Lockheed awarded $450.7M contract for Saudi patrol ships

On the same subject

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  April 26, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land

  Marines 3-D print replacement parts for F-35, unmanned ground vehicle

  By: Daniel Cebul WASHINGTON ― A U.S. Marine Corps pilot has successfully flown an F-35B Lightning II with a 3-D printed part. The Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 used 3-D printing to replace a worn bumper on the landing gear of the fighter jet. Marine Corps Sgt Adrian Willis, deployed with Combat Logistic Battalion 31, 31st Marine Expedition Unit, used the 3-D printer as part of a process otherwise known as additive manufacturing. Without a 3-D printing capability, the entire door assembly would have needed to be replaced, a more expensive and more time-consuming repair. Rather than waiting weeks for a replacement the bumper was printed, approved and installed within a few days. The repair demonstrates the value that additive manufacturing technology brings to forward-deployed units. “I think 3-D printing is definitely the future ― it's absolutely the direction the Marine Corps needs to be going,” Willis said. “As a commander, my most important commodity is time,” according to Marine Corps Lt. Col. Richard Rusnok, the squadron's commanding officer. “Although our supply personnel and logisticians do an outstanding job getting us parts, being able to rapidly make our own parts is a huge advantage.” Building off the achievement with the F-35 part, the MEU's explosive ordnance disposal team requested a modification part to function as a lens cap for a camera on an iRobot 310 small unmanned ground vehicle. Such a part did not exist at the time, but Willis and the 3-D printing team designed and produced the part, which is currently operational and protecting the robot's lens. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2018/04/25/marines-3-d-print-replacement-parts-for-f-35-unmanned-ground-vehicle/

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  May 31, 2019 | International, C4ISR

  The Army wants C5ISR systems on demand

  By: Mark Pomerleau Across the Department of Defense, organizations and agencies want to transport parts and ready-to-go systems to field units on demand. For the Army's sustainment community, this means keeping up with the dynamic pace of deployments to by placing qualified workers closer to the battlefield or assembling reserve systems ahead of time. Mobile, expeditionary equipment, which includes communications and networking gear, wasn't required for the counterinsurgency fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. There, the Army was able to take advantage of predicable rotations in a relatively permissive theater from a technology standpoint, Communications and Electronics Command Commander Maj. Gen. Randy Taylor told C4ISRNET in a May 20 interview in his office at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Now, Communications and Electronics Command, responsible for sustaining and refurbishing Army command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR) systems, is looking to adjust to this new unpredictable world. Taylor said the Army is focusing on global hot spots where it thinks it might have to respond with soldiers by sending the proper technicians ahead first. Army staffers are also making sure they configure systems as much as possible in advance of competition, however, but forward technicians can assist if systems break or need to be tweaked. The Army's premier depot maintenance center, Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania, has established depot maintenance facilities in Korea and Europe. This allows much of the depot work to be done in the field, reducing the repair times so units can get their equipment back faster. This setup means only items that have to go back to Tobyhanna are then shipped back. One of the big shifts in a renewed focus on so-called great power competition versus the prior years of counterterrorism, Taylor said, is supporting mobility and immediacy, or what senior Army leaders refer to as “fight tonight.” “What we're looking at now with this possible near peer conflict is fight tonight expeditionary,” he said. “That's part of the imperative for modernizing the network so it's lighter, faster, more capable, but sustainment has to keep pace with those expeditionary units.” One area in particular the Army has reevaluated in this vein is its pre-positioned stocks. These are equipment that sit forward so units that deploy don't have to take everything they need with them. While declining to offer a region by name, Taylor said in certain areas, rather than just putting C5ISR systems in proximity of platforms stored in the same compound, they are installing the systems on the platform in these pre-positioned areas so that they can be ready to “fight tonight.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2019/05/30/the-army-wants-c5isr-systems-on-demand/

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  January 30, 2019 | International, Land

  With shutdown over, Japan cleared to spend $2.15 billion on Aegis Ashore

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Tuesday that Japan has been cleared to buy a pair of land-based Aegis ballistic missile defense systems, the first Foreign Military Sales announcement since the end of a government shutdown that stalled the FMS process. The sale, worth an estimated $2.15 billion, would bolster Japan's existing sea-based Aegis capabilities. The island nation is in the process of increasing its missile defense capabilities, both through additional Aegis buys and through the co-development of the SM-3 missile with the U.S. Although not specified in the DSCA announcement, a government official confirmed these two systems are for Japan's planned Aegis Ashore sites, which are expected to be operational by 2023. Included in the potential package: two Aegis weapon systems, two multimission signal processors, and two command-and-control processor refreshes, alongside radio navigation equipment, ordnance, identification friend or foe systems, and construction services for six vertical launch system launcher module enclosures. Tuesday's announcement is the first DSCA notification to be posted since Dec. 18, just days before the longest government shutdown in U.S. history began. Speaking to reporters last week, Andrea Thompson, the U.S. State Department official who oversees the FMS process, said the shutdown was slowing down the process of clearing sales requests from foreign customers — notable, as the Trump administration has made increasing weapon sales abroad a key part of both its foreign policy and economic growth strategy. “There will be a bit of a bump — a gap, if you will — just because we haven't had the engagement with [Capitol] Hill” normally seen in the process, Thompson said then. “We'll be able to make up some ground, but I am a realist. We have to work harder if we are going to have the numbers we had last year.” Japan has recently spent heavily on American defense items. In September, the nation was cleared to spend $3.14 billion on nine E2-D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft, and in October it agreed to pay more than half a billion dollars for SM-3 missiles. In the recently released Missile Defense Review, the U.S. Department of Defense identified that working with partners in the Pacific — notably Japan and South Korea — is the “cornerstone” of American security in the region. “Japan is one of our strongest missile defense partners, and works together with the United States to strengthen cooperative missile defenses against regional missile threats,” the review states. “Going forward, DoD will work with allies and partners to prioritize these types of missile defense integration opportunities that contribute to more effective protection of the United States, its allies and deployed forces.” DSCA announcements do not mean sales are final. The announcement serves as notification to Congress about the potential sale, which can be vetoed by the Senate; once cleared, negotiations between the customer and contractor can lead to changed quantities or dollar figures from the original announcement. https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2019/01/29/with-shutdown-over-japan-cleared-to-spend-215-billion-on-aegis-ashore