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16 Dec 15. Turkey orders more MPT-76 service rifles. Turkey has ordered a second tranche of its new MPT-76 service rifle, the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) announced on 16 December.
Signed with local company Kalekalip and worth TRY60m (USD18m), the contract for the second tranche includes 15,014 of the 7.62x51mm chambered battle rifles for the Turkish army, navy, and gendarmerie.
The contract is the second part of an initial serial production phase including 35,014 rifles. The first tranche of this initial phase, including 20,000 rifles, was contracted to state-owned company Machines and Chemical Industries Board (MKEK) in June for around TRY80m. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
16 Dec 15. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has received a $302.2m contract from the U.S. Air Force for continued production of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM®) and its Extended Range (ER) version. The Lot 14 contract includes 146 baseline JASSMs for U.S. and international partners, 140 JASSM-ER missiles for the U.S., as well as data, tooling and test equipment. The award brings the total number of missiles under contract to more than 2,600.
“This Lot 14 contract continues to demonstrate how important JASSM’s capability is to strategic defense planning,” said Jason Denney, program director of long-range strike systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Lots 13 and 14 were negotiated together, resulting in cost savings that led to more affordable missiles for our customers.”
The contract represents the sixth production order for JASSM-ER, which received full-rate production approval in 2014. Recent program milestones include the $305.4m Lot 13 contract award in October 2015 and a Foreign Military Sales contract to integrate JASSM onto Poland’s F-16C/D aircraft. Armed with a penetrating blast-fragmentation warhead, both missiles can be used in all weather conditions. They share the same powerful capabilities and stealth characteristics, though JASSM-ER has more than two-and-a-half times the range of JASSM for greater standoff capability. The 2,000-pound cruise missiles employ an infrared seeker and enhanced digital anti-jam GPS receiver to dial into specific points on targets. Effective against high-value, well-fortified, fixed and relocatable targets, JASSM is integrated on the U.S. Air Force’s B-1B, B-2, B-52, F-16 and F-15E. The B-1B also carries JASSM-ER. Internationally, JASSM is carried on the F/A-18A/B and the F-18C/D aircraft.
15 Dec 15. China advances sea- and land-based nuclear deterrent capabilities. China has advanced its nuclear deterrent capabilities by sending a Type 094 (‘Jin’-class) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) out on its first deterrent patrol and by conducting a fifth reported test of its mobile, solid-fuel, multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV)-capable DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), according to US officials.
Although China’s first second-generation Type 094 was launched in 2004, according to IHS Jane’s Fighting Ships , US officials have not acknowledged that its premier deterrent patrol had occurred until this month.
“Given China’s known capabilities and their efforts to develop a sea-based deterrent, in absence of indicators to the contrary it is prudent to assume that patrols are occurring,” said US Strategic Command spokesperson US Navy captain Pamela Kunzein in a statement to The Washington Times published on 10 December.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN’s) preparations for deterrent patrols, however, have been lengthy. The Pentagon’s 2014 annual report to the US Congress on China’s Military Power had stated: “China is likely to conduct its first nuclear deterrence patrols with the JIN-class SSBN in 2014.” Since at least 2008 Chinese internet imagery has shown the T