October 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Security

Navy Hires Boeing To Develop A Very Fast And Long-Range Strike Missile Demonstrator

The Navy will use the new high-speed demonstrator to help refine its requirements for future stand-off anti-ship and land-attack missiles.

oeing has received a contract to help develop a ramjet-powered high-speed missile demonstrator for the U.S. Navy. The company says that the design will aid the service in identifying requirements for future air-launched missiles, possibly ones able to reach hypersonic speeds, that its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and other combat aircraft within its carrier air wings will be able to employ against targets on land or at sea.

The company's Defense, Space & Security division announced that the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), part of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), had awarded it this contract, worth approximately $30 million, on Oct. 20, 2020. The work will be conducted under what is officially called the Supersonic Propulsion Enabled Advanced Ramjet (SPEAR) program. The goal is to conduct the first flight of the demonstrator in late 2022.

"We have a talented team of engineers to meet the challenging technical demands and schedule timeline that the SPEAR program requires," Steve Mercer, the Program Manager at Boeing for the SPEAR effort, said in a statement. "We look forward to working with Navy experts to advance technologies for the Navy's future capabilities."

It's not entirely clear what kind of missile demonstrator the Navy is looking for exactly for the SPEAR program. The acronym includes the word "supersonic," but Boeing's press release cites its prior work on the X-51A Waverider, an experimental air-breathing hypersonic vehicle that featured a scramjet engine. Hypersonic speed is generally defined as anything above Mach 5.

At the same time, Boeing also highlighted its work on "the Variable Flow Ducted Rocket propulsion system under the Triple Target Terminator program in 2014." The Triple Target Terminator program, or T-3, which the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) led, explored concepts for very-long-range air-launched missiles that would be able to engage hostile aircraft, cruise missiles, and air defense threats on the ground, hence the name.

A Variable Flow Ducted Rocket propulsion system is a kind of rocket ramjet, a relatively well-established concept at its core, in which gas produced by burning a source of solid fuel is mixed with compressed air fed into a combustion chamber via a duct or air intake to produce thrust. Advanced designs that allow for varying the flow of gas into the combustion chamber make it possible to throttle the thrust and adjust the speed of the vehicle the ramjet is powering. With this in mind, it's worth noting that NAWCWD issued a request for information regarding "Solid Fuel Ramjet Propulsion Manufacture/Test" in March, though it is unclear if that contracting notice is related in any way to SPEAR.

In addition, Boeing's press release says that it will "co-develop" the SPEAR demonstrator, but it's unclear if this means another company is involved in the effort or that the Navy's own engineers and scientists will be directly assisting with the work. The website of the Naval Aviation Systems Consortium (NASC) lists a contract award to the company relating to the SPEAR program on Aug. 31, valued at just over $32 million, but for the demonstrator's airframe only. NASC "has been formed to support the technology needs of the Naval Air Warfare Centers (NAWCs) and the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) through the use of Other Transaction (OT) Authority," according to the site.

There is no mention of this award in the Pentagon's daily contracting announcement for Aug. 31, which is supposed to include any deal valued at more than $7 million. The SPEAR contract that Boeing has just announced also does not appear in today's notice, so it's unclear when the Navy formally awarded these two contracts and whether or not they are, in fact, the same one. The War Zone has already reached out to Boeing for more information about its involvement in the SPEAR effort.

Whatever the company's role in the project is or isn't, the press release certainly indicates that it will be a stepping stone to the development of future anti-ship and land-attack missiles that will be integrated onto aircraft in the Navy's carrier air wings. This includes the services F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, another Boeing product, a significant number of which eventually slated to go through the Block III upgrade program, which will add a host of advanced features that you can read about in more detail in this past War Zone piece. At the same time, the clear indication is that any operational weapons that follow-on from the SPEAR effort could be added to the arsenal of the service's F-35C Joint Strike Fighters, as well.

An F/A-18E Super Hornet, at left, and an F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, at right, share space on the flight deck of the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during tests in 2018.

"The contract award comes after the Department of Defense requested information from the defense industry to help the Navy determine technical requirements of future carrier-based land and sea strike weapons systems," Boeing's press release said.

"The SPEAR flight demonstrator will provide the F/A-18 Super Hornet and carrier strike group with significant improvements in range and survivability against advanced threat defensive systems," Mercer, the firm's SPEAR program manager, added.

