Orizzonte Sistemi Navali signs €1.5 billion contract for two “FREMM EVO” frigates for the Italian Navy

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  March 4, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Nearly All the F-35 Jet Engines Ordered Last Year Arrived Late

  By Anthony Capaccio Nearly all the engines ordered for the next-generation F-35 jet were delivered late last year as the Pratt & Whitney unit of United Technologies Corp. struggled to solve nagging difficulties with parts and suppliers, according to the Pentagon. About 85% of the engines for the stealthy fighter were delivered late in 2019, the Defense Department's F-35 program office reported, adding that Pratt & Whitney did manage to deliver more engines than required. The tardiness figure was in line with data from 2018, but up from 48% and 58% in 2016 and 2017, respectively. “In general, the monthly schedule performance continues to be impacted by issues with parts and suppliers which the program office is monitoring closely,” the program office said in statement Tuesday. Pratt & Whitney “continues to perform reviews” within its expansive production chain and “has made some progress but more progress is needed to meet the monthly schedule,” it added. Engine delivery issues are just one problem that has plagued the jet's manufacturing ahead of a key decision expected in the next year on whether to move ahead into full-rate production on the $428 billion F-35 program. The fighter has also been flagged for breaking down too often, carrying a 25mm gun that doesn't shoot accurately and having shortages in its supply chain for spare parts from tire assemblies to seats. Some of the problems have since been fixed. Nevertheless, the jet is a key part of a broader weapons modernization effort meant to bolster not just the U.S. military but those of key allies from Poland to Japan. As the sole provider of F-35 engines, Pratt & Whitney and its subcontractors are in line to collect as much as $66 billion of the total jet contract. Congress has approved about $27 billion to date for F-35 engines. But the eventual decision on full-rate production means Pratt & Whitney needs to show it can ramp up production effectively. Overall, 128 of 150 engines delivered last year arrived late, eight arrived on time and 14 came in ahead of schedule, according to the F-35 program office. Of 93 engines in the 11th low-rate production contract bloc, 90 arrived an average of 41 days late. In a statement, the company emphasized that it “exceeded its annual F-35 engine delivery commitment” for 2019. “This represents a 60% year-over-year increase in deliveries. We remain laser-focused on working closely” with the program office and “our supply base to achieving on-time delivery in 2020.” Pratt & Whitney remains under a high-level “Corrective Action Request” that the Defense Contract Management Agency issued in December 2018, citing “poor delivery performance.” The agency said it's evaluating the company's corrective actions and may rescind the CAR by month's end. The company has made improvements in four areas, including deploying “focus teams” to subcontractors for ensuring adequate “critical hardware” and qualifying additional suppliers, DCMA said. Asked if the company was ready for accelerated full-rate engine production, the agency said “as the P&W suppliers demonstrate success in meeting their contract delivery rate the probability of P&W meeting their full-rate production level increases. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-03/nearly-all-the-f-35-jet-engines-ordered-last-year-arrived-late

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  November 9, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  More funding endorsed for Evader aerial target missile system

  by Julian Kerr Additional funding has been endorsed, although not yet approved, to confirm the supersonic performance of the Australian-developed Evader autonomous aerial target missile system, sources close to the programme have disclosed. An application for a grant of AUD2.85 million (USD2.02 million) from the government's Defence Innovation Hub has been endorsed by both the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the Australian Army to fund a second series of flight trials for the low-cost, air-launched system, said the sources. A decision is expected shortly. Initial flight trials, funded by the Innovation Hub and carried out in 2018 at South Australia's Woomera range, validated the Evader's design, autonomous control system and stainless steel ramjet, and proved the parachute-recoverable, 4.2 m-long target missile could be re-used up to 10 times. Endurance of the 90 kg missile is about 30 minutes. While the initial trials were subsonic, the second series of trials will be low-supersonic following relocation of the variable air intake from the top to the bottom of the missile's fuselage. Speeds of up to Mach 2 are anticipated in subsequent trials, with future variants intended to reach Mach 3. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/more-funding-endorsed-for-evader-aerial-target-missile-system

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  August 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  US Air Force may have accidentally revealed interest in hypersonic nuke

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has issued, and quietly revoked, a solicitation to industry seeking technologies that would support a hypersonic glide vehicle capable of traversing intercontinental ranges, potentially signaling the military's interest in a hypersonic nuclear weapon. According to an Aug. 12 request for information first reported by Aviation Week, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center sought ideas for potential upgrades to intercontinental ballistic missiles, including a “thermal protection system that can support [a] hypersonic glide to ICBM ranges.” The items listed as potential ICBM upgrades were all marked “unclassified/for official use only,” which notes information that — while not secret — is not normally released to the public. The RFI was then withdrawn after Aviation Week began inquiring about it, the report noted. Asked about the RFI on Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, said the service's next-generation ICBMs — known as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent — will not be available as a hypersonic variant when it is fielded in the late 2020s. “With a weapon system that's going to be fielded until the 2070 time frame, it's hard to know exactly where we may go with that down the road,” he during an event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “Right now, though, the threshold warhead does not include hypersonic glide vehicles. I think I can say that safely without talking too much about what the warheads will look like.” However, he noted that GBSD's open-architecture backbone makes it able to adopt emerging technologies. He did not comment specifically on whether a hypersonic glide vehicle was under consideration. As we bring the system online, we will ensure that we have the ability to roll different technologies in and to incorporate that into GBSD,” he said. “And that's one of the, I think, best features ... of GBSD, is that it's going to give us that flexibility. So that if we decide down the road that there's a particular technology that needs to be incorporated, we'll be able to do that.” As the sole bidder in the GBSD competition, Northrop Grumman is expected to win an estimated $85 billion over the life of the program. A contract award is slated to occur by September, although Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said in April that she expected a decision this month. https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nuclear-arsenal/2020/08/19/the-air-force-might-be-eyeing-a-hypersonic-nuclear-weapon/