July 24, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Lockheed Martin will modify the F-35 weapons bay to accommodate a very long-range, anti-radiation missile and support a potential future upgrade to carry up to six air-to-air missiles internally, a source close to the program says.
The U.S. Defense Department awarded Lockheed Martin a $34.7 million contract on July 18 to complete the weapons bay modifications by July 2022.
The contract announcement released by the Pentagon specifically calls for altering the portion of the Station 425 bulkhead inside the weapons to carry “aft heavy weaponry.”
A source close to the program says the weapon involved in the modification program is the Navy's Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER).
Although the baseline AARGM bears a close resemblance to the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile, the AARGM-ER removes the mid-body wings and increases the diameter of the missile body. The maximum range of the AARGM-ER is classified.
The Air Force is developing a new version of the AARGM-ER, which is called the Stand-in Attack Weapon.
The modification to Station 425 also will allow the F-35 to carry six AIM-120 missiles internally, the source says.
Lockheed has proposed the so-called “Sidekick” modification to increase the F-35's internal load-out from four to six air-to-air missiles.
The Station 425 modification is funded by all three U.S. service branches acquiring the F-35. Although the AARGM-ER is not yet cleared for export, foreign customers also are contributing, supplying about $7 million of funding for the modification program.
https://aviationweek.com/defense/f-35-mod-adds-new-missiles-weapons-bay
June 13, 2023 | International, Other Defence
The United States is set to remove obstacles that prevent smoother trade with India in critical areas such as defence and high technology, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.
January 10, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
December 4, 2019 | International, Other Defence
By: Sebastian Sprenger LONDON — U.S. President Donald Trump landed Tuesday in London with a splash, decrying French President Emmanuel Macron's recent description of NATO as brain dead, calling it a “nasty” assessment and unfair to the alliance. Trump's remarks on the eve of a meeting of government leaders here on Wednesday come as NATO members are already on edge about myriad internal differences. Clashing views have become so pronounced in the last few weeks that some observers fear the worst for what has been billed as NATO's 70th birthday bash. “You just can't go around making statements like that about NATO,” Trump said of Macron in a joint news conference with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “It's very disrespectful.” The U.S. president's words are remarkable not for their tone — he also delivered an en passant bashing of French politics and economy — but for the substance of the argument. Trump, who has shown a deep disdain for the mere principle of multilaterlism, appears to be shielding NATO from Macron's critique, which in turn was partly aimed at himself. Talk about the three-dimensional chess of geopolitics. Or something like that. Stoltenberg, for his part, sought to downplay any cracks within the alliance, arguing in typical fashion that healthy squabbling should be expected in any group of countries working together. “If you look at the substance, you can see that the alliance is delivering,” he said at the NATO Engages think tank event in central London. He named ongoing operations to secure the eastern flank against Russia, the training of security forces in Iraq and an uptick in defense spending by all allies in recent years as examples of an alliance that continues to be operationally relevant. Stoltenberg was noncommittal, however, on the latest curveball thrown by member country Turkey. The Turks want their perception of a terrorist threat posed by YPG Kurdish units to their border with Syria recognized by all of NATO as a quid pro quo for backing the alliance's bolstering of the Baltics. Such a deal could cause a significant rift. Trump is an admirer of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and will likely get more deeply involved in the issue during meetings here. “Turkey does not question the alliance, but rather Turkey expects an understanding of the threat of terrorism to one of its allies,” Gülnur Aybet, Erdogan's senior adviser on foreign policy, told the NATO Engages audience. “We don't question the credibility of Article 5. On the contrary, we expect it to be fulfilled,” she added, referring to the alliance's creed that an attack on one member will prompt a response by all. https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nato-2020-defined/2019/12/03/natos-london-meetings-are-off-to-a-rocky-start/