crash in a SNC/Embraer A-29 Super Tucano that took place on 22 June. Navy Lieutenant Christopher Short died when he crashed while over the Red Rio Bombing Range. One other aircrew member suffered minor injuries and was airlifted to a local hospital. Gilbert declined to comment on the fatal crash, citing an active safety board investigation. The maintenance evaluation of the experiment continues as Gilbert said more extensive maintenance tasks that would have disrupted the flying portion of the experiment are being performed. He said these include installing and removing an engine and ejection seat and pulling, replacing, and balancing the propeller. Gilbert added the draft RFP would probably give a good indication as to how much the USAF will weigh ease of maintenance in a potential procurement. The USAF, Gilbert said, collected roughly 90% of experiment test points prior to ending the flying portion. He added that the service said it planned to collect each test point multiple times during the flying portion of the experiment. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
18 Jul 18. US Navy asks Congress to shift millions of dollars to fix high-tech supercarrier. The U.S. Navy needs to get the permission of lawmakers to move $62.7m to fix a number of hiccups in its high-tech new carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, during its post-shakedown availability that kicked off July 15. The money, part of a larger DoD reprogramming request from June, will go toward fixing a number of issues that arose during its recently concluded post-delivery trials, according to a copy of the request obtained by Defense News.
According to the document, the Navy needs to move:
- $12.7m to fix “continuing technical deficiencies” with the Advanced Weapon Elevators.
- $30m for “tooling and repair” of the main thrust bearings, issues that the Navy has blamed on the manufacturer.
- $20m for additional repairs, a prolonged post-shakedown availabilty, and parts and labor.
The Navy told Congress in May that it was going to exceed the Ford’s $12.9bn cost cap because of needed repairs and alterations. The $62.7m was part of that total repair bill. The repairs and technology setbacks extended the Ford’s PSA at Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding from eight months to 12 months, according to a statement from Naval Sea Systems Command, and significantly added to the cost. The ship will then proceed to full-ship shock trials ahead of its first deployment, a priority pushed by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., according to the document.
Since its delivery, the Ford has spent 81 days at sea during the eight times it was underway, a July 15 NAVSEA release said. “The ship has completed 747 shipboard aircraft launches and recoveries against a plan of approximately 400,” the release said. “CVN 78 successfully completed fixed-wing aircraft/helicopter integration and compatibility testing, air traffic control center certification, JP-5 fuel system certification, daytime underway replenishment capability demonstration, ship’s defensive system demonstration, Dual Band Radar testing, and propulsion plant operations.” (Source: Defense News)
17 Jul 18. Terma and BAE Systems signed a long-term price agreement for the manufacture of composite skins for all three variants of the F-35. The agreement is a continuation of a long-term agreement signed in 2013 covering the manufacture of Large Composite Skins for the Horizontal and Vertical Tail on all variants of the F-35. The actual agreement includes the latest F-35 LRIP 12-14 program of record. Terma has been collaborating with BAE Systems on the F-35 program since 2006 when the two companies signed a Letter of Intent for future partnership. In 2009, a contract was signed for the delivery of composite manufactured parts for the F-35.
Jens Maaløe, President & CEO, Terma, said: “This new signing further confirms Terma’s strong position on the F-35 program and shows how collaboration can benefit Terma, BAE Systems, and the F-35 program as a whole. Through a major investment program over the past three years, Terma today offers one of Europe’s most advanced and high-tech production facilities for the development and manufacture of composite parts for the aircraft industry.”
Andrea Thompson, Senior Vice President – US Programmes, BAE Systems, commented: “We are delighted to sign this agreement with Terma which underpins our strong relationship and collaborative approach towards the F-35 program. Agreements such as this are a positive step towards achieving affordability targets across the program.”
In 2016, the Danish Government announced Denmark’s decision to acquire 27 F-35As as the future fighter aircraft as a replacement for the ageing F-16s. Terma currently maintains eight different production programs within advanced composite and machined structural parts plus electronic components on the F-35. Terma has been involved in the program since 2002 when Denmark joined the F-35 program as a partner country.
