February 21, 2024 | International, Land
ST Engineering unveils wheeled ground robot equipped with aerial drone
The firm completed development of the four-wheel drive electric vehicle last year, but is only now showing it to the public.
January 15, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Lockheed Martin to Integrate New Situational Awareness System for F-35
By Frank Wolfe
Lockheed Martin is to integrate the Raytheon Next-Generation Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (DAS) into all F-35 variants over the next two years under a nearly $99 million contract announced by the Pentagon on Dec. 30.
The system is to provide "360-degree situational and environmental awareness day or night," according to Raytheon, for navigation, missile and aircraft detection and tracking. The pilot's helmet is to receive high-resolution, real time imagery from six external infrared cameras.
Northrop Grumman developed the current AN/AAQ-37 DAS, but bowed out of a bid for the follow-on program in 2018, as company executives said that the pay-off would be higher for other business opportunities. Lockheed Martin is to perform the integration work on the new Raytheon DAS in Ft. Worth and finish the work by July 2022 for delivery to the F-35 fleet beginning in 2023 with production Lot 15 aircraft.
As Pentagon officials follow congressional direction to reduce F-35 sustainment costs and improve aircraft performance, Lockheed Martin has said that the Raytheon DAS will lead to more than $3 billion in life cycle cost savings, a 45 percent reduction in unit recurring costs, a more than 50 percent reduction in operations and sustainment costs, five times more reliability, and twice the performance capability.
Raytheon has also been moving to install the Stormbreaker smart bomb, previously known as Small Diameter Bomb II, on the F-35. Stormbreaker has a tri-mode seeker that uses imaging infrared, millimeter wave, and a semi-active laser to destroy moving targets in adverse weather from up to 45 miles away.
Raytheon said that it completed integration of the Stormbreaker on the U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle by Boeing in April, 2018. Integration of the Stormbreaker on U.S. Navy F/A-18 E/F aircraft by Boeing and the Lockheed Martin F-35 has begun.
All F-35 variants are to carry Stormbreaker by 2023, according to Raytheon, which said that the F-35 can carry eight Stormbreaker weapons internally and eight on the wings.
On the same subject
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April 14, 2024 | International, Aerospace
Air Force to get F-15E jet with fresh electronic warfare tech in summer
EPAWSS, an advanced electronic warfare system, will allow F-15EX and some F-15E jets to monitor, jam and deceive threats in highly contested environments.
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May 20, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Northrop receives $2.4B contract for two missile defense satellites
Nathan Strout The U.S. Space Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a $2.375 billion contract for two Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared satellites that will help provide ballistic missile warning for the military. Next Gen OPIR is to replace the Space-Based Infrared System, a crucial part of the nation's missile defense architecture. Utilizing infrared sensors, the satellites will be able to detect and track ballistic missile threats while being more survivable than the legacy system. The Space and Missile Systems Center plans to have five satellites in the constellation: three geosynchronous satellites built by Lockheed Martin, and two polar satellites being built by Northrop Grumman. Northrop Grumman was initially awarded a $47 million contract for system and payload requirements analysis and risk reduction for the two polar vehicles in June 2018. The $2.4 billion contract modification issued May 18 provides for Phase One design and development, the procurement of critical flight hardware, and risk-reduction efforts leading to critical design review. At this time, $70.5 million is being released. Work is expected to be completed by December 2025. Meanwhile, Lockheed is developing the three geosynchronous Next Gen OPIR space vehicles. That company was awarded $2.9 billion in August 2018 to begin work on the satellites, leading to critical design review. In October 2019, the Space and Missile Systems Center announced the system had passed preliminary design review. The Air Force has accelerated the timeline for Next Gen OPIR to get the first satellite delivered in 2025. That's required more money up front than initially expected, which was provided through a series of reprogramming requests in 2019. That became a source of tension between competing versions of the annual defense budgets in the House and Senate last year, but SMC credited that reprogramming with keeping Next Gen OPIR on track. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/05/19/northrop-grumman-receives-24-billion-for-two-missile-defense-satellites