February 8, 2023 | International, Naval, C4ISR
How the US Navy is creating the ânirvana of one combat systemâ
The Navy is working to decouple software from hardware and is developing decision aids to support the Integrated Combat System.
February 28, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Design Milestone Reached For Air-Launched Hypersonic Missile
Steve Trimble
ORLANDO—Lockheed Martin expects to complete the critical design review (CDR) on Feb. 27 for the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), the U.S. military's most technologically ambitious hypersonic weapon, an executive said.
The key milestone, indicating an imminent design freeze, comes as part of an unusual development schedule imposed on the ARRW program. The technical complexity of ARRW stems from its high lift-to-drag profile, a shape the U.S. military has never tested successfully in flight. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Tactical Boost Glide (TBG) program, which shares the advanced ARRW profile, is intended as a risk-reduction measure for ARRW, but still has not completed a self-powered flight test.
In fact, the CDR milestone for ARRW originally was scheduled to come after a first flight for TBG, but the Air Force has kept ARRW on its original pace even as schedules for the DARPA program have slipped.
“The [original TBG and ARRW] schedules were more serial,” said John Varley, vice president of hypersonics for Lockheed's Missiles and Fire Control business. “As we're moving fast, things are merging together and becoming more parallel. If we waited until all that was done, we wouldn't be moving at the pace that the customer is looking for.”
Indeed, Jeff Babione, president of Lockheed's Skunk Works, said last June that he expected the first TBG flight by the end of last year or early next year. But U.S. defense officials now say they expect the DARPA program to enter flight testing later this year, after a planned test of the Block 1 version of the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, a low-lift-to-drag shape for intermediate-range Army and Navy missiles.
In other ways, ARRW is further along in development than most military acquisition projects at the CDR milestone, Varley said.
“It's not the traditional way of doing it, because at CDR you wouldn't have hardware built, you wouldn't have [demonstration/validation] testing done. And this is very mature,” he said.
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February 19, 2024 | International, Naval
Univers PME | Un contrat naval de 100 millions pour une (discrète) entreprise de Brossard
Le Groupe Bronswerk a la discrétion des sous-marins qu’elle équipe.
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February 17, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Turkey hopes new engine deal will power future TF-X fighter jet
By: Burak Ege Bekdil ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's procurement agency has commissioned a local company to develop critical technologies for an engine that the government hopes will power its first indigenous fighter jet. A contract was signed Feb. 14 between two state-controlled companies for the development program. Under the deal, TRMotor, an engine maker, will develop an auxiliary power unit and an air turbine start system for what Turkey hopes will be critical components of an indigenous engine to power the TF-X aircraft. TRMotor signed the deal with the prime contractor of the TF-X program, Turkish Aerospace Industries, another state-controlled defense company. “The program aims to develop critical technologies ... that will enable us [to] possess indigenous engines,” said Osman Dur, general manager of TRMotor. “The [indigenous] TF-X engine is at the moment at its concept design phase.” TRMotor is completely owned by SSTEK A.S., a defense technologies company owned by Turkey's defense procurement agency, the Presidency of Defense Industries, or SSB. This is a milestone contract for the TF-X program,” said TAI CEO Temel Kotil. The deal comes as SSB is holding talks to co-produce an engine with a consortium of the British company Rolls-Royce and Turkish firm Kale Group. In 2017, Kale Group and Rolls-Royce launched a joint venture to develop aircraft engines for Turkey, initially targeting the TF-X. But the £100 million (U.S. $139 million) deal was effectively put on hold due to uncertainties over technology transfer. A year before the partnership, TAI signed a $125 million heads of agreement with BAE Systems to collaborate on the first development phase of the TF-X. Turkey originally planned to fly the TF-X in 2023, but aerospace officials put off the target date to the 2025-2026 time frame. The TF-X program, or MMU in its Turkish acronym, has been crawling over the past years due to technological failures and know-how transfer. Turkish engineers must first select an engine for the planned aircraft before they finalize their designing phase. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2021/02/16/turkey-hopes-new-engine-deal-will-power-future-tf-x-fighter-jet/