14 Jul 18. 4 ways Lockheed’s new F-35 head wants to fix the fighter jet program. The F-35 fighter jet is the U.S. Defense Department’s largest and most expensive weapons program, with a projected life-cycle cost of more than $1trn. That price tag makes it a huge moneymaker for prime contractor Lockheed Martin, but with big opportunity comes big responsibility to fix the various problems that have cropped up during the Joint Strike Fighter’s development. As Lockheed’s new general manager of the F-35 program, Greg Ulmer is the latest official charged with fixing those issues. Defense News sat down with Ulmer in June for a wide-ranging interview about the F-35’s future and how Lockheed is addressing continued challenges in the program. Here are the four major points that the program head detailed:
- Full-rate production
The F-35 flew its final developmental flight test in April, and after its initial operational test and evaluation period starting this fall — where the F-35 will be assessed by the Pentagon’s independent weapons tester — the department will make a decision about whether to move into full-rate production.
“We are positioned to support [full]-rate [production], which means all the tooling is in place, the training to equip and train the employees to do that work, the materials on order, the workflow through the factory in terms of our planning have been laid to support that,” Ulmer told Defense News in a June 22 interview.
However, still left on the checklist is buying the “last stretch of tooling” necessary to support full-rate production, he said. Lockheed and the F-35 Joint Program Office are still in discussions on a contract for that equipment.
The biggest challenge will be ensuring the raw materials are ready and on the production room floor when it’s time to begin fabricating a new F-35, as well as ensuring the supply base can support both production and sustainment.
“So we’re constantly looking at: Are the lead times appropriate? Do I have enough capacity within the supply chain, and how can I improve that?” he said. “Is there [a] way to resequencing [or] refine our sequence of work? As we go faster, we learn how to go faster — so continuously refining our work instructions.”
- Follow-on modernization
Once the F-35 is approved for full-rate production, the program will immediately move onto its Block 4 follow-on modernization effort, where the jet will get new sensors, weapons and IT upgrades.
Last September, Vice Adm. Mat Winter, the government’s F-35 program head, announced that Block 4 had been reconceptualized as an agile software development — now known as Continuous Capability Development and Delivery, or C2D2 — where incremental software updates will be created and tested at a faster clip than the more traditional waterfall method.
Lockheed has “quite a bit of experience” with agile software development in its Skunk Works technology unit, but less so in its aeronautics business, Ulmer said.
The aeronautics unit has already begun embedding military users within its development cycle, allowing troops to weigh in on a product as it is being created and tested. However, that will need to be more formalized for C2D2, he said.
“That means we’re going to contract different than we are today. We’re going to be a lot more formal with actually bringing the war fighter forward into the development cycle as we do that,” he said. “We’re doing that right now with the JPO, working on those contracting methods.”
Lockheed has engaged the Pentagon’s new software guru, Jeff Boleng, who was named the special assistant for software acquisition in April. Boleng has visited the F-35 production line “a couple times” to get up to speed on the program, Ulmer said.
“Right now he’s trying to learn F-35. It’s that simple. What is our architecture? He’s mentoring both industry and DoD OSD [the Department of Defense’s Office of the Secretary of Defense] relative to the opportunity space that he sees from his experience on how to apply an open-systems architecture [and] how you might restructure that architecture,” he said.
- Sustainment
As the development phase wraps up, numerous Defense Department officials have voiced concerns about the mammoth costs of sustaining the F-35 throughout its life cycle. The Pentagon has conveyed that it wants to see at least a 38 percent reduction in sustainment costs by 2036, Ulmer said. While Lockheed isn’t the only company responsible for bringing down cost, it plans to meet its end of the bargain.
“We have projects in place that we are predicting that we are going to meet or exceed that 38 percent reduction over that time period,” he said.
