December 9, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security
March 14, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security
On Thursday (14 March 2024), NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) announced a major expansion of its transatlantic network of accelerator sites and test centres.
November 25, 2019 | International, Aerospace
ByChristen McCurdy Nov. 22 (UPI) -- United Technologies has received a $762.5 million contract modification to deliver F135 propulsion systems for the Air Force and Marine Corps. The new deal, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, funds Lot 14 production and delivery of 48 F135-PW-100 propulsion systems for the Air Force and 10 F135-PW-600 propulsion systems for the Marine Corps. The Pratt & Whitney F135 is a turbofan engine for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, fifth generation single-engine stealth fighters used the Air Force, Marines and Navy plan to replace much of their fleets with in future years. In October, Lockheed finalized a $34 billion deal with the Pentagon to deliver 478 F-35 fighter planes in production Lots 12, 13 and 14 at a cost below $80 million each. It's the largest contract in military history, and the lowest per-plane cost for the F-35 series yet. That deal came after pressure from the Pentagon to lower the per-plane cost of the aircraft, which has also faced scrutiny for production and safety issues. The new contract funds production of 48 F135-PW-100 engines for the US Air Force. The F135-PW-100 powers the Air Force's F-35A aircraft. Per the October deal, the Pentagon's expected cost per plane for the F-35A in Lot 14 in $77.9 million. The deal also funds 10 F135-PW-600 engines for the Marine Corps' F-35B. Lot 14 production F-35Bs are projected to cost $101.3 million per plane. The Pentagon has obligated fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement funds in the amount of $762 million -- it covers $521.5 million in purchases for the Air Force and $240.9 in Marine Corps. The bulk of work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut, with some work taking place in Indianapolis and Bristol, England. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2019/11/22/United-Technologies-awarded-7625M-for-Air-Force-Marine-Corps-F-35-engines
June 22, 2018 | International, C4ISR
By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON – The Pentagon's belief in its technology drove the Department of Defense to trust it would have control over the electromagnetic spectrum for years to come, but that decision has left America vulnerable to new leaps in technology from China and Russia, according to a top military official. Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has now concluded that the Pentagon needs to ensure it is keeping up with those near-peer nations, let along reestablishing dominance of electronic warfare and networking. “I think we assumed wrongly that encryption and our domination over the precision timing signals would allow us to evade the enemy in the electromagnetic spectrum. I think that was a bad assumption,” Selva said Thursday at the annual Center for a New American Security conference. “It's not that we disarmed, it's that we took a path that they have now figured out,” Selva said. China and Russia instead focused on deploying “digitally managed radio frequency manipulation, which changed the game in electronic warfare.” He added that a DoD study looking at the next decade concluded “We have some work to do.” Specifically, the United States needs to discover what Selva dubbed “alternative pathways” for communications and command and control systems. “It doesn't have to be a [radiofrequency] game. It's an RF game because we choose to make it so. And we're going to have to do some targeted investments in expanding the capacity of the networks that we use for command and control and battle management,” he said. “If we fail to do that, we're going to kick ourselves into the force-counterforce game inside the electromagnetic spectrum for the balance of the next couple of decades. “We have to adapt to that, and adapt quickly. The work has been done to characterize the problem, and the problem is, we're locked in this point-counterpoint fight with two potential competitors who have taken alternative paths. So we have to unlock a different way to do that work.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/06/21/the-us-made-the-wrong-bet-on-radiofrequency-and-now-it-could-pay-the-price/