December 30, 2024 | International, Land
Norway-bound K9 155mm artillery begins delivery journey - Army Technology
The K9 155mm artillery platform is produced by South Korea's Hanwha Aersopace and has achieved significant success in European sales.
August 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Alaska-based long-range ballistic missile defense radar fielding delayed by a year
By: Jen Judson
WASHINGTON — The fielding of a U.S. Air Force radar to detect ballistic missile threats, currently being installed at Clear Air Force Station, Alaska, is delayed by roughly a year, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.
Information provided by the Missile Defense Agency in June to the GAO indicated all construction and integration activities for the Long Range Discrimination Radar had stopped in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
While initial fielding was planned for fiscal 2021 and transfer to the Air Force was planned for fiscal 2022, the service is now expected to take ownership of the operational radar in late fiscal 2023.
“We did have some fallback in developing and delivery of systems because it requires people to be in close, confined spaces and sitting at computer terminals working through really tough problems like the development of an algorithm,” MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said at the virtually held Space and Missile Defense Symposium on Aug. 4.
MDA shut down radar installation efforts due to the COVID-19 pandemic, entering a “caretaker status,” Hill said. “That requires additional work. I mean, you've got a radar that is being built in a tough environment like Alaska — you can't just stop. You have to go in and make sure the radar arrays are protected,” he added.
The LRDR is an S-band radar that will not only be able to track incoming missiles but also discriminate the warhead-carrying vehicle from decoys and other nonlethal objects for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System, which is designed to protect the continental U.S. from possible intercontinental ballistic missile threats from North Korea and Iran.
Lockheed Martin is LRDR's manufacturer.
The program, according to the GAO report, wrapped up its system prototype assessment in an operational environment in FY19, which showed the hardware and software was mature ahead of full-rate manufacturing. That assessment was delayed from FY18, the report noted, after testing took longer due to “required antenna reconfigurations and software fixes to complete.”
The fixes resulted in a cost overrun of $25 million and caused a delay in completing a developmental step associated with satellite tracking expected in FY18, according to the report.
“While construction was ongoing in [FY19], the program was monitoring risks that could threaten the upcoming transfer of LRDR custody and ownership to the government,” the report stateed. “Specifically the program was focusing on manufacturing of the Array Panels, Sub Array Assembly Suite modules, and Auxiliary Power Group cabinets, as well as ensuring integration on site.”
Those issues “depleted schedule margin on the path towards the transfer,” which was scheduled for the fourth quarter of FY20, according to the GAO, and the transfer of LRDR custody to the government was pushed back to the first quarter of FY21 due to radar component production issues.
“The good news is construction is back up and running,” Hill said, “and we are delivering those arrays that are going into low-power and high-power testing later this year, so we are pretty excited about that.”
According to the GAO, the current test plan for LRDR has just one flight test scheduled in the third quarter of FY21, after two ground tests. The report does not clarify if the pandemic has caused a delay in these tests.
The GAO indicated concern about conducting two ground tests before the program's only flight test, as it “increases the likelihood that the models will not be accredited when testing is complete.”
As a result, “the performance analysis and the majority of the model validation and accreditation will have to be made concurrently, just prior to the LRDR Technical Capability Declaration,” scheduled for the third quarter of FY21, the report stated. “This increases the risk of discovering issues late in development, which could result in performance reductions or delivery delays.”
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July 30, 2019 | International, Aerospace
CPI Aero Announces $65.7 Million Air Force Contract for T-38 Aircraft Modification Kits
July 29, 2019 - Edgewood, NY -- CPI Aerostructures, Inc. (“CPI Aero®”) (NYSE American: CVU) today announced that it has been awarded a $65.7 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract from the United States Air Force to provide structural modification kits, program management, logistics, and other sustainment services in support of Phase 3 of the T-38C Pacer Classic III Fuselage Structural Modification Kit Integration program (“PC III”) and the Talon Repair Inspection and Maintenance (“TRIM”) program. The company also received its first delivery order under the contract valued at $3.4 million for which work will commence immediately. For more than 50 years, the Northrop T-38 has been the principal supersonic jet trainer used by the US Air Force. PC III and TRIM are expected to increase the structural service life of the T-38 beyond 2030. PC III is a three-phase aircraft modification program that began in 2011 to increase the structural service life of a certain number of T-38C Talon aircraft. Requirements for Phase I were fulfilled by Northrop Grumman Technical Services. In 2015, CPI Aero was awarded Phase 2 of PC III and is currently supplying kits and services to the USAF under that contract through 2021. Under the new contract announced today, CPI will support the final phase of PC III as well as TRIM. The TRIM program is a separate USAF structural modification effort that will extend the structural service life of T-38A and T-38 model types, as well as, T-38C models that were not modified during PC III. Douglas McCrosson, President and CEO of CPI Aero, stated, “We are honored to have been chosen by the U.S. Air Force to continue our work on PC III and begin work on TRIM , two programs that are essential to the critical mission of training our future military aviators. This contract recognizes our excellent past performance