One big push that will help improve sustainability of aircraft is a “technical refresh” for early versions of the Joint Strike Fighter. Jets that were produced in the first six lots of aircraft have poor availability — hovering around 50 percent or less — mostly due to having earlier versions of hardware or subsystems that were less reliable, Ulmer said. The tech refresh will update older F-35s with new computing tech and improved, more reliable subsystems. Lockheed has also improved the preventative health onboard maintenance system aboard the aircraft, which tells the user when a part needs to be replaced. Early on, the system would often falsely convey that parts were broken, which drove up sustainment costs and the average time between part failures, Ulmer said.
- Autonomic Logistics Information System
The F-35’s logistics system — the Autonomic Logistics Information System, or ALIS — has historically been one of the biggest headaches for both Lockheed, which manufactures the product, and the military maintenance community. ALIS used to do everything from mission planning, repairs and the ordering of spare parts, but maintainers have complained about slow speeds and the high number of workarounds needed to use the system. Over the past 18 months, Lockheed has focused on incremental software upgrades to ALIS that can improve performance, Ulmer said. The company has also sent out Lockheed representatives to a number of military bases — including Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona, and Hill Air Force Base in Utah — to get feedback from ALIS users.
“We just sit down with the maintainers and the operators and we learn what are their issues relative to implementation or use of ALIS. Then we rack and stack, in our discussions with them, their priorities. ‘What would you do to improve ALIS operations?’”
13 Jul 18. US Army cancels plans to issue RFP for XM1160 HEGM programme. The US Army has cancelled plans to acquire the 120 mm XM1160 High Explosive Guided Mortar (HEGM) munition that was expected to replace the service’s current XM395 precision-guided HE mortar round, an official from the US Army Contracting Command confirmed to Jane’s on 11 July. The office of the Project Manager Combat Ammunition Systems (PM CAS), which is located at the Picatinny Arsenal facility in New Jersey, had intended to release a formal request for proposal (RFP) in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 to support the engineering and manufacturing development phases of the programme as well as the low-rate and full-rate initial production options for the HEGM. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
13 Jul 18. Oversight group alleges USAF F-35/A-10 fly-off was not objective. Key Points:
- A US oversight group is alleging that the USAF fly-off between the F-35 and A-10 was not objective
- The allegation is another moment in USAF’s history of trying to retire the A-10
A US government oversight group has alleged that a recent fly-off conducted by the US Air Force (USAF) between the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II close air support (CAS) aircraft was not objective. Dan Grazier, a retired marine and now military fellow on the Project on Government Oversight, told Jane’s on 11 July that the USAF has been operating a bombing demonstration as opposed to a CAS test. Grazier believes the service is operating its fly-off in this manner because it wants to highlight the F-35’s attributes and downplay the A-10’s capabilities so it can buy more F-35s. The USAF has tried for years to retire the A-10, only to be rebuffed by lawmakers. Grazier said the service has been operating the fly-off in secret so no one else could question the resulting data.
“They just wanted to be able to show up on Capitol Hill and say [they] conducted [their] close air support fly-off,” Grazier said. “No one would be able to dispute the results of these tests because … no one else is paying attention to it.”
The fly-off test missions took place on 6, and 9–11 July at US Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona and the Electronic Combat Range at China Lake, California. Debriefings were held on 5 and 12 July. Grazier said the USAF, on 6 July, flew two sections of A-10s loaded with two Raytheon GBU-12 Paveway laser-guided bombs, two BDU-50 bombs, seven 70mm rockets, two Raytheon AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface guided missiles, and 400 rounds of 30 mm ammunition. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
REST OF THE WORLD
16 Jul 18. Cost of India’s domestically produced defence equipment under review. India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has appointed a committee to review the price of assorted materiel supplied by the country’s nine Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) to its military.
