Military Aircraft Competitions Worldwide

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  November 7, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Lockheed Martin Appoints Leader Of Future Vertical Lift Campaign

  WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 7, 2019 – Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) today announced the appointment of Andrew (Andy) Adams to oversee all strategic and operational aspects of its efforts to support Future Vertical Lift (FVL), which will shape the United States military's helicopter fleet of the future. This appointment emphasizes that Lockheed Martin is bringing the full strength of its portfolio to FVL and demonstrates that the corporation is prepared to support accelerated fielding of these capabilities. Led by the U.S. Army, FVL will create the next generation of rotary wing aircraft that are faster, more maneuverable, more lethal, and more technologically advanced. Andy joins the Rotary and Mission Systems business from Aeronautics, where he was vice president and deputy general manager, F-35 Lightning II program. He has a diverse background in the aerospace industry with 31 years of experience within Lockheed Martin, including 29 with Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (Skunk Works®). Andy brings unique skills to the role based on his deep involvement in the pursuit, capture and execution of highly complex, highly contested capture campaigns. His appointment is effective Nov. 18, 2019. “Lockheed Martin is demonstrating its leap-ahead technologies today that will enable us to provide these critical capabilities to the U.S. Army in record time. For more than a decade, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, has been investing in game-changing X2 technology to support our customers' FVL missions with increased speed, agility and maneuverability,” said Frank St. John, Executive Vice President, Rotary and Mission Systems. “Coupled with our adaptable mission systems, sensors, weapons, advanced manufacturing, and training and sustainment solutions, Andy will ensure we bring the best of Lockheed Martin to Future Vertical Lift. He will lead the way as we advance industry and supplier partnerships with a stronger, centralized effort to meet our customers' critical missions.” Lockheed Martin's FVL campaign will integrate capture initiatives for the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), for which Lockheed Martin is proposing its RAIDER X aircraft, and Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), the Marine Corps' Attack Utility Replacement Aircraft (AURA), as well as S-97 RAIDER, SB>1 DEFIANT and international efforts. The FVL campaign will bring employees and resources together into a unified organizational structure, increasing efficiencies and preparing Lockheed Martin for rapid development and delivery of game-changing technologies and capabilities. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. https://news.lockheedmartin.com/Lockheed-Martin-Appoints-Leader-of-Future-Vertical-Lift-Campaign

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  April 22, 2020 | International, Naval

  Pentagon, Industry Struggle To Chart Impacts Of COVID On Arsenal

  "I think a three month slow-down in program activity is an optimistic projection based on the level of damage the economy is currently sustaining." By PAUL MCLEARYon April 21, 2020 at 3:33 PM WASHINGTON: Defense industry and Pentagon leaders are struggling to assess what impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on building and maintaining the global US arsenal, but early assessments agree there'll be some disruption and delay as the global economy teeters. How much, how long, and where those disruptions will occur are something of an open question. With massive supply chains across the globe that run from small mom and pop manufacturing shops to massive global conglomerates, there's no one formula to assess what will happen to the industrial base in the weeks and months to come. On Monday, Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord said she expects the largest programs to see three-month delays, but some analysts say that assessment could be too rosy. “I think a three month slow-down in program activity is an optimistic projection based on the level of damage the economy is currently sustaining,” said Andrew Hunter, former chief of staff to two heads of Pentagon acquisition. Hunter is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The designation of the defense industry as critical infrastructure has ensured that shipyards, factories, and shops have generally remained open, as workers stagger shifts and companies provide liberal leave and teleworking where possible. That has placed the defense industry in a good position relative to other parts of the economy. But the supply chain those companies rely on “is tightly interlinked with the commercial economy, especially the aviation and automotive sectors, and this will transmit a degree of economic disruption into defense in the coming months,” Hunter said. Lord singled out the aerospace sector, along with shipyards and space launch as areas most at risk of slowdown and disruption. So far, though, the Navy and its largest shipbuilder say they're mostly working through the issues, and are staying away from putting a specific length of time on any delays. “We do not have a list of programs that are delayed, but as Ms. Lord and [Navy acquisition head James] Guerts have both said, while it's too soon to identify specific delays, generally we are expecting and planning for program disruptions,” Navy spokesman Capt. Danny Hernandez told me in an email. Geurts has moved to accelerate funding for some work and parts supplies so industry can eventually ramp up once the entire workforce is back on the job. Speaking to reporters last week, Geurts said over the “next three four weeks we'll get a better view of the exact delay and disruption and then how we might mitigate that, or quite frankly, where do we have opportunities where we can accelerate things” due to some excess capacity in the supply base because it's not being consumed by commercial aviation or shipbuilding. At the country's largest shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls, company executives told me recently they're not seeing significant reductions in the number of parts they're receiving. “We are working with a few critical suppliers that are having challenges, but I think for the most part are going to be able to get through that,” said Lucas Hicks, vice president of new construction aircraft carrier programs. “We have reached out to all the suppliers and are working with them to try to help them.” There will be some pain, though how much is up for debate. Analyst Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners said in a note Monday that a three-month impact might not force companies to drastically change their expectations for the whole year. Any slippages this spring “could conceivably be made up in subsequent months, but that may be a challenge. Contractors could sustain prior guidance and just call out COVID-19 as a risk for the full year, or drop guidance altogether. No one has a perfect crystal ball.” Hawk Carlisle, president of the National Defense Industrial Association, said on a Monday conference call organized by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America that the slowdown in the global economy “is going to cause things to cost more, whether it's service agreements or products and manufacturing capability.” He's looking to the next congressional stimulus package for an acknowledgment “that these programs are going to exceed budget,” he added, “because of this two to three months of delays, partial workforce, paying the workforce, inability to perform on contract.” But Hunter thinks, so far, the Pentagon has handled the situation as well as can be expected: “To the department's credit, they have been aggressively looking for issues in the supply chain, which means that Ms. Lord's estimate becomes a lot more likely if they succeed in staying ahead of these problems.” https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/pentagon-industry-struggle-to-chart-impacts-of-covid-on-arsenal

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  February 28, 2023 | International, Aerospace

  U.S. Air Force flags plans to buy 26 E-7 planes from Boeing

  The U.S. Air Force plans to buy 26 Boeing Co E-7A airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) planes to replace its ageing fleet of E-3s, the Department of the Air Force said on Tuesday, as it announced a contract worth up to $1.2 billion.