as a prime contractor to the USAF and our long history with the T-38 platform that dates back to 2001. It is a testament to our reputation as an exceptional supply chain partner and leverages the investments we have made in developing world class engineering, supply chain management and program management capabilities.” For the PCIII Phase III requirement, the period of performance is anticipated as a three-year ordering period, with an additional one year for delivery after an order is placed. For the TRIM requirement, the period of performance is anticipated as a 10-year ordering period, with an additional one year for delivery after an order is placed. About CPI Aero CPI Aero is a U.S. manufacturer of structural assemblies for fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and airborne Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare pod systems in both the commercial aerospace and national security markets. Within the global aerostructure supply chain, CPI Aero is either a Tier 1 supplier to aircraft OEMs or a Tier 2 subcontractor to major Tier 1 manufacturers. CPI also is a prime contractor to the U.S. Department of Defense, primarily the Air Force. In conjunction with its assembly operations, CPI Aero provides engineering, program management, supply chain management, and MRO services. CPI Aero is included in the Russell Microcap® Index. The above statements include forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which are described from time to time in CPI Aero's SEC reports, including CPI Aero's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and Form 10-Q for the three-month period ended March 31, 2019. CPI Aero® is a registered trademark of CPI Aerostructures, Inc. For more information, visit www.cpiaero.com, and follow us on Twitter @CPIAERO. Contact: Vincent Palazzolo Chief Financial Officer CPI Aero (631) 586-5200 www.cpiaero.com Investor Relations Counsel: LHA Investor Relations Sanjay M. Hurry/Jody Burfening (212) 838-3777 cpiaero@lhai.com www.lhai.com View source version on CPI Aero: http://www.cpiaero.com/cpi-aero-announces-%2465.7m-air-force-contract.html https://www.epicos.com/article/449408/cpi-aero-announces-657-million-air-force-contract-t-38-aircraft-modification-kits
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December 14, 2018 | International, Land
Need to upgrade Army vehicle software? Got 10 minutes?
By: Adam Stone The Army is rolling out a new streamlined tool for updating critical software on thousands of vehicles that use the Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P) system. Vehicles depend on the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below system to deliver communications, friendly and hostile-force tracking, maps and other key intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance functionality. But FBCB2 is out of date, and upgrades have required the pricey and time-consuming replacement of both hardware and software. “We wanted to give war fighters the option of doing a software-only upgrade,” said Dan Ghio, JBC-P deputy product manager. “We will still hit them with the full hardware upgrade eventually. This just gets us to a more common software baseline in the meantime. It's a stopgap for those who can get at least some of the upgrades done.” The upgrades started rolling out in the spring and so far over 800 vehicles have completed the process. Of the 103,000 fielded platforms, roughly 20,000 to 30,000 can be updated using the new approach, which applies to platforms such as Humvees and Mine-Resistant Ambushed-Protected vehicles. All upgrades should be completed by fiscal 2023, said Lt. Col. Shane Sims, JBC-P product manager. “We started with a unit at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, just to see if we were on track,” Sims said. “The process is pretty easy. You call our help center and our folks will send out a new hard drive with the new software loaded on it. Once you attach it to the system it's a 10-minute process to load it up.” While it would have been technically possible to upload the software via the internet, connectivity constraints made the hard drive a better option. “These are users with very limited bandwidth. It would take a very long time to fully download a new operating system,” Sims said. By sending out new hard drives, the engineers also help to position the system for future enhancements, while reducing the overall burden of system support. “We want to keep pushing more and more capabilities out into the field, but right now our support teams in the field have to support 18 different hard drives. There is a huge sustainment cost to supporting all of that,” Sims said. “We're a huge Army and the more we standardize, the better it is.” The latest software version includes a few significant functional enhancements. The user interface has been modernized and made more intuitive; engineers have hardened the security on the back end and made the system more reliable, Ghio said. By creating a “standardized, repeatable and intuitive process” for upgrades, he said, Army aims to empower war fighters to take control over their most critical technologies. “We believe solders and commanders can take on some of the [technology] mission themselves if given the right tools and the right instructions,” Sims said. “As we move to the future, we are going to have to rely on our units to modernize things on their own. That will allow us to inject new capabilities at a much faster pace.” Looking ahead, Army engineers are still looking to overcome the bandwidth limitations that presently prohibit them from pushing out upgrades online. “We are definitely looking at ways to do an over-the-air update,” Sims said. “It would be a lot of easier, just the same way you do an update to an iPhone or an Android. We could send a message to the entire force and have everyone updated at once. That would improve our security posture and would serve to keep everyone current.” At the same time, safety and security concerns factor heavily, as the Army looks to enhance systems on vehicles that are equipped for live fire. “A software malfunction on a firing system would be a catastrophic event, so we have to make sure that our software doesn't interfere with any of the safety mechanisms on these platforms,” Sims said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/12/13/need-to-upgrade-army-vehicle-software-got-10-minutes