“We have asked a committee to see how the costing of products manufactured by the DPSUs is being done,” Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters in New Delhi on 13 July. “We feel there is a need for a review [of DPSU pricing],” added the minister, pointing out that the MoD’s Principal Advisor (Cost) would head the committee and submit a report within 60 days. Jane’s understands that the committee was established after all three services had complained to the MoD about all the DPSUs “consistently overpricing” their licence-built platforms and ancillary items, compared with what original equipment manufacturers charge for the same equipment. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
14 Jul 18. Lockheed offers F-22 and F-35 hybrid for Japan’s next fighter. Boeing, BAE Systems join the race to snag massive defense contract. U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin proposed combining technologies from two of the world’s most powerful fighter jets for Japan’s next-generation fleet in a formal proposal submitted by Friday. In addition to Lockheed, Boeing and Britain’s BAE Systems have also offered their own technologies to replace Japan’s F-2 fighters, slated to retire around 2030, the Defense Ministry said. Friday was the deadline for proposal submissions. Japan will now weigh these options alongside proposals for a homegrown fighter and joint development with the U.S. or U.K. Details of their offers have not been made public. But Lockheed has apparently pitched an aircraft that brings together the best of the F-22 tactical fighter jet, known for its advanced stealth capabilities and supersonic speeds, and the F-35, which has network capabilities allowing it to draw on data from ground facilities. F-22 technology is guarded closely by the U.S., and generally not allowed out of the country. If Americans share some of that tech with Japan, that means Washington deems the country an essential U.S. partner on defense. It is still unclear how much information the U.S. side is willing to divulge.
The other two bidders are also thought to have offered revamped versions of current models. Boeing produces the FA-18 jet used by the U.S. military. The ship-based aircraft is prized for the power it provides even at slower speeds. BAE’s Eurofighter Typhoon, developed by four nations including the U.K., is known for its supersonic cruising speeds. When selecting a next-generation fighter jet in 2011, Japan considered the F-35, FA-18 and Eurofighter, ultimately deciding on the first. The Defense Ministry plans to push for join development to involve Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. A purely Japanese fighter is probably off the table owing to high costs and technological challenges. A potential British-Japan fighter project is also being discussed. Japan is looking to make a final decision within this year to include the plan in an updated defense plan taking effect from fiscal 2019. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/https://asia.nikkei.com)
12 Jul 18. Saudi Arabia orders corvettes from Navantia. The Contract with Saudi Arabia Will Benefit All Navantia Shipyards. The Government of Saudi Arabia has signed a contract for the construction of five corvettes, an operation that amounts to 1,800m euros and represents the largest order in the history of Spanish public shipyards from a foreign client. This contract reinforces the immediate future of Navantia, and will benefit all the shipyards of the company. The signing of this contract with Arabia will benefit the entire Navantia staff, the local industry with which it collaborates and, especially, the entire Bay of Cádiz area, which explains why it has received support from all areas of the Administration. This important operation also puts in value the international presence of the company since it places it in a fundamental area for the development of new programs. Navantia is a strategic company because it has capabilities, facilities and areas of knowledge that are considered essential for Defense and National Security. These are aspects that are being considered in the new Strategic Plan, which are also shared by the workers’ representatives and which, in addition, will help to promote innovation and digital transformation projects aimed at strengthening competitiveness. This contract, which has been negotiated with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 2015, will involve a global workload of around seven million hours for the shipyards of Bahía de Cádiz, Ría de Ferrol and Cartagena and their auxiliary industry. It is, therefore, a key contract to guarantee the work activity of Navantia, mainly for its shipyards in the Bay of Cádiz. The program will start at the end of 2018 and the last vessel will be delivered in 2022. In addition, Navantia will be responsible for Life Cycle Support for five years, from the delivery of the first vessel, with an option for an additional five years. Regarding its impact on employment, it is estimated that during 5 years approximately 6,000 direct and indirect employees will be generated annually. Of these, more than 1,100 will be direct employees, more than 1,800 employees of Navantia suppliers, and more than 3,000 indirect employees generated by other suppliers. In addition, it consolidates the Company internationally, and especially its own combat system, which can satisfy the needs of other potential customers in the region and in other markets of interest.
