November 2, 2018 | International, Aerospace
By: Burak Ege Bekdil
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's aerospace authorities have chosen General Electric's F110 family of engines to power the prototype and an initial batch of what will become Turkey's first indigenous fighter jet, the TF-X.
A senior procurement official confirmed the choice, saying that the twin-engine TF-X will be powered by the F110-GE-129 or the F110-GE-132 engine.
“This is a stopgap solution until we have built our indigenous engine for the TF-X,” the official said.
Under the deal, the first prototype of the TF-X and an unknown number of initial batches would be powered by the F110 engine.
Turkey then plans to switch to an engine to be developed by TRMotor, a national engine consortium.
But some aerospace sources say the F110 may not be the ideal engine for a fifth=generation fighter. “If the Turks go for the GE option, they will have to compromise on the stealth capabilities of the TF-X,” a Paris-based defense specialist said.
Earlier this year, Turkey and Rolls-Royce came close to a strategic cooperation deal for the development and co-production of an engine for the TF-X. The British company and the Turkish government signed a letter of intent to finalize negotiations on the engine program by July 31, but the plan did not come to fruition.
Turkish officials say the idea behind the GE deal is to rely on foreign technology to eventually in the long term build an indigenous engine to power the TF-X.
Turkey wants to build the TF-X with know-how from BAE Systems. In January 2017, Britain and Turkey signed a deal worth more than £100 million (U.S. $128 million) to develop the Turkish fighter jet.
Turkey hopes to have the first test flights of the aircraft in 2023.
December 7, 2022 | International, Aerospace
Every F-35 strike fighter built for U.S. armed forces contains 920 pounds of rare earth materials â the majority of which is imported from China.
February 13, 2019 | International, Land
Oshkosh [OSK] Defense announced Friday it has received a $237.7 million order from the Army to recapitalize 407 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT) and 25 Palletized Load System (PLS) trucks and deliver 601 new PLS trailers. The recapitalization... https://www.defensedaily.com/oshkosh-receives-237-7-million-army-recapitalize-400-heavy-tactical-trucks
October 17, 2019 | International, Land
Jen DiMascio In its attempt to ensure that soldiers have access to GPS-like information, even when access to those U.S. Air Force satellites may be compromised, the U.S. Army is in the process of fielding an alternative system on certain ground vehicles. The Army began fielding the first iteration of the Mounted Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing System (MAPS), an anti-jam GPS alternative, on General Dynamics Stryker vehicles in the 2nd Cavalry Regiment this year. The service will field 300 such systems to the 2nd Cav this year, according to Willie Nelson, director of the Army's Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing Cross Functional Team. Thousands are supposed to be installed into vehicles in U.S. European Command by 2028. On Oct. 15, the U.S. Army announced it had chosen Collins Aerospace to provide a next-generation MAPS for manned ground vehicles. Collins will make MAPS Gen II, systems that will be evaluated for a year and potentially be fielded to 8,000 additional vehicles. The Collins Aerospace system combines the NavHub-100 navigation system and Digital GPS Anti-jam Receiver-100. The system adds a military code capability and modernized signal tracking to improve reliability and integrity, Collins says. The MAPS program is part of the U.S. Army's focus on modernization. But it is also a response to a request from commanders in Europe and Korea, according to Gen. John Murray, commander of Army Futures Command. The Army maintains that its effort to look for alternate means of positioning, navigation and timing is aligned with the U.S. Air Force's plans for GPS satellites. Asked about the threat from Russia, Brig Gen. Robert Collins, program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors, said the U.S. needs confidence not just in the ability of U.S. assets to withstand jamming attacks but to be able to fend off spoofing efforts as well. “The electromagnetic spectrum is becoming contested and people are operating in that space,” Collins said. “We recognize that our traditional GPS today is not where we need it to be from a survivability perspective. So we have looked at how to make it more hardened.” Along with those efforts, the Army has also planned an industry day for Oct. 29-31, as it seeks new inertial measurement unit and timing technologies. https://aviationweek.com/defense/us-army-pursues-alternatives-gps