December 12, 2023 | International, Aerospace
L3Harris says Viper Shield electronic warfare tool for F-16s nears goal
The Viper Shield suite will be fitted aboard Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72 jets sold to foreign militaries.
January 18, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Despite Hard Times, The F-35 Program Demonstrated Stellar Performance In 2020
By Dan Gouré
In a year where the Department of Defense struggled to address a global pandemic, uncertainty at home, and multiple security challenges abroad, the F-35 program stands out as a success story. The aircraft continues to provide exceptional capability for three U.S. Armed Services and more than a dozen foreign operators. In the face of COVID-19 slamming their supply chains on the home front, the F-35 industrial team still managed to produce a near-record 123 fighters. 2020 also saw the roll-out of the first version of the Operational Data Integrated Network (ODIN), the new logistics support program. This is a remarkable record for any large, complex defense program in normal times, much less while struggling to deal with the human and economic toll caused by a global pandemic.
COVID-19 has brought heartache and death to this country. It has also disrupted the operations of businesses large and small. The Department of Defense (DoD) has struggled along with every other organization to protect its people while conducting the necessary business of defending the nation, maintaining force readiness and ensuring the continuation of modernization efforts. In addition, the U.S. military deployed to support state and local governments with their pandemic responses and even helped with the development of COVID vaccines.
The defense and aerospace industry also responded to the challenges posed by the virus. Protection of its workforce was and remains the number one priority. At the same time, industry knew that it had to continue to make progress on programs and plans to equip the military.
An example of how well DoD and the defense industry has coped with the ravages of the pandemic is the Lockheed Martin F-35 program. For example, the pre-COVID plan called for producing 141 F-35s in 2020. This was revised downward in May to between 117 and 123, as DoD planners and industry saw what was happening. The Lockheed Martin team was proactive in changing its production plans and cleaning methods to protect workers. Nevertheless, the program reached its new goal, delivering 123 aircraft, including nearly 50 to foreign partners and countries using the Foreign Military Sales system. 2020 also saw the delivery of the 500th F-35 and the completion of more than 250,000 flight hours across the global fleet.
The cost for the F-35 continues to decline, with the price for the benchmark F-35A projected to drop to under 80 million dollars by 2021. According to industry sources, the F-35's reliability continues to improve. The newest production aircraft average greater than 70% mission capable rates, and some are consistently near 75%.
Last year saw F-35s from all three Services participate in numerous exercises and training events. One of the most noteworthy of these was Project Convergence, an Army Futures Command program designed to help develop an artificial intelligence and machine learning-based battle management system to direct a host of new weapons systems, such as the Extended Range Cannon Artillery. In a major exercise, the ability to conduct fire missions based on sensor data from Marine Corps F-35Bs passed to Army long-range artillery was demonstrated.
Having declared the carrier-variant of the F-35 — the C model — fully operational, the Navy and Marine Corps spent 2020 getting ready to deploy it aboard U.S. aircraft carriers. Together with deployments of advanced versions of the Boeing F/A-18E/F, the Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye, the Bell Boeing CMV-22B Osprey, and the new Boeing MQ-25 aerial refueling drone, the F-35C will transform the carrier air wing.
Despite limitations imposed on close contact because of the pandemic, countries acquiring the F-35 continued to induct aircraft, stand up units and conduct training missions during 2020. In July, Italian Air Force F-35s returning home from an air policing mission in Iceland stopped in the United Kingdom to train alongside Royal Air Force F-35Bs.
The U.S. has also participated with many partner countries and overseas allies in training exercises with the F-35. Last October, the Israeli Air Force and U.S. Air Force conducted a joint exercise in Israeli skies.
Defying COVID, the United Kingdom sent its newest aircraft carrier, the Queen Elizabeth, to sea for a pre-deployment exercise in late 2020. Not only did the Queen Elizabeth demonstrate its ability to operate the short-takeoff and landing variant of the F-35, the F-35B, it also hosted a squadron of U.S. Marine Corp F-35s in a clear demonstration of how the F-35 enhances interoperability with allies.
In 2020, more countries also entered the Joint Strike Fighter community. In a landmark agreement, the United States will sell the United Arab Emirates up to 50 F-35s, along with advanced unmanned aerial systems and air-delivered munitions. An agreement between Warsaw and Washington for Poland to acquire 32 F-35s was signed in early 2020.