Very-long-range, high-speed strike weapons could be very valuable for the Navy's carrier air wings, especially as potential near-peer adversaries, such as China and Russia, continue to develop and field increasingly longer-range and otherwise more capable surface-to-air missile systems and associated radars and other sensors. Aircraft carriers and their associated strike groups and air wings are also increasingly at risk from various anti-access and area-denial capabilities, further underscoring the need for weapons with greater range and that are able to prosecute targets faster to help ensure their survival.

At present, the primary air-launched stand-off anti-ship and land-attack missiles available to them are the AGM-84D Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile, the AGM-84H/K Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER), and the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), all of which are subsonic.

The service is in the process of developing the AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER), which will have at some surface strike capabilities and will also serve as the basis for a Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) for the U.S. Air Force. However, the exact speed and range of this weapon are unclear. The Navy is also developing a powered cruise missile derivative of its AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) glide bomb.

Boeing's SPEAR announcement comes as the U.S. military as a whole is pursuing a wide array of new hypersonic strike weapons, including unpowered boost-glide vehicles and air-breathing missiles. The Air Force is working toward its own "Expendable Hypersonic Multi-Mission Air-Breathing Demonstrator" as part of a program called Mayhem, which is linked to work on advanced turbine-based combined cycle engines.

That service is also working closely with DARPA on the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) project and its own Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) effort. Lockheed Martin, which is leading the development of the HAWC missile, has proposed a follow-on design for use by the Navy in the past.

In August, the Air Force had said it was looking at designs from Boeing, as well as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, to meet a requirement for "a solid-rocket boosted, air-breathing, hypersonic conventional cruise missile, air-launched from existing fighter/bomber aircraft." It's not clear if that announcement was related to HACM or not, but the following month, Boeing released a computer-generated promotional video featuring a B-1 bomber firing what the company described as a notional hypersonic missile. The company has subsequently released a more detailed still rendering featuring this conceptual missile that, at least visually, appears to be an air-breathing design.

All told, it's hardly surprising that the Navy is also in the process of pursuing its own high-speed strike missiles to arm its carrier aircraft. There's no reason to believe that the weapons that emerge from SPEAR won't be suitable for integration onto land-based platforms, such as the service's P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, as well.

Whatever SPEAR's final design looks like, it's an important step forward for the Navy in providing this capability to its combat aircraft fleets in the future.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/37170/navy-hires-boeing-to-develop-a-very-fast-and-long-range-strike-missile-demonstrator

