September 28, 2020 | International, Aerospace
On Sept. 27, Switzerland went to to the polls for the second time in six years in a referendum to decide the future of the country's fighter fleet. In 2014, the Swiss populace voted down plans for Saab's JAS 39 Gripen to replace the Northrop Grumman F-5 Tiger.
This time, the question was more binary, asking simply whether the country should procure new fighters—a single fleet that would replace both fleets of 30 C/D-model F/A-18 Hornets and 26 Northrop F-5 Tigers.
The government-backed “Security Yes” campaign won by the finest of margins, securing 50.1% of the vote. Their winning message said that voting against the proposals could leave the country's airspace unprotected beginning in 2030, when both the Hornets and Tigers will reach the end of their useful lives.
The “No to New Fighter Jets” campaign did not rule out the need for an air defense capability but argued that a smaller and lighter aircraft would have achieved the desired capability at a lower cost and in a more environmentally and noise-friendly way.
There is now a CHF6 billion budget for a new fighter and a type selection is expected in 2021.
This gallery presents the fighters proposed for the Swiss requirement and the aircraft they will go on to replace.
https://aviationweek.com/special-topics/air-dominance/switzerland-decides
January 26, 2022 | International, Aerospace
A corporate tie-up between Italy's Leonardo and Germany's Hensoldt could make Europe's two future fighters, the Tempest and the Future Combat Air System, more interoperable, a Leonardo official has claimed.
November 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace
By: Sebastian Sprenger BERLIN — The U.S. Air Force is taking its time to settle on a next-generation fighter design, awaiting instead lessons learned from the F-35 jet and playing the field with promising technologies, according to a senior service official. Options being kicked around are still in the conceptual stage, as America's newest fighter, the fifth-generation F-35, is only now “coming off the line,” according to Lt. Gen. David Nahom, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for plans and programs. “We're not in a hurry,” Nahom told Defense News on the sidelines of the International Fighter Conference, an air power-themed confab of industry and government officials held in Berlin, Germany. He noted that expected deliveries of the F-35 and the relatively young age of the F-22 fleet enables the service to be picky about moving forward with the envisioned Next Generation Air Dominance weapon. In short, the Air Force wants to keep its options open for as long as possible for a weapon whose combat punch will lie not in a single aircraft but rather in the amalgamation of hardware and software, an airborne concerto of data clouds, artificial intelligence, and boundless interconnectivity. “We don't want to get too stuck into a platform,” Nahom said. “It's a very different way to approach it.” Still, the service plans to lay the groundwork for boosting the domain of information and data — organizing it, analyzing it, sharing it — as a key element for future aerial warfare. To that end, officials will include a “significant investment in the digital backbone” in the next budget request, Nahom said. As the Air Force studies its options, service analysts have shied away from the term “sixth-generation” aircraft as a successor to the F-35 because it's unclear what breakthrough technology will be created next. “What are the characteristics of sixth-generation? I don't know,” Nahom said. “Stealth is important,” he added, referring to one of the advertised features of the F-35. “But speed is important, too.” The service aims to develop a new capability quickly once the theoretical legwork is done. That is why there is a renewed emphasis now on engineering processes and algorithm development that Nahom said will have to unfold much faster than under previous aircraft programs. Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper has put down a marker to develop an aircraft within five years. “Based on what industry thinks they can do and what my team will tell me, we will need to set a cadence of how fast we think we build a new airplane from scratch. Right now, my estimate is five years. I may be wrong,” he told Defense News in an interview in September. The service's information-heavy tack on future aerial warfare echoes two European projects aimed at building a next-generation weapon: the British-led Tempest and the Franco-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System. Both programs also lean on the the premise that data clouds, driven by artificial intelligence, can turn flying pieces of metal into breakthrough weaponry. In the case of the continental program, an envisioned “combat cloud” will be “the ocean between the islands of the platforms,” French Maj. Gen. Jean-Pascal Breton said at the conference. But Nahom noted a difference in the American way of thinking when it comes to piercing contested airspace — a key skill required of all future warplanes. While the Europeans seem to perceive the task as popping dispersed bubbles of ever-improving air defense systems, the U.S. view is that any airspace may be contested at any given time. That means a next-generation aircraft will be constantly engaged in the mission of punching its way through enemy defenses, like finding the holes in a never-ending series of Swiss cheese, Nahom said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/11/18/the-us-air-force-is-in-no-hurry-to-commit-to-a-next-gen-fighter-design/
April 29, 2020 | International, C4ISR
Rochester, N.Y. Apr 28, 2020 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) has received a third low-rate initial production (LRIP) order valued at $95 million by the U.S. Army under the HMS (Handheld, Manpack & Small Form-Fit) IDIQ contract to bring AN/PRC-158 multi-channel radios to the battlefield. This LRIP will be followed by an Operational Test that will inform a Full Rate Production decision for the AN/PRC-158 and other HMS products. The IDIQ contract includes a five-year base and an additional five-year option with a ceiling of $12.7 billion. The Army expects to purchase approximately 65,000 HMS Manpack radios under the IDIQ. The L3Harris AN/PRC-158 radio features a two-channel, software-defined architecture with integrated cross-banding between waveforms, including Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS), Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), Demand Assigned Multiple Access/Integrated Waveform (DAMA/IW) and ready for the Warrior Robust Enhanced Network (WREN) waveform, providing advanced capabilities while maintaining backward interoperability with legacy systems. The software-defined architecture enables flexibility to respond to new and emerging requirements and allows easy porting of new waveforms. The radio is capable of simultaneously handling classified and unclassified data. “L3Harris is proud to deliver the most critical part of the U.S. Army's Integrated Tactical Network, enabling secure multi-mission capability in the most challenging and contested environments,” said Dana Mehnert, President, Communication Systems, L3Harris. “The AN/PRC-158 will equip soldiers with cutting-edge waveforms, providing resilient SATCOM and advanced wideband networking at the tactical edge.” About L3Harris Technologies L3Harris Technologies is an agile global aerospace and defense technology innovator, delivering end-to-end solutions that meet customers' mission-critical needs. The company provides advanced defense and commercial technologies across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains. L3Harris has approximately $18 billion in annual revenue and 50,000 employees, with customers in 130 countries. L3Harris.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect management's current expectations, assumptions and estimates of future performance and economic conditions. Such statements are made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and future trends to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Statements about the value or expected value of orders, contracts or programs and about our system capabilities are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties. L3Harris disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. CONTACTS Natalie Ciao Communication Systems +1 585 242 4312 Natalie.Ciao@L3Harris.com Sara Banda Media Relations +1 321 674 4498 Sara.Banda@L3Harris.com View source version on L3Harris Technologies: https://www.l3harris.com/newsroom/press-release/2020/04/89746/l3harris-technologies-awarded-third-lrip-order-on-us-armys-hms-manpack-idiq-contract?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=cs-tcom-pr-158-lrip