October 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace
On the occasion of Euronaval event, Air&Cosmos interviewed Linden Blue, CEO of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. The complete interview can be found in the October 16 issue.
What were GA-ASI's commercial successes in 2020?
First, we look forward to delivering the last of the MQ-9s ordered by the Spanish Air Force (final delivery expected in November). This year, we finalized the UK Protector production contract with the initial orders of a total planned 16 aircraft buy. In fact, the first Protector-configured MQ-9B completed its first flight on September 25th. We also recently completed the contract for MQ-9B SkyGuardian for Belgium. The French Air Force fielded weapons capability on its MQ-9s in 2020, and the last three of six French Air Force MQ-9 Block 5's will be delivered before year-end. At the end of 2019, the Australian Government announced its selection of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Also noteworthy, the first U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) crew was qualified on the MQ-9A Reaper in support to its Afghanistan mission. The USMC also announced that they are transitioning from a lease model and are acquiring GA-ASI RPAS to perform multi-domain operations (MDO), including maritime surveillance. These decisions are clear signs that the MQ-9 family is meeting operational requirements for its customers.
We look forward to using our Avenger UAS as an early-start surrogate for the U.S. Air Force's Skyborg program vision. We will fly it in November to demonstrate cognitive artificial intelligence and UAS automation. We will bring that into a series of large force exercises next year, when we will validate the air-to-air capability of disaggregated unmanned systems.
November 13, 2023 | International, Aerospace
Electric air taxis could be transporting passengers from JFK Airport to downtown Manhattan by 2025 - on quiet, emissions-free journeys that take around seven minutes.
August 12, 2020 | International, Naval
August 11, 2020 - BAE Systems has received an $83.5 million contract from the U.S. Navy to modernize the guided-missile destroyers USS Carney (DDG 64) and USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81). The modernization work will be performed sequentially by the company's shipyard in Jacksonville. The contracts include options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $211.6 million. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200811005766/en/ The USS Carney will be first in the shipyard, arriving in September 2020. The 23-year-old ship just returned from a six-year operational period in Rota, Spain, and will undergo extensive repair and upgrade work that will take more than 400 days to complete. The shipyard will drydock the ship and perform maintenance of the underwater hull, renovation of crew habitability spaces and upgrades to shipboard systems. The modernization is scheduled to be completed in November 2021. The Winston S. Churchill will undergo a 390-day maintenance period when the ship arrives in June 2021. The shipyard's work aboard the 18-year-old ship will include drydocking, replacement of steel structures onboard and support of the electronic systems upgrades. The modernization of the Winston S. Churchill is scheduled to be completed in July 2022. “The modernization work aboard the Carney and Winston S. Churchill are significant for our Jacksonville maritime team and important for the service lives and mission capability of these combatants,” said Tim Spratto, general manager of BAE Systems Jacksonville Ship Repair. “The back-to-back sequencing of work is efficient and beneficial for our employees, our subcontractors and our Navy customer.” BAE Systems' Jacksonville shipyard has posted jobs and is expecting to hire workers in a number of trades, including welders, pipefitters, electricians, and painters, over the next two years to work on the two destroyers and for its ongoing repair and modernization work on other ships. The award of these two ships will also provide work for our team of subcontractor partners and third-party vendors in the port. Commissioned in 1996, the USS Carney is named after Admiral Robert Carney, who served as chief of naval operations during the Eisenhower administration. The USS Winston S. Churchill is named after the renowned British prime minister and was commissioned in 2001. BAE Systems is a leading provider of ship repair, maintenance, modernization, conversion, and overhaul services for the Navy, other government agencies, and select commercial customers. The company operates four full-service shipyards in California, Florida, Hawaii and Virginia, and offers a highly skilled, experienced workforce, eight dry docks/marine railways, and significant pier space and ship support services. For information about company jobs, visit www.jobs.baesystems.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200811005766/en/ (Photo credit: BAE Systems)
February 23, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Two sea power advocates in Congress are making the case to grow the Navy's budget, along with the Air Force and cyber capabilities, at the expense of the other services.