October 16, 2020 | International, Naval
Christen McCurdy
Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Huntington Ingalls announced Thursday that it has transferred the Montana submarine to the floating dry dock at Newport News in advance of the vessel's planned November launch.
Earlier this month, the vessel was transported out of Huntington Ingalls' construction industry using a transfer car system, according to the shipbuilder.
"Moving Montana to the floating dry dock is an important accomplishment for the 10,000 shipbuilders who, through the teaming agreement with General Dynamics Electric Boat, have collaborated to get us to where we are today," said Jason Ward, Newport News' vice president of Virginia-class submarine construction.
"It signifies that the submarine is prepared to start the next and final stage of its construction before going to sea," Ward said.
The Montana is the Navy's 21st Virginia-class attack submarine, and was christened by former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell Sept. 12 in front of a virtual audience.
Construction of the 7,800-ton Virginia class sub began in 2015 and is nearly 85% complete.
It was previously scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in late 2020, but Huntington Ingalls now expects to deliver the vessel late next year.
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Christina Mackenzie PARIS – Thales launched on Oct. 16 its new AirMaster C, a compact, active electronically scanned array (AESA), airborne surveillance radar for small and medium-sized platforms. Although the radar's design phase has been finalized it still needs testing airborne. Nevertheless, Stéphane Lavigne, a sales director at Thales, said that the French Armed Forces Ministry had already notified its intention to buy the equipment for the future light joint army helicopter, the Guépard, developed by Airbus Helicopters and due to enter service in 2026. Jon Bye, Thales' head of customer marketing, said that the AirMaster C would ensure customers got “that great picture, first time, every time.” The active antenna radar is based on SiGe (silicon-germanium) technology fully validated in 2019. Thales says SiGe is “much more energy efficient than other technologies used for AESA radars, and allows the radar to self-cool.” François Arpagaus, the company's airborne surveillance product line director, said that AirMaster C is easy to integrate, less complex to operate and would allow users to “see more, more of the time” thanks to “multi-polarization” which allows the radar to automatically select the optimal settings for each mission. The radar was designed for a small footprint, making it 30 percent lower in size, weight and power than other radars in its class. It is small, no bigger than two A4 pages side by side, weighs less than 20 kg (45 lbs) and uses about 1 Kw of power. “It's perfect for small and medium-sized platforms, both manned and unmanned,” Arpagaus said. Lavigne said the sensor had been designed with a lot of input from radar users. “The program is launched, we are ready to take orders,” he said, adding that typical delivery time from contract signing would happen within two years. https://www.c4isrnet.com/c4isr/2020/10/16/thales-launches-small-aesa-radar-for-small-aircraft/