March 11, 2024 | International, Land
September 18, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Land
Lockheed Aims For Laser On Fighter By 2025
How do you keep a laser focused on a target moving at hundreds of miles per hour? The answer is crucial to Lockheed lasers being fitted on Army trucks and Air Force fighters over the next few years.
WASHINGTON: “Lockheed Martin is working to fly a laser on tactical fighters within the next five years,” Lockheed laser expert Mark Stephen told reporters yesterday afternoon. “We're spending a lot of time to get the beam director right.”
That beam director, which keeps the laser beam on target, is a crucial but easily overlooked component of future laser weapons.
The Air Force Research Lab's SHiELD program aims to put defensive laser pod on fighters to defend them against incoming anti-aircraft missiles. An offensive laser to shoot down enemy aircraft would have to hit harder and at longer distances, so it's a more distant goal: Such weapons are envisioned for a future “sixth generation” fighter — like the NGAD prototype now in flight test — to follow the 5th-gen F-35, while the SHiELD pod will go on non-stealthy 4th gen aircraft like the F-16, as in this Lockheed video.
But the company's new beam-director design is actually getting its first workout on an Army system, the truck-mounted IFPC Energy Laser, which will defend against artillery rockets, drones, and, potentially, subsonic cruise missiles.
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/09/lockheed-aims-for-laser-on-fighter-by-2025/
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October 25, 2019 | International, Land
Lockheed Martin Awarded Air Force ICBM Contract
Valley Forge, Pa., Oct. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The US Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a $108 million contract for the Mark21A Reentry Vehicle (Mk21A) Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) contract. The potential value of the contract is estimated at $138 million: $108 million awarded in the three-year contract and $30 million as a potential one-year contract. "It is essential that Lockheed Martin continue our long-standing ICBM partnership with the Air Force to provide them with advanced solutions. We will continue to demonstrate, through this TMRR, cutting-edge engineering to defeat rogue nation threats," said John Snyder, vice president of Advanced Strategic Programs for Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin will work closely with the Air Force and the National Nuclear Security Administration to provide a technically low risk and affordable solution to modify existing Mk21 reentry vehicles with the capability to deliver the W87-1 Warhead for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Weapon System. The Mk21A TMRR contract is a key element of Lockheed Martin's strategy to remain the Air Force's trusted partner for ICBM Reentry Systems and modernization of the deterrent triad. For additional information, visit our website: www.lockheedmartin.com/icbm About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. SOURCE Lockheed Martin View source version on Lockheed Martin: https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2019-10-23-Lockheed-Martin-Awarded-Air-Force-ICBM-Contract
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February 11, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
European Defense Initiative funding drops in defense budget request
By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is requesting $4.5 billion in funds for the European Deterrence Initiative, the second straight year that the department has cut its request for the program. The EDI is a special part of the department's Overseas Contingency Operations funding, focused on reassuring allies in Europe and deterring Russian aggression on the continent. The Pentagon requested $4.8 billion for EDI in FY18, a request which grew to $6.5 billion in FY19. The FY20 request, however, dropped it down to $5.9 billion. Congress plussed up the funding to $6.5 billion, meaning the department's request for this year would be a $1.5 billion cut. Funding will go towards rotational force deployment and the implementation of previously funded multiyear agreements. It will also support additional exercises in Europe and the prepositioning of U.S. equipment on the continent. Two European officials contacted by Defense News downplayed concerns, with one saying that a drop in funding is normal given the number of infrastructure projects that are being completed. Included in the EDI funding is $250 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which can be used to replace any “weapons or defensive articles” provided to Ukraine by the U.S. government. Such funding became a flashpoint in 2019, eventually leading to the impeachment of President Donald Trump, who was acquitted in the Senate last week. In the last National Defense Authorization Act, Congress requested that the Pentagon submit a five-year plan for EDI in FY21. Overall, the OCO funding request is $69 billion, slightly down from the $71.3 billion enacted by Congress for FY20. Other major OCO funds include $16.2 billion for operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria; $7.6 billion for the replenishment of major munitions that have been expended around the globe; and $4 billion to train and support Afghanistan security forces. OCO also funds $600 million in security cooperation funding, which has now been rebranded as the National Defense Strategy-Implementation fund, or NDS-I. https://www.defensenews.com/smr/federal-budget/2020/02/10/european-defense-initiative-funding-drops-in-defense-budget-request