Indonesia orders five C-130J aircraft from Lockheed

On the same subject

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  December 10, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Lockheed Looks To More F-35 Development Work

  Michael Bruno Lockheed Martin is looking to new government interest in follow-on modernization (FOM) upgrades of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to drive future business returns on top of what could be ballooning sustainment revenue, according to the company's chief financial officer (CFO). CFO Ken Possenriede told a Credit Suisse investor conference this month that FOM and sustainment will drive business growth out of the F-35 for Lockheed and its shareholders as production returns shrink with unit price reductions and maturing production. “We ended the SDD [system design and development] program, but the customer still is looking at capability that they want,” he told financial analysts and investors. “So you'll see growth there and in sustainment.” Lockheed Martin expects to deliver 131 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters this year, compared with 91 in 2018, and should deliver 140 in 2020. Over the next few years, Lockheed expects total international demand for the F-35 to drive production to about 175 a year, most of which will be built in Fort Worth, but with some finished in Japan or Italy. But because the price per aircraft has been reduced 13% over low-rate production lots 11-14, to below $80 million per jet for the A variant, that part of the program–“the lion's share” now–is increasingly becoming minimized as a moneymaker. “The reduction in price has been faster than the ramp-up in quantity,” Possenriede said. “So it's going to be, at least in the short term, [that] you'll probably see modest growth in production revenue.” Lockheed won the original $19 billion SDD contract in 2001, but spending on the FOM, also called Block 4 improvements, could reach an additional $16 billion under Pentagon plans discussed last year. At the same time, the F-35 fleet is expected to more than double from about 400 aircraft to 1,000 in the next couple of years. “You'll have more sparing, some more repairing,” he said. “But then you'll see a larger influx of the modification work that will get done, and you'll see sustainment over the next couple of years double. So that will be a faster piece of the revenue.” The company is about one-third complete in standing up repair base facilities now. Lockheed also continues to promote a performance-based logistics contract for the F-35, the CFO noted. “We provided a white paper, call it an unsolicited proposal, that basically commits to the 80% availability and it commits to the $25,000 per flight hour, which we think is the right number to get to,” he said Dec. 5. The F-35 currently costs $35,000 a flight hour. https://aviationweek.com/defense/lockheed-looks-more-f-35-development-work

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  May 16, 2024 | International, Security

  Prepared Together – Cyber Storm IX Recap | CISA

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  January 15, 2020 | International, Land

  Army Picks 2 Firms to Build Light and Medium Robotic Combat Vehicles

  By Matthew Cox The U.S. Army has announced that it plans to strike deals with QinetiQ North America and Textron Systems to build versions of the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV). Army Combat Capability Development Command's Ground Vehicle Systems Center, along with the service's Next-Generation Combat Vehicles cross-functional team, intend to award Other Transaction Agreements (OTA) to QinetiQ North America to build four light versions of the RCV and to Textron to build four medium versions, according to a recent news release from the National Advanced Mobility Consortium. The Army often uses OTAs under its new acquisition reform strategy, so it can have prototypes built quickly for experimenting with new designs. If all goes well in upcoming negotiations, the service intends to award the final OTAs for both variants by mid-February, the release states. The prototype RCVs will be used as part of the Army's "Robotic Campaign of Learning" in an effort to "determine the feasibility of integrating unmanned vehicles into ground combat operations," the release adds. The RCV effort is part of the Army's sweeping modernization effort, launched in 2017. The service wants to develop light, medium and heavy version of the RCV to give commanders the option of sending unmanned vehicles into combat against enemy forces. "Robots have the potential to revolutionize the way we conduct ground combat operations," Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle cross-functional team, said in the release. "Whether that's giving increased firepower to a dismounted patrol, breaching an enemy fighting position, or providing [chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear] reconnaissance, we envision these vehicles providing commanders more time and space for decisions and reducing risk to soldiers." Following final OTA notices, QinetiQ North America and Textron's RCVs will be used in a platoon level experiment in March and a company-level experiment in late 2021, the release states. The results of the experiments, along with the findings from several virtual experiments, will "inform a decision by the Army on how to proceed" with robotic combat vehicles in 2023, according to the release. Textron, along with its subsidiaries Howe and Howe Technologies and FLiR Systems Inc., displayed the Ripsaw M5 unmanned tracked vehicle as its RCV in October at the Association of the United States Army's annual meeting. QinetiQ North America teamed up with Pratt and Miller Defense to enter its Expeditionary Modular Autonomous Vehicle (EMAV) at AUSA as well. Jeffrey Langhout, director of the Ground Vehicle Systems Center, applauded the selection of QinetiQ North America and Textron as a "testament to the dedication and passion of the Army to giving our soldiers the best capabilities possible." "This is a great day for our Army, as we make another important step in learning how we can employ robotic vehicles into our future formations," he said in the release. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/01/14/army-picks-2-firms-build-light-and-medium-robotic-combat-vehicles.html