Elbit Systems Awarded a $72 Million Contract to Supply Hermes 900 Unmanned Aircraft Systems to an International Customer

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  July 16, 2020 | International, Land

  US Army awards $179M missile warning contract to BAE Systems

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems a contract for the first two production lots of its Limited Interim Missile Warning System, or LIMWS. The contract, which is worth $179 million, also includes funding to field the next-generation Missile Warning System, an upgrade on the Army's Common Missile Warning System. “Threats are evolving and proliferating at a rapid pace and our aircrews who fly into harm's way need the most advanced protection systems available,” Chris Austin, director of threat detection solutions at BAE Systems, said in a statement. “These orders follow an intensive two-year development and qualification program, made possible by a strong industry-government partnership focused on achieving an aggressive schedule.” The company won an initial $98 million contract to produce the systems in April 2018, with the goal of putting the capability onto 400 Black Hawk helicopters. A BAE spokeswoman this week declined to comment on what systems the LIMWS might deploy on. The Army competitively awarded that initial contract to BAE through a quick reaction capability mechanism, which bypasses the traditional lengthy acquisition process. The core of the upgrade is BAE's 2-Color Advanced Warning System, or 2CAWS, which the company says includes “an open system processor, two-color infrared sensors for increased range, and a fiber optic A-kit for faster data transmission.” Put simply, the 2CAWS should allow pilots to receive signals of incoming threats more quickly than before, and should be compatible with existing Army missile warning systems. Work will occur at the company's Merrimack, New Hampshire, and Huntsville, Alabama, facilities, the latter of which is undergoing upgrades for the project. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/07/15/us-army-awards-179m-missile-warning-contract-to-bae-systems/

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  November 24, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Airbus keen to play key role in ‘European answer’ to new NATO rotorcraft program

  BY OLIVER JOHNSON | NOVEMBER 23, 2020 Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even says the OEM “should play a key role” in a recently-announced program to develop Next-Generation Rotorcraft Capabilities signed by five NATO member countries. France, Germany, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom announced the launch of the program on Nov. 19. One of NATO's “high visibility projects,” it seeks to develop a replacement for medium multirole helicopters currently in operation that are expected to reach the end of their lifecycle around 2035 to 2040. “I'm convinced that there should be a European answer,” Even told journalists during a recent conference call. “I'm convinced that we have the competencies, the capability in Europe, to answer to the requirement and the need of our European customers.” The program echoes the origin of the NHIndustries NH90, which was developed collaboratively by Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo Helicopters, and Fokker Aerostructures in response to a NATO requirement for a medium multi-role helicopter. “We like to come at open level, which means that as we did with NH90, Airbus Helicopters should play a key role, but should also be ready to partner, and to cooperate for such a future European program,” said Even. “I think it's fair to consider that there should be a European answer, not only because we have the competence and the capability . . . but it's also a question of [the] strategic autonomy of Europe.” Over 420 NH90s have been delivered to 18 customers in 13 countries — including France, Germany, Greece and Italy. However, Even said he did not see the newly-announced program necessarily providing a replacement to the NH90 itself. “The need could be also to complement some of the [customer fleets'] existing capability — the NH90, Tiger and so on — which will continue to fly through 2040/2050,” he said. “The need could be to complement these platforms/programs with a new type of architecture in order to bring a new capability, either in terms of autonomy, connectivity, speed, [or] range.” Experts from the five participant nations are to meet to define a statements of requirements and a multi-phase cooperation plan, beginning a multi-year program of work. “I think it's good to see that reflection not only for short- or medium-, but also for long-term requirements,” said Even. “As an industry, you need this long-term view on the evolution of the requirement in order to have time not only to mature technologies, but also to mature [the] architecture, and to be in position to launch the program when the need will be there.” https://verticalmag.com/news/airbus-keen-to-play-key-role-in-european-answer-to-new-nato-rotorcraft-program/

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  March 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  US Air Force gets ready for decision on commercial aerial-refueling services

  By: Valerie Insinna ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force will know by the end of this month whether it will kick-start a competition for aerial-refueling services, the head of Air Mobility Command told Defense News. The service is in the final stages of a feasibility study that is evaluating whether the Air Force should buy commercial tanking services to support day-to-day needs for training and testing, said Gen. Maryanne Miller in an exclusive Feb. 28 interview. “The interest is high on the commercial side. The commercial companies who are considering this are really waiting to see the feasibility study, which will be completed in March,” she said. “The interest is high on the outside. I talked to a few vendors yesterday that was asking me when the study is going to be done. We're all waiting for that.” The study will help the Air Force determine whether it is cost-effective to use commercial aerial-refueling services as well as help set parameters on how a contract could be structured. However, Miller said, industry-operated tankers would not conduct combat or other overseas operations, and instead would be used exclusively for tasks in the continental United States such as augmenting training or for test and evaluation missions that AMC does not always have the capacity to fill. AMC believes its requirement will amount to about 6,000 hours per year, although the study could influence that number. Currently 14 companies have indicated interest in competing for the opportunity, she said. If the service decides to move forward with a competition, it believes it will be able to move from a contract award to an initial operating capability using a few aircraft in about a year, Miller said. “I love the idea. I hope the feasibility proves positive for us. That way we can get our requirements out there, we can start receiving proposals and then work that process as defined. We're optimistic,” she said. “That would be exciting to relieve some of the tension and stress on our force.” Getting Congress to agree to fund aerial-refueling services could be a hard sell, especially as the service considers paring back some of its own capacity. To free up funds for other priorities, the Air Force proposed retiring 16 KC-10s and 13 KC-135s in fiscal 2021. However, the idea has come under fire from U.S. Transportation Command — which has sought funds to buy back 23 of those tankers — as well as lawmakers who question whether the Air Force would be taking on too much near-term risk. But Miller contended that having the flexibility of commercial aerial-refueling services could relieve pressures on the military's own tankers, filling the gap for U.S. missions when there is high demand abroad. “It really just relieves and fills that market of the service missions we just don't get to today. Some of that is readiness-related,” she said. It also could have a positive impact for acquisition programs, as there will be more aerial-refueling resources available for test and evaluation, allowing test points to be completed more quickly and efficiently, and let the Air Force ensure it doesn't wear out its legacy KC-135s too quickly. “Having one more option is just really, really important.” https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/03/05/the-us-air-force-is-getting-ready-to-make-a-decision-about-commercial-aerial-refueling-services/