Given the impacts of COVID on virtually all the Department of Defense's activities, it would be surprising if there were no problems with the F-35 program. One such virus-related impact was the need to delay a decision on full-rate production, previously planned for March 2021 to a later date. This was not due to problems with the F-35 itself, production lines, or deployment of software. Rather, it reflected problems in operational test and evaluation, as the need for social distancing made it difficult to complete a number of required test and evaluation activities.
In addition, the pandemic forced delays in completion of the Joint Simulation Environment (JSE), an extremely sophisticated virtual testing regime being built to assess the performance of advanced aircraft, particularly the F-35. According to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, a combination of technical challenges and the impact of COVID‐19 was delaying the maturation of the JSE. This will prevent the completion of F‐35 Block 3F software's Initial Operational Test & Evaluation by the original target date of March 2021.
2020 proved the resilience of the U.S military and the defense and aerospace, industrial base. Despite the COVID-19-created delay in fielding the JSE and conducting the full operation test and evaluation program, F-35s continues to roll off the production line, enter service and perform extraordinarily well in exercises and on operational deployments. All in all, 2020 can be recorded as a remarkable success for the F-35 program.
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October 27, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence
Contract Awards by US Department of Defense – October 26, 2020
NAVY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin company, Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $550,372,323 modification (P00043) to previously awarded fixed-price-incentive (firm target), firm-fixed-price contract N00019-16-C-0048. This modification is for Lot IV low rate initial production and delivery of six CH-53K aircraft and associated aircraft, programmatic and logistics support, rate tooling and physical configuration audits. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (33.17%); Wichita, Kansas (11.51%); Salt Lake City, Utah (7.18%); Hazelwood, Missouri (6.28%); Bridgeport, West Virginia (3.22%); Redmond, Washington (2.12%); Windsor Lock, Connecticut (1.84%); Kent, Washington (1.54%); Fort Worth, Texas (1.44%); Quebec, Canada (1.35%); Cudahy, Wisconsin (1.29%); Rochester, United Kingdom (1.27%); Fort Walton Beach, Florida (1.11%); various locations within the continental U.S. (24.68%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (2%), and is expected to be completed in July 2024. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $519,899,846; and fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $30,472,477 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Owego, New York, is awarded a $193,980,348 contract modification (P00019) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00019-19-C-0013. This modification adds a $180,000,000 not-to-exceed, undefinitized line item for the production and delivery of four MH-60R aircraft, and exercises a $13,980,348 option to procure three airborne low frequency sonars in support of the government of Greece. Work will be performed in Owego, New York (49%); Stratford, Connecticut (37%); Troy, Alabama (7%); Brest, France (6%); and Portsmouth, Rhode Island (1%), and is expected to be completed in February 2025. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $43,980,348 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $101,353,724 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for research, development, engineering and test and evaluation for programs throughout the Department of Defense (DOD) within its approved core competency areas including: (1) experimental oceanography; (2) acoustic propagation; (3) underwater instrumentation and equipment; (4) marine corrosion; (5) acoustic and related systems; (6) simulations and signal processing; and (7) mission related and public service oriented research and development. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $218,818,971. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington, and is expected to be completed by October 2025. If all options are exercised, work will continue through October 2030. No funds will be obligated at contract award. Funds of multiple different appropriation types and years from program offices and agencies throughout the DOD may be obligated on individual task orders for efforts that fall within the core competency areas. This sole-source award was made pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c) (3), as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulations 6.302-3; industrial mobilization; engineering, developmental, or research capability; or expert services. The capabilities developed and provided by Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, within the DOD approved core competencies are determined to be essential to support a variety of DOD programs managed by different technical sponsor organizations. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-21-D-6400). Smartronix LLC, Hollywood, Maryland, is awarded a $78,281,152 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides airborne capabilities integration support, including development, design, coding, integration, demonstration and validation of software for embedded systems, real time operating systems and hardware and software systems in support of various Navy, Department of Defense and other government new and legacy weapons systems, platforms and networks. Work will be performed in Hollywood, Maryland (30%); St. Inigoes, Maryland (28%); Huntsville, Alabama (28%); Patuxent River, Maryland (12%); Bowie, Maryland (1%); and California, Maryland (1%), and is expected to be completed in November 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; three offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-21-D-0007). AIR FORCE Tecan US Inc., Morrisville, North Carolina, has been awarded a $32,862,500 firm-fixed-price contract for robotic pipette tips. The scope of this contract effort includes the expansion of the U.S. domestic production capacity for robotic pipette tips by standing up infrastructure and increasing production capacity with Tecan US Inc. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a requirement for additional near term diagnostic testing capability which significantly exceeds manufacturing capacity of sample collection and processing consumables. This project will create Tecan's capacity to produce up to 40 million pipette tips per month domestically. Work will be completed in Morrisville, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed November 2022. This award is the result of a Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) request issued by the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell (JRAC) and is a full and open competition. The solicitation was published by Department of Health and Human Services and JRAC in the CSO in August 2020. Fiscal other procurement funds are being used on this contract. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8730-20-S-0003). *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2394545/source/GovDelivery/
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December 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Land
Bell’s V-280 Valor hits 200 hours of flight time 3 years after first flight
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Bell's technology demonstrator designed to show the Army the realm of the possible in Future Vertical Lift capability has flown 200 hours since its first flight three years ago, according to Keith Flail, the company's executive vice president for advanced vertical lift systems. The V-280 Valor tiltrotor parted ways with the tarmac for the first time on Dec. 18, 2017, at 1:59 p.m. CDT at a Bell facility in Amarillo, Texas. Defense News reported the flight as the aircraft was still in the air, but the aircraft logged roughly 15 to 20 minutes before returning to solid ground. Since then Bell's clean-sheet-designed aircraft has flown more than 150 sorties, Flail told Defense News in a recent interview, and the extensive effort has driven down risk for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft program for the U.S. Army. Valor hit the 200 flight hour mark on Dec. 4, Flail said. The Army wants to field FLRAA — an aircraft expected to fly twice as fast and twice as far as a conventional helicopter — by 2030. Bell is gearing up to compete head-to-head with a Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky and Boeing team, which built the only other flying technology demonstrator in the effort leading up to a program of record. The SB-1 Defiant coaxial helicopter flew for the first time in March 2019 after struggling with rotor blade manufacturing problems and working through other more minor kinks. Both companies have entered a competitive development and risk reduction phase awarded in March 2020 ahead of the FLRAA program. The Army announced this month that it intends to proceed into a competition between just Sikorsky-Boeing and Bell to produce FLRAA. Valor has been put through its paces, completing key performance parameters and continuing to prove out possible threshold and objective requirements for FLRAA. The aircraft had its first public flight in June 2018 where it reached cruising speeds of 195 knots and was put through its paces in hover mode. In May 2019, the aircraft completed low-speed agility maneuver testing — which made up the final key performance parameters left to prove out with the system as part of the technology demonstration phase. Valor flew autonomously for the first time a year ago. The aircraft performed an autonomous takeoff, conversion into cruise mode, precision navigation to various waypoints, loiter maneuvers, conversion into vertical-takeoff-and-landing mode, and landed autonomously. Other achievements include demonstrating an integrated system from Lockheed Martin that provides the pilots and aircrew a 360-degree view through the skin of the aircraft in the spring of 2019. And in early 2020, Bell also integrated the Tactical Common Data Link and transmitted information between Valor and the ground station to include basic flight data and showed it would be able to provide targeting information to help long-range precision fires weapons hit targets more accurately, according to a Dec. 17 company statement. In the same flight, Bell demonstrated sling-load capability, Flail said. “During a single sortie, the team performed multiple cargo lifts to demonstrate the procedure and coordination of ground crew, aircraft, crew chief, pilots and the behavior of the loads for the V-280,” the statement notes. Over the course of the technology demonstration period, Flail added, the aircraft was also able to show its reliability and availability. “This configuration of tiltrotor really shows how robust it is in terms of reliability and availability because one of the tricks with proving that is you have to accumulate enough data to show that you do have a reliable system,” he said. “A lot of your critical items, your gearboxes and your blades ... those are typical cost drivers downstream and today, we still have the original six blades and gearboxes on this aircraft.” https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/12/17/bells-v-280-valor-hits-200-hours-of-flight-time-3-years-after-first-flight/