Complete and integral supply
The corvettes will be based on the Avante 2200 and adapted to the requirements of the Saudi Arabian Navy, offering advanced features, among which stand out an excellent behavior at sea, high survival capacity and operating capacity at extreme temperatures in the area of the Gulf, all with an optimum life cycle cost. The design of the corvettes is state-of-the-art, maximizing at the same time the participation of Navantia incorporating its own products such as the CATIZ combat system, the HERMESYS integrated communications system, the DORNA fire control system, the Integrated Platform Control System, the MINERVA integrated bridge, engines and gearboxes. On the other hand, the contract also includes the supply of various services such as integrated logistic support, operational and maintenance training, supply of training and training centers for the combat system and platform control system of ships, support for life cycle, and the systems for the maintenance of the ships in the naval base.
Creation of a Joint Venture with SAMI
In addition to the corvette contract, Navantia has agreed with the Saudi state company SAMI (Saudi Arabian Military Industries) the creation of a Joint Venture (JV) in Saudi Arabia. This alliance benefits Navantia and allows to strengthen the defense programs in Saudi Arabia, reinforcing its economy in line with the Vision 2030 promoted by the Government of this country. This Joint Venture is an exceptional opportunity to position the integrated systems and technologically advanced solutions of Navantia in the Saudi market and its area of influence, and is aligned with the company’s internationalization strategy. (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Navantia)(Issued in Spanish; unofficial translation by Defense-Aerospace.com)
13 Jul 18. Mali receives four Super Tucanos. The Malian Air Force formally inducted four Embraer EMB 314/A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft into service during a ceremony attended by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, it was announced on 11 July. Embraer announced in July 2015 that Mali had ordered six Super Tucanos, but a Brazilian source subsequently told Jane’s that delays were experienced due to financial issues and the order was reduced to four aircraft. The Malian presidency said the aircraft were entirely funded by the country. The training syllabus was also delayed by difficulties in finding pilots for conversion training on the type, according to the Brazilian source. Photographs released by the presidency showed at least nine Malian Air Force personnel in anti- g flight suits standing in front of the four aircraft at Air Base 101, which is next to Bamako’s international airport. The Super Tucanos delivered to Mali are armed with 12.7 mm machine guns and can carry 70mm rocket pods and 250 kg bombs. The presidency indicated that Mali has also acquired 20 mm cannon pods for the aircraft. With this delivery, Mali joins Angola, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania as African operators of the Super Tucano. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
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American Panel Corporation
American Panel Corporation (APC) since 1998, specializes in display products installed in defence land systems, as well as military and commercial aerospace platforms, having delivered well over 100,000 displays worldwide. Military aviators worldwide operate their aircraft and perform their missions using APC displays, including F-22, F-18, F-16, F-15, Euro-fighter Typhoon, Mirage 2000, C-130, C-17, P-3, S-3, U-2, AH-64 Apache Helicopter, V-22 tilt-rotor, as well as numerous other military and commercial aviation aircraft including Boeing 717 – 787 aircraft and several Airbus aircraft. APC panels are found in nearly every tactical aircraft in the US and around the world.
APC manufactures the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Large Area Display (LAD) display (20 inch by 8 inch) with dual pixel fields, power and video interfaces to provide complete display redundancy. At DSEI 2017 we are exhibiting the LAD with a more advanced design, dual display on single substrate with redundant characteristics and a bespoke purpose 8 inch by 6 inch armoured vehicle display.
In order to fully meet the demanding environmental and optical requirements without sacrificing critical tradeoffs in performance, APC designs, develops and manufactures these highly specialized displays in multiple sizes and configurations, controlling all AMLCD optical panel, mechanical and electrical design aspects. APC provides both ITAR and non-ITAR displays across the globe to OEM Prime and tiered vetronics and avionics integrators.
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