August 4, 2020 | International, Aerospace

Lockheed dives into next-generation missile defense interceptor competition

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin said it will compete to build the Missile Defense Agency's Next-Generation Interceptor designed to protect the homeland against intercontinental ballistic missile threats from North Korea and Iran.

The company is “excited to confirm that we are putting in a bid for the Next-Generation Interceptor,” Sarah Reeves, Lockheed's vice president of missile defense programs, told reporters Aug. 3.

Bids were due July 31.

Boeing and a Raytheon-Northrop Grumman team have already announced their intentions to compete to develop and field the agency's new interceptor following the cancellation of the Redesigned Kill Vehicle meant to replace the warhead on the current Ground-Based Interceptors. Those missiles are part of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System, which is operational at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The RKV program was paused in May 2019 and then abruptly terminated in August 2019 due to insurmountable technical issues resulting in delayed schedules and cost increases. The Defense Department announced at the time that it would embark on an entirely new program to field a future interceptor.

MDA now plans to downselect to two companies, which will then compete for the right to build the interceptor.

While MDA struggled with RKV, Lockheed invested the last two decades on multi-kill vehicle technology,” Reeves said.

Lockheed had one of three small contracts to design a kill vehicle that could take out multiple warheads several years ago that would lead to a program that would replace the RKV called the Multi-Object Kill Vehicle (MOKV) program. Raytheon and Boeing had won the remaining two contracts.

Reeves stressed the need for the new interceptor to be able to go after threats that disperse multiple objects including decoys.

“We are looking carefully at the lessons learned from RKV including parts survivability testing which, in that program, was done too late and caused a major system redesign, as well as ensuring early-and-often testing and fly-before-you-buy mentality,” Reeves said.

Lockheed plans to conduct two successful flight tests before going into production, Reeves said, which as an MDA program requirement.

“The time is right now,” Reeves said. “We have significant investments and the technology a couple of decades ago, when this was initially a vision of MDA, wasn't quite there, but now it is ready to go.”

The company plans to take elements from its existing capabilities such as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, which Reeves said has had a 100 percent mission success rate, and the Aegis missile defense system. Lockheed also will garner experience from its partnership with the U.S. Navy on its Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missile system, which “has to survive these more hostile environments,” she said.

And Lockheed's experience with space is another asset that will contribute to understanding technology needed for an NGI, which will need to travel through space, according to Reeves.

Lockheed is also optimistic, Reeves said, that it can meet a faster schedule for NGI than currently planned.

Some Defense Department officials said NGI could not be fielded until the 2030s but the MDA director and U.S. Northern Command's commander believe it is possible to move that timeline to at least 2028 or earlier.

The company plans to use tools such as artificial intelligence, machine-to-machine learning, big data analytics and 3-D printing to “accelerate the schedule and to deliver products faster than we have had in the past,” Reeves said.

https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/08/03/lockheed-dives-into-next-generation-missile-defense-interceptor-competition

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August 14, 2019 | International, Aerospace

Big A&D Firms Seem To Be Merging Or Acquiring—Where’s Honeywell?
Michael Bruno United Technologies (UTC) and Raytheon are working hard to convince shareholders to approve their mega-merger. L3 Harris Technologies is riding high after its heritage companies consolidated recently. Industry insiders are making bets on who is next. But Honeywell International has been conspicuously absent in all the major merger and acquisition (M&A) moves in recent years. Why? Honeywell Aerospace chief executive Tim Mahoney recently explained how his company still plans to take advantage of the wave of consolidation hitting aerospace and defense. “We've looked,” Mahoney told an Aug. 7 investor conference. “We've never thought—and we continue to not think—that scale is a major discriminator and a differentiator within our marketplace. Having said that, you need to be large enough to be relevant, and we have been at that point. But scale is not something that is attractive or makes you more attractive from an OEM perspective or from an aftermarket perspective. We've continued to differentiate ourselves relative to value-added offerings.” Mahoney spoke during a live interview with analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu at the Jefferies Global Industrials Conference. While Honeywell has remained active with bolt-on acquisitions—including the July 24 announcement it will buy autopilot specialist TruTrak Flight Systems for an undisclosed amount—the company has not consummated a prime- or OEM-level deal and even walked away from talks with UTC in 2016. That same year, Honeywell did buy warehouse automation specialist Intelligrated for $1.5 billion. And Honeywell leaders have long assured Wall Street that they keep their eyes open in A&D, as Mahoney reaffirmed. But they have complained that valuations were too rich to be conducive to dealmaking. Mahoney also indicated that Honeywell could take advantage of the consolidation trend in another way. “We've actually gone back and looked at when there has been very significant consolidations, or two companies coming together,” he explained. “That has actually helped us from a market share perspective, because typically when there's a large-scale integration of two companies, those two companies become inwardly focused, which is understandable. “As a result, we've been opportunistic relative to that,” he continued. “If you look at our cockpit systems business or some of those areas where we've competed with some of the companies that have consolidated, our auxiliary power unit business, you would see that we've actually grown disproportionately larger during those time periods.” One area Honeywell is now focusing on growing is its new big-data analytics software Forge, which the company recently rolled out for airlines and other industrial companies (Aviation DAILY, June 6). While the software expectedly looks to provide aircraft operators with predictive maintenance, fuel optimization and other flight operation benefits, Honeywell is looking to add ground operations through an expanding experiment with Swissport, one of the world's largest airport ground service providers. Last December, Honeywell and Swissport signed a five-year agreement initially to apply Honeywell's GoDirect Ground Handling product used across Swissport's global operation base. Ben Driggs, president of Honeywell Connected Aircraft, told the investor conference that the goal is to achieve faster airplane turnarounds in the 20-40% of the time the aircraft is on the ground. He said the partnership is first being implemented in Kansai International Airport (KIX) for Osaka, Japan, with Miami, Basel, Switzerland and “numerous” other Swissport airports planned. https://aviationweek.com/defense/big-ad-firms-seem-be-merging-or-acquiring-where-s-honeywell
June 17, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

Salon Eurosatory 2022 : dossier spécial d’Air & Cosmos
Air & Cosmos consacre un dossier au salon Eurosatory 2022, qui s’est tenu du 13 au 16 juin à Paris. Le magazine publie notamment un article présentant les évolutions du parc d’hélicoptères de l’armée de Terre. Le standard 2 du Tigre sera évalué à l’automne 2022, tandis que le Guépard doit arriver en 2027. Le 4ème régiment d’hélicoptères des forces spéciales (RHFS) a de plus conclu un accord de coopération renforcée avec le GAMSTAT (Groupement aéromobilité de la section technique de l’armée de Terre) de Valence, qui dispose « de moyens réservés, en hélicoptères, en experts de domaines et en capacité de fabrication pour le soutien aux expérimentations ».
February 11, 2022 | International, Aerospace

Defense Innovation Unit partners with Orbital Insight to take on satellite spoofing
Under a new contract, Orbital Insight will use commercially available data and advanced algorithms to detect and alert operators to possible spoofing attempts.

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Lockheed dives into next-generation missile defense interceptor competition

On the same subject

Defense Innovation Unit partners with Orbital Insight to take on satellite spoofing Under a new contract, Orbital Insight will use commercially available data and advanced algorithms to detect and alert operators to possible spoofing attempts.

Defense Innovation Unit partners with Orbital Insight to take on satellite spoofing
Under a new contract, Orbital Insight will use commercially available data and advanced algorithms to detect and alert operators to possible spoofing attempts.