On the same subject

January 30, 2019 | International, Aerospace

Lockheed: F-35A Cost To Drop Below $80 Million Per Fighter In 2023
By: Ben Werner Lockheed Martin is committed to producing the F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter for $80 million each by next year and further reducing the overall program costs as part of the next production contract negotiations with the Department of Defense, the company said on Tuesday In 2022, Lockheed Martin officials expect to negotiate the next multiyear F-35 contract with the Joint Program Office. The goal is to use the steady cash flow from a multiyear contract to drive down further the production costs once the contract kicks in. As part of a pitch for multiyear contract, Lockheed Martin officials say such a deal will lower the F-35A price to less than $80 million per fighter, Marillyn Hewson, chief executive of Lockheed Martin, told analysts during a conference call today discussing the company's 2018 year-end results and expectations for 2019. “That's our target, to continue to drive the unit cost down,” Hewson said. “And we won't stop there, we will always be looking at ways that we can take the cost down in the program as it continues to mature and grows.” Currently, the F-35A, the standard take-off and landing variant primarily used by the U.S. Air Force and foreign partners, has a price tag of $89.2 million. The F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant used by the Marine Corps and some foreign partners currently cost $115.5 million each, and the F-35C carrier variant used by the Navy cost $107.7 million per fighter, according to Lockheed Martin. As production increases, the price per F-35 is expected to decrease due to efficiencies in the production process and the ability to lock in lower prices for large quantities of raw materials and components. Lockheed Martin plans to deliver 131 fighters this year, compared to the 91 F-35 fighters delivered in 2018. Within two years, company officials expect to deliver more than 161 fighters per year. However, with F-35 production is closing in on what's considered the full capacity for the program of record, Hewson said the company could build more. Increasing the production rate would require coordination with the JPO, the supply chain and international customers, but Hewson said the company could handle increased demand. Germany, Switzerland and Finland are currently considering buying the F-35, Hewson said. Already the U.S. and 12 other countries are either part of the program of record or committed to purchasing F-35 fighters, according to Lockheed Martin. “We could certainly go to a higher rate if the demand were such that we needed to do that,” Hewson said. Other segments of Lockheed Martin's weapons systems portfolio are also expected to perform well in 2019. The company's Missiles and Fire Control business are expected to record a profit of between $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion in the year. The Rotary and Mission Systems business is expected to record a profit of about $1.3 billion for the year, Bruce Tanner, Lockheed Martin's chief financial officer, said during the call. After the call, the U.S. Department of State's Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced it approved the sale of two Aegis Weapon Systems, two Multi-Mission Signal Processors and two Command and Control Processor refreshes to Japan. Lockheed Martin's Rotary and Mission Systems division is the prime contractor for the Aegis Weapon System and Multi-Mission Signal Processor portion of the $2.1-billion total buy. Japan selected Lockheed Martin in July to outfit its Aegis Ashore system but needed State Department approval before finalizing the deal. In September, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force successfully tested its sea-based Aegis ballistic missile defense capability with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Japan currently has four Aegis-equipped destroyers and is in the process of building two more. The following is the State Department notice it approved a proposed Aegis Weapon System sale to Japan. AEGIS Weapon Systems Transmittal No: 19-08 WASHINGTON, January 29, 2019 – The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Japan of two (2) AEGIS Weapon Systems (AWS), two (2) Multi-Mission Signal Processors (MMSP) and two (2) Command and Control Processor (C2P) Refreshes and related equipment for an estimated cost of $2.150 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today. The Government of Japan has requested to buy two (2) AEGIS Weapon Systems (AWS), two (2) Multi-Mission Signal Processors (MMSP) and two (2) Command and Control Processor (C2P) Refreshes. Also included is radio navigation equipment, naval ordnance, two (2) Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Systems, Global Command and Control System-Maritime (GCCS-M) hardware, and two (2) Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), U.S. Government and contractor representatives' technical, engineering and logistics support services, installation support material, training, construction services for six (6) vertical launch system launcher module enclosures, communications equipment and associated spares, classified and unclassified publications and software, and other related elements of logistical and program support. The total estimated program cost is $2.150 billion. This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a major ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region. It is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Japan in developing and maintaining a strong and effective self-defense capability. This proposed sale will provide the Government of Japan with an enhanced capability against increasingly sophisticated ballistic missile threats and create an expanded, layered defense of its homeland. Japan, which already has the AEGIS in its inventory, will have no difficulty absorbing this system into its armed forces. The proposed sale of this equipment and support does not alter the basic military balance in the region. The prime contractor for the Aegis Weapon System and Multi-Mission Signal Processors will be Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Washington, DC. The Command and Control Processor Refresh will be provided by General Dynamics, Falls Church, VA. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale. Implementation of this proposed sale will require annual trips to Japan involving U.S. Government and contractor representatives for technical reviews, support, and oversight for approximately eight years. There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale. This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded. All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department's Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov. https://news.usni.org/2019/01/29/40708
January 14, 2021 | International, Aerospace

Boeing Wins $1.6 Billion U.S. Air Force KC-46 Order
Lee Hudson January 13, 2021 The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing a $1.6 billion contract modification for 12 KC-46A tanker aircraft and anticipates the work will wrap up in April 2023. The order for 12 aircraft is the sixth production lot, which means Boeing is now on contract for 79 KC-46As. The first KC-46 was delivered to the Air Force in January 2019. The funding for the Lot 6 deal is from the fiscal 2020 budget. The company is still awaiting a contract modification for 15 aircraft that are funded in fiscal 2021. “The investments Boeing is making in the KC-46 today will benefit generations of service members,” Jamie Burgess, Boeing KC-46 tanker vice president and program manager, said in a Jan. 12 statement. “I believe the partnership between Boeing and the Air Force will also produce additional KC-46 innovations that will carry the warfighter well into the future.” This year will mark a major decision point for the program because the Air Force expects to decide on a new projection method for the remote vision system (RVS), a technology akin to virtual or augmented reality. To correct a “rubber-sheeting” effect that distorts the image on a visual display used by the boom operator during refueling operations, the Air Force is considering a liquid-crystal display screen or a “collimated mirror design” for the RVS projection method. Once a projection design is selected, a laboratory will build a system to test each new component. Doing ground testing will give the team confidence before installing the new equipment on the actual aircraft. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/boeing-wins-16-billion-us-air-force-kc-46-order?elq2=57a289d9235b4bbf82af3324d06072f1
November 11, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

