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November 17, 2021 | International, Aerospace

USAF Should Downsize, Avoid Stealth For Future Tanker, Study Says

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  • Soldiers to get a say in light tank competition

    October 15, 2019 | International, Land

    Soldiers to get a say in light tank competition

    By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Two companies are competing to build the Army's new light tank for Infantry Brigade Combat Teams and, in order to win, their prototypes will be judged by the users themselves. Those tests will be part of an extensive evaluation beginning roughly a year from now, Maj. Gen. Brian Cummings, Army program executive officer for ground combat systems, told Defense News. BAE Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems were chosen in December 2018 to build 12 prototypes each of the Army's future Mobile Protected Firepower vehicle identified in the Army's ground combat vehicle strategy, released in 2015, as much needed capability the service lacked. GDLS will build a vehicle that takes the United Kingdom's AJAX chassis and combines it with an Abrams turret. BAE Systems will bring an M8 Buford Armored Gun System with new capabilities and components. The MPF is going to be critical for the infantry, according to Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, who is in charge of combat vehicle modernization. “Looking in every war movie ever watched, the infantry has been pinned down and they have a machine gun nest or another enemy vehicle that's preventing them to get their objective,” Coffman said. “It takes an Audie Murphy-like character to go up and sneak around and take it out from the rear.” MPF is going to take care of those impediments to forward progression, he said, and is a “vital piece of equipment for our Army. Right now we are doing that with Humvees and Javelin.” The soldier vehicle assessment will take place at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Fort Stewart, Georgia, and will include live-fire tests and operating in IBCT formations, Cummings said. The assessment will not just cover how the vehicles perform operationally, but how they hold up when assessed against warfighting doctrine, organization, training, maintenance in the field, logistics and sustainment. “This will be different, even though we've done it in history,” Cummings said. A team will look at doctrine in terms of having a light tank in the formation as well as having mechanics, fuel and the ability to recover vehicles as part of the operational assessment. “It's important we learn that early on,” in the prototyping process rather than after choosing a winning vehicle, Cummings noted. The Army is now reviewing design maturity of the vehicles and is making sure that everything stays on track to meet the soldier vehicle assessment requirements. These prototypes have to be ready for prime time when they get into an operational environment toward the end of next year, according to Cummings. Cummings also has two groups working with each vendor that are firewalled from one another. Those groups will be working with vendors through the SVA and to eventual down-select to one vehicle around the second or third quarter of fiscal year 2022 to go into production. The prototypes are expected in the third quarter of fiscal 2021. The first units will get MPF by FY25. The Army plans build 26 vehicles initially with an option to build 28 more and retrofit eight prototypes. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2019/10/15/soldiers-to-get-a-say-in-light-tank-competition

  • US Air Force looks to fast track cash to Kratos Defense for more Valkyrie drones

    June 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace

    US Air Force looks to fast track cash to Kratos Defense for more Valkyrie drones

    By: Valerie Insinna LE BOURGET, France — Things are looking up for Kratos Defense's XQ-58A Valkyrie drone. Fresh off its second flight, the U.S. Air Force is considering buying 20-30 aircraft for further experimentation, the service's acquisition executive said Monday. “I'm now looking at ways to do that and what the cost will be,” Will Roper told reporters on the sidelines of Paris Air Show, saying that the Air Force is looking for prototyping funds that it can access for a rapid procurement of those aircraft. The XQ-5A Valkyrie is an “attritable” drone, the word the military uses for an asset that can be reused but is cheap enough that a commander could use them aggressively and would expect — and be comfortable with — some losses in combat. What sets Valkyrie apart is not only its low price point, which Kratos estimates will be $2 million per copy in a production run of 100 jets or more, but also the aircraft's near supersonic speed, long endurance and maneuverability, which could make it a formidable partner for manned fighter jets. Once the Air Force buys additional Valkyrie drones, the idea would be to pair those unmanned aircraft with manned fighter jets. “Depending on what comes out of that campaign, the idea would be to look and do a program of record. You'd want to start spiraling the development,” Roper said. A decision on starting a program could be made as soon as fiscal 2021, and from there it would be only two to three years to begin production and fielding aircraft, he said. “I am really pleased we're getting strong buy-in, strong appetite at the pointy end for attritable systems by our pilots.” Roper's comments come after another milestone for the Valkyrie — the second flight demo, held June 11 at Yuma Proving Grounds. According to a Kratos release, the aircraft completed unspecified objectives over a 71 minute test. “With this most recent milestone, the readiness of the XQ-58A is accelerating and increasing the near-term application opportunities for the system,” said Steve Fendley, the company's president of its unmanned systems division. “I am extremely proud of our development, production, and test teams who continue to deliver successful results, in record time, on our comprehensive system level efforts — rare within the aerospace and defense industry." The Air Force Research Laboratory is partnered with Kratos to develop Valkyrie through the Low Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator program, the service's effort to field a “Loyal Wingman”-style drone that can be flown alongside a fighter jet or other combat aircraft in manned-unmanned teams. But Roper has alluded to even more ambitious plans for Valkyrie or other attritable drones like it. Not only does the Air Force want to add sensors and weapons to Valkyrie, but it wants to implant artificial intelligence in the drone so that it can train and learn alongside pilots, eventually growing in skill and becoming able to respond independently to threats. Roper calls that effort “Skyborg” and in May told Defense News that the service was considering how to incorporate it with manned fighters like the F-35 and the F-15EX. “I don't want this to just be a laboratory project that lives and dies there in a petri dish. I want this to become a program,” he told reporters in March. “I want to see real, operational demonstrations within a couple years. And I will push them to be faster than that.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/paris-air-show/2019/06/17/us-air-force-looking-to-fast-track-cash-to-kratos-defense-for-additional-valkyrie-drones/

  • GE Gets Contract for First Batch of F-15EX Engines

    July 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    GE Gets Contract for First Batch of F-15EX Engines

    July 1, 2020 | By John A. Tirpak General Electric received a $101.4 million contract for the first batch of engines to power the F-15EX fighter being acquired by the Air Force, according to a June 30 notice from the Pentagon. The sole-source contract buys and installs F110-GE-129s plus spares, but USAF didn't specify how many engines are being acquired in the action. The engines are to be delivered by Nov. 30, 2022. This first batch of F-15EX engines is being procured sole-source because of “an unusual and compelling urgency acquisition,” according to the announcement. The GE engine is the only one certified for the F-15Q, which the F-15EX is based, and competition was waived on this batch in order to expedite testing of the F-15EX. Subsequent buys of F-15EX engines, however, will be open to competition, the Air Force said in May. In February, Pratt & Whitney—now part of Raytheon Technologies—protested an early decision to just buy the F110 powerplant for the whole F-15EX fleet, and the Air Force in March dropped its plan to use the GE engine exclusively. The service will need up to 461 new engines to power as many as 144 F-15EX fighters. Pratt is planning to offer its F100-229 engine, but would have to certify the engine for the “Advanced F-15” at its own cost. The Air Force said testing can take place “concurrently” with production. No obstacles are seen to integration of the Pratt engine. The company noted it is the “exclusive propulsion system for USAF's entire fleet of operational F-15s.” The service wants up to six competed engines to be delivered per month, with the first deliveries in 2023. https://www.airforcemag.com/ge-gets-contract-for-first-batch-of-f-15ex-engines

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