Senate Republicans unveil $1.4T spending bill, with $696B for defense
By: Joe Gould , Valerie Insinna , David B. Larter , Andrew Eversden , and Nathan Strout &emsp; WASHINGTON ― Senate Republicans on Tuesday introduced a governmentwide, $1.4 trillion spending package, with $696 billion for defense, teeing up negotiations in Congress' tense lame-duck session ― and several fights with House Democrats. The government is operating on a stopgap continuing resolution, or CR, through Dec. 11, and Congress must either pass a deal, or another funding patch, to avoid a government shutdown in the middle of a turbulent presidential transition. A separate COVID-19 relief effort and the annual defense policy bill are also on Capitol Hill's busy to-do list. The Senate must reconcile its long-awaited package of 12 bills with the House, which passed its own bills in July. The Senate's GOP-drafted defense language for fiscal 2021 differs from the House version on the number of Lockheed Martin-made F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to order and funding for a space-based sensor. Compared to the House bill, the Senate version also calls for one fewer Virginia-class submarine and $19 million more in funding for next-generation 5G networks. Though the Senate bill was mostly bipartisan and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., expressed confidence in an eventual deal, the atmosphere for compromise is unclear. The post-election period remains white hot politically, as Republican leaders back President Donatl Trump in his legal challenges of President-elect Joe Biden's electoral win, and as two races to determine control of the Senate face January runoffs. On Tuesday, Democrats chided Republicans over the long-stalled bills. Stopping short of endorsing the effort, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., criticized the legislation for ignoring the country's COVID-19 relief needs, shortchanging safety net programs and the environment, and wasting money on Trump's border wall. The House passed its $694.6 billion Pentagon spending bill for fiscal 2021 in July as part of a $1.3 trillion package. It included politically charged provisions to set aside $1 million for the Army to rename 10 bases that honor Confederate leaders and to bar the Trump administration from using more Pentagon funds on border wall construction. It would reduce transfer authority from the requested $9.5 billion to $1.9 billion, and place additional oversight mechanisms on the Defense Department's ability to reprogram funds. Here's what stood out in the Senate GOP's latest proposal: Air warfare: The Senate panel would fund a total of 96 F-35s in FY21, 17 jets more than the Pentagon's request and five more than the panel's House counterpart. Its bill added about $1.7 billion for 12 F-35As for the Air Force and five F-35Cs for the Marine Corps and Navy. Though the bill fully funds the B-21 bomber program, many of the Air Force's other major development programs received slight cuts. Funding for one of its biggest priorities, the Advanced Battle Management System, shrank from $302 million to $208 million. The committee cited “poor justification” as a reason for the cuts. The Air Force's Next Generation Air Dominance program also would take a hit despite the headline-grabbing first flight of a full-scale demonstrator aircraft, which was disclosed by the service in September. The Air Force wanted $1 billion in FY21 to continue development of NGAD ― a suite of manned and unmanned air superiority technologies that could include a sixth-generation fighter. However, the committee shaved about $70 million off the request. Naval warfare: The bill provides money to buy nine ships, though some argue it's only eight because the LPD-17 was already procured. The total comes to roughly $21.35 billion, or $1.44 billion more than the president's request, but less than the House bill. The ships include one attack submarine (one less than the House bill but a match to what the administration requested), a Constellation-class frigate, two destroyers, and two towing and salvage ships. The Senate bill also calls for nine P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and four E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes, as well as 24 F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters. 5G technology: The bill fully funded the Pentagon's $449 million budget request for defensewide 5G projects, $19 million more than the House. In their budget justification, House appropriators cited “historical underexecution” for its $430 million recommended allocation. The Pentagon is working with industry on multiple ongoing 5G experiments that are underway at military bases across the country. The department recently awarded $600 million in contracts for the effort. Satellites: The bill also adds to frustrations expressed by members of the House at how a new constellation of hypersonic weapon-tracking satellites will be funded. While technically a Missile Defense Agency program, former Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin pushed for the Hypersonic Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, or HBTSS, to be funded through the Space Development Agency. Leaders of both agencies have insisted that the program remains under MDA's ownership, but legislators have expressed concern over the arrangement and the low level of funding set aside for it. No money was set aside for HBTSS in MDA's budget, while the Space Development Agency's budget included $20 million for the critical sensor. In June, the House Armed Services Committee's' strategic forces subpanel threatened to transfer MDA away from the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, placing it instead under the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment. While the Senate bill doesn't go that far, it does add an additional $140 million in unrequested funding for HBTSS, including a $20 million transfer from the Space Development Agency. Furthermore, senators demanded the agencies report on their acquisition strategy for HBTSS and fully fund the program in their future budget proposals. https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/11/10/gop-unveils-14t-spending-bill-with-696b-for-defense/

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